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The richest, fudgiest vegan brownies ever. The BEST vegan brownies are decadent and moist with deep chocolate flavor and soul-satisfying chocolate fudginess.
Fudgy, Moist and Decadent: the BEST Vegan Brownies Have it All
Today’s recipe for the BEST vegan brownies are the only brownie recipe you’ll ever need. These brownies are decadent, fudgy and moist, with gooey chocolate chips and all the chocolate flavor you need to satisfy those sweet tooth cravings. The best part? They’re vegan and don’t at all taste like it. Ready to make the best vegan brownies? Let’s do it!
How to Make Vegan Brownies
But really, what’s the best and tastiest way to learn how to make vegan brownies? The easy way. My motto is to always keep things simple and easy, so that’s how we’re gonna make the best vegan brownies. Don’t worry, we won’t miss out on an indulgent fudgy factor or mouthwatering moistness. It’s all here folks!
Preheat, Line & Flax it Up
The two things I do before I start any recipe is preheat the oven and make my flax eggs. Head on over to your oven and preheat it to 325°F. Then, line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper or greased foil. Lastly, mix up your flax eggs. This way, it’ll have set for when you’re ready to whisk it into the brownie batter. Set aside.
Hint 💡 Learn how to make flax eggs.
Whisk
Grab a medium bowl and add in the almond butter, brown sugar, maple syrup and coconut oil. You’ll want to whisk these ingredients together until you get a sticky mixture, like caramel.
Add
Begin adding cocoa powder in ¼ cup increments, giving your whisk the time to slowly incorporate the cocoa powder. Continue until it’s shiny and smooth. Add in the flax eggs, vanilla, and salt. Whisk a few times to combine.
Fold
Add the flour. Using a rubber spatula, stir and fold in the flour until no flour patches remain. The batter will be super thick, which is why we’re not using a whisk here. Fold in vegan chocolate chips.
Pour
Pour your vegan brownie batter into the prepped pan. Smooth brownie batter into an even layer.
Bake, Cool, Slice and Enjoy
Bake brownies for about 30 minutes. Cool, slice and enjoy the very best vegan brownies ever!
Ingredient Substitutions for the Best Vegan Brownies
Isn’t it the best when you have everything you need for a recipe on hand? And totally the worst when you don’t? Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered! Here are a list of the ingredients needed to make the best vegan brownies, along with the best ingredient substitutions.
- Almond Butter: feel free to substitute this ingredient with your favorite nut butter. I like using peanut butter or even cashew butter. I know some readers have used sunflower seed butter with success, too. 🙂 Just make sure to use an unsalted, natural nut or seed butter to keep the recipe as close to the original as possible. And, bear in mind that the flavor of the nut butter you use will come through in the brownies (except for almond butter, which is neutral).
- Dark Brown Sugar or Coconut Sugar: either sugar will work, but what if you don’t have either? You can try using organic cane sugar instead. But truly, one of these will work best.
- Pure Maple Syrup: some readers have tried using brown rice syrup with success. I haven’t tried it myself, so proceed with caution if you do. 😉
- Coconut Oil: melted vegan butter will probably work just fine. Some readers have also used avocado oil and canola oil. If you use either of those, or something else, let me know how it works out!
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder: you can absolutely use raw cacao powder here. I’ve made this brownie recipe tons of times with raw cacao powder and it works just the same.
- Flax Eggs: easily sub the flax eggs in these vegan brownies with chia eggs or egg replacer.
- Almond Extract: I love the complex flavor that almond extract adds to the best vegan brownies, but you can use pure vanilla extract.
- Salt: if you don’t want salt at all, you can leave this one out. If you like it with a bit more salt, you can try ¼ teaspoon + 1/8 teaspoon of salt. I fear that ½ teaspoon total will be too much. Or, you can sprinkle sea salt on top of the brownies before serving.
- White Whole Wheat Flour: feel free to use oat flour in place of this ingredient, as the texture will be pretty much the same. Here’s how to make oat flour.
Hot or Cold: How Shall I Enjoy My Vegan Brownies?
Hot (well, Warm)
A popular option—enjoying your brownie practically fresh from the oven. You can also warm up your brownies by popping them into the microwave for about 10-seconds. This warm vegan brownie will be soft, with gooey chocolate chips and rich texture.
