These shockingly rich and gooey chocolate chip chickpea blondies are one of the most popular recipes I’ve ever posted!
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Even readers who don’t normally like healthy desserts LOVE these blondies!
Have you tried them yet???
In the years since first coming up with the recipe, I’ve served it probably over a hundred times to both strangers and friends, always with rave reviews.
No one can ever believe the ingredients or resist the charms of the moist and fudgy secretly healthy blondies.
Also try these Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
No dairy
No butter
No eggs!
White Bean Blondies
The recipe works with either chickpeas (garbanzo beans) or white beans like cannellini (white kidney beans) or great northern beans.
I like both versions equally, but many readers say they prefer using white beans because the resulting batter is smoother.
*Sugar note: You can use regular sugar, coconut sugar or date sugar, brown sugar, evaporated cane juice, or xylitol or granulated erythritol for sugar free blondies.
I once made a batch using stevia, which I thought were delicious. But my friends informed me they tasted like bars of soap. So make that substitution at your own risk!
For refined-sugar-free blondies, try these Sweet Potato Blondies
Above, watch the chickpea blondie recipe video
How to make chickpea blondies
Start by gathering all of the required ingredients.
If using canned beans instead of cooked, be sure to rinse and drain them very well.
(The drained liquid can actually be used to make Vegan Marshmallow Fluff!)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Blend everything together except the chocolate chips until it resembles cookie dough.
I use and recommend a food processor for smoothest blending and best texture, but some readers say they’ve used a blender (making sure to stop the machine and stir the contents occasionally) with good results.
Stir the chocolate chips into the batter, and smooth into a greased or parchment-lined 8-inch pan. Add a few chocolate chips to the top if desired.
Bake 30 minutes on the oven’s center rack, then remove while they’re still a bit gooey, because they will firm up as they cool.
Chickpea Blondies
Ingredients
- 1 can chickpeas or white beans, or 1 1/2 cups cooked
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp each: salt and baking soda
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar of choice (Substitutions are listed above)
- 1/3 cup flour (white, oat, spelt, sorghum, or 1/2 cup almond flour)
- 1/4 cup applesauce, mashed banana, or yogurt
- 3 tbsp oil or 1/4 cup nut butter
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips, or more if desired
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drain and rinse beans very well. Blend all ingredients (except chips) until very smooth in a good food processor (see not above about using a blender). Mix in chips, and scoop into a greased or parchment-lined 8×8 pan. Optional: you can stick some chocolate chips on top of the batter as well. Bake for 30 minutes. They'll look a little undercooked when you take them out, but they firm up as they cool.View Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
More Healthy Chickpea Desserts
Flourless Banana Blender Muffins
I didn’t believe it until I tasted one for myself. These are AMAZING!!!!
You cannot taste the beans at all. I have had black bean brownies before, and they were horrible. But these are SO good!
I’ve been reading your blog for a few months now, and finally had a free weekend to bake! I made these and the snickerdoodles right in a row so I don’t have to wash my food processor twice- I loved them both! There is no way these are going to last around here, so I’ll have to make a double batch of each again!
So so so happy you liked them so much!
Just ate one hot out of the oven! DELICIOUS!
Thanks Katie! 😀
Thank YOU for trying them!!! 🙂
I just made these tonight and they taste delicious! Thanks for the great recipe Katie. I used coconut sugar and they came out perfect.
As for blondes I was one (my hair has grown darker over the years) and I never acted dumb to get attention; many people assumed I was dumb because of my hair color. Starting in middle school, into high school, college and and even into law school dumb blonde jokes followed me. Eventually I started dying my hair darker. I recall quite vividly in law school a male classmate who I didn’t know very well knocking on my head and shouting “Hey blondie anything in there?”. It’s a relief now that my hair is darker. I’m also a feminist and feminism has nothing to do with men holding doors open for you or changing tires. Feminism is simply the radical notion that women and men are equal. My very smart blonde boyfriend holds doors open for me all the time. That’s just consideration.
