Your favorite dessert has had a makeover and is now filled with protein, fiber, and healthy ingredients! These Vegan Black Bean Brownies are so chocolatey and delicious, you would never know they have black beans in them! Make them for a crowd or if you have a sweet tooth, make them for treats all week long. Not only are these brownies healthy, vegan, and gluten-free, but they come together in just 30 minutes! One brownie has 7 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber which is not bad for dessert if you ask me! If you love healthy desserts like this, try my Vegan Tahini Blondies, Vegan Gluten-Free Carrot Cake, and Vegan Gluten-Free Sugar Cookie Bars next.
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Notes on Ingredients
- Black Beans: Rinse and drain your beans before using. Pinto beans or white beans would work as well.
- Peanut Butter: Any nut or seed butter is fine including almond, cashew, or sun butter.
- Cacao Powder: Cocoa powder can be substituted for cacao powder.
- Maple Syrup: Use 100% pure real maple syrup. If you don’t have maple, date syrup, agave or honey (if not vegan) work too.
Please take note that this is important information about the ingredients used in this recipe and the FULL recipe with measurements and details can be found DOWN BELOW (scroll to it) in the recipe card.
How do you make Vegan Black Bean Brownies?
- Preheat the oven.
- Add all ingredients into a food processor except for the chocolate chips.
- Blend until completely smooth and combined. Stir in ½ cup chocolate chips
- Pour batter into non-stick 9×9 baking pan.
- Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips on top.
- Bake for 25 minutes, then let cool for about 1 hour.
- Serve and enjoy!
- Step 1: First, preheat the oven and strain the beans.
- Step 2: Then, add all of the ingredients to a food processor except the chocolate chips. Blend until smooth.
- Step 3: Stir in chocolate chips. Pour batter into baking pan and top with more chocolate chips.
- Step 4: Finally, bake for 25 minutes then let cool for 1 hour. Serve and enjoy!
Commonly Asked Questions
Store these brownies in an airtight container on the counter for up to 3 days or in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Yes! Any kind of nuts or even vegan white chocolate chips would be delicious in these brownies.
To make these brownies nut-free, I recommend using sun butter for peanut butter, oat flour instead of almond flour, and allergy-friendly chocolate chips.
Nope! The texture to these brownies is a bit different and they are definitely fudgy but with the cacao powder, maple syrup, and nut butter, you can’t taste the beans.
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Extra Helpful Tips
- Drain and rinse your beans before using.
- Use a food processor, not a blender, to make the brownie batter. This will ensure the batter is completely smooth.
- Make these brownies in a greased or non-stick 8×8 baking dish.
How to Store
Store these brownies in an airtight container on the counter for up to 3 days or in the fridge for up to 5 days. These brownies can be eaten cold/room temp or reheated in the microwave or oven for a couple of minutes.
If you tried these Vegan Black Bean Brownies or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 5-star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Vegan Black Bean Brownies (gluten-free!)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 15 oz can black beans unsalted, rinsed and drained
- ½ cup peanut butter creamy natural
- ¼ cup almond flour
- ¼ cup cacao powder
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 1.5 tablespoon applesauce unsweetened
- 1.5 teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ cup chocolate chips vegan
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Add all ingredients into a food processor except for the chocolate chips.
- Blend until completely smooth and combined. Stir in ½ cup chocolate chips
- Pour into non-stick 9×9 baking pan.
- Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips on top.
- Bake for 25 minutes, then let cool for about 1 hour.
- Serve and enjoy!
Debbra Lawrence says
This was my first attempt at a Vegan dessert and these were…..
a m a z i n g! My husband who is not a fan of chocolate, my daughter who was freaked out with black beans her her chocolate and her boyfriend who despises beans, all had seconds. It is so rich, creamy, full of chocolate flavor and HEALTHY! I will definitely be making these again. Thank you CGW! 🙌💯
Danielle Keith says
WOW!! I am so glad you loved them so much. Let me know when you make other CGW recipes! Your feedback means everything.
-Danielle
Kim says
I used this recipe to make waffles in my mini waffle maker and they turned out great! The only thing I changed was not adding the chocolate chips to the top of the waffles.
