This single serving chocolate brownie in a mug recipe is the perfect choice for any time you’re craving a simple gooey chocolate fudge brownie dessert!
Chocolate brownie in a mug
Say hello to a rich, moist, and delicious chocolate treat, ready in under five minutes.
For any true chocolate lover, this dangerously easy chocolate mug brownie for one might become your new favorite recipe, because you can whip it up almost instantly, as soon as a chocolate craving hits.
There’s no need to even heat up an oven!
I’ve made the recipe at least a dozen times over the past month, with no plans to stop. It’s warm, comforting, and so decadent.
You may also like these Black Bean Brownies
The best brownie mug cake
Single serving and easy to make, this decadent chocolate recipe can also be high protein, gluten free, sugar free, and vegan, with no eggs required.
And do you want to know the best part? Unlike many other chocolate brownie mug cake recipes, this one calls for absolutely no box brownie mix!
Feel free to add chocolate chips, or top with Coconut Ice Cream or Keto Ice Cream.
The gooey brownie in a mug was adapted from my healthy chocolate mug cake, which is one of the reader favorite recipes on my site.
To turn it into a single serving brownie, I played around with the ingredient ratios and also added some Dutch cocoa to give it that ultra rich, deep and chocolatey classic brownie flavor.
Also be sure to try this Healthy Banana Bread
Step by step recipe video
Brownie mug cake ingredients
Cocoa powder – The recipe calls for both regular unsweetened cocoa powder or cacao powder and Dutch process cocoa powder.
If you can only find regular cocoa, it still works without Dutch. The brownie mug cake will just not have as much of a rich traditional brownie flavor.
What type of flour? You can use white all purpose flour, whole grain spelt flour, or oat flour. There is also a keto option included in the recipe.
I have not tried almond flour, coconut flour, or whole wheat flour here and therefore cannot recommend those.
Oil or applesauce – The video uses coconut oil, but you can substitute any neutral oil or your favorite healthy nut butter of choice, such as peanut butter or almond butter.
While I prefer using oil instead of a low fat version, many readers have written in to say they love the results when replacing the fat for applesauce or mashed banana. So you can try one of these fat free ideas if you want to experiment.
Flavor variations
Protein Mug Brownie. Simply substitute the tablespoon of cocoa powder with an equal amount of your favorite chocolate protein powder.
Mint Chocolate. Add a few drops of pure peppermint extract (up to 1/4 teaspoon) along with the wet ingredients.
Mocha Brownie. Stir half a teaspoon of instant coffee powder in with the cocoa powder. Or use espresso in place of the milk.
Nutella Mug Brownie. Replace all of the oil with a heaping spoonful of jarred chocolate hazelnut butter or this Homemade Nutella Recipe.
How to make the recipe
To whip up the chocolate dessert, simply stir together the cocoa powder, flour, sugar or sugar free sweetener, baking powder, salt, oil or nut butter, milk of choice, and pure vanilla extract in a in a coffee mug or heat safe dish.
The brownie can be made in a microwave or a conventional oven. Be sure to grease the mug first if you want to remove the cake before eating it.
If you are baking the mug brownie in an oven, preheat it to 350° Fahrenheit or 176 °Celsius. Once it reaches the set temperature, bake the mug cake dessert for fourteen minutes on the center rack of the oven, then let it cool.
Or if you prefer a microwave brownie, place the dish or coffee cup in your microwave and cook until done. Time will depend on your microwave’s wattage.
I cooked my fudgy mug brownie for a minute, followed by two ten-second increments, so the mug dessert will be ready in about eighty or ninety seconds total.
Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to three days.
Wait, what leftovers?
Here’s a vanilla version: Vanilla Mug Cake
Brownie In A Mug
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (5g)
- 2 tsp Dutch cocoa powder or additional unsweetened cocoa powder (4g)
- 3 tbsp flour (22g) (spelt, white, or oat flour, or here’s a Keto Mug Cake Recipe)
- 2 tbsp sugar or xylitol for sugar free (24g)
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp oil or nut butter (12g) (some readers sub applesauce or banana)
- 3 tbsp milk of choice (45g)
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract (3g)
Instructions
- *If you want to remove the brownie mug cake before eating it, be sure to grease the mug before starting. If you can’t find Dutch cocoa, subbing additional regular will still work; it will just have less of a brownie flavor. I haven’t tried subbing applesauce or banana for the fat and therefore can’t vouch for the taste of that substitution.If baking the brownie in a mug, preheat your oven to 350 F. Combine all ingredients in a mug or 1-cup dish (or two 1/2-cup dishes). Either bake around 14 minutes, OR microwave until set. Microwave times will vary depending on wattage and if using one or two dishes – I cooked mine for 1 minute, followed by two 10-second increments. If you try the recipe, be sure to leave a comment or rate it below!View Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
More Healthy Chocolate Recipes
Chocolate Truffles – 3 ingredients
Katie your recipes are amazing. Thank you so much for sharing them with me. I just made the mug brownie and it is so yummy. I’ve made a lot of your desserts and regular dishes and we have enjoyed them all!!
Hmmmmm… This is NOT a ready in five minutes dish. Measuring out the ingredients takes a lot of time. Will not be trying again. Was not worth the effort.
Also, the tiny text in this comment box makes it difficult to read what I’m writing.
You can enlarge your screen by doing Command + and – to make your screen bigger and smaller.
It really shouldn’t take longer than a few minutes to measure out these ingredients. I would guess 2 or 3, although I have not timed it. But you could also measure the dry ingredients into bags to have on hand, that way you only have to get out those ingredients once. Hope that’s helpful.
