If you’re a Fig Newton fan, this homemade vegan fig bar recipe is the BEST healthy swap with a fruit-sweetened filling and buttery gluten-free crust!

How To Make Homemade Fig Bars

This recipe does require a little bit of prep time, but most of that is passive – watching figs boil or waiting for bars to bake. The ingredients are quite simple, and I have included a few options for swaps and ingredient substitutes below…

Making the Sugar-Free Fig Filling

Don’t get me wrong, there is PLENTY of natural fruit sweetness involved. Just no added or refined sugar thanks to a combination of the figs themselves and orange juice. Dried mission figs are sweet and seedy and delicious and the star of this recipe, they really don’t need much to make them shine. However a 1:1 combination of orange juice and water (you could use all OJ, but personally I think it’s sweet enough like this!) adds just the right amount of sweetness and a slight citrus flavor that goes great with figs. You could also use apple juice or white grape juice and a tablespoon or two of lemon juice for the citrus pop.

One VERY small but important step in this recipe is removing the stems from the dried figs. Do not skip this unless you want little hard chunks in your fig bars (you don’t). After that the process is simple: simmer figs in the juice/water until soft and somewhat thickened, then process to a jammy consistency. I like to make the filling first (or even the day before) so it has time to cool while you prep the crust.

Making The Vegan Gluten-Free Crust

No eggs, dairy, or gluten in this buttery cookie crust. Just a simple 8-ingredient, one-bowl dough thats split to create both the top and bottom layers. You will need:

Gluten-free flour. Your favorite blend, or regular all purpose if you aren’t gluten-free. I used King Arthur’s Gluten-Free Measure-for-Measure flour which does contain xanthan gum, I haven’t tested with a flour that doesn’t.
Coconut sugar. Or brown sugar would work too. You could try cane sugar, but they bars will likely be a bit drier.
Baking powder and salt. The other two dry ingredients we need for the perfect crust.
SunButter. This is that brings in all the buttery shortbread vibes and a deliciously “nutty” flavor. I used their Organic variety, which I love for baking because it doesn’t contain any sugar or salt, but any creamy variety would be fine. If you are familiar with SunButter baking you know about the risk of green desserts, but I did not have any issue with that in this recipe.
Coconut oil. Melted will make the dough easier to mix. I do not recommend subbing in another oil, it will make the top layer trickier to roll out/transfer.
Vanilla extract. For flavor.
Almond milk. Or any variety of non-dairy milk you like. Just a splash or two to get the perfect moist dough, add it slowly and don’t over do it.

Whisk the dry > add the wet > mix/knead it all into a ball > divide into two. About 2/3 of the dough will be used for the bottom and 1/3 for the top layer. The bottom crust is a simple press-in situation that we are par-baking before adding everything else on top. Meanwhile the top layer needs to be rolled into a think top layer because pressing on top of that fig filling would be much too messy. The dough is too soft to roll at room temp, but if you refrigerate or free while the bottom crust bakes it become the perfect consistency for rolling and carefully plopping on top. I do recommend using wax or parchment paper to make this rolling/plopping process a bit easier.

After layering and baking, you reeeeeeally do need to let them cool before slicing for structural integrity purposes. I know, patience sucks. But the fig newton was never a cookie meant to be eaten warm, and I promise it’s worth the wait.

More Copycat Classic Recipes You’ll Love