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 genuinely amazing! I was very sceptical and only tried them as I opened a can of black beans by mistake which I then needed to use. I’ve already ate one third, but I am going to try save some for tomorrow so I can give them to my friends and see their reactions when I tell them what they’re made from! Thanks for this recipe!
My boys and I just made these using fresh beans. I couldn’t keep out of the batter! When I finally did get them to the oven, I underbaked them just a touch, so of course they’re perfect! The black bean brownie recipes I’ve tried before only included 1/4 cup or less of beans, and were still just as butter and sugar laden. Not at all what I wanted. These stood up to the test and I am in love! 🙂
If you don’t have choc. chips, you can make some chocolate w/cocoa, butter (or butter-like spread for us vegans), sugar, and, um, milk & salt I think to make some chocolate to mix into these. Google it. =]
P.S. I’ve not done this, it just seems like a good quick fix if you haven’t any chocolate chips on hand.
I substituted maple syrup and stevia for 1/2 cup of organic brown sugar (since that was what I had on hand) and it still came out perfect! These were a hit with my family 🙂 even my 5 year old brother loved them, but I didn’t tell him there were black bean brownies haha. I’m 19 and have been transitioning into a healthy eating lifestyle and can say that these do a fantastic job at satisfying my sweet tooth. Thanks Katie!
I found your recipe from My Fitness Pal. I made these with my kids a few weeks ago with special dark chocolate chips, and they loved them! My other family members, not so much. However, I made them again using semi-sweet chocolate chips, and they were a big hit with everybody. I hope you don’t mind, but I shared my review for how good these were on my blog.
I’m making these from now on instead of the store bought brownie mixes!
My best friend made these for me once. She also made up her own recipe, but with beets. I’m looking forward to these! I’m on a no sugar diet, and I love sweets, so this is going to be great!
After just making these for the third time, i have to say, they are amazing. One of those times i made for my family and they loved them. An entire pan didn’t last a day!
I have tried these so many ways. With honey, with maple syrup, with dates, with protein powder. This is a great recipe! I just made a batch that i spread healthy nutella on top of. Delicious!
These were AMAZING!!!! You would never know they were vegan and that they were made with black beans! SOOOOOO good! I will definitely be making these again!
Just tried these, didn’t have oats so omitted this. Also didn’t have black beans so used red kidney beans instead. I must say these tasted amazing so gooey and fudgey (I’m a non vegan btw) will defo order gf oats and add to recipe next time as they weren’t dense enough a little too goey, also going to omit the coconut oil next time and try cashew nut butter instead. I added hazelnuts and dates to this and they taste great, also used rice syrup instead of maple, and sweetener instead of stevia as stevia is expensive in England lol.
I had to comment on this post and rave on how much of a success this was! These brownies were THE BEST BROWNIES I HAVE EVER HAD! I am a total chocoholic and my friends and big non-vegan advocates, meaning they dont believe in my food choices and think its crazy. Anyways they liked them a lot and didnt know there was any bean in them either! I have a very cheap blender from Walmart, so I was concerned about the texture and the taste. I had success with my blender! The trick is to mash the beans as much as u can, then put them in the blender with a splash of almond milk. I used dry blackbeans that I had soaked and cooked. I had about 1 cup of beans, when I put it in theblender I put enough milk til it was halfway of the beans. Then I mixed that really well until mushy and no whole beans were left. Then I added a handful of chocolate chips to the beans and blended that up a bit. I think this helped the chips and beans combine so there was no actual bean flavor. You cant even tell there are beans in the mix, they dont look like katies pic but I could see some specks from the oats. And I also added some choc chips on top while cooking to get those melted. Highly recommend these! They were amazing! My 5 year old daughter did them w me and she knew there was beans in it but didnt taste bean flavor at all. As long as it goes over well with her, I know I have a good recipe!
These are absolutely delicious! I used honey, and it tasted great! It’s delicious with frozen Greek yogurt.
