These secretly-good-for-you chocolate workout brownies are high in protein, gluten free, oil free, vegan, and they can even have no sugar added.
If you are one of those people who love healthy desserts and how amazing they make you feel, be sure to put these brownies on your “must try” list.
Made up of just six plant-based ingredients, without any refined sugars or flour, the clean eating protein brownies are super quick and easy to prepare.
Also Try These Keto Muffins – Just 6 Ingredients
If you’re bored of energy bars, this could be your new favorite workout recipe.
They are great for:
Runners
Dancers
Weight Lifters
Yogis
Cyclists
Swimmers
Sports Players
And basically everyone else who loves chocolate and wants to incorporate it into a healthy, on-the-go snack.
Brownies with superpowers.
It’s like grabbing a post-workout energy bar, but with cleaner ingredients than most packaged energy bars – no soy protein isolate, sucralose, or high fructose corn syrup.
I know it’s completely frustrating when a healthy-tasting recipe claims to taste exactly like a real hot fudge brownie… so I will tell you right now:
These are not supposed to be like a decadent dessert. Just as you wouldn’t serve a tray of Luna Bars at a fancy dinner party or bake sale, I wouldn’t recommend the workout brownies for a party either.
They are definitely more of a healthy snack or dessert meant for people who enjoy the wholesome taste and nutrition of healthy desserts.
If you are one of those people, hopefully you will love this recipe as much as I do!
Here are the ingredients you’ll need:
If you want a good protein powder recommendation to use in the recipe, I really like the plant-based protein by ALOHA.
All of their products are organic and free of soy, gluten, dairy, and artificial ingredients, and they use a combination of pumpkin seed, hemp seed, and pea protein, with 18g protein per serving. I was also happy to see the protein powder doesn’t contain stevia, so you don’t get that weird aftertaste many other chocolate protein powders seem to have.
**Note: The link to their website is not an affiliate code. I don’t make any commission on sales of their products. I love both the taste and the company’s philosophy, and this was the brand of protein powder I used for the workout brownies.
So if you want to make the recipe exactly like I did, I know using ALOHA protein powder yields good results.
(Watch The Recipe Video Above)
Brownie Frosting Options:
Basic Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
Or, if you want to keep these brownies super healthy like I did, you can make your own chocolate “frosting” by simply combining cocoa powder with an avocado and a little sweetener of choice – here’s how to make avocado chocolate frosting.
You can also top them with Coconut Ice Cream and fresh berries, for a healthy post-workout fudge brownie sundae!
Chocolate Workout Brownies
Ingredients
- 1 cup overripe mashed banana or applesauce (for low carb, try these Keto Brownies)
- 2/3 cup nut butter of choice, or allergy-friendly sub
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 3 tbsp chocolate protein powder (such as this one), OR sub additional cocoa powder
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup, honey, or agave, OR additional banana
- optional mini chocolate chips, crushed walnuts, etc.
Instructions
- Notes: If using applesauce or unsweetened protein powder, or if planning to eat the brownies unfrosted, I recommend including the sweetener of choice. Using peanut butter gives a peanut-butter flavor, while almond or cashew butter taste more neutral. Sunbutter or pumpkin seed butter can be used for allergy-friendly brownies. You can use regular unsweetened cocoa or a combination of regular and dutch.Preheat oven to 325 F. Line an 8×8 pan with parchment paper. If using natural nut butter, gently warm it until it is easily stir-able. Combine all ingredients in a bowl, stir until completely smooth, and spread into the prepared pan (see video). Bake on the center rack 20-25 minutes (20 for super fudgy brownies) – they will be undercooked when you take them out. Let cool, then loosely cover with a paper towel and place in the fridge overnight, during which time they will firm up without losing their fudginess. They are also much sweeter the next day! Frosting options are listed earlier in this post, and you need about 1/2 cup total. Once cut, the brownies can either be stored in the fridge for 2-3 days or in the freezer for up to a month. You can even eat them straight out of the freezer if you wish! As mentioned, they are more of a healthy snack than a decadent dessert – if you enjoy healthy desserts and snacks, hopefully you will love these!View Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
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These did NOT disappoint! I have been let down by “healthy, no sugar, tastes like the real thing” snacks before but this was not one of those times!! These are delicious-raw and cooked. I really could just eat the batter and never even put these things in the oven.
These were so ridiculously good! Notice I said were because in 24 hours there aren’t any left.. my fam devoured them. I used my regular protein powder (ProMix Chocolate) with them and cashew butter (that’s what I had on hand) and they were so yummy. I also used the Reeses Pieces frosting recipe on top and oh my goodness.. Will be making these waaaay more often. Thanks so much for sharing these Katie!
These brownies are awesome. I made them with applesauce and they came out perfect.
Yum! These are so easy to make and so delicious!
I sprinkled frozen raspberries over mine before baking.
The tartness goes beautifully with the sweet of the maple syrup and the bitter chocolate.
Posting again because I’’ve added frosting and taken photos. YUM! For the brownies I used mashed banana, raw cacao, maple syrup and almond butter. I used a TBS of pea protein powder and extra cacao powder as I was worried the protein powder would hurt the flavour.
I got oerfect results! So incredibly yummy! I also sprinkled frozen raspberries all over before baking.
Then I frosted with chocolate frosting shot frosting (without any sweetener) and finished with a sprinkling of cacao nibs for added crunch. This is so good. I’ll definitelh be making them again. I noticed a few people have posted that they didn’t get good results. I think with this sort of food, quality of ingredients is everything. It’s possibly a taste thing too, but I think the quality of the ingredients would definitely change your results.
I posted a photo of the brownie before it was frosted and cut so you can see the yummy raspberries. It looks like a child got to it with a spoon because my 4 year old, while I was settling my baby!). The second photo is the finished product.
Oops, only one photo allowed. Here’s the finished product.
They look so good!
Mine taste like chocolate pudding and have the same consistency. =(
I made these with banana and cashew butter and agave as seeetener. And I only had cacao powder but still came out great!! Next time I think I’ll try applesauce and peanutbutter or almond butter and maple syrup as sweetener. Ive recently started strength training and need more vegan high-er protein snacks, so thank you for this 🙂
When do u frost the brownies? Before or after the fridge
I did it after and it worked well because the frosting hardened immediately. But if you do it before, the frosting will melt into the brownies, which also sounds delicious.
Absolutely love these! I’ve made them twice so far- the first time with no added sugar except for dark chocolate chips, and the second time with chopped walnuts and 1/4tsp agave. Both turned out perfectly! I don’t really like “sweet” desserts or foods so they were the perfect fudgy, chocolatey goodness that I was looking for. Didn’t have protein powder so I used 3tbs extra cocoa. Going to have to try them with the avocado frosting, looks delicious!
To add on: the first time I used all banana and the second time I used half banana and half unsweetened applesauce to cut down on the calories a little bit, couldn’t tell a difference- both were great. Thanks for the quick & simple recipe Katie!
I love this recipe and everytime I have a martial arts competition, I bring these brownies and they are wonderful snack in between fighting and kata.