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!)
Question: When I put the coconut oil in the food processor should it be in solid or liquid form?
Mine is always liquid form.
I subbed the coconut oil for natural peanut butter – sooooooo good and fudgy! I almost can’t tell they’re not regular brownies!!
I just made these black bean brownies following the recipe with the substitution of the same amount of ground almond for the oats and half the vanilla. I baked them for 35 minutes and they turned out fantastic! I can see I will be baking these repeatedly. Thanks for a great recipe.
I just made these and I substituted 1/2 cup dates and a few teaspoons of maple syrup as the sweetener. I also used 5 tbsp of Dutch cocoa powder and omitted the chocolate chips and added a 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. They came out delicious! Even my little brother (who usually makes fun of my healthy banking) thought these were great. He barely believed me when I told him there were beans in them! Sometime I will make these with peanut butter instead of coconut oil to try out Reese’s brownies. Thanks for the great recipes Katie!
Hi Katie,
I’ve been on the look out for a healthy brownie and heard about using black beans so gave yours ago this evening (by the way thanks for including the metric!)…
I had a bit of an issue… the surface was starting to burn after 20min so I took them out, but they hadn’t risen at all so were really flat and after cooling the middle was still on the runny side of gooey… what did I do wrong?
I changed the maple syrup for 2 table spoons honey, 2 golden syrup and one water, and only used 100g choc chips as its all I had. I used a slightly larger pan – rectangle rather than square. Oven temp was 180 c.
Even with them nearly running off the plate they still taste great and would love to get them right.
Thanks,
Sarah
Unfortunately, I really can’t know how they’ll do if you make any substitutions :-?. Maybe the honey is thicker, or the water threw it off or…
Ok, so I am a brownie snob… m.a.j.o.r snob! When my husband and I decided to go non-processed and mostly vegan I said the one thing I would not give up is my brownies. I had tried a few others of your recipes and loved them so I decided to give these a shot. Can I just say they are amazing!?!?! I crave them… I am making up a batch right now. I shared these with my parents who didn’t believe me when I told them what was in them. I had to make a batch directly in front of them 🙂 My husband took some to work and people who know his new diet had to be convinced to try them and were then asking for seconds after they did! These are for real!!!!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I’m pretty sure your blog is now my favorite for amazing recipes!
I made these last night. Delicious!!
I made the following adjustments: Instead of oil I used 1/8 cup applesauce and 1/8 cup almond butter. Might try the full 1/4 cup almond butter next time as it didn’t really seem to affect the consistency of the recipe too much. Also used 1/4 cup of oats and 1/4 cup of ground flax. Again, might do the whole 1/2 cup ground flax next time. And I used 71% dark chocolate chips (with a few 55% thrown in for fun) I don’t have a food processor, just a magic bullet. I ground up the dry ingredients in one cup, then blended the wet ingredients until smooth in another and mixed them together in a bowl afterwards. Turned out great! These were darn good. Thanks for the recipe!
The batter of these is amazing, Unfortunately, I was unable to try the finished product since my pyrex dish blew up halfway through baking. =[ I will definitely give them another try!
hi! another recipe I’ve tried and really like 🙂 just thought I would share my substitutions and changes (I always read through to collect ideas) :
*250 g of cooked/drained adzuki beans
(used in a lot of asian desserts – nutty and sweet)
*20 g of navita naturals raw cacao powder
(no chocolate chips)
*1 trader joes 100 calorie 70% dark chocolate bar
*1/2c of unsweetened apple sauce and liquid stevia in place of all sweetener
*1/4 cup of soymilk (on the drier side – so may need more – I liked mine a little firmer)
*2 T peanut butter
*1/2c or 40 g of oat flour (could probably cut back on that if wanted less firm/dry)
I piped these out into a mini muffin pan with liners- broke up the chocolate bar and stuck pieces of broken chocolate in the middle – baked at 350 for 10-15 minutes – these give a lot of room for experimentation
thanks again!!
oh! meant to give nutritional data – makes roughly 22-24 (depending on how many spoonfuls of batter you eat as you go along 😉
For each adzuki brownie bite:
39 calories
5g carb
1g protein
1g fat
1g sugar
0g sat.fat
Oh wow! this is amazing!
I will be sure to try out your take on this recipe tomorrow (I have the original creator’s version in my oven as I’m writing)! I’m always looking for ways to sneak in healthy substitutions into my sugar- & chocolate-crazed household!
Have you also experimented with adding additional protein in the form of powder (i.e., whey, vegan, other)?
You can use chocolate protein powder for the cocoa – just be sure to choose a brand you know you like 🙂
These were totally delicious and awesome!
I just made them tonight and the flavor was great but the batter was kind of stiff and didn’t smooth out in the pan. It also didn’t rise a single bit and then turned out really gooey even though I cooked them 17 minutes. What did I do wrong?
It’s impossible to know what you might’ve done wrong since I wasn’t there to see. Can you tell me more about the specific ingredients/process you used? And any changes made to the recipe?
I made them yesterday – really very moist, chewy and chocolatey. My teen boys both loved them!
Just made these and they are amazing!
These were really good! If people don’t like the texture of oats (my husband immediately thought it tasted healthy when he tasted the oats) you can process the oats into a flour first. That’s what I did. My only other change would be to DOUBLE the recipe for an 8×8 pan. The current recipe makes pretty thin brownies.
I actually used a little less sugar (used brown) and tossed in a spoonful of applesauce…HOLY CRAP!! I’ve LOVED every single recipe of yours I’ve tried thus far…and I fell in love with the cookie cake…but pretty sure these even top that out right now…mmm so good! Thank you katie for giving us delicious, vegan, and relatively healthier dessert options!! <3