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!)
Wow! Never knew we can make brownies out of black beans. Thanks for sharing.
I made these for the first time last night and they are delicious. Your recipe says there are 3 Weight Watchers (WW) points per serving, when I entered the recipe into the WW website it came up as 7 WW points per serving. Still I very good recipe.
Hmm it definitely depends on specific brands, if you include the chocolate chips, what online calculator is used, etc. Also freestyle will be lower because beans are now free foods on ww I think, right? (I’m not on ww, just going by what people have told me.) I love these too 🙂
Jason
Hi Katie,
I tried your recipe yesterday and love the brownies. Thank you so much for the recipe. I was afraid to try them, but finally gave it a shot. Fabulous!!! I will make them again and share!
These brownies are so good! I’ve been meaning to make black bean brownies for so long, and I finally got around to it- I’m so glad I did! I used more chocolate chips than called for, which made them even better. I’ll definitely be making these again. Thanks for the recipe!
I calculated this on my fitness pal. 300 calories in 1 of 9. Not worth it! I can’t eat these. I made them based on the nutritional facts you listed which is clearly not accurate.
I’m getting a count closer to hers, and I know it’s one of the recipes in her cookbook that was calculated professionally, and the calories are close to her numbers in that as well, so my guess would just be an ingredient is listed wrong in myfitnesspal probably! I know for one thing that online calculators sometimes give out results based on recipes made with dry beans instead of cooked ones even if cooked is specified, as Katie mentions in some of her posts. So it’s definitely not as much as 300! 🙂
Hi Katie,
These brownies are the best! I’ve made them a bunch of times and my whole family loves them.
The only strange thing is when I take the brownies out of the oven, when I let them sit a little, all but the edges sink a little.
I’m using a new aluminum-free baking powder, and I don’t know if that’s doing it, or if it’s the oven, or something else.
Wondering if you have any ideas.
Either way, I’ve got to grab one right now! 🙂
Thanks,
Scott
These came out well – I used almond butter instead of the oil. I “greased & floured” the pan by spreading a little almond butter then dusting with cocoa powder. Very tasty….a hit at a pot luck I took it too.
THey are great even though I cooked them for 40 minutes. My boyfriend and I loved them. Isn’t there a way to put less sugar tho ? Because it seems like a lot.
I just made these and they are great. The only thing I noticed was the oats did not seem to be ground as smoothly as I hoped. I used Quaker steel cut 3 min quick oats. Not sure if that made a difference or not. I used a b&d food processor I will be making them again
We use rolled oats or regular (not steel cut) quick oats. I think steel cut would be too hard maybe.
These are absolutely amazing! However, when I calculate for 12 brownies on my fitness pal, I’m ending up with 25 carbs per brownie. Does anyone know what I’m doing wrong?
Hmm, I know some online calculators have certain ingredients listed wrong in their databases, and beans are one of those ingredients. It often will calculate results based on dry beans even if “cooked” is specified. Maybe that’s the issue there too?
These are amazing! I have made this recipe 4 times over the last two weeks for various circles of friends and everyone loved it. I tend to bake them slightly longer, otherwise they are just too gooey. They are super moist and simply delicious. Thanks for this amazing recipe!
I’ve been making these for a while, and loving them. Today I promised my twins brownies before seeing that I was out of black beans! I subbed garbanzo beans and they worked wonderfully. Beautiful, fudgy, and delicious!
I made these today for a party and everyone loved them. They were amazing and no one would could believe they were made from black beans!
Made these this morning and they are good! My local bakery makes a vegan GF black bean brownie, so I wanted to try to replicate. Next time I will try to make them a little thicker. It’s possible my pan was 9 inches. I also, completely by accident, left out the oil entirely, and they’re still okay, so if anyone is trying to cut back on oil/calories, it’s possible to make this without! That also might have been why mine were on the thinner side.
Will be making these again , next time with the oil and possibly in a smaller pan! But very good as is, especially with a little bit of peanut butter on top.
I had been wanting to make black bean brownies for a while, and I’m so happy that my Google search led me to this food blog!
I made these babies last night with very little variance from the recipe. Only:
–I used quick-cook steel cut oats instead of regular quick oats (I ran them through the food processor first to try to “flour them up” a bit, but I don’t think it did much).
–After making the batter I realized that I didn’t have an 8×8 pan, so I greased a 12-count muffin tin and made cute little round brownies instead. Since I thought they’d cook faster in this form, I reduced the oven to 325F degrees instead, and made sure to pull them right at 15 minutes.
…HOLY COW! They were AMAZING. (Yes, “were”; they didn’t last more than a couple hours between me and my hubby.)
My husband is making me make them again tonight, even though it meant he’d have to go to the store to get more beans (his #1 least favorite errand).
I might invest in a mini muffin pan just to make these for potlucks.
Thank you so much for developing such a stellar recipe, Katie!!
Awesome recipe that’s so easy even I can’t screw it up. I’ve made them several times and they’re always a hit. Thanks!