Cold
My sister loves putting any and all desserts into the freezer. Reason being that colder treats can sometimes be yummier. If you want to place your brownies in the freezer, then you’ll be gently nibbling on a very firm brownie while the heat from you mouth melts the treat. If you want to put your brownies into the fridge, you’re looking at a firmer vegan brownie, with almost a cosmic brownie consistency–think firm and dense, but soft enough to sink your teeth into.
The Very Best Vegan Brownie Recipes
- Vegan Gluten Free Brownies (GF, Dairy Free)
- Paleo Vegan Brownies Recipe
- Vegan Banana Brownies Recipe
- No Bake Vegan Brownies
- Fudgy Vegan Brownies – 6 Ways
Tools You Need
How Do You Like ‘Em?
How’d you like the best vegan brownies ever? Just know, it means the world to me when you take the time to comment, rate the recipe and let me know what you think. Your positive feedback is what keeps me going (and helps me to get better). ‘Til our next vegan adventure…
Sending you all my love and maybe even a dove, xo Demeter ❤️
🍫 📸 🍫
📸 Did you make this vegan brownies recipe? Take a pic and share it on Instagram with the hashtag #beamingbaker & tag @beamingbaker. I’d love to see it! 📸
Best Vegan Brownies Recipe – Easy ‘n Moist!
Equipment
Ingredients
Best Vegan Brownies
- ¼ cup natural, unsalted creamy almond butter or other nut butter
- ½ cup organic dark brown sugar or coconut sugar
- 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder or raw cacao powder
- 2 flax eggs, 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed + 6 tablespoons water whisked together, set for 15 mins
- 1 teaspoon pure almond extract or pure vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons white whole wheat flour or oat flour
Add-in
- ½ cup vegan chocolate chips
Click here for Gluten Free Vegan Brownies.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper or greased foil. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together almond butter, brown sugar, maple syrup and melted coconut oil. Whisk until it resembles caramel.
- Add cocoa powder in ¼ cup increments, whisking until shiny and smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add in flax eggs, extract, and salt. Stir just a few times to gently incorporate.
- Using a rubber spatula, fold in flour until you get the consistency of soft dough or very thick batter, and no flour patches remain.
- Fold in vegan chocolate chips. Pour batter into pan. Using a rubber spatula, smooth batter into an even layer.
- Bake for 25-35 minutes. Mine took 30 minutes. Cool for 1 hour, or until completely cool.* Slice into 9-16 brownies. Enjoy!
Delicious Vegan Brownie Recipes
- Paleo Vegan Brownies (Gluten Free) - brownies made with almond flour
Notes
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made these today and they are SO SO SO yummy! but mine ended up VERY hard on the outside… i mean, i am a pretty terrible cook as it is. I tried not to over mix them but the mixture was quite hard to mix by the end of the process. Or maybe its because my oven is fan forced and they are overcooked… i have no idea, i’d live to give them another whirl and see if i can make them even better, because the taste is awesome.
Nick
Hi Nick, what a colorful experience you’ve had with these brownies! Okay, after doing a bit of research on fan-forced ovens, it appears that this type of oven cooks food faster and browns it quicker than conventional ovens. According to Taste.com.au: “If using a fan-forced oven, as a general rule, drop the temperature by 20°C to imitate conventional.” So it might not be the case that you’re a “terrible cook” at all–what if it’s because your fan-forced oven is simply cooking your food much quicker than a conventional one does?
So here’s my recommendation: try lowering the temperature by the recommended amount from Taste.com (20°C), bake for 25 minutes, then allow to cool for an hour. If the texture is fudgy and soft, you’re golden! Always use that temperature and time. If it’s still too hard, reduce the bake time by 5-10 minutes.
Hope this helps! Let me know how it turns out, Nick! 🙂
Thanks so much for your thoughtful reply 🙂 I am definitely going to try again with these added recommendations. Will let you know how I go!
It’s my pleasure, Nick. 🙂 Can’t wait to hear how it goes! 🙂 Best of luck!
Ok so the mixture was still coming up pretty thick and hard to mix – It seemed to get too hard when I added the cocoa. In any case, I decided to just go rogue and add a tiny bit of coconut cream to make the mixture creamier and easier to work with. The result…. perfect, fudgy goodness!!!
