Pistachio Bars are soft cookie bars filled with white chocolate and topped with a creamy frosting and crunchy pistachios. If you like Pistachio Cookies, you're going to love this ultra soft cookie bar version! 
Pistachio Bars
These delightful, easy pistachio squares are such a fun St. Patricks Day or holiday treat! They're super soft and green colored from the pistachio pudding mix. They're topped with a divine buttercream frosting and filled with white chocolate chips. These quickly became one of our favorite quick and easy treats!
Ingredients
Here's a basic list of ingredients for these pistachio cookie bars. Complete list in the recipe below!
- Butter
- Granulated white sugar
- Eggs, large
- Vanilla extract
- Almond extract
- Pistachio pudding mix
- All purpose flour
- Salt
- Baking soda
- White chocolate chips
- Powdered sugar
- Milk or cream
- Pistachios
Instructions
It's so simple to whip up these bars! Here are the basic instructions for making the pistachio bars, then making the light and sweet buttercream frosting.
- Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy, then add the eggs one at a time and mix well.
- Add vanilla, salt, pudding mix, flour, and baking soda. Mix until well combined. Fold in white chocolate chips.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, will be soft and golden brown around edges. Cool completely before frosting.
- For frosting, cream butter and powdered sugar until fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add vanilla and almond extracts, and heavy cream and mix well.
- Spread evenly over bars, then sprinkle chopped pistachios on top. Slice and serve!
Substitutions
Keep in mind this recipe is pretty simple, changing ingredients around too much will change the consistency. However, there are a few substitutions you can make.
- Pudding mix - you can use sugar free or regular, as long as it's the instant variety.
- Flavors - you can substitute different flavors of pudding mix for a fun twist!
- Nuts - you can replace the pistachios with extra white chocolate chips, however there are still pistachios in the pudding mix.
Storage
Pistachio bars can be stored at room temperature for 2-3 days.
They can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Freeze unfrosted bars in an airtight container and then make frosting when ready to serve after thawing the bars at room temperature. 
More pudding mix desserts
Need a few more ideas for pudding mix desserts? I got you covered!
📝 Printable Recipe
Pistachio Bars
Ingredients
For the Pistachio Bars
- 1 cup salted butter softened
- ½ cup white granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 (3.4 oz) boxes instant pistachio pudding mix
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- ¼ cup chopped pistachios
For the Frosting:
- ½ cup salted butter softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 2-3 Tablespoon heavy cream or milk
Instructions
For the Pistachio Bars:
- Preheat the oven to 375°F and prepare a 9x13 inch baking dish with baking spray or parchment paper.
- With an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes on high speed until fluffy. Add in eggs and vanilla and mix well.
- Add pudding mix, baking soda, flour, and salt and mix on low speed until combined. Add in white chocolate chips last and gently stir into the dough.
- Spread evenly into bottom of baking dish and bake for 15-17 minutes, will be soft and look harder around the edges and slightly underbaked in the middle, just like a cookie. Cool completely before frosting.
For the Frosting:
- With an electric mixer cream together butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add in vanilla and almond extracts, and heavy cream, and mix well.
- Spread over cooled bars, then sprinkle chopped pistachios on top. Slice and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
PIN THIS IMAGE TO SAVE THE RECIPE:
Madison
There's no way to get brown edges at 10 minutes. I'm at 20 minutes and I think I can take it out, it's still very soft, but the edges are not brown at all. The frosting taste amazing!
Jaxx
This came out extremely dry, and with such an overpowering taste of the fake ingredients used in the pistachio pudding mix. It needed twice the amount of time in the oven as listed. It crumbles too easily and unfortunately tastes of chemicals. I still want to try a pistachio pudding par recipe, but unfortunately this one was a miss!
Sara
I would recommend not overbaking them so they don’t turn out dry and crumbly. They are made to be a soft sugar cookie like texture. Kids enjoy the taste immensely, but it is definitely made with artificial flavoring so if you don’t like the pudding, the bars won’t be to your liking.
Marissa Murphy
I followed the recipe but needed more time in the oven than 12 minutes
Connie
Love pistachio! Will be trying soon!