Make pumpkin Larabar bites at home in 5 minutes with a few basic ingredients. Great for school lunches, snacks and cost 50% less than the store.

Ever since I started training for my first marathon, I’ve been more particular about the food I eat.
Plain pancakes become protein pancakes, plain smoothies become protein smoothies and I’m making homemade Larabars when I have to replenish lost carbs ASAP.
And since it’s the season for everything pumpkin, I’ve given homemade Larabars a new twist: pumpkin Larabar bites!
What are pumpkin Larabar bites?
In their simplest form, Larabars are dates and nuts. Dates are good for the heart because they help lower triglyceride levels and nuts have great health benefits. Larabars are a super convenient real food to have on road trips, long flights, or when you need to keep the kids entertained as you finish up the last bit of your grocery shopping.
But they’re NOT super cheap, hence the reason I’m making them on my own (and trimming the cost by around 50%).
I’m also making them because after a while, dates + nuts = boring. Let’s interject some flavor in there!
I don’t like waiting on a big honcho to officially declare pumpkin “in season” (which is always not soon enough in my opinion), so having a pumpkin Larabar recipe means making them anytime I want (which is all the time, really).

Ingredients for Pumpkin Larabar Bites

- Dates. For the best homemade pumpkin Larabar (or for any flavor), you want whole pitted Medjool dates. I found mine locally, but you can also buy them in bulk on Amazon and have them shipped to your door in 2 days with Prime. (Here’s a link to try Amazon Prime FREE for 30 days!) To sign up for the Prime free trial, go to Amazon Prime. Then, select Start your free trial and follow the on-screen instructions if prompted. While you won’t be charged for your free trial, you’ll be upgraded to a paid membership plan automatically at the end of the trial period.
- Nuts. I chose walnuts for this recipe because they compliment the pumpkin well and tend to be on sale this time of year. But you can substitute cashews or almonds.
- Coconut. Similar to when we make sweet & salty energy bites, we’re adding shredded coconut to create a bit of a textured binder so the bites stay together. Coconut has healthy fats that help refuel the body, but if you don’t like coconut, chia seed, flax seeds, or oats would be good replacements.
- Pumpkin. Both canned pumpkin and homemade pumpkin puree work here.
- Pumpkin Spice. I don’t normally have pumpkin pie spice on hand but I usually make my own using this recipe.

Equipment for Making Homemade Pumpkin Pie Larabars
- I recommend a food processor when you’re chopping up things like dates or nuts because the average blender doesn’t do the job well enough. Or if you have a high powered blender like my Blendtec, it’ll do the job.
- I used the Twister Jar with my Blendtec and the dates were nice and mushy after just one round. If you don’t have a fancy blender, definitely use a food processor.
- To make your Larabar bites a nice round shape, use a cookie scoop like this one. I use mine ALL.THE.TIME. in my kitchen. From breakfast cookies to meatballs to energy bites – even pumpkin or strawberry lemonade donuts – I love my cookie scoop! I love it so much, in fact, that it’s on my top list of kitchen gadget gifts when the holidays roll around!

Storing Larabar Pumpkin Pie Bites
Because pumpkin Larabar bites are soft, you’ll want to store them in the freezer. Don’t worry – they won’t freeze solid. They’ll be soft enough to bite into straight out of the freezer, but hard enough that they won’t turn to goo in your hands.
I pack these in school lunches, but they are soft by mid-day. The kids don’t seem to mind, but I give them a spoon just in case and pack them in the small section of a Planet Box container or in a small glass container on their own so they don’t “melt” into another part of their lunch.

Other Favorite Pumpkin Recipes
- 5 Ingredient Pumpkin Fudge
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Classic Pumpkin Bread
- Pumpkin Swirl Black Bean Brownies
- 5-Minute Pumpkin Pie Hummus
Watch How to Make Homemade Pumpkin Larabar Bites
Homemade Pumpkin Larabar Bites
Make pumpkin Larabar bites at home in 5 minutes with a few basic ingredients. Great for school lunches, snacks and cost 50% less than the store.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 0 mins
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 24–30 balls 1x
- Category: Snacks
- Method: Freeze
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- 1 cup dates (about 10), quartered
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/2 cup shredded coconut
- 1/4 cup pumpkin puree (how to make it homemade)
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract (how to make it homemade)
- 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice*
- pinch salt
Instructions
- In a food processor or a high powered blender (I have a Blendtec, combine dates and up to 1 cup of nuts. (If you want a more textured Larabar bite, add 1/3 cup of nuts. If you want a completely smooth Larabar bite, add all the nuts.)
- Process the nuts and dates until you have a thick, yet mostly smooth mixture. Remove mixture to a medium bowl.
- Add the remaining ingredients and mix well with a spoon. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Using a cookie scoop, scoop the mixture into balls onto the parchment paper. If desired, gently roll the balls with your fingers to shape.
- The Larabar bites are ready to eat at this point, but we prefer to eat them after they’ve firmed up in the freezer for at least 30 minutes. Store pumpkin Larabar bites in the freezer.
Goodness, it is 2023 when typing this. New to this site. I have never heard of this treat. But based on all of the reviews posted – why wouldn’t I try both chocolate chip and pumpkin and then perhaps the apple……You girls make it hard to skip this. I am always on the search for my grandchildren’s snacks. They live right next door – we are on a farm and so needless to say, we are always prepared for a drop in visit. In the fair tales the grandchildren bring me muffins, somehow our fair tale is reversed, lucky me.
AMAZING
My son have a but allergy, what can I substitute for the nuts. I being looking to get more protein in his diet since his train a lot.
Thanks
Hi Paula,
Can he tolerate seeds? Perhaps pumpkin seeds (pepitas) or sunflower seeds?
Holy wow! I couldnt find the seasonal pumpkin larabars in my small town, and was so pleased to stumble upon this recipe!
Just whipped up a batch with my four year old and they are INCREDIBLE!
Thank you, this will definitely be made again soon…in a double batch!
You’re so very welcome Katie!
Delicious & so easy. I added flax seeds to mine.
Glad you liked these Amy!
These sound fantastic! I go heavy on the pumpkin spices, too! 🙂 My kids are finally coming around to enjoying Larabars and they LOVE frozen energy balls, so I’d like to try this recipe. We aren’t big on coconut. Do you think oats would work as a substitute for the coconut?
Yes! Oats work great. I wrote the recipe for coconut since larabars are traditional paleo and grain-free, but I tested a batch with oats and they were great!
Awesome, I will put this on my ‘must make’ list! Thanks for all of your testing! 🙂
I made these last week and they were a touch spicy but I found the perfect thing to do with them. I made pumpkin pie smoothies with them. I froze my homemade pumpkin puree in ice cube trays. I added 1 c water, 1 c milk, about 6 or 8 pumpkin ice cubes and 2 larabar bites. Blended them up and enjoyed. It’s not overly sweet so you could also add some honey or sweetener to it to taste. Thank you for a yummy recipe!
You’re welcome Tiffany! By the way, you can cut back on the spice if you’d like. I like my pumpkin spiced stuff to REALLY be spiced, so definitely adjust to taste. 🙂
AMAZING! I made 2 batches today. So good. I’ve made several of your recipes and have not been disappointed! Thank You for sharing!
We love Larabars! Pecan Pie, Apple Pie, and if it ain’t broke don’t fix it (Cashew Cookie) are our favs. I’ve never made my own, but I may just have to try your pumpkin recipe. Costco is a great place for the dates and nuts.
Pumpkin + Larabar = Perfection!
I 100% agree! 🙂