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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(No crazy ingredients!)
These are the best brownies ever. I have tried other recipe for black bean brownies but this is the
Best by far! I prefer using sunflower oil as opposed to coconut oil.
This recipe is a keeper.
Oh wow, delicious! I used agave syrup instead of maple and they came out amazing!!! I’m sure they’re equally as tasty with maple syrup though. I can’t even taste the black beans!!
F@#$in awesome. Me and my family ate the whole thing in seconds
WW freestyle – Beans have no points. I calculated these at 7 points for one, when a batch makes 9. That’s a good deal. I am in!
has anyone tried these without the chocolate chips?? I really want to make these but don’t have any on hand!
Do you think this will work with boiling my own dry black beans instead of from cans? TIA!
Many readers on here have done that, yup
Thanks for the recipe! Followed it to a T, and it was delicious. At first my husband said, “This isn’t as good as a regular brownie,” but then he reached for another lol. As a lover of sweets, this satisfies my sweet tooth!
These were so delicious! I think next time I’ll need to bake them for a couple extra minutes, though. The consistency wasn’t quite “set” in the middle. I didn’t have an 8”x 8” pan so I had to use a 6” x 9” baking dish. That made it slightly thicker. Oh well, my five year old devoured the chocolatey goo anyway. And so did my husband and I!
I read the recipe and watched the attached video. In the video it appeared that eggs were put into the processor also. If so, are they missing from the ingredients list intentionally? I’m planning on making this recipe in the near future and i just want to make sure that I have everything correct.
No eggs in the video 😉
This was great…my husband is on a heart healthy life style and these satisfied his sweet tooth, I didnt have quick oats so i used the slow cooking oatmeal and it didnt seem to matter it smelled and tasted awesome..thanks sooo much for this recipe..
Does anyone know if red kidney beans will yield the same results/taste? canned black beans aren’t very popular over here, but there’s canned red beans in abundance
Tried these last week with ground flaxseed instead of oats for my cousin who eats gluten free and they worked well 🙂
I used dried black beans which I’d soaked & cooked the night before, agave syrup (because I didn’t have maple syrup), and a 125g bar of dark chocolate which I spent much longer than anticipated trying to break into chip-sized pieces!
Went down well at a family pot luck, converted some skeptics (the secret was out by the time a lot of people tried them), and even the small kids who had said they didn’t like dark chocolate were munching away. Thanks for the recipe!
These are seriously delicious! The batter was great and the baked brownies even better. I added chocolate chips and peanutbutter chips on top while baking.
Wow these are very good! I’m not vegan but was curious to give them a try. I’m not disappointed. I even had everything the recipe called for. I’ll be making these again! Thank you!
Thank you so much for this idea and recipe my toddlers now eat beans. I made this yesterday and they loved it (brownies).
My mom and I tried this recipe today and absolutely loved it!! We played around with adding things here and there, but maintained the integrity of the original recipe. On accident, the vanilla extract content was slightly upped to 2 tbsp instead of 2 tsp… We also opted for only maple syrup as sweetener rather than actual sugar or stevia (the vanilla helped with the sweetness as well) and added in a little splash of coconut cream to help with the consistency. After cooking for 15 minutes, we turned the oven off and put it back in just for another minute. The consistency was perfectly moist and gooey and not dry at all like I was originally afraid of. We made a whipped coconut cream to pair with the brownie and strawberries (as pictured) and oh boy was it amazing together!!! The whipped coconut and strawberries added a great freshness that I would definitely recommend everyone trying. We’ll definitely save this recipe for future use, thank you!