Fudgy chocolatey "healthy" brownies
I know, I know, just the heading makes this recipe sound unappetizing. But once you get past the idea that you’re putting beans in your baked goods, you’ll be hooked!
These black bean brownies are guiltless. But more importantly, they are decadent, moist, and they taste amazing.
Over the years my friend group has become more and more specific with our nutritional needs. We are dairy-free, gluten-free, vegetarian, pescatarian, etc. I’ve always been the resident baker, but satisfying everyone is now a major challenge.
That’s where these chocolately squares come into play.
Keep the secret ingredient a secret
You know how some things are better left unsaid? The black beans hiding inside these brownies are one of those things.
I recently brought these brownies to a wine night hosted by a girlfriend and they were a total hit. No one asked what was in them, no one questioned the flavor.
Why? Because they tasted like brownies!
That’s when I asked the group to try to guess the main ingredient. They were stumped.
I admitted black beans were the secret. Then three things happened:
- A moment of horror.
- Obligatory jokes about the extra fiber.
- Serious praise for making this classic treat both vegan and gluten free (while still maintaining that rich brownie flavor).
Here’s the deal, you gotta go make a batch of these black bean brownies. But make sure to keep the ingredients a secret until after people tell you how amazing they are.
Other Noteworthy Versions
- Minimalist Baker: Vegan Gluten Free Black Bean Brownies
- Chocolate Covered Katie: No Flour Black Bean Brownies
Recipe
Awesome black bean brownies
These fudgy and decadent black bean brownies are a guiltless treat.
Black Beans, Chocolate Chips, Cocoa Powder, Coconut Oil, Oats, Vanilla,Ingredients:
- black beans - 1 15oz can rinsed
- maple syrup - 1/3 cup
- coconut oil* - 1/4 cup
- vanilla extract - 2 tsp.
- coconut sugar* - 2 Tbsp.
- rolled oats (gluten free) - 1/2 cup
- cocoa powder - 2 Tbsp.
- baking powder - 1/2 tsp.
- walnuts, almonds, pistachios, etc (optional) - 1/2 cup
- salt (if nuts unsalted or not using nuts) - 1/4 tsp.
- ADD AFTER THE BLEND
- chocolate chips - 2/3 cup
Instructions:
PREP
- Preheat the oven to 350
- Rinse the black beans
BLEND
- Add all of the ingredients to the Vitamix container
- Blend on high 1-2 minutes until smooth
- Add chocolate chips to the batter and mix with a spatula
BAKE
- Grease an 8×8 pan and pour in the batter
- Top with more chocolate chips, nuts, or other toppings
- Bake at 350 for 15 minutes
- Check if the middle is set with a toothpick
- If not, bake for 2-3 min intervals until set
- Undercooked is better than overcooked with this recipe
SERVE
- Wait patiently for 15 min before cutting and serving
- Snap a pic and tag #LifeisNOYOKE
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week
- Bring back to room temp to serve
- Enjoy!
Useful tips for Awesome black bean brownies
Baking is a precise science, follow the recipe. Don’t wing it.
If you truly want these brownies to be gluten-free, make sure to check that your oats are processed in a grain-free facility. To make sure they are vegan, buy vegan chocolate chips, and use agave instead of honey.
* You can use any sugar (raw, coconut, white, etc) and any oil (vegetable, canola, olive, grape seed, etc) that you have in your pantry.
We made it a Vitamix recipe because that's what we do. Above is our Vitamix Pro 750.
Note: Your Vitamix is not smoking. It's probably the cocoa is just filling your lungs with delicious chocolate dust.
Feeling the love for baking with your Vitamix? Try this vegan banana bread!
Followed the recipe exactly but added a whole walnut to each mini muffin pan spot and baked for 15 minutes. It made 24 bite size treats. I loved them. Hubby said “what, it tastes like a brownie?” 3 kids 8, 5, and 3 also approve. We will definitely make them again.
