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
What happened to the flax seed? Everyone keeps asking about it in the comments, but it’s nowhere to be found in the ingredient list. Has there been a rewrite?
I have these in the oven now (no flax), and the batter tasted great, but I’d be interested in including the flax next time!
Hi! It has indeed been updated. The old version can be found still though if you just put the url into the wayback machine (web.archive.org). Or you can easily add a spoonful of flaxmeal to this newer recipe and it will still be fine 🙂
I love Katie’s website and healthy dessert recipes–definitely can relate to eating cake for breakfast and chocolate every day! 🙂 I’m excited to be checking out your cookbook from the local library!
I made these as written, but they didn’t set up for me and remained like cookie dough. So I tried again, shrinking the white sugar to 1/2 cup, and adding 1 egg plus 1/4 cup coconut flour, and baking for 45 min. They set up nicely, albeit with a cake-y texture. I’ll have to continue my quest to get them gooey and just right!
I want to make these. Would I use sweetened or unsweetened applesauce? Would you other make a big difference?? Thanks
We usually use unsweetened, but some readers have used sweetened and also say that way is good too 🙂
This was my favorite recipe (seriously made it dozens of times) but looks different now. I’m afraid to try this new one and mess with what I thought was perfection! Would love to see the old version reposted, especially since it was flourless. Why the update?
I agree!! I have made the chickpeas blondies so many times over the past 4 years, but I thought the recipe was different (no banana, no apple sauce, no flour, and instead rolled oats, right? I just don’t remember the exact recipe). I’d love to get that original recipe again! I guess I should try this new version (I shouldn’t doubt that it’s better) but right now I can’t afford a potential mishap and would prefer to go with the version I’ve had success with.
Cheers!
Hi! It has indeed been updated. The old version can be found still though if you just put the url into the wayback machine (web.archive.org) 🙂
To be honest I was very skeptical from looking at the list of ingredients and also while mixing I still sensed a strong bean smell. However, I told myself to just follow the recipe and see how they turn out because I’ve yet to have a CCK recipe turn out bad! And this was no exception! They are so yummy. And since I’m pregnant the chickpeas will help a ton with adding to my folate intake!
Can I replace the applesauce with more nut butter?
Yes that would work! You might just need to add a little extra liquid if using a drier nut butter.
You’d never believe the ingredients! They taste so good!
These are amazing!!!!!
Can you sub dry sugars for maple syrup or honey?
Thank you for making them! Here’s a similar recipe that uses liquid sweetener: https://lett-trim.today/sweet-potato-blondies/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Made them and brought them into work. I wouldn’t tell anyone what they were made with and they raved about them. Then I told them and they have asked me every day to make them again… thank you so much
I had made these many times before…but it had been a few years…decided to bake them this week. A nice treat. I have the recipe written out on an index card…and it looks like you may have updated with some changes? Applesauce/banana? Baking soda AND baking powder? I ended up following the “old way”. (My ingredients included garbanzos, oats, raw brown sugar, homemade peanut butter)
Hi, yes this one has been updated. We do have the old one saved if you ever lose your copy, so it will always be accessible too if you need it 🙂
Where can I find the old version?
Hi Katie, thanks for another great recipe! I followed your instructions exactly, but my blondies sank in the middle. Any ideas why and what I can do next time? Thanks!
Hi, sorry to be confused – blondies are not a recipe that rises much more than what they look like when they go in, so I am not really sure what you mean by saying they sunk. Did you use an 8×8?
These look AWESOME, KATIE!!!
I think if I use the spelt flour, then they are Pesach-dic (kosher le-Pesach)!!!
THANK YOU!!!
:o)))))))
The Blondies are cut into 9 servings but your nutritional value shows 15 servings.
Why the discrepancy?
Thanks
Hi Joan, read the text under the nutrition label and it explains the difference in serving size. The text under the nutrition label should also answer the question you asked on Katie’s cookie dough post 🙂
I have been making this recipe for years and you recently changed it. I really want the old recipe back. Where is it? I wish I had saved it, I do not like this new recipe with banana or yogurt. The original recipe had fewer ingredients, included peanut butter as the nut butter and flax or ground oats. If you still have it, I would love it to be emailed to me. Otherwise, I’m looking online for a new go to chickpea blondie recipe. I’m sad to see you have made this yogurt/banana/applesauce addition to multiple of your old recipes. Again, I wish I had saved the originals. This is not the original recipe 🙁
Hi Kate, how do you store these? How many days do they last? Thanks!
Can you substitute tahini for the peanut butter? I have a friend coming over who is allergic to nuts and would rather not use oil.
Hi, we don’t know about the flavor but that is fine for texture and should be an even sub! Or you might try these tahini cookies: https://lett-trim.today/tahini-cookies-recipe/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Made this with oat flour and added strawberry slices instead of chocolate chips.
My husband ate half of the whole thing in one sitting!
Mine had a chickpea taste in it, but I used chickpeas that I had cooked and frozen before, so maybe that was why. But anyhow, it was still delicious and easy to make!