This really is the Best Ever Vegan Brownies Recipe! Fudgy, gooey, perfect squares of chocolate that cut easily and are easy to make. You’ll never buy a boxed brownie mix again!
In the last two days, I’ve made three batches of vegan brownies. That’s right, three. A few weeks ago, I tried some other recipes I was playing around with. All in an attempt to create the most perfect vegan brownies recipe in the world. It has been such a struggle you guys! (And yes I have a freezer FULL of brownies)
All of the recipes were edible (I mean, come on, it’s chocolate people!), but NOT the brownie perfection I was looking for. Either they were too fudgy, or too cake-like (my biggest peeve). Or one batch that cooked fine on the outside but wouldn’t fully cook near the middle.
I had to do some serious brownie research, read about ingredients, what makes a brownie cake-like, what makes them more fudgy, how to create the right balance for what I was looking for, and then think about the best vegan swaps for the result I wanted to achieve.
Finally, just a few days ago, I made one more batch of vegan brownies, after carefully creating the recipe on paper. I was SO excited as the batter tasted incredible, and after baking they looked good in the pan. Still having doubts, I let them cool a bit and then removed them from the pan and sliced them slowly.
When I looked inside and took the first bite, I knew, I had finally created the PERFECT Vegan Brownies Recipe! They are thick and hold together when you slice them. Fudgy, but not overly so, chewy, rich, ooey-gooey and full of chocolatey goodness. No one would guess they’re vegan!
What kind of chocolate chips should I use for vegan brownies recipe?
I used Trader Joe’s semi-sweet chocolate chips because they happen to be vegan and are quite inexpensive. It can be difficult to find chocolate chips that don’t contain dairy, so just check the ingredients list. Enjoy Life is a good brand and you can order them on Amazon. You can also use your favorite chocolate bar and chop it into pieces.
What kind of cocoa powder should I use?
I used Trader Joe’s unsweetened cocoa powder in this recipe, Hershey’s unsweetened is also a good option. I would not recommend you use a dutch cocoa powder, as you will get different results.
What is the best way to cut brownies?
If you are making vegan brownies for a party or to serve to others, it’s important to follow a couple of steps to get really nicely cut brownies. This is true whether they are vegan brownies or not!
It is helpful to line your pan with parchment paper that hangs out the sides for easy removal. After baking, let the brownies cool off for 15 minutes in the pan, then lift them out of the pan with the parchment paper and let cool 15-30 minutes more on a cooling rack. The longer you let them cool, the easier and cleaner cutting will be.
To cut, use a big, heavy knife. Run it under hot water for 30 seconds, dry it quickly and cut the brownies. Clean off the knife in between cuts, and you will have clean brownie squares.
If you like this vegan brownies recipe, you may also want to check out these “best” dessert recipes:
Perfect Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
If you make this recipe, let me know how it goes! Rate it, leave a comment and tag a photo @noracooksvegan on Instagram or find me on Facebook. Enjoy!
Best Ever Vegan Brownies Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons ground flax
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup vegan butter (earth balance brand), melted *see instructions
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup non-dairy chocolate chips OR roughly chopped chocolate pieces
Instructions
- Make the flax eggs by stirring the ground flax and water in a small bowl. Set aside to thicken. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a 7 x 11 pan with parchment paper.
- Melt the vegan butter (earth balance brand preferred), and measure 1/2 cup. I do this by microwaving the vegan butter in a glass measuring cup, in 30 second intervals, until melted.
- In a large bowl, whisk the melted vegan butter and sugars together. Add the flax eggs and vanilla, whisk until evenly combined.
- Over the same large bowl, sift in the flour and cocoa powder. Add the salt and baking powder and stir with a large wooden spoon until just combined, do not over mix.
- Fold in half of the chocolate chips. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth out the top with a spoon or your hands. Sprinkle the rest of the chocolate chips on top of the batter.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes. The brownies may still be bubbling and not look done, but they will firm up a lot as they cool.
- Remove from the oven, allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then pull the brownies out, using the parchment paper and let cool for another 15-30 minutes before slicing and serving.
Video
Notes
- To sift, either use a sifter or a fine mesh strainer also works.