Love the idea of making these into mini bite sized brownies. Now if I could just get my kids to agree to eat walnuts…
Thanks for the Vitamix recipes for vegan foods. I made these, but I am not supposed to have any oil. So I subbed applesauce for the oil. They were tasty, but I had problems getting them to blend in the Vitamix. It seemed I needed more liquid, but I was following the recipe exactly except for the oil/applesauce sub. I could get it to mix at speed 1 or 2, but as soon as I got higher it wouldn’t pull the mixture down into the blades to blend. I pushed and ‘stirred’ with the tamper, but to no avail. Other than that they were great and my dinner guests loved them, even after finding out what was in them!
Applesauce is an excellent sub for oil and I’m glad they turned out well. You can always double the recipe if it seems like the blades are not pulling the blend down.
You guys, this is amazing. I hated black beans and actually am not really a fan of legumes anyway but I really needed to change my lifestyle and I am making myself eat things, that I I haven’t liked before but know will fuel my body the way it needs to and oh boy this recipe just demonstrated that you can use nutritional dense foods and make a treat out of them that you can feel good about. I swapped out the maple syrup with applesauce and monkfruit sweetener for minimal spike of blood sugar and it still came out beautifully. Thank you for the great work you put out there and because of you, I got my first Vitamix. It was used on marketplace so I saved a ton of money but I can see what the rave is about. When this one dies, I know it will be worth paying full retail but by the looks this will last me years to come =)
I see many black bean brownies in your future 🙂
First off, I was not expecting to like this recipe. I hate black beans, but wanted a different way to sneak them into my diet. Well, this recipe is it!!! My husband and I love these brownies and will be making them for a Christmas treat. I just bought a Vitamix and this recipe was the first I tried in it. Thank you for the awesome recipe!
Gotta love sneaky veggies!
The blender sounded very angry with this recipe. Is that normal?
This one should be pretty easy to handle. No hard or frozen ingredients. Is it working properly otherwise?
Yes – it seems fine otherwise. Could it be that there is not enough liquid in the recipe for the blender? It’s delicious by the way just don’t want to damage the machine.
I’d recommend just making sure you’re using the tamper to push the ingredients from the corners into the blade.
Fantastically yummy brownies. Made it twice. I don’t have 8 x 8 pan. So, the first time, I use 9 inch round glass pan. Middle came out soft, so baked for another 10 min. Still soft. So refrigerated it. Tasted great but chocolate chips were too hard when cold. Then left it out to come to room temperature. Amazing texture and taste!!
2nd time, divided batter evenly into 4 metal mini loaf pans, followed recipe exactly except used only 1 Tbsp sugar & made cooked my own beans. PERFECT!! I will make this til I die. Thank you!!!
We have yet to make them with homemade beans, more power to ya!
Hello, I was wondering if you think Adzuki beans would work with this recipe instead of black beans.
If you’ve got a high-powered blender (like a Vitamix) to break them down, I don’t see why not! Let us know how it goes 🙂
Hi there, can I use maple syrup instead of agave to make it vegan?
You certainly can! We posted this recipe before going 100% vegan. Will update to sub maple for honey, thanks for the heads-up.
My Vitamix 750 and the Vitamix scale are arriving on Monday so I’m planning on having this be my first recipe. So excited! Just one question, I never buy canned beans, I make them in a pressure cooker. Do you know how many grams (or ounces, or cups) of beans are in a 15 oz can? I don’t think it’s 15 oz since it includes the beans water.
I’m going to convert this recipe to the Vitamix scale app so that the nutritional value can go straight to my MyFitnessPal account. I can’t wait to let you know how they turned out.
P.S. I wish I would have seen your blog before purchasing so that you could get the credit 🙁
Hi Azure, welcome to the Vitamix family! We are having a ton of fun with the Perfect Blend Scale too! You should be safe using 1.5 cups of black beans made in your pressure cooker.
P.S.- No problem, we know you’re going to love your Vitamix so much that you’ll tell your friends & family about Life is NOYOKE 🙂
Thanks to the reader who pointed out that this recipe was remarkably similar to Chocolate Covered Katie. You’re right; it is.
Hers was nearly perfect and deserves a ton of credit for how these turned out. We used hers as a template and worked from there.
Moral of the story: Go make these brownies. Katie’s version or ours. They’re incredible.