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!
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
Brownie in a mug recipe video
Above – watch the video how to make a brownie in a mug
Brownie mug cake ingredients
For the 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.
For the fat: 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 haven’t tried a low fat version, many readers have written in to say they’ve had good results replacing the oil for applesauce or mashed banana. So you can try one of these fat free ideas if you want to experiment.
For a protein mug brownie: Simply substitute the tablespoon of cocoa powder with an equal amount of your favorite chocolate protein powder.
Flavor variations: Add a few drops of pure peppermint extract for a mint chocolate brownie in a mug.
Or add a drop or two of almond or maple extract or up to half a teaspoon of instant coffee powder.
You can even make a Nutella brownie mug cake by replacing the oil with a spoonful of 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 degrees Fahrenheit. 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
- 2 tsp Dutch cocoa powder or additional unsweetened
- 3 tbsp flour (spelt, white, or oat flour, or here’s a Keto Mug Cake Recipe)
- 2 tbsp sugar or xylitol for sugar free
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp oil or nut butter (some readers sub applesauce or banana)
- 3 tbsp milk of choice
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
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
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!
This was the best mug brownie I’ve EVER had. It was so moist! I’ve been so skeptical of mug recipes cause many have failed me no matter how hard I tried. Thank you so much!!!!!
Fabulous. Didn’t have patience for oven so made microwave version with regular cocoa, AP flour, brown sugar, sunflower oil, oat milk. I gilded the lily by shoving a tablespoon of chocolate chips into the center after the first 60 seconds (before the last 20 seconds). Sprinkled the top very lightly with flaky salt while I was waiting for it to cool enough not to burn my tongue. Thank you for this! xo
Oooooo, the salt on the top sounds good!
CHOC CHIPS IN THE CENTRE SOUNDS BLOODY GOOD TOO EH! : )
I subbed in almond flour and it made a wonderful lava cake like base which I then topped with chocolate chips. Would highly recommend!!! Thank you Katie!!!
FYI…I timed myself. It took me slightly over four minutes to add the ingredients and one minute, ten seconds to cook in microwave and I had my kitchen cleaned up in the time it was cooking! Yay! So total t Maybe it’s because I love to cook and I do it a lot. By the way I used regular old good quality Cocoa and canola oil. While admittedly it wasn’t as good as a “normal” pan of my brownies, it was super quick and I was having a craving that this satisfied completely. I topped it with a heaping spoonful of cookies and cream ice cream and it was amazing…much better than ANY of the store bought brownie-for-one mixes. This brownie recipe is delicious and I will definitely make again! Thank you for the recipe!