- Coconut oil does not work very well in place of the vegan butter; it makes them very oily so I don't recommend it. You could sub applesauce for the vegan butter if you are oil free.
- If you don't want the brownies as sweet, it is perfectly okay to reduce the sugar, even to 1 cup. They will still turn out well, just not as sweet.
- When you initially take the brownies out of the oven, they will appear underdone and soft, but give them time to cool. They are even better the next day; fudgy and rich. These are NOT cake-like brownies.
- You may also use dutch processed cocoa powder for slightly different results. They will be a little less fudgy, and darker in color.
Wow!! Amazing and perfect! I greased the pan and parchment paper, and layed down sugared and halved strawberries. When done and cooled, I flipped them over like strawberry upside down brownies, yum!!! Also added some dried cranberries in when I folded in chocolate chips. Decadent!
I love your fun strawberry idea, Lauren! What fun! I’m glad the brownies turned out perfect and delicious for you! Thank you for taking your time to share!
Made these this evening. Absolutely delish! I should have read in the ‘notes’ that you can reduce the sugar by a cup 🙁 . Next time for sure I will. I’d like to substitute all the sugar for something else, maybe banana?
Still….these were incredible brownies and I had to stop myself eating the entire pan of them! LOL.
I’m glad you liked the brownies! You can reduce the sugar somewhat, but I wouldn’t just add a mashed banana as they may end up too moist. You might be able to sub mashed banana for the flax eggs, but I haven’t tried it to know for sure. Thank you!
Thanks so much. I think I’m going to just stick with a smaller amount of sugar and just enjoy them. LOL.
Love ALL your recipes. Thank you again oxoxo
Thank you so much!
Hi! Have made these several times and they turn out amazing! However, the last time I made them, the edges and top turned hard any chewy. Don’t think it was over baked, because the insides were still soft and gooey. Can you think of any reason for this?
It’s hard to know without being there what went wrong on this last batch of brownies, since you have made them before with success! Did you bake them on the bottom rack of the oven instead of the middle? Did you use a different sized pan? Make any substitutions? Those are some of my guesses, but to me it sounds like they over baked or baked unevenly for some reason.
These are actually the best brownies EVER!!! I used a half a cup of walnuts instead of chocolate chips ? my fam loved these!
I’m so glad everyone loved the brownies! Thanks Jenny!
Made the brownies exactly but added a few tablespoons of kahlua to give it a different taste. Super excited for this homemade recipe.
Yum, Heather! Thank you for sharing!
So yummy! Thank you!
I’m so glad you like them! Thank you!
Beautiful
These were amazing. The best brownies I’ve had, ever. The texture is perfect. I followed the recipe exactly, and they were done (bubbling and steaming yum) at 35 minutes. Heaven!
Hi Beth! I’m glad you loved the brownies! Thank you for sharing!
I have made this twice in the last month OMG my friends and I love it. I added oat milk for the extra moisture and yes 1 cup of sugar still the work and made it just right for our sweet tooth. Definitely BEST VEGAN BROWNIES EVER! Thank you Nora, you the best!
Hi Brian! I’m so glad you guys love the brownies! I appreciate you taking your time to share! Thank you!
I made them today! Super rico
Delicious!!! Thank you for the recipe
Hi Zulma. I’m glad you loved them! Thank you for using my recipe, and for sharing!
I’d like to try this recipe but would need a 13×9 for my family size. If I make 1.5x the recipe in a 13×9, what would you recommend for baking time? I never know how to tell when brownies are done.
I think the bake time would be about the same if you 1.5x the recipe, about 35 minutes. If they start to look very done before that, take them out, but I’m guessing 35 minutes will be perfect baked in the center rack of the oven. Hope you enjoy them!
Thank you for all your recipes! I loved the brownies & I’ve made them 3 times. DELICIOUS but they dont look like yours:( While watching the video of you making the brownies, everything looked the same until I mixed in the dry ingredients. Is it 1 CUP flour and 1 CUP coaco powder?
Yes, that is correct. I’m glad they came out delicious even if they didn’t look like mine. I’m wondering what kind of cocoa powder you used? Natural, unsweetened cocoa? If you used dark cocoa, or dutch processed, they would come out looking different. Though I still like them that way. Hope that helps!
do you think i could freeze the dough? i like to make small servings and it’d be easier to freeze than to 1/6th the recipe!
