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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Sooooo good recepies! Is it possible to use broadbeans/favabeans instead? Or sweet potato perhaps? I´m allergic to black beans.
My husband LOVES these and said “these are so good — it’s so wrong that there are beans in here!” Excited to test them out on extended family and coworkers in the next few days. Topped them with Chef Amber Shea’s raw chocolate ganache — yum!
I tried the peanut butter substitution but still used a tablespoon of vegetable oil and the results were amazing. I also accidentally put in 1/4 tsp baking soda, but it came out perfect.
Have you considered using red beans to do a red velvet variation? Only problem I can think of is it would have brown spots for the chocolate chips.
These are AMAZING! I made mine in the blender with great success. I first pureed the oil, vanilla, and beans until smooth with only a limited amount of very small bean skin pieces. Then I added everything else, using no stevia but the 1/2 C. of Agave Nectar and old-fashioned oatmeal that I already had pulverized into “flour”. I also used 1/3 C. dark chocolate chips and 1/3 C. peanut butter chips and they were fabulous! Thanks for yet another great health minded treat Katie! 😀
Just took these out of the oven, they are DELICIOUS! Better then the crap you get from hostess at the grocery store. I love it when I find something that tastes delicious AND I can feel good about putting in my body. So impressed with these! They aren’t like a spongey cake, these are dense, fudgey, and SO chocolatey! I will definitely be checking out more recipes on this blog, everything looks soooo good! (;
I think there some great ingredients in this recipe, but I am dismayed that these brownies are being portrayed as sugar-free and that you omit the grams of sugar in your nutritional breakdown. By my reckoning, using maple syrup as your sweetener adds 5.8-7.7 grams of sugar per brownie (and doesn’t account for the sugar in the chocolate chips!). Agave has a very high fructose level — almost as bad as plain sugar. I am not sure what the overall sugar content of these brownies might be but I think it highly likely it is far more sugar than many people will be aware of.
Nowhere in the recipe does it say it is free of sugar.
I finally tried baking these after getting over my skepticism, and they’re amazing! I also added 1/2 cup walnuts just to change things up a bit, but no one has any idea that there are black beans in them! Thank you so much for this 🙂
I cannot find black beans anywhere in England (we get almost every other kind of bean though!) Can i sub some other darker bean like kidney beans?
Hi Katie, I tried your black bean brownies and they were very good. I’ve tried other recipes for black bean brownies that haven’t been that great, so I was very pleased with these. However, I’m wondering how the nutritional info was calculated? I plugged the ingredients into the recipe calculator on sparkpeople and got 161 calories, 7 fat, 23 carbs and 2 protein. I did use 1/2 c of the maple syrup instead of the 1/3, but that shouldn’t account for the 45 calorie difference. Otherwise, my ingredients were the same as was listed.
Hi Katie!
I just made my first run at your recipe tonight. I popped the brownies into the oven for 18 minutes but when I took them out they were still super gooey, is this normal? Or how much longer should I leave them in for? Thanks for the recipe! Once I get it down it will be amazing to have, especially for the upcoming holidays!
Oven temperatures will vary. See Katie’s recipe troubleshooting page (here’s the link)
https://lett-trim.today/faq-page/recipe-questions-and-troubleshooting/%3C/a%3E%3Cbr /> for more on that. Just cook until they are a good brownie texture, or take out when gooey and leave uncovered in the fridge overnight.
These were fantastic! Excellent flavor and texture. The people I shared them with were very surprised and enjoyed them too! Really happy with how they turned out. Thanks so much!
Are these gluten free? I’m assuming so, but I just want to check before I give them to my gluten-free friend… And I’m also looking forward to my brother’s face after he eats one and I tell him there was beans in it 😉
Yes, just use gluten free certified oats such as Bob’s Red Mill.
I made these along with the blondies and I brought samples with me to school and didn’t tell people they were healthy. People were asking me for the recipe and had no idea they were bean brownies! My husband is also picky when it comes to health food and when I make these he eats half the pan in one sitting so I would say these are a hit! I made the cookie dough dip for a party tonight so here is to tricking a group with a new recipe 🙂
Hi! I tried this recipe and reviewed it on my blog: http://dirtanddesserts.wordpress.com/2013/08/25/gluten-free-black-bean-brownies/
I gave you a shout-out for the recipe! Thanks for sharing the delicious treat – wonderful blog!
made these for a second time and found the secret to making incredibly moist and tall brownies, and not have to increase any ingredients and thus the calorie count. i made them in a slightly taller pan, whose surface area was less than a 8 x 8. i think it was a 10 x 5, so the effect was a taller but longer brownie. still cut them into 12 pieces, so serving size was the same. but you want to talk about a piece of chocolate heaven. plus i’m diabetic and so i used sugar free maple syrup instead of the real thing. even my husband, a confirmed chocoholic thought they had real sugar/syrup in them. actually a few more tweaks. i used oat bran instead of quick cooking oats and so i added an additional tsp of water (because i think oat bran would absorb more water than the quick cooking oats, so i wanted to prevent them from getting too dry). i also cooked them at 325 not 350 and increased the cooking time from 15=18 min to approx 23 minutes. unbelievable. just one of them is more than hugely satisfying moist and decadent. thanks again for an amazing recipe katie!
Hi, I made these yesterday and they turned out great! thanks so much for the recipe!
Hubby loved them too and had 4 in one go!! You’re right, I actually thought the black beans would give it a funny taste, but they are so amazing and really fulfilled my chocolate craving! even cleaner and healthier!
Cheerrs 🙂