Black Bean Brownies – the ultra fudgy and decadent chocolate treat.
Edit: Thank you to everyone who has been asking…
After more than a year in the works, my NEW cookbook is finally available!
Based on your feedback, every single recipe in the book comes with complete nutrition facts including calories, total fat, carbohydrates, protein, and Weight Watchers points.
Above – Watch how to make black bean brownies.
I know what you’re thinking.
“Why would I want to eat a healthy brownie when I could be eating a deep, dark, rich, fudgy, and chocolatey brownie instead?”
But what if the deep, dark, rich, chocolate brownie is the healthy brownie?
No, not in a dream world. These black bean brownies are healthy brownies that DO NOT taste healthy, and I can say that with assurance, as they’ve been tested on three different groups of people used to “normal” desserts.
For the ultimate test, my roommate brought two pans of the vegan black bean brownies into work and set them down on the table without revealing the secret or saying they were healthy.
She came home with no brownies left… but with five requests for the healthy black bean brownie recipe!
You May Also Like: Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Easy Black Bean Brownies
I know some of you have been disappointed by mediocre bean-based brownies you’ve tried in the past, which is why it’s taken me so long to come up with my own recipe:
I’ve tried some awful black bean brownie recipes in the past, too.
For example?
Don’t think you’ll get brownies by adding cocoa powder to my Chickpea Cookie Dough Dip and baking it.
Trust me. You’ll get cardboard.
I wanted a recipe that would not let people down; a recipe that could stand up to a regular sugar-and-flour brownie in a competition.
And these really do!
Also, huge thanks to everyone who’s been sharing these on Instagram!
If you try the brownies, be sure to rate the recipe here, or tag @ChocolateCoveredKatie on Instagram so I can see and like your pictures!
Black Bean Brownies
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups black beans (1 15-oz can, drained and rinsed very well) (250g after draining)
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder (10g)
- 1/2 cup quick oats (40g) (See nutrition link below for substitutions)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup pure maple syrup, honey, or agave (75g)
- pinch uncut stevia OR 2 tbsp sugar (or omit and increase maple syrup to 1/2 cup)
- 1/4 cup coconut or vegetable oil (40g) (See nutrition link for substitution notes)
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup to 2/3 cup chocolate chips (Not optional. Omit at your own risk)
- optional: more chips, for presentation
Instructions
- Black Bean Brownies Recipe: Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine all ingredients except chips in a good food processor, and blend until completely smooth. Really blend well. (A blender can work if you absolutely must, but the texture—and even the taste—will be much better in a food processor. I use this food processor.) Stir in the chips, then pour into a greased 8×8 pan. Optional: sprinkle extra chocolate chips over the top. Cook the black bean brownies 15-18 minutes, then let cool at least 10 minutes before trying to cut. If they still look a bit undercooked, you can place them in the fridge overnight and they will magically firm up! Makes 9-12 brownies. If you make this recipe, don't forget to leave a review! The trick with these: serve them first, and then reveal the secret ingredient. In all the times I’ve served bean desserts, not one single person who didn’t know beforehand has ever guessed!View Black Bean Brownies Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
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YUM! These are just so incredibly delicious! I added 88% dark chocolate pieces. I will be featuring this recipe on my web series show Mon, July 3rd – all about creative beans recipes! Thank you!
I honestly wasn’t sure if these were going to taste like brownies or taste like black beans. I can tell you without a doubt that these taste just like FUDGEY GOOEY RICH BROWNIES!! You can’t even taste the black beans… Seriously. These are amazing! I’ve always loved brownies and would bake them from scratch using the usual flour and other not so healthy ingredients. Not anymore. This is how I will be baking my brownies from now on. Thank you for creating such a GREAT recipe!!
This was much too good. My husband couldn’t believe there were black beans in this recipe. I did grind up regular oats in my blender to get oat flour, then I put the oat flour in a bowl, added all wet ingredients including the black beans in the blender, and whirled away. Recipe Come out … a little bit more than wonderful.