I’ve never tried freezing the dough, but maybe. I do often freeze cut brownies though, and it works great!
Hi! Just wondering how many eggs you would sub for the flax seed? I dont eat dairy, but am ok with eggs. Also for reference Im GF.
Ps I love your butter recipe !!
Probably 4 eggs, but I haven’t tried it this way as I don’t eat eggs, but hopefully it would work. For gluten free, use a quality gluten free mix, such as King Arthur or Bob’s Red Mill. So glad you love the vegan butter recipe, thank you!
I am curios if these have been done gluten free with say Bob Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 mix or another brand. How well did it turn out?
I have made them with Bob’s Red Mill and King Arthur Flour and they worked well.
Nora,
I tried these as instructed and they were delicious. Thank you. I want to make another batch but only have white wheat flour. Do you think this will work?
Yes, I think that would work quite well! Thank you.
Hello,
these Brownies are AMAZING!
I used a little less sugar and had to add some non-dairy milk to the batter.
I will definitely be making them again, thanks for the great recipe!
Thank you, Tanja. I’m glad you love the recipe! Thank you for sharing!
These were great for my husband’s B’Day treat! Super fudgy & very thick batter! I put them in a “very-mini” loaf tray of 10 with little squares of parchment underneath. I didn’t have brown sugar on hand so I used 1 & 3/4 C evap cane sugar. I had only whole wheat pastry flour on hand & that worked great too! I also put a peanut butter stripe down the middle of each when they were still bubbling upon removal from oven. 30 minutes was perfect. I will make these again & perhaps post a video, (giving all praises to you of course!) Thanks Nora!
Happy birthday to your husband! Your brownies sound delicious! Thank you for using my recipe, and for taking your time to share! Happy cooking!
This looks great, I love the perfect brownie!
Do you use a 1/2 cup of melted butter or 1/2 cup of butter melted?
It should measure 1/2 cup once melted. I often use the sticks for easy measuring. Hope you love the brownies!
Nora I LOVE your recipes! Thank you for doing what you do! Can I make these without the chocolate chips. I have all the other ingredients on hand except the chocolate. I have cocoa powder, will it turn out less fudgy or like cake?
Thank you so much, Tanya! I appreciate your encouraging words! 🙂 Yes, you can leave the chocolate chips out, they are just for folding in and there is already cocoa powder in the recipe, so no need to add more. They will still be plenty fudgy without the extra chocolate.
Can you use Almond flour instead?
No, sorry almond flour won’t work well in this recipe.
I have tried making these twice now only adjusting the amount of sugar. The first time I only put 1/3 cup of each sugar they were extremely dry just a big blob of batter. The second time I put 1/2 cup of each sugar again a big dry blob of batter. I tried spooning the flour and cocoa powder to measure. What am I doing wrong? I measured everything else to the T.
It’s hard to know what’s going on without being there or having more information, but many, many people have made these with success so they definitely work when made as written. It will make a big difference to use that little of sugar in the brownie recipe. The recipe calls for 2 cups, so you could likely go down to even 1 cup, but you need sugar to make them work, not just for sweetness, but for the texture and structure. So that could be your issue. Are you making other substitutions as well, such as using something other than white flour?
These are amazing (let’s be real, all of Nora’s recipes are). Perfect vegan brownies that have the perfect consistency without the hard edges! We devoured the pan so fast and we’re gearing up to make more!
Hi Petria. So great to hear they turn out yummy for you! Thank you for using my recipes! I appreciate you taking your time to comment!
Delish!!
Thank you Jeni!
Perfect. Amazing. I love it!
Your writing style flows together with the instructions you give us seamlessly and always makes baking vegan goodness fun and easy to follow.
These brownies are no exception! They came out chocolatey and gooey and melty – just as they should.
Thank you!
Hi Matthew. I’m glad the brownies turned out delicious and amazing for you! I appreciate you taking the time to share your comments! Thank you!
Truly the best ever and have made several non-vegans forget they were eating a vegan brownie! I tried 2-3 other recipes before this and you really just dont have to–these are IT!
Hi Shannon. Thank for your great vote on my brownies! I’m glad you love them! Thank you!