First off, I tried this recipe- I’m not that accustomed to healthified desserts, so it was new and it was shockingly tasty! Thank you! One thing is that it was a bit too bean-y for my taste (maybe it was the texture?). I was wondering if it’s possible to change the chickpea to pb ratio? I’m a peanut butter lover so if I were to halve the recipe but lower the amount of chickpeas and keep the 1/4 cup peanut butter would there be a difference?
x
No idea… the only way to find out is to experiment! Let me know how it turns out if you do try it! 🙂
mmmm YUM! these just finished cooling and I ate one and it was so delish, seriously. i subbed the flax with ground up soy nuts and the peanut butter with like 1/2 a cup of apple sauce. I also used a 6-cup muffin tray and 1 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla. i already ate one entire muffin lol! thanks so much for this!
oh yeah and i cooked it for the same amount of time you suggested and they are so melt in your mouth and soft 🙂 plus it’s around 176 calories for an entire muffin!
I am so so happy you like them!! 🙂
OMG these are delicious! I made them a little while ago and absolutely loved them! I had my parents taste them and they couldn’t even tell beans were in there : ) Thanks so much for this delicious recipe!!
Thank YOU for trying it… and for taking the time to write such a sweet comment!
I made these blondies yesterday, and I’ll admit, I was a little skeptical about putting chickpeas in a dessert, but this recipe is amazing! I couldn’t even taste the beans, If I lived alone I would have eaten the entire pan!
Thanks so much for all the great recipes!
I was definitely skeptical too, when I first heard the idea of black-bean brownies! Skeptical… but intrigued at the same time! 😉
I made these with peanut butter & co’s “dark chocolate dreams” pb, added some coco powder and espresso powder. plus the chocolate chips! these are definitely so dense and fudgey, nobody can even tell that theyre made with peas!! thank you so much for the recipe, i love your site!!
Aww thank YOU so much, Katrina. I love your triple-chocolate idea!!
I finally made this recipe! It was awesome (except I blew the fuse with my blender, grr).
I used some splenda instead of the brown sugar.
Next time I will try adding some cinnamon.
I made 12 squares and already ate 3. yummmmm
I’m so happy you liked them! But not so happy about the poor blender… send him my get-well wishes ;).
These are soo good! I put pictures of the ones I made on my blog!!
Hi Katie —
I was looking for a new vegan bean-based dessert and this is it! I’m having made these several times in the last two weeks. I made some adjustments (a little more of something, less of something else) and used sun butter instead of peanut butter to accommodate for nut allergies. May I link your recipe to my food allergies blog?
Hey Irene! I would be honored 🙂
Thanks, Katie! I’ll come back and share the link after I’ve posted later this month. Hope you’re having a good week. 🙂
Hi Katie!
Love these blondies! I’ve got my beans ready for making another batch this weekend. I made a giant-size version — not a single-lady serving but a hungry mama and brood version LOL. I made a couple of tweaks (personal preference) and posted about it on our blog. http://getallergywise.blogspot.com/2011/09/garblondie-bars.html
Thanks again for introducing this terrific recipe!
Am I missing something? Isn’t chocolate NOT vegan?
Oh goodness, chocolate is DEFINITELY vegan!!! Some brands aren’t, because they are milk chocolate. But many dark chocolate bars (including some Ritter or Ghirardelli bars, Endangered Species brand, and many many many others) are vegan, and they even have ricemilk chocolate bars. And they make vegan chocolate chips too. And cocoa powder is vegan. Chocolate is definitely vegan :).
I made these using navy beans instead of garbanzo beans and they were excellent! Thank you so much!
Katie –
You’re a genius! I recently discovered your site and have made a new dessert each week.
I tried these using cannellini beans. They were delicious at first, but had a slightly bitter aftertaste. It didn’t stop from eating the whole pan:)
I’ll try them chick peas next time….
Aww! I’m so glad you found me :).
Made these today and have already eaten my portion of the pan! Yum! I used navy beans, half brown sugar/half stevia in the raw, almond butter and doubled the chocolate chips.
My dad even liked them and he normally abhors my healthy food. I wouldn’t tell him what they were made with until after he tried them and he couldn’t believe they were made with beans! But he did say “They taste like chocolate chip cookies into which someone put too many chocolate chips.” Such heresy! 😛
LOLOL!! Too many chocolate chips? No such thing! I love that you doubled the amount. Tell your dad he raised a smart girl ;).