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
Currently Trending Posts:
(15 Different Flavors)
Lentil Soup – Reader Favorite Recipe
More Healthy Brownie Recipes
(No crazy ingredients!)
I’ve tried this recipe with peanut butter powder (pb2) instead of oil.
I think it worked pretty well and brownies were still chewy and fudgy.
I really like this recipe 🙂
Just made these last night and they are amazing!!! Huge hit with my small kids. Thank you for having such an amazing website for people looking for healthy food options. ☺️
I just made these to bring to a friend’s house tomorrow. I had to taste test them first, and they are DELICIOUS! You would never know they were made with black beans. They’re fudgey(sp?) and decadent and SO easy to make! I can’t wait to blow my friend’s mind! Bonus: I’m pregnant, so the best part was that I could lick the batter off my spatula!
Will a vitamix work as good a food processor?
(Not sure if a vitamix is truly a blender?)
For best results, no.
Just an update: I have no made these twice. Once in a vitamix where I misread the directions and vitamixed the choc. chips in with the mix.
Next time I used the food processor and just stirred in the choc chips. (more dry and not as brownie like)
I found the vitamix’d batch to be better – more chewy brownie like. I loved them from vitamix batch and will continue to make these. So good!
Just made these for my family.. they absolutely couldn’t believe they weren’t “normal” brownies. Many thanks for the amazing recipe!
I have finally figured out how to get my four year old to eat beans! She loves this and the choc chip pie too! These are delicious and I just want to post to say I used old fashioned oats with no problem and use grassfed butter subbed in for the coconut oil since I had it on hand. Thought that might help some others! Love your recipes!!!
HI, MADE this for my 1st. recipe from your blog….hubby was the test, I wasn’t gonna ‘bake n tell’ till he tasted..He says, ‘not bad’….nice & choco’laty….I’ve been a user of coconut oil…from TropicalTraditions.com…even used the coconut concentrate, but didn’t realize it was called ‘butter’ LOL…I want to get into healthier flours later….we think hubby might have some gluten sensitivity going on, but am soooo glad to find any recipe minus the flour…we both need to lose some wt. but have a sweet tooth…Thank you so much
OH MY GOODNESS!!!!! These are the best brownies I have ever made, no contest. I absolutely love them and can eat them all the time! I don’t think I will ever go back to regular, flour/sugar brownies…… Thanks so much!!
Hi Katie, I’m a newbie blogger with multiple food allergies so needless to say I’m a HUGE fan of your blog and of these brownies! Today I made them for the 3rd time with the intent to bring them to a family gathering. But I made one fatal mistake, the good news is, if you ever need a recipe for “weird chocolate black bean bread,” I’m your girl. It’s easy, just substitute baking soda for baking powder and you’re good to go 😉 Yikes! Looking forward to never making that mistake again. lol Keep the great recipes coming Katie, your blog is a joy!
I have black bean flour on hand! Do you think I could use that instead? 🙂
What a great recipe! Thank you for sharing, we enjoy it very much.
Susanna
edenranch.org
Wow! Just made the black bean brownies and subbed peanut butter for oil. Holy cannoli! Sooo good. My hubby who looooves brownies ( and is comitted to his health ) gave it a 9 on a scale of 1-10. Unbelievable,thank you so much!
These brownies are amazing! I pulled these out of the oven as friends walked in, and offered them some. They loved it!!! They did not believe me that there were beans in there! This will definitely b made all the time!!!
I made the brownies in corningware and they came out a bit runny, but they still tasted AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!.
Katie, your blog is amazing!!!! Since I discovered your blog (like three weeks ago), the most awesome stuff have been coming out of my kitchen!!! And I love reading your comments!
I just made these and they are terrific. I try not to use oil so I used the same amout of applesauce instead. Also I ran out of maple syrup so I mixed some honey in instead. Yum!
I made this recipe Katie’s way and it turned out ok, but needed little tweeking. I didn’t like the quick oats texture in the brownies and thought they were way too gooey (almost liked it wasn’t cooked thoroughly even though they were.) So instead of the oats, I did almost 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, did slightly less than a 1/3 cup Agave, and decreased veg.oil amount to 1/8 cup. (I also used Hersheys Special Dark cocoa powder and greased the pan with Smart Balance Light butter.) Baked for 18 minutes at 350; though a few minutes longer would’ve been ok too. They turned out deeeelish! Still a little gooey, zero black bean taste, and didn’t taste “healthy” at all. With my minor tweeking to Katie’s recipe, this is a surefire hit! Thanks Katie!
I have dry black beans from my CSA. I would like to use those up before I buy canned beans. Do you know if I can just soak them overnight and use them?
That’s exactly what I did. About one cup of dry beans is enough for this recipe. I soaked the beans for 6-7 hours and boiled them on high for about an hour in about 2 1/2 cups water, or until soft enough to eat. Then, I let the now thicker bean mixture simmer on medium-low until mushy and the centers are no longer bright white. Mash away! Or purée in a processor, or blend in a blender, if you prefer. I mashed my beans through a sieve, then blended the, and they were very smooth and creamy. As long as the beans are cooked until mushy and soft, you’ll have perfect black bean purée!
Hoped this helped! Before today, I’d never made black bean brownies, nor worked with dry black beans, so I wanted to share my findings just in case someone was as unsure as I was.