These Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars are made with a brown sugar shortbread crust topped with maple-brown sugar filling and loaded with pecans and chocolate chips. Delicious flavor and texture in every sweet and sticky bite!

This is the most incredible way to get your pecan pie fix. Imagine the best pecan pie you’ve ever tasted, then add chocolate chips! I’ll be making these for Thanksgiving, and approximately one million more times after that. Promise me you’ll do the same.

Stack of chocolate pecan bars on white parchment paper.

I figured you might be busy assembling your Thanksgiving menu, so I wanted to remind you that we turned our favorite Chocolate Pecan Pie into bars. Why bars? For one, no pie crust! This easy press-in crust is topped with a filling that comes together in minutes. These bars are one of our favorite holiday desserts.

Prefer cookies? Try our Pecan Pie Cookies. Prefer brownies? Try our Pecan Pie Brownies.

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Why you’ll love this recipe
Key ingredients
Recipe overview
Recipe tips
More holiday recipes
Recipe

Why you’ll love this recipe

Ease: No fussy pie crust! Just an easy shortbread dough that gets pressed into the pan along with a filling that comes together in minutes!

Flavor: Brown sugar, maple, pecans, and chocolate. An incredible flavor combo! You’ll want to add chocolate to your pecan pie from now on. 🙂

Texture: Gooey filling, buttery soft crust, crunchy pecans, and melty chocolate chips.

No corn syrup: We don’t make our pecan pie with corn syrup and these bars are no different. This recipe is sweetened with brown sugar and maple syrup which add incredible flavor.

Three pieces of chocolate pecan pie bars stacked on top of each other.

Key ingredients

Here’s what gives these bars incredible flavor and texture:

Brown sugar: Both in the crust and the filling

Pure maple syrup: For a hint of maple flavor and the classic sticky pecan pie texture.

Butter: Adds richness to both the crust and the filling.

Pecans: Lots of chopped pecans running through every bite!

Chocolate chips: Choose bittersweet (my preference) or semisweet chocolate chips.

Ingredients for chocolate pecan pie bars: brown sugar, syrup, pecan, chocolate chips, melted butter, egg.

Recipe overview

*Full recipe below in recipe card*

Crust: This easy shortbread crust gets mixed up and pressed into a 9×9 pan. Prebake the crust for about 15 minutes before adding the filling.

Unbaked shortbread crust in a foil-lined baking dish.

Filling: A mixture of melted butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, milk, egg, pecans, cocoa powder, and chocolate chips. Whisk it up and pour over the crust.

Uncooked chocolate pecan filling in a glass bowl.

Bake: Bake the bars for about 18-20 minutes, The edges will be set but the center will still be a bit jiggly. It will firm up as it cools.

Unbaked chocolate pecan bars in a foil lined baking dish.

Recipe tips

Chop the pecans small, this makes the bars easier to cut and serve.

Use bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips. I prefer bittersweet because the dark chocolate creates a nice balance with the other flavors.

Allow time for the bars to cool completely before cutting.

The cooler the bars are the more firm they will be. Serve at room temperature, or refrigerated for a handheld dessert, or heat each serving just slightly and serve with a fork (they will be gooey!).

Just like with pie, the edges will be more “well done” and the center pieces will be a bit more soft and gooey.

Serve as is or top with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.