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!)
This is my first time trying a black bean dessert recipe and I’m happy I didn’t have to go through the trial and error process! I am not surprised it’s a great recipe – I’ve had success with all of your recipes that I’ve tried – but I am glad to report that even if you’re elbow deep into making them and you discover that you don’t have quick oats and lo and behold that bottle of maple syrup you thought was in the pantry doesn’t exist, regular rolled oats work just fine and the last 1/3 cup of raw honey you have in your kitchen combined with 1/2 c plus 2 tablespoons (I doubled the recipe and used a 13×9 pan) natural sugar work just fine. Other than my substitutions by necessity, I also added a bit of unsweetened flaked coconut and chopped pecans to the top along with the extra chocolate chips to give it a German Chocolate cake look and taste. Excellent! Can’t wait to serve these to my staff for whom I bake every week to sweeten up our meeting, it won’t be the first time we’ve played “guess the secret ingredient” and I’m sure they’ll love these as much or more than the zucchini brownies and blueberry muffins with tofu 😉
Made this recipe tonight and my 10 year old doesn’t believe me that it’s made with black beans even when she watched me make them. They are rich and fudge-like and so satisfying! Definitely don’t feel guilty satisfying my endless sweet tooth with this recipe! My husband said that they are horrible and he clearly needs to eat the rest by himself (meaning he loved them)!
I’ve tried so many other recopies and I always come back to this one, so delicious and fudgey, Im a little obsessed with them, thanks for the recipe!!
These were awesome! Sweetened with agave and substituted the oil for unsweetened apple sauce.
Good idea on the applesauce. Gonna try that too!
Plan to make these! However, as a word of caution, I THOUGHT my asthma was getting worse and worse, the last ten or so years of my 59 years. I wondered if it was something I was ingesting. I changed to STEVIA from the chemically produced sweeteners for a natural plant-based sweetener and safe sugar fix. I googled “asthma stevia”. What returned astonished me! If you have allergic symptoms to ragweed, you will most likely be allergic to stevia! It comes on slowly but the bronchial mucus and shortness of breath gets worse and worse, and is exacerbated when you come in contact with other things you may have an allergy with, aka dust, perfume, pollen, to the point of disability. It has been about ten days since stopping using stevia and I have not felt this great in ten or more years! I can breathe again! You just don’t know how life changing this is! I have stopped all the inhaled steroidal crap and albuterol (ask doctor before going cold turkey)and hope that when high pollen season returns, that my allergies will be minimal enough to not have to do those drugs…they are slow killers themselves.
Katie, thank you for allowing me to use this forum to spread an awareness regarding allergies and stevia and hope that I will help someone who is currently gasping for air like I was. I use agave, honey, and (cough) sugar now instead and think I have even dropped a few pounds because of losing inflammation water weight.
This looks amazing, Katie! I’ve never attempted healthy desserts yet before so I’m quite excited to try it. Everything on your site looks incredible!
Hey Katie and fellow bakers,
I’ve tried this recipe and love it. I tried it last night with brown ride (cooked) instead of oats to make it gluten free as well. The taste stayed the same (delicious) but the brownies never really fully cooked on the inside. I think between the water content in the rice and the beans, too much moisture got it. Would it make more sense to try gluten free oats, or try rice flour instead? Thanks for any help in advance!!
for those wondering how to rework to use a 540ml/19oz can of beans (2cups drained and rinsed), I’ve done the math:
• 2 cups black
• 2 tbsp + 2 tsp cocoa powder
• 2/3 cup quick oats
• 1/3 tsp salt
• ½ cup pure honey
• 2 tbsp + 2 tsp sugar
• 1/3 cup coconut or vegetable oil (40g) (See nutrition link for substitution notes)
• 2 + 2/3 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2/3 tsp baking powder
• Little less than 1 cup (8/9 cup) chocolate chips
• Use the chips saved from the 1c for garnish
It’s not normal how yummy these brownies are. DH keeps asking me if I’m sure they’re healty, becausee they just taste too good!
This might be the best brownies I’ve ever eaten! I tried another healthy way last time and it was disgusting. This was simply delicious!
Tried these tonight and they were wonderful! I’ve tried black bean brownies in the past and they weren’t a hit. This recipe even my kids loved.
I did use old fashioned oats in place of the quick oats and used my blender to make them and it worked great.
A great alternative to butter, sugar and eggs! I processed the black beans for a very long time but was never able to completely break the bean skins down. I added walnuts and a bit of instant espresso powder to coax the chocolate flavor out a bit more. The result was a moist, almost fudge like brownie with an … interesting mouth feel (due to those minute skin particles).
Made these today and I am never using another brownie recipe again
I ran out of maple syrup so I used about 2 T honey and 1 banana for sweeteners. Still a delicious result! Thx Katie for this recipe and blog.
Like many, I was skeptical of black bean brownie recipes before trying them. These are seriously incredible! I’m going to have a tough time not eating them all myself. I tripled the amount of cocoa powder and added a touch more sweetener. Super tasty!
Mmmm, yup, these are legit! Just made a batch last night and enjoying a little square now with my afternoon coffee. Best black bean recipe I have ever tried!
My 9 year old brother loved these brownies!!! He’ll never know about the beans though 😉