These Keto Pecan Pie Bars are so gooey and decadent, you won’t believe they’re sugar free! There’s a reason readers love them! And with less than 5g of carbs, you can afford to indulge.
Looking for a truly special dessert for the holidays that won’t give you a sugar high? Look no further than these amazing Keto Pecan Pie Bars. They are sweet gooey pecan perfection.
This really is one of my holiday favorites, and they give my Keto Pecan Pie some stiff competition. One bite and you will see why they’ve been so popular for years and years. Because no one should have to go without such deliciousness in their lives.
I’ve long said that the greatest joy for me is taking an old favorite and making it low carb and sugar-free. These Keto Pecan Pie Bars are the perfect example of such joy.
Why this recipe is so amazing
I created keto pecan pie bars early on in my blogging career, which is approximately a bajillion years ago. Or November 2013, which amounts to the same thing. Back then, however, low carb ingredients were more limited. The wide range of sweeteners we have now, as well as the brands of good quality sugar free chocolate simply didn’t exist.
But it was time to give them another update. Because once again, the keto universe is changing. And I’ve learned a lot working with different keto sweeteners and different techniques.
Some of you will notice that this recipe is a little different now. Trust me, this update makes them even better than ever. They’re easier to make and have even more rich pecan pie flavor.
I used my favorite Keto Pie Crust for the shortbread base, and a slightly modified version of my famous Keto Caramel Sauce in the filling. I also added more chopped pecans because you can never have enough pecans.
The chocolate chips are optional but I think it takes these bars over the top!
Reader Reviews
“Very delicious, love the caramelised filling. I live in England and thought it would be a struggle to achieve perfect taste due to difference in ingredients but it’s absolutely delicious. Thank you.” — Silvija
“These were absolutely delicious and so easy to make. Definitely will be making them again and again!!” — Karen L.
“So yummy! Probably own of my favorite treats to date! Thank you for making my life a little bit easier by having good treats to feed my family.” — Raechel
Ingredient Notes
- Almond flour: I used almond flour for the crust but you could also use pecan flour. It would go very well with these bars! I used it in my Keto Caramel Cheesecake Bars.
- Sweetener: You do need a mix of sweeteners for this recipe. The crust requires an erythritol sweetener, and the filling requires brown sugar substitute and allulose. Please see the Tips for Success section for more information.
- Butter: Butter is an essential ingredient in both the crust and the pecan filling.
- Heavy whipping cream: Heavy cream helps give the caramel sauce the right consistency.
- Eggs: You will need eggs to help set the filling and create a gooey pecan pie filling.
- Pecans: You can’t have pecan pie bars without pecans! I recommend chopping them up a little to make the bars easier to cut.
- Dark chocolate chips: I love the addition of chocolate chips in these bars. But if you prefer to omit them, I recommend adding another ⅓ cup of pecans to take their place.
- Pantry staples: Vanilla extract and salt.
Step-By-Step Directions
1. Prepare the crust: Whisk together almond flour, sweetener, and salt in a large bowl. Stir in the melted butter until well combined.
2. Par-bake the crust: Press evenly into the bottom of a lightly greased 9-inch square pan and bake at 325ºF for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges are just turning golden. Remove and let cool in the pan.
3. Prepare the caramel sauce: In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter, brown sugar replacement, and allulose. Bring to a boil and cook 2 to 3 minutes, keeping a close eye on it so that it doesn’t burn. Remove from heat and add the cream. The mixture will bubble vigorously. Set aside to cool to lukewarm.
4. Whisk in the eggs: Once the caramel sauce is cool, whisk in the eggs, vanilla extract, and salt.
5. Bake the bars: Scatter the pecans and chocolate chips over the crust and pour the filling overtop. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until the filling is mostly set but still jiggles slightly when the pan is shaken.
6. Let cool: Remove and let cool for about 30 minutes before cutting into bars.
Tips for Success
I highly recommend a metal baking pan for these bars to bake through properly and for the crust to firm up. Just know that if you use glass or ceramic, they may not turn out quite as well.
