These chocolate pecan pie bars have a brown sugar shortbread crust, and are topped with a caramel, chocolate and pecan filling without any corn syrup. They're buttery, chewy and so easy to make!
These chocolate pecan pie bars were really popular at Jakes, the restaurant I used to bake for. They're much easier to make and serve than an actual pie, and they store perfectly in the freezer if you want to make ahead.
For more pecan recipes try my pecan pumpkin bars, my pecan chocolate chip cookies or my cinnamon streusel coffee cake.
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Why You Will Love These Bars
- Chewy Filling: These have the perfect chewy texture that isn't too gooey, and easy to bite into.
- Chocolate & Pecans: I love when you can pair the flavors of chocolate and pecans together, and its so good with the buttery shortbread crust.
- Great to Make Ahead: I always love a dessert that can be made weeks in advance during the holiday season.
Ingredient Notes
Full ingredient measurements and instructions can be found in the recipe card below.
- Butter: I always use salted butter for my recipes, but unsalted is fine also.
- Brown Sugar: Both dark or light brown sugar are great for this recipe.
- Honey: Using honey is a great way to thicken the filling, and keep the sugar from crystalizing without using corn syrup.
- Cream: This will help make the filling richer and thicker.
- Pecans: I like to use pecan halves and not chopped pieces.
- Flaked Salt: This helps balance the sweetness of the bars.
Recipe Instructions
Step 1: Preheat your oven to 375 and line an 8" baking pan with parchment paper.
Step 2: Start by making the crust. Add butter and brown sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add flour and salt and mix until crumbly.
Step 3: Press dough into the bottom of your prepared pan. Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until light golden brown along the edges. Set aside to cool and lower oven to 325.
Step 4: Combine the butter, brown sugar, honey and heavy cream and salt in a saucepan and stir over medium heat. Once it starts to slightly boil, simmer for 1 minute.
Step 5: Remove pan from heat and add in vanilla and pecans and stir until combined. Stir in chocolate chips and pour over cooled crust.
Step 6: Bake at 325 for 15-18 minutes. Sprinkle with flaked salt once removed from the oven. Allow to cool completely before cutting because the filling needs to set up.
Expert Baking Tips
- The crust dough should be dry and crumbly, once pressed and packed into the pan and baked it will all set up.
- Make sure you don't let your filling boil for too long, or you risk it becoming too hard once baked in the oven.
- These are great without the chocolate chips as well if you're looking for a more traditional pecan pie bar.
FAQ
Yes, you can double everything and make this in a 9x13 baking pan. You will need to add a few extra minutes to the baking time.
Yes, just sub a gluten free 1:1 flour in place of the all-purpose flour and everything else will remain the same.
Yes, that would work great also.
Storing & Freezing
Chocolate pecan pie bars can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature, or in the fridge for 4-5 days. I love them chilled, but however you prefer is great.
You can freeze these bars in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Allow to come to room temperature before serving.
Other Popular Recipes to Try
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Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars
Ingredients
Crust
- ½ cup (113.5 g) salted butter room temperature
- ⅓ cup (73.33 g) brown sugar
- 1¼ cups (170 g) all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) salt
Chocolate Pecan Topping
- 4 tablespoon salted butter
- ⅓ cup (73.33 g) brown sugar
- 3 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
- ¼ teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1¼ cups (120 g) pecans
- ½ cup (90 g) chocolate chips
- flaked salt for topping
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 and line an 8" baking pan with parchment paper.
- Start by making the crust. Add butter and brown sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add flour and salt and mix until crumbly.
- Press dough into the bottom of your prepared pan. Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until light golden brown along the edges. Set aside to cool and lower oven to 325.
- Combine the butter, brown sugar, honey and heavy cream and salt in a saucepan and stir over medium heat. Once it starts to slightly boil, simmer for 1 minute.
- Remove pan from heat and add in vanilla and pecans and stir until combined. Stir in chocolate chips and pour over cooled crust.
- Bake at 325 for 15-18 minutes. Sprinkle with flaked salt once removed from the oven. Allow to cool completely before cutting because the filling needs to set up.
Excited to try these. Just to clarify: 16 servings from an 8" square pan, not a 9x13?
I think 2" x 2" seems like an ample serving. 🙂
How long do you let the crust cool before moving on to the next step? Fully or just as long as it takes to get the pecan mix ready? Thanks!
Just while I make the filling. It doesn't need to be completely cool.
Thank you! I made them & they’re delicious!
I made these for Thanksgiving. I did not add the chocolate. They were easy to make and so good!
I love them with and without the chocolate! Thank you!
Made these bars to take to Thanksgiving dinner. The chocolate set these bars apart from the traditional pecan bars. The pan was gone well before the pies. This is a beautiful and delicious dessert. The recipe was requested by all.
I love that so much!!! Thank you!
I made this 3 times over the Thanksgiving holidays!!! Super easy AND everyone kept going back for more!
The MOST delicious dessert of all time.
I made these bars for Thanksgiving and they were delicious! I loved the crust and the chocolate made them perfect!
I feel like I went on a baking extravaganza with all of Brooke's recipes this holiday season. At the last minute, my sister said she was going to buy a pecan pie for Christmas. I decided I wanted to do something homemade and landed on Brooke's chocolate pecan pie bars. They were super easy to make and I loved the addition of the chocolate.
I’m not normally a pecan pie person, but with the chocolate combo, I’m converted! These are divine!
Semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips?
Whatever you prefer is great! I usually use semi-sweet bc that's what my family prefers.
Does it matter if you use a glass 8x8 or metal pan? I only own a glass pan and I’m not sure how well it would work.
You can use either! I prefer metal because it heats more evenly, but I definitely wouldn't stop from making them if all you have is glass.
These are amazing. I love the crunch of the pecans and shortbread crust. They keep very well at room temp for a couple of days….if they manage to last that long 😝 Highly recommend.
Great recipe.
Made this recipe and got rave reviews at a family dinner! These bars are fantastic! So easy to make!
If you double the recipe would you use a 9x13 pan?
Yes, and add on about 2-3 minutes to your baking time.
The brown sugar measurements for both the crust and the filling are the same (1/3 cup) but the weight in grams is different (77 vs 110) - should the filling be 1/2 cup instead of 1/3?
No, its 1/3 for both, thanks for calling that to my attention! Not sure why the metric is off. I will manually fix it.
OK, thanks!
I have a couple family members who are allergic to pecans. Could I sub walnut halves for the pecans?
absolutely!
Can these be made successfully with gluten-free flour?
Yes! It works great!
Phenomenal. Not too sweet like a pecan bar can be. Loved the chocolate!
This recipe is so, so good! Easy to make and so delicious. I made them last night for our Thanksgiving dessert table. I doubled the recipe into a 9 x 13" pan so that we could have extra to try out beforehand 😉 A good, make ahead, easy to transport dessert! Definitely adding this to my dessert go-to recipes!