These Breakfast Brownies are the easiest, healthy brownies to start the day with fiber, proteins, and all the flavor and fudgy texture of classic brownies. Plus, these are also dairy-free, egg-free, and vegan-friendly.
If you love dessert for breakfast, great news, you can have a piece of these fudgy oatmeal brownies with no guilt.
Why You’ll Love These Brownies
These healthy oat brownies are packed with all the basic wholesome food breakfast should include but packed and shaped like vegan brownies.
It’s also naturally allergy friendly as it’s:
- Gluten-Free
- Dairy-Free
- Egg-Free
- Oil-Free
- Banana-Free – We love bananas, but if you don’t, these brownies are a great alternative to our peanut butter banana brownies.
- Refined Sugar-Free
Ingredients and Substitutions
All you need to make these healthy brownies are the ingredients below.
- Old-Fashioned Oats – The ones you would use to make overnight oats or protein oatmeal.
- Flaxseed Meal – This adds a chewy texture to the brownies but also fiber and healthy fats.
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder – This is the main source of chocolatiness.
- Baking Powder – for texture.
- Almond Milk – Use unsweetened almond milk or any non-dairy milk you love.
- Liquid Sweetener of Choice – It can be maple syrup, sugar-free monk fruit syrup, coconut nectar, or agave syrup.
- Peanut Butter – Use natural peanut butter or any other nut butter such as almond butter or cashew butter. For a nut-free option, you can opt for sunflower seed butter.
- Vanilla Extract – To add even more taste and flavors.
- Dark Chocolate Chips
How To Make Breakfast Brownies
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C). Line an 8-inch x 8-inch baking pan with parchment paper. Lightly oil the paper with coconut oil and set the pan aside.
- In a high-speed blender jug, add all the ingredients except the chocolate chips and nuts.
- Start by adding the dry ingredients: old-fashioned rolled oats, flaxseed meal, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.
- Pour the liquid ingredients: vanilla, maple syrup, peanut butter, salt, and almond milk.
- Blend on high speed until smooth or about 20 seconds on speed 9 of a Vitamix.
- Incorporate the nuts and chocolate chips in the batter with a silicone spatula.
- Pour the brownie batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle extra chocolate chips on top.
- Bake in the center rack for 15 to 20 minutes at 350 °F (180 °C) until dry and crackle on top.
- If you insert a pick in the center of the brownies, it should come slightly sticky, meaning the brownies are still moist, not over-baked.
- Remove the brownies from the oven and cool them down on a wire rack immediately.
- Pull the hanging pieces of parchment paper to easily release the brownies and quickly move them to a cooling rack.
- Sprinkle some sea salt on the top and enjoy cold or lukewarm.
Storage Instructions
Store the leftover brownies in a sealed box in the fridge for up to 3 days or freeze and thaw at room temperature the day before.
Allergy Swaps
If you have some food allergies, I listed some ingredient substitutions below to help you make this recipe.
- Nut-Free – Swap the peanut butter for sunflower seed butter and replace the almond milk with hemp milk, oat milk, or soy milk. Skip the nuts in the batter or use seeds or shredded coconut for texture.
- Gluten-Free – Use a gluten-free certified oat brand and gluten-free baking powder with no added wheat. You can also swap the 2 teaspoons of baking powder for 1 teaspoon of baking soda.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below are the answers to your most frequent questions about making breakfast brownies.
I didn’t try that option, but I am pretty sure you can skip sweetener for the same amount of mashed banana to naturally sweeten the brownies.
Otherwise, use my banana brownies recipe.
You can use a food processor instead of a blender, but a food processor usually won’t pulse the oats into an oat flour as fine as a blender.
So if you do, expect the texture to be grittier, similar to an oatmeal breakfast bake.
If you don’t like liquid sweeteners, you can use brown sugar or coconut sugar, about 1/2 cup.
Note that the texture of the brownies will be dryer if you decrease the liquid in favor of crystal sweetener, so it’s a great idea to add 1 or 2 tablespoons of extra almond milk to balance the texture of the brownies.
No, you can’t add protein powder to this brownie recipe, but you can try my protein powder brownies instead, also made with oats.
You can frost these brownies with protein powder frosting for a boost of proteins and a creamy texture.
More Plant-Based Brownie Recipes
Below are some more easy brownie recipes for you to try:
Did You Like This Recipe?
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Breakfast Brownies
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats
- 2 tablespoons Flaxseed Meal
- ⅓ cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ¼ cup Peanut Butter (Unsalted) - note 1
- 1 cup Almond Milk - note 2
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- ⅓ cup Maple Syrup - note 3
Add-on
- ½ cup Dairy-Free Dark Chocolate Chips
- ⅓ cup Chopped Pecans
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line an 8-inch square brownie pan with parchment paper and lightly oil with oil spray. Set aside.
- In the jug of a high-speed blender, add in this order: rolled oat, flaxseed meal, cocoa powder, baking powder, peanut butter, almond milk, vanilla extract, and maple syrup.
- Blend on the high-speed setting until a thick, smooth batter forms – it takes about 20 seconds on speed 8-9 of a Vitamix blender.
- Stir in the chocolate chips and chopped pecans using a silicone spatula to avoid damaging the blade of your blender.
- Transfer the brownie batter to the prepared pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle extra chocolate chips on top if desired.
- Bake on the center rack of the oven for 15-20 minutes or until a pick inserted in the center of the brownie comes out clean.
- Cool down on a cooling rack before frosting.
Storage
- Store in a sealed box in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Very good. I only used 1/2 maple syrup as we don’t eat much sugar. They were just right! Paired with strawberry nicecream.
These were great! They don’t taste like a traditional brownie, but more of a slightly sweet and fudgy healthy oat bar. I did make a few substitutions based on what I had- I only had a flax/hemp blend so I bumped the quantity up to 1/4 cup. I did not have maple syrup so I used 1/3 cup organic unrefined cane sugar. Used a chopped up 90% dark chocolate bar and 1/2 cup slivered almonds as the mix ins and they were absolutely delicious. Baked around 350 for 15 minutes. They taste best when completely cooled and then stored in the fridge! Thanks for this recipe!
Hi. I dont have flax meal. Any substitute?
Ground chia seed will work the same here.
Did it for my girls today and it came out so good
I can’t beleive how perfect these came out. Not as fudgy as classic brownies but terrific taste