The Best Black Bean Brownies (+ Video)

The perfect flourless brownies made with black beans! Not just for those seeking a slightly healthier brownie—these brownies are for everyone and I make them all the time. Black bean brownies are fudgy, full of chocolate, and moist and delicious. This recipe is the BEST and they stay soft for days!

You might also like our favorite green smoothie, our honey wheat bread, or our peanut butter brownie bites!

Watch our step by step video!

Black Bean Brownies

I hope we’ve developed enough of a relationship on here that you feel like you can trust me when I say that something is delicious. That’s where black bean brownies come into the picture. 4 out of 5 of my kids turn up their noses to beans, in general, but none of them could tell that these deliciously moist and fudgy brownies contained black beans. This isn’t to say that all “healthier” brownies are delicious. I made zucchini brownies once and it was a truly traumatic experience. Reading the description of a supposed delicious brownie only to take one bite and gag. Never again.

Black bean brownies are flourless, full of fiber, and downright delicious. I first started making them 10-12 years ago and have always used the recipe from Skinnytaste as a base. I’ve modified it over the years to make it with ingredients that I always have on hand and use fewer chocolate chips and less sugar and have found the results to be the same. I don’t use make these when I am following a certain diet, these are my go-to recipe for basic brownies in general. When I want something thinner, richer, and loaded with frosting and sprinkles I make my cosmic brownies (which are divine) but when I want a thick basic brownie that needs no embellishing I make these.

Why is this recipe the best black bean brownie recipe?

1. The ingredients are simple, ones you probably already have on hand.
2. The brownies are thick and fudgy with a cloud texture.
3. They stay soft for days.
4. They are easy to make with only a couple of steps.

Black Bean Brownies Ingredients

I don’t follow a low-sugar or gluten-free diet. I rarely use alternatives to sugar or substitute maple or honey in its place. I rarely use applesauce instead of fat. If that’s something you are familiar with, by all means, you can use your favorite substitutes (and there are a lot of recipes that use alternatives), but the measurements and ingredients in this recipe are what I use every time—with great success. You might think that you can just omit the chocolate chips, but I highly recommend leaving them in. Basically, I insist that you leave them in. I used to use 1 cup but found that a 1/2 cup doesn’t diminish the flavor and still gives you gooey pops of chocolate in every bite which gives them such a chocolatey flavor.

Here’s what you’ll need to make a batch of black bean brownies

(Scroll to the end for a printable version)

• 1 (14 oz) can of black beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1 Tbsp. skim milk
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips, divided

How To Make Black Bean Brownies

Step 1: Puree the black beans and preheat THE oven.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

You’ll need to blend the black beans down and there are several ways to do this. Add the beans and eggs to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. You can also place the beans and eggs into a large mixing bowl and use an immersion blender (hand blender) to blend them.

I’ve made them with a blender and an immersion blender and think the immersion blender is a little easier since I don’t have to spoon the beans out of the blender to add to the bowl later on. It saves a step to blend them right in the bowl, but just use whatever appliance you have.

Step 2: Add remaining ingredients.

Once the beans are smooth, mix in the remaining ingredients, only. mixing in 1/4 cup of the chocolate chips and saving the remaining 1/4 cup for later.

Step 3: Prepare an 8×8 or 9×9 baking dish.

Line a baking dish with parchment paper then spray with nonstick spray. The parchment paper makes it easy to lift the brownies out of the pan to cut.

Pour batter into the prepared baking dish then sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup of chocolate chips.

Step 4: Bake and Cool

Bake brownies for 30 minutes. Let cool completely in the pan.

Lift brownies out of the pan using the parchment paper and cut them into squares.

Wrap leftover brownies individually or cover the entire pan in plastic to keep the brownies soft. If stored properly brownies will stay soft for up to 5 days.

Calories in Black Bean Brownies

These aren’t exactly a low-calorie treat ( a store-bought Fiber One brownie only has 70 calories), but they have far more fiber than a regular brownie and less sugar and fat. I’ll break down the calories depending on how you slice them and you can decide. I like cutting mine into 9 squares. And let’s be honest, these taste better than the Fiber One brownies.

9 brownies = 182 calories

12 brownies = 137 calories

16 brownies = 102 calories

(I used a recipe calorie calculator for these numbers)

Black Bean Brownies Recipe

The BEST Black Bean Brownies

Black bean brownies are fudgy, full of chocolate, and are moist and delicious. This recipe is the BEST and they stay soft for days!

5 from 1 vote

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes minutes

Servings: 9

Calories: 182kcal

Ingredients

• 1 14 oz can of black beans drained and rinsed
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1 Tbsp. skim milk
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips divided

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• PREPARE AN 8X8 OR 9X9 BAKING DISH.

  Line a baking dish with parchment paper then spray with nonstick spray. The parchment paper makes it easy to lift the brownies out of the pan to cut.
• PUREE THE BLACK BEANS AND PREHEAT THE OVEN.

  You'll need to blend the black beans down and there are several ways to do this. Add the beans and eggs to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. You can also place the beans and eggs into a large mixing bowl and use an immersion blender (hand blender) to blend them. I've made them with a blender and an immersion blender and think the immersion blender is a little easier since I don't have to spoon the beans out of the blender to add to the bowl later on. It saves a step to blend them right in the bowl, but just use whatever appliance you have.
• ADD REMAINING INGREDIENTS.

  Once the beans are smooth, mix in the remaining ingredients, reserving 1/4 of the chocolate chips.
• Pour batter into the prepared baking dish then sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup of chocolate chips.
• BAKE AND COOL

  Bake brownies for 30 minutes. Let cool completely in the pan.
• Lift brownies out of the pan using the parchment paper and cut them into squares.

Notes

Wrap leftover brownies individually or cover the entire pan in plastic to keep the brownies soft. If stored properly brownies will stay soft for up to 5 days.

CALORIES IN BLACK BEAN BROWNIES

These aren't exactly a low-calorie treat ( a store-bought Fiber One brownie only has 70 calories), but they have far more fiber than a regular brownie and less sugar and fat. I'll break down the calories depending on how you slice them and you can decide. I like cutting mine into 9 squares. And let's be honest, these taste better than the Fiber One brownies.

9 brownies = 182 calories

12 brownies = 137 calories

16 brownies = 102 calories

Nutrition

Calories: 182kcal