P. S. My guest insisted on having the recipe.
These were really, really good. My husband actually prefers them over the regular brownies loaded with butter, eggs and sugar. Do follow the recipe, and use the 1/2 cup real maple syrup. Walnuts are a nice addition.
These were extremely liquidy even after half an hour of baking, but they were so delicious.
I hate to be the person who comes in and talks about all the substitutions I made… but I am lol. After doing some internet research I found that the difference between quick oats and rolled oats is that quick oats are just chopped up more – so it doesn’t matter once you process them into flour, thus I used regular rolled oats. I also made these in a blender and used someone else’s tip of blending the wet and dry ingredients separately to maximize smoothness.
I’m too cheap to bake with honey or maple syrup so I substituted 1/2 cup of brown sugar for that, plus two tablespoons of liquid – and because I’ve done this in other brownie recipes, the liquid I used was brewed coffee, which adds a nice depth of flavor but doesn’t make it really taste like coffee or anything. The only chocolate I had was cocoa powder, baker’s chocolate, and an old bar of milk caramel Ghirardelli I was trying to use up. Instead of the chocolate chips in the batter, I used 2 oz melted baker’s chocolate plus 3 more tablespoons of cocoa powder (five tbs total). It wasn’t til I put them in the oven that I realized that didn’t really make sense because in the recipe the chips aren’t truly a part of the batter they are just mixed in. Still, the brownies turned out great and super chocalatey! Chopped up the Ghirardelli bar for the top- semisweet chips would be better though.
I’m very happy with my version and I’m going to keep tweaking it – as the baker’s chocolate adds fat, next time I’m going to replace some of the oil with applesauce because my brownies could actually benefit from being a little bit drier.
Could you make these with pinto beans as well? I have black beans, but I have twice as many cooked pinto beans just looking for a dessert recipe to be added to. Not sure how that would change the taste and color of them.
Does anyone know if you actually boil the beans and do you have to use canned beans?
Use low-sodium canned and rinse very well.
I absolutely love this recipe. I have made them several times. I sometimes use a medium banana instead of the oil. I use peanut butter chips and I have made icing out of plain greek yogurt and my favorite protein powder for an extra kick. Thank for such chocolate deliciousness??
Just made these. Yummy!!! As I’m a coeliac living in Australia, I did substitute out the oats for quinoa flakes, as well as using my Bellini (poor cooks Thermomix) to mix. Worked a dream! Thank you for all your recipes.
Very rich and decadent. I used 1/2 cup maple syrup and no additional sweetener. Can not taste beans or maple syrup, just chocolate. Consistency is very dense. I would probably bake an extra 5-10 minutes, although the fridge trick is great. More like fudge if you refrigerate after baking/cooling. I couldn’t taste the black beans or the maple syrup. For those on Weight Watchers, this recipe serves 16 and is 6 smart points for one brownie. Will absolutely make again. Thank you!
HOLY COW THESE ARE AMAZINNNNGG!!
I substituted old fashioned oats and used olive oil instead of vegetable or coconut oil (because I didn’t have that) and they still turned out amazing.
Hats off to you for coming up with this! My kitchen smells incredible.
I love your photo!
These brownies are amazing! Just made these in mini muffin tins and they came out so well. My boyfriend, who won’t eat beans usually, loves them! They are a great non-dairy option as well, I just substituted the regular chips with dairy-free chocolate chips. Thanks for sharing Katie!
Need to include oven temp ty they were pretty good.solves chocolate craving
I made these — no one could tell they weren’t regular brownies. They were delicious!
These brownies were amazing!! I couldn’t even taste the beans! They even tasted better than the ol’ sugar and flour brownies I used to make. And oh so fudgy!! They were even better the day after I made them. Just like you, I tried them on a few groups of people, and got at least 3 requests for the recipe. They were all amazed when I told them the secret ingredient! Thank you so much Katie for another incredible recipe!