Thanks so much for your help. My vegan friends are coming for dinner tonight and I know they are going to love this dessert 😀
Nick
So interesting! For me, it only gets slightly harder to mix and pretty sticky once the flour comes in. The coconut cream addition sounds so tasty! I’m so glad you enjoyed them, Nick! I hope you all have a fantastic dinner! 🙂
Demeter, oh my gosh, these are PURE GOLD. Today is my second time making them and I’m predicting they’ll disappear in one night like they did last week!! My friend even commented, “okay, how much butter and sugar are in these….they’re way too good!” Not one person believed me when I said they were vegan; I LOVE when that happens haha. This is now deemed as my absolute favorite brownie recipe EVER! 🙂 You’re a genius!
Hi Marina, that’s fantastic!! I’m so glad you loved these! 🙂 Butter and sugar: you must’ve been so pleased to reveal the answer to that question. 😉 Vegan: LOVE it! It makes me beyond happy to hear that–it’s so cool when people can see that vegan treats are just as good (if not better) than the regular stuff. Thanks so much for your wonderful comment, Marina. Happy baking! xo
Hi! These brownies look amazing… Could I use dairy free butter instead of Almond Butter? Thanks 🙂
Hi Jess! I’ve never tried using dairy free butter in place of the almond butter. Can you use another nut butter instead? Like peanut butter or cashew butter, or is there a nut-allergy situation? 🙂
Sorry, didn’t see your reply until now but I did end up making the brownies with dairy free butter and they tasted out of this world! Can’t believe they are vegan!! Going to make them again today, best brownie I have ever had, thanks so much for sharing. X
Good to know they work with dairy free butter.:) I’m so happy you enjoyed them, Jess! Thank you for taking the time to let me know how they turned out. Vegan baking rocks, right? 😉 Enjoy! xo
Could I use coconut sugar instead of brown?
Hi Gina. Yes! You can definitely use coconut sugar. 🙂
I have now made these four times! Friends and family can’t believe they are vegan. Best brownie I have ever made, and I’ve made lots of different recipes! Thank you!!
What a fantastic comment to wake up to on a Saturday morning! 🙂 That’s my ultimate goal right there–to make secretly heathy treats that people cannot tell are vegan (and allergy-friendly)! Thank you for taking the time to let me know. I’m so happy that you enjoy them, Kim. Big hugs! You rock!
Hi there! These look absolutely divine! I absolutely cannot wait to try them!
Quick question though: can I use regular vegetable oil instead of the coconut oil? I have family members who hate anything coconut. Thanks! 🙂
Hi Allie! Thank you so much! I’ve never tried subbing the coconut oil with vegetable oil, but I think it might just work. I have heard of people swapping those two with success before (in other recipes). If it helps any, you won’t be able to taste the coconut at all. Can’t wait to hear how it turns out! 🙂
Hi, is there anything the maple syrup could be substituted for? Maybe I just have bad luck but somehow the natural maple syrup I got, the container ended up with mold in it! So now I’m wary of buying more because it’s kinda expensive and mold is gross. These look so mouth watering! Brownies are one of my favorites and if I could make a good vegan brownie, that would be life changing, haha! 🙂 Thanks!
Hi Sunshine! I’ve never tried it before with this particular recipe, but agave might work. It usually can be used to sub for maple syrup in most baking recipes. As for what happened with your maple syrup: that sounds awful! Truth be told, I would be a bit wary to go back to it too. But I’ve really enjoyed baking with maple syrup, and I’ve never had mold issues. I found an article online that recommended refrigerating it once opened (who knew?). Here’s the article if you want to check it out: http://www.thekitchn.com/maple-syrup-does-it-ever-spoil-102784 So I hope you get a chance to try maple syrup again! Either way, let me know how the brownies turn out. 🙂 These are my family’s (and my) very favorite brownies! 🙂
Wow! You replied so quickly. Before I went shopping, which means I definitely need to pick up the ingredients for this! Thanks for the link. And thank you for the tip about agave/maple exchange – if I do go back to maple and a recipe calls for agave, I guess it would help if I ran out of one or the other! 🙂 I can’t wait to try them. Thanks for your help! From a vegan-in-progress. 😀
I have got to get a life! Lol. J/k. Glad I caught you before you went grocery shopping. 🙂 Side note: with substitutions, you always wants to allow for a bit of recipe testing (the most fun part). I can’t wait to hear how it goes! Definitely think about giving maple syrup another shot–it’s such an awesome ingredient! Sending you lots of high-fives and support for your transition to veganism. 🙂
I may try getting maple syrup that’s in a glass bottle (so I can easily see) and also changing where it’s kept.