Just made it took me 5 minutes to get the ingredients together and 1 minute to cook so not bad lol. That’s a great idea Hannah thank you! I did however use 2 tbsp cocoa powder and 2 tbsp sugar for my bf. He thought the original tasted “sugar free?” That may help some. Thank you for this recipe!
Just made it took me 5 minutes to get the ingredients together and 1 minute to cook so not bad lol. That’s a great idea Hannah thank you! I did however use 2 tbsp cocoa powder and 3 tbsp sugar for my bf. He thought the original tasted “sugar free?” That may help some. Thank you for this recipe!
that was indeed a very helpful comment!
i have some tweeny cute lil mason jars that i was wondering what to do with…
& thanks to u, im now gonna prep these ingredients in them & store in pantry as my ready to go mug-cake, dry cake-mixes!
so THANKYOU!
I agree, this recipe looks like it would take closer to 15 to 20min by the time you measure everything out, bake it, and then clean up all spoons that get dirtied from measuring everything!
If you bake it in the oven, it will be longer. But the microwave version can be done in about 5 minutes, including cooking time.
Even if I used a microwave, this recipe from start to finish would take me 15-20min. I just wanted to agree with the original commenter and let her know that I felt the same way.
I would time it. There’s no way it should take that long to measure out a few ingredients! But the bag trick would definitely help to cut back on time regardless.
I don’t understand why you want to dispute my personal time estimate. All I wanted to do was interact and connect with another commenter.
Trying to save you time, that’s all 😉
No way does this take 15 minutes on the microwave version. This barely took me five minutes from start to finish eating. I’d add chocolate chips for a deeper level of chocolate. Loved this recipe!
Wow, 15 to 20 minutes sounds excessive to me!
Any way you slice it this is still a really quick recipe! I’ve been making it for years and it was a real lifesaver for my college days living by myself. I still make it often when I have a craving because it’s made with only pantry staples and saves me eating a whole pan by myself!
Thank you so much for making it 🙂
Good LORD.
Okay Karen.
Lamo
Looks too good to be true! OMG! I can’t believe this decadent dessert is far too easy to make. I must try replicating this brownie mug cake ASAP!
I have made this recipe more times than I’d like to admit since you posted it on instagram. I love using oat flour and it does come together in 5 minutes or less especially with practice ? It’s my favorite mug cake!
Where would you find dutch cocoa?
Most grocery stores or target or walmart will have it. Just look for the words “processed with alkali” somewhere in the ingredients. Hershey’s Special Dark is one brand in major stores, or this is the one Katie often uses: https://amzn.to/2XHbBa7
Just made this and it was delicious. I used almond butter and Hershey’s Special Dark chocolate. It’s great to be able to make just one! Keeps me from eating too many ?
Hi,
I Love your recipes and your beautiful pictures!
Just got your Mug Brownie recipe and it looks amazing.
I think there is a mistake in the nutrition facts though, the amount of sugars that is written is 1.1 which doesn’t make sense given the 2 Tbs of sugar. Maybe its for the erythritol version?
Thanks for all your wonderful recipes, keep going!
Osnat 🙂
Hi, keep scrolling down the page. There are nutrition fact tables for both versions 🙂
Found it! Thanks!
Hi, kate your content is lovely so far I’ve looked at a few of your recipes and the vegetarian brownie looks good, and i am all about my health so kudos to you again.I will be trying out the vegetarian brownie.
I love it. I know I will be making it quite often. The best part is that was able to enjoy a delicious treat and I don’t have a whole pan tempting me.
This is so, so delicious. I subbed the oil for applesauce and baked in the oven, which tasted much better than the microwave version (I tried both). It definitely needs a frosting of some sort, IMO. This is in my favorites folder and I’ve made it at least 5 times already!
This brownie is so good!. I tried with applesauce, no dutch cocoa and it still tasted delicious!
Made this by splitting the batter between two ramekins and baked them in the oven. I added mini chocolate chips, used coconut palm sugar, and peanut oil and they were perfect with vanilla bean ice cream on top!!! Will absolutely be making these again and again!!!
vanilla bean ice-cream is EXACTLY what I wanted to go on mine but had to settle for vanilla chocolate chip. Vanilla bean would have been the bomb!!!
I tried this today for the first time. It was delicious and took me just under 10 minutes but only because my hubby reorganized the pantry and I had some scavenging to do to find all the ingredients. Next time will be less than 5 minutes for sure!
I made the Brownie-in- the- Mug and granted I didn’t time it but good grief, does it really matter? I think I had mine put together between 5-10 minutes start to finish. ha ha, that is subtracting the time I spent keeping track of a hyperactive puppy. Now to rate the recipe. 5 stars!!! It was so delicious. It definitely satisfied my sweet tooth and dessert craving. I used dark chocolate cocoa powder, full amount, and white chocolate chips. I have to eat gluten-free so I used oat flour. I only needed 1 minute and 10 seconds to cook. I will try it with organic natural peanut butter next and coconut oil another time. Has anyone tried olive oil? This is nice to have a single serving of so you can’t over-indulge. I wish i had taken a picture after it was done and with a cute little scoop of ice-cream on top.
Thank you Katie ~ I have enjoyed looking at your recipes and have tried a few. I admire your creativity.
Keeping track of a hyperactive puppy seems like a worthy use of adding a few extra minutes on to this recipe’s cooking time ?
I tried it with olive oil and it came out perfectly! Great recipe!
The chocolate cake in a mug has been my go-to for a last minute dessert since it was published. Lately I’ve been really into brownies so this adaptation is great! I always underbake mine in the microwave. I make it as written except for half coconut oil and half applesauce and a few chocolate chips.
This recipe is amazing. Takes less than 5 minutes to assemble and 1 minute to microwave. And then a decadent brownie treat on a day I really needed a chocolate pick-me- up. Thanks Katie!