HI all!
I am currently baking a batch of these brownies- they sound great! but, due to my pantry items, I made quite a few substitutions and I hope that they turn out. Here goes the list of all the subs!
1. I had only a little bit of oil, so I used applesauce to make up the difference
2. i used half oats and half flaxmeal
3. I added a single serve packet of instant coffee to boost chocolate flavor
4. I only had half the agave, so I used honey for the other half
I have my fingers crossed and will let you know how they turn out (in the next half hour or less!)
ok, so here is how they turned out!
They taste GREAT!
They look really yummy (i forgot to process the oats, so there are oat chunks, but that’s OK)
The consistency is really soft- which i will equal to the use of flaxmeal rather than all oats. I like soft brownies anyway.
The best part? The fiance didn’t suspect any health food conspiracy!
Hi CCK!
I tried these and loved them. Even my skeptical boyfriend likes them.
I was wondering, would using traditional oats instead of quick oats be okay, or would it negatively affect the texture?
Thanks!
You can always experiment and see!
I found this recipe and wanted to adapt it to accommodate my mom’s tragic allergy to chocolate. Considering these are egg free, dairy free, nut free, gluten/wheat free and vegan already, it’s pretty crazy to make them chocolate free too! But I did just that by melting carob chips in the microwave with half the coconut oil called for. Then I added the additional chocolate chips later and they were great! And of course they are high in protein, low(er) in carbs, and low(er) in sugar. Of course my sister can’t eat them because she’s allergic to legumes…but I guess you can’t have it all!
Hey Katie,
I made these brownies. um. whatever they are. First off the calorie count was HIGH like 180 calories (which included a 1/4 tsp butter to grease 8 x 8 pan) for 1 out of 12 small sliced brownies. I followed the recipe exactly, except I only had steel cut oats on hand (try to have GF quick oats). I might adjust a few ingredients, like swap coconut oil for butter, and maple syrup to coconut sugar. That would bring it down to 170 calories or so per brownie. After serving up an innocent, attractive saucer with two brownies, and a tall glass almond milk for my younger brother, 20 yr old food critic, (who generally finds something to complain about even thought he’s not cooking a dang thing) said:
“What is this made of? (While chewing, he looks suspiciously at the can of beans on the counter). I’m assuming beans.”
“I don’t think Jesus intended the bean to be used for that purpose.”
“I’m just amazed they taste like brownies,” he laughed.
“This is crazy, San.”
“My body’s like ‘what are you feeding me??”
I’m kind of a skeptic and I’m OCD about getting things just right. They were surprisingly sweet, but I would add a bit more sugar for a more authentic taste. The texture is smooth, almost rubbery. I prefer a harder texture, a chewier brownie, but I’ll admit it DOES, all in all, taste like a real brownie. I imagine the maple syrup had something to do with the smooth texture. The steel oats weren’t really a problem and made it taste like it had tiny crushed nuts sparcely spread throughout it. With all my critique I still devoured 4 hot brownies in one go, and I want more.. They are amazing when they’re hot from the oven. For whoever complained about them crumbling – each one to his own, but I cut carefully (whilst the brownie had barely cooled) and the brownie popped up as a perfect square. Handle it carefully and it will not crumble. These brownies are great for someone like myself and my mom who are sensitive to gluten. You’re right, I had a time trying to make this with a blender. Food processor would be waaay easier. I would definitely make these brownies again, even if not for the gluten free aspect, at least to “wow” unsuspecting people, just like with the avocado chocolate pudding recipe. You’re a cute girl, and this is a cute, organized, well managed website. I see that you promptly respond to quite a lot of posts, and that is admirable in itself. Since I like writing, you’ve possibly inspired me to try starting my own blog to support myself if I travel abroad.
I was impressed by the results, actually
will have to try some of your other recipes.
Sanna ^_^
4.3/5 rating