Nayera says
What can I use instead of apple sauce?
Danielle Keith says
Pumpkin purée or coconut oil would work!
Jennifer says
Can I use a different flour if I don’t have almond flour? I have WW, and WW pastry
Danielle Keith says
oat flour!
Erin says
I saw this recipe and thought “I have everything I need to make these!” Turns out I was wrong… But I didn’t want to wait because I had a major chocolate craving! Turns out Great Northern Beans work for this recipe too, I just had to add about 2 tablespoons of a plant based milk to thin it out a bit. These are amazing and this recipe is a keeper for sure!
Cindy says
I made these to share with friends and we all loved them! I’m about to make another batch right now! I’m wondering if anyone has tried them with almond butter? I have a few friends who can’t have peanuts and wonder if almond butter would work as well. Thanks for the great recipe!
Danielle Keith says
yes you can use almond butter!
Mariusz says
The recipe says, “no oil” but chocolate chips are 2/3 oil…
Annie says
I swapped walnuts for the chips. More protein, less sugar and sooo crunchy. You could do slivered almonds, chopped hazelnuts, or maple and white chips! So yummy yummy!
BETH A says
Without question, these are the BEST brownies I have ever eaten!
Allison says
So good! I didn’t have the maple syrup so I ended up subbing with date paste. About half a cup boiling water and a cup of dates blended in a vitamix until smooth and I used a 1:1 ratio.
Kim says
The date paste is a great idea. Nexxt time I make them for sure!
Jenny says
Great brownies! There were a bit too moist. Next time I will bake them 5 minutes longer. The brownies were so fudge and rich! I will definitely make them again. My husband never guessed they were black beans and I didn’t tell him. I did explain I used maple syrup to sweeten them. He was fine with that .
Karen says
I made these for my non vegan family last night and everyone loved them. I served them like brownie sundaes with vanilla ice cream or almond banana nice cream with brownie sprinkles on top. It was beautiful and delicious. I did not have the applesauce so I replaced it with one large pitted Medjool date instead and worked out well. I will definitely be making these again!
Claire says
Very good! I made my own beans without salt, and didn’t really think about it — then the brownies really needed a dash of salt, which I added on top.
Roberta says
I don’t really like black beans but these are delicious. A new go to dessert.
I’m wondering the calorie – fat content.
Sara says
Can I use a bean other than black beans?
Danielle Brown says
chickpeas!
Jenny says
They were a little too moist and didn’t hold together great BUT I rolled them into balls, coated them in powdered sugar and chilled them for some AWESOME truffles 😋
Kay says
This turned out great and used basic, already in pantry ingredients, which I appreciate! Thank you!
Steve Sorrell says
I rarely ever comment on a recipe blog, but this time I HAVE to make an exception.
My wife and I began our WFPBNO journey over 4 years ago. We found this recipe maybe about a year into it. Since then, it is a very rare day when these are not in our fridge…ready for desert every night. I double the recipe and cook them in a muffin pan (extending the cook time to 30 minutes, BTW). Our evening is just not complete without one of these brownie muffins after our meal. It is my educated guess that I’ve made over 2000 of these muffins in the last three and a half years. They are a staple in our house. Thank you so much for this recipe, and sorry it took me so long to show my gratitude!
Bianca says
We have this literally every week, it’s so good 😂 I make big batches and freeze it in portions so I can just take it out the freezer to put straight in the oven! So yum!
I also use choc nibs and less choc chips and less maple syrup and it’s still really good xxx my 3 year old loves them
Patty says
I’m not crazy about chocolate!like mist people, but these are really good! Easy peasy too!
So glad I finally tried this recipe!
I used whole oats ground instead of the almond flour!
Thank you! I’ll be making them again!
Jennifer says
How important is the applesauce? Can it be substituted? I want to make these today but didn’t have any. Thanks!
Danielle Brown says
You can omit! Use oil!
Jordan Stacy says
These brownies are such an amazing healthy swap to traditional brownies which are laden with sugar, flour, oil, dairy, etc. I love to add chopped walnuts in mine!