I thought about it a bit, and why it was being kept in the cupboard rather than the pantry, I don’t know. But the cupboard was both above the dishwasher (where steam comes up) and near the sink, which means heat and steam and moisture probably had a better chance of reaching it. So maybe both clear bottle and refrigerator. Who knows, it could’ve been the brand, too.
Maple is so expensive, though, for how often it’s used in recipes. 🙁 At least it was when I saw it at the store… like $8 for a small bottle.
Anyway I was actually going to get at a question. I noticed in two different comments you – said it didn’t taste like coconut, and said you used unrefined. I have unrefined, it’s the first coconut oil I’ve ever gotten (it was basically a freebie) and it certainly smells like coconut, and I’ve not used it yet. But I heard only refined doesn’t taste like coconut. I’m okay with coconut milk in curries and such, but I’m definitely *not* a fan of coconut flakes, the coconut whipped cream I made, and if coconut ice cream is any indication, probably not of coconut sugar either. I don’t know what I’m getting at, actually.
I was just hoping that the other ingredients can cover the coconut flavor well, because it appears at least two others in my family aren’t big coconut fans either, and I’m trying to impress them with vegan foods, especially since my first attempt at vegan brownies went poorly.
(Side story: the recipe came from a free vegan recipe booklet from Compassion over Killing, I think. It did not call for flax eggs or any apparent-to-me egg replacement. It turned out almost like upside down brownie pudding to me, which I didn’t mind, but my s/o said it tasted “grainy.” He’s pretty convinced against vegan foods. So brownies are high up on my list right now, lol.)
Sorry for the super-long rambling! 🙂
Good morning, Sunshine! <--sorry, could not help myself. Lol. Do you ever hear that and think of the Simpson cast singing that song? 😉 Yeah, it sounds like the location might be causing the issues. Store in a cool, dark environment--that should do the trick. I like to buy mine in large quantities--bulk prices are so much better. Yep, unrefined coconut has a stronger scent and taste. However, in this recipe, the other flavors are much stronger. I've taste-tested this recipe with a lot of people and no one knew that coconut was in it. 😉 Grainy: yikes! You'll be pleased to hear that this one isn't grainy at all! 😉 I can't wait to hear how you, your fam, and s/o like this! Now I'm invested! Lol. 🙂
So unfortunately it didn’t work out. I did end up using agave because I couldn’t afford maple syrup right now. But I don’t think that’s the only thing. Mine ended up super coconutty and kinda dry. So if I made them again I’d probably wait until I have refined coconut oil… or use vegetable, and use maple, and maybe use vanilla instead of almond (though idk, I might keep that the same), but I’m not sure where the dryness came from? Also I feel like I could’ve chosen better chocolate chips, but that’s okay. Oh well, I haven’t given up.
Oh shoot… sorry Sunshine. What a letdown. 🙁 It may have been the agave? I’m not sure… I’ve gotten a lot of feedback from readers and everyone says that this is a super fudgy recipe. I’ve never heard of it being dry or tasting like coconut. I’ve also had readers try a number of substitutes with good results. Glad you haven’t given up! Keep my posted. 🙂
Thanks for the amazing recipe! 🙂
Do you think I could replace the white flour for whole wheat flour or coconut flour?
Thank you!
Hi Belén! I used white whole wheat flour for this, so you can replace that with whole wheat flour. White whole wheat flour is just a bit tastier. 😉 Can’t wait to hear what you think! 🙂
Did you use refined or unrefined coconut oil? Looks amazing!
Hi Tessa! I use unrefined coconut oil. You can use either, but there are pluses and minuses to each. The refined coconut oil is more processed and likely to have been bleached, but it’s usually scentless (which people who don’t like the smell of coconut oil enjoy). Up to you! I hope you get a chance to try these. Let me know if you have any more questions. 🙂
everything on your blog looks so darn delish! i don’t know where to start!
Aw, thank you Marti! 🙂 How about starting with these brownies? 😉