These Healthy Brownies are easy, vegan, flourless brownies with a delicious fudge texture and dark chocolate flavors. They are made with the most basic 4 ingredients to keep the brownies as natural and nourishing as possible.
There are many ways to make healthy brownies, and you might have already tried some of my healthy brownie alternatives, like my black bean brownies, healthy banana brownies, or chickpea brownies. All these options are healthy, but they all use particular ingredients like beans or fruits that add a texture and flavors that don’t achieve a perfect classic brownie texture.
This new healthy brownie recipe holds it well against my vegan brownies without any doubt, except it’s made with the most nourishing simple ingredients.
Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Flourless
- Gluten-free
- Oil-free
- Vegan
- Grain-free
- Low calorie brownies with just 150 kcal
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Plant-Based Greek Style Yogurt – You can use any of your favorite Greek yogurt brands. Mine is made from coconut, but cashew, oat, almond yogurt, and all plain yogurt will deliver the best healthy brownies. I choose to bake with yogurt because it’s lower in calories than butter and adds protein to the brownies if you use a high-protein yogurt like soy yogurt.
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder – This is the main ingredient that binds the batter and adds strong dark chocolate flavors. Cacao powder works as well, but the flavor will be more bitter.
- Coconut Sugar, Brown Sugar, or any granulated sweetener you love. This adds sweetness but also a little crust on top of the brownies.
- Almond Butter is my favorite nut butter as it doesn’t add flavor like peanut butter. It binds ingredients and acts like butter and almond flour but in one simple clean ingredient. Any nut butter or seed butter works, so feel free to use sunflower seed butter or tahini if you have nut allergies.
- Chocolate Chips are always optional in brownies. For healthy brownies, pick a dark chocolate chip brand that contains at least 70% of cocoa as they contain less sugar.
How To Make Healthy Brownies
This recipe is really easy to put together, as you can see in the recipe card below. Key steps:
Storage
You can store the brownies in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 5 days or freeze them for up to one month. The fridge boosts the fudge texture of the brownies. You can place leftovers in the freezer in zip-lock bags for up to 1 month.
Expert Tips
- Use unrefined granulated sugar like coconut sugar, unrefined cane sugar, or demerara sugar. This recipe won’t work with liquid sweeteners like maple syrup, you must use crystal sweetener.
- Use chocolate chips with a high cocoa percentage to limit added sugar, or use sugar-free chocolate chips.
- Use almond butter to decrease saturated fat. Many healthy brownie recipes use coconut oil or peanut butter, which raises saturated fats.
- Don’t add eggs, dairy, or flour, keep it simple!
More Brownie Recipes
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Healthy Brownies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup Dairy-Free Yogurt - (note 1)
- ½ cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- ⅓ cup + 2 tablespoons Coconut Sugar - (note 2)
- ½ cup Almond Butter - (note 3)
Optional
- ½ cup Dairy-Free Dark Chocolate Chips
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a 6-inch brownie pan with parchment paper and grease it with cooking oil spray. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add yogurt, coconut sugar, almond butter, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, and salt, if used.
- Stir with a silicone spatula until the batter is sticky and well combined.
- Fold in chocolate chips if used and stir to incorporate.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle extra chocolate chips on top if you like.
- Bake the brownies on the center rack of your oven for 25-30 minutes at 350°F (180°C) until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool in the pan at room temperature for 10 minutes, then on a cooling rack for an hour before slicing.
can i add eggs
No, this recipe is made to not use eggs, there’s no need for any!
What kind of chocolate chips are you using?
I use Ghirardelli Non-Dairy Dark Chocolate Chips
Looks divine! I’m wondering if I can incorporate ripe bananas somehow, maybe as a substitute for the almond butter?
It’s really good indeed! I’m afraid that adding banana would require tuning a lot of things in the recipe. But if you like banana brownies, I can propose some alternatives, like my healthy banana brownies or my peanut butter banana brownies.
I followed the instructions and all of its original ingredients and they are still nowhere near done. I checked my oven and it’s running fine. I realize you probably won’t see this anytime soon, but any suggestions on what went wrong for the future would be helpful!
Hmm that’s odd. Did you use a thick dish or a deep pan?
Wonder if date sugar would work?
It absolutely will work!
Can I use homemade plain dairy yogurt?
Yes, it should work, if your yogurt has a similar texture to classic plant-based yogurt.
By far the best tasting brownie I have ever had. Need to get me a 6 inch brownie pan though. I will be making these again.
Thank you so much!