Super creamy pineapple bars made with protein-packed Greek yogurt & sweet pineapple juice. Only 130 calories per square.
Maybe it’s the feet (plural) of snow, high-speed blizzard winds, and frigid temperatures responsible for my summer/pineapple/sunshine cravings?! Since warm rays of sunshine are few and far between these days, I have the next best thing for us all: super light & creamy pineapple-infused Greek yogurt squares.
How to Make Creamy Pineapple Bars
Making these Greek yogurt pineapple bars is a (summer) breeze. I channeled my recent Greek yogurt lemon bars, sprucing them up with a tropical makeover. Flavored with pineapple juice, topped with pineapple and cherries– frosty piña colada style.
You only need 8 ingredients. With so few ingredients, each one serves an important purpose.
- Eggs (yolks especially): Eggs give the pineapple bars structure.
- Greek Yogurt: Greek yogurt promises an extra creamy square. I use plain 0% Greek yogurt, but a low fat or full fat version works too.
- Cream Cheese: Helps set the filling.
- Pineapple Juice and Sugar: Flavor and sweeten.
- Vanilla Extract: Flavor. These would be awesome with coconut extract, too! See my recipe note.
Along with a 2 ingredient graham cracker crust: graham crackers and butter.
These Greek yogurt pineapple bars aren’t super sweet– keep that in mind when you take your first bite. I reduced the sugar from traditional cheesecake bar recipes to a scant 1/4 cup for the entire pan. The reduction of sugar is pretty refreshing. Without all that unnecessary sugar, other flavors can shine through like tart Greek yogurt, tangy cream cheese, and pineapple. Real food, tasting really good. It’s the cherry on top. (Ha!!!)
More Lightened-Up Recipes
- Greek Yogurt Apple Blueberry Bread
- Dark Chocolate Almond Truffles
- Greek Yogurt Fruit Tart
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Snack Bars
- Greek Yogurt Zucchini Bread
- 45 Calorie Mini Chocolate Chip Muffins
130 Calorie Greek Yogurt Pineapple Bars
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours, 45 minutes
- Yield: 12 squares
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Super creamy pineapple bars made with protein-packed Greek yogurt & sweet pineapple juice. Only 130 calories per square. Don’t skip the chilling step– these bars need to properly set in the refrigerator like traditional cheesecake.
Ingredients
Crust
- 3/4 cup (85g) graham cracker crumbs (about 5–6 full sheet graham crackers)
- 2 Tablespoons (30g) unsalted butter, melted (or melted coconut oil)
Filling
- 6 ounces (168g) brick-style light cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (181g) plain nonfat or low fat Greek yogurt, at room temperature
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup (80ml) pineapple juice
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract*
- optional: top with cherries and pineapple slices when serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300°F (149°C). Line the bottom and sides of an 8 or 9 inch square baking pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper, leaving an overhang on all sides to easily lift the bars out of the pan before cutting. Set aside.
- Make the crust: Mix the graham cracker crumbs and melted butter together in a medium bowl until combined. Evenly press crust into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.
- Make the filling: In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese on high speed until completely smooth, about 1 minute. On medium-high speed, beat in yogurt until completely combined. Then beat in the eggs and egg yolk until combined. Finally, beat in the sugar, pineapple juice, and vanilla extract until everything is combined and no lumps remain.
- Pour filling onto the crust. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the center of the bars no longer jiggles (remove from the oven and gently wiggle the pan to check). Allow the bars to cool at room temperature set on a wire rack for 30 minutes, then transfer to the refrigerator to chill for 3-4 hours or even overnight.
- Once chilled, lift the foil out of the pan using the overhang on the sides and cut into squares. For neat squares, I use a very sharp knife and wipe it clean with a paper towel after each cut. Leftovers keep well in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Prepare the bars 1-3 days in advance and store covered tightly in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Bars can be frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving.
- Eggs: You need 2 large eggs plus an additional egg yolk making a total of 3 egg yolks and 2 egg whites.
- Room Temperature Ingredients: Room temperature dairy and eggs mix easily and more evenly into one another. I always recommend room temperature, especially cream cheese, when making these types of bars.
- Pineapple Coconut Squares: Replace the vanilla extract with 1/2 teaspoon of coconut extract.
- Nutrition Information: Using SparkRecipes calculator, these bars come out to 129 calories, 6g fat, 13g carbs, 4g protein each. This is using Philadelphia light cream cheese, FAGE nonfat plain Greek yogurt, Dole 100% pineapple juice, and Nabisco graham crackers.
Keywords: healthy yogurt pineapple bars, greek yogurt pineapple bars
Would like to try this recipe with gluten free graham wafers.
Any doubts?
Hi Suzanne, we haven’t tested the crust with gluten-free graham cracker, but they should work just fine. Let us know how it goes!
can this be doubled?
Hi Gina, you should be able to double this recipe for a 9×13 pan. Let us know how it goes!
Does the temp need to be raised after you do the crust? After 30 mins it was still really jiggly.
Hi Robyn, no keep the temperature the same for the filling. Did you make and substitutions? Your bars just may need more time to bake!
I love your recipes! I made the Greek yogurt bars and they are delicious.
★★★★★
Hi Sally,
I made this today and it tasted so bitter. Is it because I used fresh pineapple juice? I also had to bake almost 10-15 mins longer.
Thanks!
★★★★
Hi Noreen! I can’t imagine what would make these taste bitter since pineapple juice is pretty sweet– did you by chance taste the juice itself? Was it bitter tasting? Or perhaps the Greek yogurt you used was a little too tart? Thank you so much for trying the recipe.
Thanks for replying. The pineapple itself tasted fine. I didn’t try the yogurt, I had purchased it the day before. Oh well, I’ll try it again. Thanks!
I made these bars twice before with fresh pineapple juice and they were bitter. First time I used 1tsp instead of half tsp coconut extract and thought that was what caused it to be bitter. The second time I made sure everything was exact and pineapple juice was fresh and it still tasted bitter. I’m new to baking so I didn’t even know what I did wrong but then my mother-in-law informed that it was the fresh pineapple juice. So today I made them for the third time and they were perfect! I even used fat free cream cheese and low fat Greek pineapple yogurt. I cut them into 16 pieces which made them 48 calories with only 1 gram of fat! I’ve also made the lemon bars and the chocolate chip bars without any issues. Thanks Sally!
★★★★★
I am planning to make these soon, and am considering using pineapple-flavored Greek yogurt instead of plain. The question is: will this result in pineapple overload? Hm…thoughts?
I think it would be delicious!
Hi Sally,
I’ve been a huge fan of your blog for years! Just wanted to comment and say that I made these for a Memorial Day BBQ and they were FANTASTIC! The only change I made was using key lime juice instead of the pineapple juice, so I upped the sugar a teeny bit (75 g instead of 50 g). I also used greek yogurt cream cheese to add another extra boost of protein! My key lime pie loving father devoured them and said they were the best he’d ever had. Thank you so much for sharing this healthy option!
Sarah
The key lime version sounds AMAZING!
Can I replace juice with orange or cranberry juice?
Absolutely. Yum!
These look wonderful, and I love pineapple! Do you think it would work if I also stirred some crushed pineapple into the batter? Or would it be too wet?
Hi Sylvia! Too much liquid, unfortunately. If you do want to add some crushed pineapple, how about adding more cream cheese to thicken it up.