You can also use an 8×8-inch baking pan, but keep in mind that your bars will be thicker and thus will take longer to cook through. You may need to bake the crust a bit longer as well.
If you would prefer to skip the chocolate chips, I recommend adding another ⅓ cup of chopped pecans to help give the filling the right volume.
Sweetener Options
This recipe uses a combination of erythritol and allulose based sweeteners. Erythritol is required important the crust if you want it to firm up properly. The filling takes a combination of a keto brown sugar (made with erythritol) and allulose, to keep it gooier.
If you can’t get allulose, you can use xylitol instead. You can also use mostly allulose in the filling, but it may have a different consistency and not set for a long time. I also find that there is a slightly sour taste when I make my caramel sauce with just allulose, and I don’t enjoy it.
Read more about how keto sweeteners work.
Frequently Asked Questions
I like these keto pecan pie bars gooey and room temperature so I store them in a covered container on the counter. They are good for up to 4 days. They can also be kept in the fridge for a week.
Many readers have had good luck freezing these bars. I recommend storing them between layers of waxed paper so they don’t stick together. They will be good for 2 or 3 months.
This keto chocolate ricotta cake recipe has 4.9g of carbs and 2.2g of fiber per serving. That comes to 2.7g net carbs per bar.
More delicious keto pecan recipes
Keto Pecan Pie Bars Recipe
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 ¼ cups almond flour
- ¼ cup granular Swerve Sweetener
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup butter melted
Pecan Pie Filling
- ¼ cup butter
- ¼ cup brown sugar replacement
- ¼ cup allulose
- ¼ cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cup pecans chopped
- ¼ cup sugar free chocolate chips
Instructions
Crust
- Preheat the oven to 325ºF and lightly grease a 9-inch square metal baking pan.
- Whisk together almond flour, sweetener, and salt in a large bowl. Stir in the melted butter until well combined.
- Press evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan and bake at 325ºF for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges are just turning golden. Remove and let cool in the pan.
Pecan Pie Filling
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter, brown sugar replacement, and allulose. Bring to a boil and cook 2 to 3 minutes, keeping a close eye on it so that it doesn't burn.
- Remove from heat and add the cream. The mixture will bubble vigorously. Set aside to cool to lukewarm.
- Once the caramel sauce is cool, whisk in the eggs, vanilla extract, and salt.
- Scatter the pecans and chocolate chips over the crust and pour the filling overtop. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until the filling is mostly set but still jiggles slightly when the pan is shaken.
- Remove and let cool for about 30 minutes before cutting into bars.
sfmitch says
Wow – these are fantastic!!
I omitted the Yacon syrup but otherwise followed the recipe.
What a treat!
SJ says
I made these tonight. I used Lakanto monkfruit golden sweetener and cut back how much I used. I would definitely cut back on the sweetener even more when I make them again (though I tend to like my stuff less sweet now) but otherwise these bars really killed my craving and I was only able to eat half of one! Such a contrast to my “old ways” of eating an entire pan’s worth of treats 😉
Lisa says
Hi Carolyn! I made these recently, and wow, they totally take care of my pecan pie craving! Thought I’d let you know that I’m a THMer and just recently started a new blog that talks about THM, among other things. I linked to this recipe and your recipe of the Snickerdoodle Skillet Cookie in a recent post about healthy NYE foods to make. I don’t create recipes, but am so thankful to all of you bloggers that do, so that those of us on low-glycemic diets have so many yummy options! I have two of your cookbooks, and haven’t found a recipe yet that my family doesn’t like. Thank you!
Dale says
I love your recipes so much! Do you thing Swerve Brown would be ok in these pecan bars? I crave old-fashioned pecan pie flavor like my granny made with dark karo. Molasses doesn’t hit the mark for me. I don’t have yacon yet. Also wondering if a little bocha sweet would lend that gooey texture I’m dreaming about. Thanks so much if you have time to reply!
