These Black Bean Brownies are easy to make, fudgy, healthy and completely flourless. All you need is a can of black beans and a blender! They’re also gluten free.
If you’ve never had black bean brownies, you are in for a treat!
Full of good-for-you ingredients like black beans, eggs, 100% unsweetened cocoa powder and cinnamon, these brownies pack some serious nutrients like fiber, protein and iron that you wouldn’t normally get from your average brownie made with all-purpose flour.
And the best part is they don’t taste like beans at all! Really! Beans are the last thing on your mind when you take a bite of these. It’s pretty amazing how tasty they are.
(Don’t forget to check out these Mexican Brownies!)
Ingredients in Black Bean Brownies
To make these brownies, here’s what you need:
- Black Beans – One 15-ounce can is all you need. Make sure to drain and rinse the beans beforehand.
- Eggs – The eggs help to keep the brownies moist and rich as well as act as a leavening agent alongside the baking powder.
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder – Adds that pure chocolate goodness we all know and love! I used regular cocoa powder, but you can use dark cocoa powder if you’re a dark chocolate lover.
- Granulated Sugar – Helps to add a touch of sweetness to the brownies since the cocoa powder has none.
- Unsalted Butter – A touch of butter helps to keep the brownies moist. You can also use vegetable oil or applesauce to lower the fat.
- Ground Cinnamon – I love the combination of cinnamon and chocolate! However, you can omit the cinnamon if you want a pure chocolate flavor.
- Baking Powder – This acts as a leavening agent and helps to give the brownies a little rise so they’re not completely flat. But don’t worry – they’re still fudgy!
- Vanilla Extract – Really helps the chocolate flavor pop!
- Salt – A hint of salt helps to balance out the sweetness in desserts, including these black bean brownies.
- Chocolate Chips – Used for topping the brownies right before baking for extra chocolaty goodness!
How To Make Black Bean Brownies
The best part about these black bean brownies is that no hand mixing is required. You don’t need to use any bowls, let alone two separate bowls for wet and dry ingredients. All you need is your handy dandy blender. Just dump all of the ingredients into your blender (except for the chocolate chips) and blend until smooth.
Pour the batter into an 8×8 baking dish, top with your favorite chocolate chips and bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes.
When they’re done, you should get something that looks like the photo above. Fudgy. Chocolatey. Irresistible.
Recipe Tips and Variations
A lot of the brownie batter can get left behind in the blender after mixing. Use a silicone spatula to get as much of the batter out as possible and into the baking pan.
Looking to cut out some of the fat? Substitute applesauce for the butter in the recipe.
Not a fan of white sugar? Use maple syrup, honey or coconut sugar instead.
To add a hint of peanut butter, use 1/2 chocolate chips and 1/2 peanut butter chips.
I hope you love this recipe as much as I do! If you made this recipe or have any questions, let me know in the comments below!
Ingredients
- 1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 3 large eggs
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Place parchment paper in 8×8 baking dish and set aside.
- Place all ingredients except chocolate chips in blender and blend until smooth.
- Pour and scrape batter evenly into the baking dish.
- Top batter with chocolate chips.
- Bake in oven for 25 to 30 minutes.
- Let cool for 30 minutes before slicing and serving.
Video
Nutrition Information
For the black bean brownies; can you use a food processor instead of f blender?
Hi John! Yes that should work.
These came out great!!! Seriously, if you’re skeptical, I can tell ya, you can’t taste the black beans. I stored mine in the fridge and oh my GOD they’re even better cold!! Super good. Moist and rich, but guilt free. And my 2 year old loves them!
How do I store these? Same as regular brownies?
Hi Mario! Yes the same as regular brownies works great.
I made these tonight and they were delicious! I added a little less than 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper and it added a whole new level to them.
I served them to 5 kids and all of them thought they were great too. I feel like this is a desert you can eat and not feel guilty!
Menudo reciepe???
Hi Enrique! We’ve definitely gotten other requests for this recipe as well and its on the list of ones for us to make, be on the lookout for it!
Can we get the nutrition info please? Like serving size/calories, etc.
Hi Morgan! At the very bottom of the recipe page, there is a heading with a drop down button that says “nutrition information”. If you click that, it will give you all the information you need.
My husband loves these brownies. I will not make any others.
Mistakenly bought seasoned black beans. Will they work?
Hi Ric, I’m not sure about that but I wouldn’t just to be safe.
Made last year for a chocoholic friend’s birthday and wow!! This year made couple adjustments: nonstick spray in blender helped batter just glide right out! Used Stevia sugar replacement, added 1 extra egg, pinch of chipotle powder. Finally, grated some Ibarra Mexican Chocolate in batter, and dusted on top (over the chocolate chips). It’s light as a cloud and sooo tender with flavors I grew up with. Thank you 😊
That sounds delicious! Thank you for sharing your tips, Susanne!
Can you add nuts to the recipe?
Hi Linda, yes you definitely can!
Delicious l used coconut oil and honey Cayenne pepper perfect
Fabulous I love cooking and all great black bean recipes thank you
wow so easy, so chocolatey good! I used stevia instead of sugar and they were light and moist and almost guilt-free. and perfect to serve for friends with celiac. next time I might shave some Mexican Chocolate on top, or the peanut butter chips sound great too. thank you!!
Exactly what my chocolate loving soul needed. I recently had to cut out dairy and soy for my nursing daughter and its been very hard finding a chocolate recipe that I can eat; so I replaced the butter with an equal amount of melted coconut oil and it was SO good! Thank you!
Chili rellano’s
I want to learn how to make them.
Hi! Here is a link to Isabel’s Chile Relleno recipe: https://www.isabeleats.com/chile-relleno-recipe/
I love this recipe and have made it more than ten times. I leave the cinnamon out. But it’s great
Really really good, unlike some other “healty” cakes this one tastes so chocolately and seductive, and is crazy easy to make.
Do you think you could sub a small avocado for the butter?
Hi! That’s a good idea. I think it would work well. You might need to change the bake time and temp if you try it. Please let us know if you do!