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
has anyone attempted to make a version of this using black beans? I’ve seen chocolate cakes made with black beans but they use a ton of butter and eggs and are still really heavy on calories and fat.
I haven’t, but I’d love to hear about the results if you experiment!
I’ve made them with black beans and a few tablespoons of cocoa powder. The black beans have a much smoother texture than the chick peas, but it was really good. One of my favorite combos is to double the recipe and do one can of black beans and one can of chick peas plus the cocoa for a big pan of brownies. YUM.
Hi Katie,
I recently discovered your blog and have been addicted!! Made your fudge lara bars yesterday and they were amazingg 🙂
I was really keen to try a “bean” recipe so just made these blondies..after blending the batter it smelt strongly of chickpeas so I added more vanilla and some cocoa powder to try and get rid of the smell. When I took them out of the oven ad tried some I thought they were overly sweet and just tasted of beans 🙁 does anyone know what I couldve done wrong? I followed the recipe exactly except using applesauce instead of peanut butter.
thanks!! keep up the great work katie xx
Unfortunately, if you used applesauce instead of peanut butter, you didn’t follow the recipe exactly :(. That’s a huge change.
Oh okay thanks! will try half pb next time 🙂
“will try half pb next time”
Half? Just sayin, if you don’t follow the recipe, you can’t blame it if it turns out bad.
If its the extra calories you are worried about get some pb2 and do half regular penut butter half pb2 mixed with water to make it sticky again. The recipe require the fat to work correctly.
Hi Ashley! Also, if you used a store brand, I’ve had a similar problem with one of the store brands. I’ve had a ton of success with Goya and Bush’s brands, though, even if they’re a bit more expensive. One of my friends who’s gluten free had the same issue with the store brand chick peas.
In high school the ‘dumb blonde’ was always me. I had brown hair but my remarks were similar to those of a blonde. I was 3rd in my class, took all AP classes, but I just had ‘blonde moments.’ I would say completely ridiculous things without even noticing how stupid they sounded. Many things I could figure out on my own but I just asked instead. So, in conclusion, I’m book smart, not common sense smart.
These are AWESOME!!! Thank you Katie! I can’t believe they are healthy. Yum!
Is the nutrition info based on 15 or 20 squares?
20
I made these a couple weeks ago & Ive made them 4 times since! They are so delicious. Your whole blog is awesome! There is not one thing on here that I don’t want to try, I guess I’ll be baking alot:)
Thanks so much!
I’m so glad you liked them! 🙂
I just tried this recipe and it’s amazing. Photographed and posted my results for the world to see. Thx for sharing your recipes, Lauren!
I made these again but left out the chocolate (I know I’ve probably lost you there). I put in some lime zest and a few tbs of lime juice for a key line bar effect and they were tasty. I used coconut butter for the nut butter part. Mmm. If I do that again I’ll add some genuine white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts! Even if I’m outa limes I might do that anyway. Like wt chocolate macadamia nut blondes! Yes! Now I have to go back to the store.
Haha you didn’t lose me! I was actually wondering how a lemon version would work, so I love love love your lime idea!!
Is the nutrition info for 1 peice?
Made these the other night and used Nutella instead of Peanut Butter to make them Hazelnut brownies. Tasty. Thanks for the recipes.
Can I ask a dumb brunette question? How many ounces should this can of chick peas I am shopping for be?
Thanks. 🙂
A regular-sized 15 or 16oz can 🙂
i just made these….let me say OH.MY.GOODNESS. THESE WERE INCREDIBLE! i didnt have flax or any of the substitutions so I just omitted that part and they were fabulous! They were the texture of gooey and fudgy brownies and were absolutely delicious! Katie you are a dessert genius! I did however add extra chocolate chips 🙂
These really look good! But, I am not a huge fan of peanut butter. Do you have a healthier “true” blondie?
Sorry, at the moment I don’t have one without the beans (i.e. a more traditional blondie recipe). I’ll work on it! In the meantime, you can always use this recipe and just cut into bars! Maybe halve the recipe? https://lett-trim.today/2011/05/31/deep-dish-cookie-pie/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Do you think it would turn out okay if I use nutella instead of peanut butter? 🙂
I haven’t tried it so I can’t vouch for the results. But it *sounds* like it’d taste good!
I substituted a whole banana for the sugar and it turned it out fantastic!!!!
I kind of went on a CCK cooking binge tonight. I made a batch of blondies. I did about 1/3 chocolate chip (we only had 2 T choc chips here) and the rest snickerdoodle but I added cloves and cayenne to mine, ever heard of labor cookies? Yes, like so spicy they send you into labor, that’s what they are called lol. What can I say-I tried everything to get my second son out. They are my favorite cookies so I wanted to play with that. They turned out great, not mushy like a lot of comments said. I’ve never had a blondie before but these were great!
I also made the fudge babies but left out the nuts, I can’t stand taste or texture of nuts. OMG – why didn’t I make these sooner?? I could literally survive on those.
You are GENIUS with making desserts healthy. I love your blog because you seem so nice and down to earth, like somebody you could be friends with. A lot of other bloggers have this air about them when they write or things they say, or advertise all over the place which turns me off but I keep coming back to your blog every time I get an email.
Thank you, that really means a lot to me, Ashley. 🙂
I made these they were delicous!! Mine didn’t look quite as photogenic though! I dont think I blended the mixture well enough! Here they are http://www.cashewcookie.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/chocolate-chip-blondies.html ! But yum! They were scrummy!