I made your bagels for the umpteenth time last night. SO PERFECT!!!
Carolyn says
Swerve would be great!
Kim says
Do you grease or butter the pan or use parchment paper before pressing the crust in the pan?
Carolyn says
Not necessary in this recipe, although you can if you like.
Brittany says
These chocolate pecan pies were simple to make and absolutely delicious! I pair them with coffee and it was perfect! Can’t wait until I make these again. They were a hit with my fiance too! He happens to be my personal food tester!
Aniela Meyer says
Hi, these look amazing.
I tried them out today and found that the topping was gooey although I did make and bake it exactly as directed.
They tasted amazing but were much higher that yours. Any suggestions ?
Carolyn says
If they are higher… did you by chance use an 8×8 pan instead of 9×9? And was it all the same sweetener?
Kristi says
I put my granulated sugar substitute in my Cusinart or Bullet blender and it turns it to powdered. Perfect.
Emma says
For the sauce could I use the new brown sugar swerve instead of the powdered swerve or does it have to be powdered?
Carolyn says
You can certainly try!
Linda says
Hi Carolyn,
I know you might ask ‘why!?’ but can I make these exactly as is with the exception of the chocolate? I’d like to leave that out.
Thanks,
Linda
Carolyn says
Totally can! But why??? Kidding…
Linda says
🙂 hehe
thanks and happy holidays!
Michelle says
Did this today! LOVED it making more tomorrow! I used a different crust that was 1 cup coconut flour 1 cup almond flour 1/2 cup melted butter and 2 eggs. On the filling the only thing I added was stevia to make a little sweeter and 3 tsp Maple exstrat. This was AMAZING!! Thank YOU for sharing!!!
Joy Tomlinson says
Linda Vandever did you use the same amount of the molasses that it called for the Yukon Syrup? I wanted to use this substitution too.
Carolyn says
Some people perceive erythritol as more sweet than sugar, although most of us perceive it as less sweet. So in your case, I would be cutting it back in EVERY recipe you make, to your taste. But for most people, I would definitely not recommend doing less.
Diane says
I’ve made it with regular Splenda…it’s delicious!
Lisamarie says
Made these last night and I absolutely LOVE them! They totally satisfied my craving for pecan pie and the pieces of Lily’s dark chocolate just push it right over the top. They’re really easy to toss together — you can even toast the pecans at the same time you’re baking the crust. (I just threw the nuts on a cookie sheet on a lower shelf while I baked the crust. By the time the crust was baked, the nuts were nicely toasted, too. Easy peasy!) This is a definite “keeper” recipe. Of course, I haven’t found any recipes from Carolyn that aren’t keepers!
Leslie Gawthrop says
How would you store any leftovers?
Carolyn says
On the counter for a day or two, in the fridge after that.
Heather says
Oh so good cold with a cold glass of unsweetened almond milk!! I will make this again!
Megan says
I made these and they are lovely!
Mine don’t look like the pictures either, thicker but still taste great! I think if I were to do anything different I would chop up my pecans and maybe add some salt to the top of these. I’ll be making them again for sure!!
Since I started Keto your recipies have been a favourite!
Thank you!
Stephanie Niksa says
Is it possible to make this recipe dairy free? I have been drooling over it for a while now and I would LOVE to make it but I can’t have dairy
Carolyn says
I am sorry, I think it wouldn’t work very well. You could try with coconut oil and coconut milk but I think it would affect the consistency.
Tara says
Pecan pie is one of my favorite desserts and one that I have missed for the last two holiday seasons since going keto. I can’t wait to try this. Thanks for sharing!
Jan says
Made these yesterday for Christmas dinner. I never liked pecan pie because I always thought it was too sicky sweet, but these bars were AMAZING! I did add a couple of handfuls of shredded coconut, which I think was really good. Even my guests liked them!