These are the best vegan brownies that you’ve ever made! Perfectly gooey with a crackle top and loaded with chocolate flavor all while easy to make!
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There’s a lot of debate about what are the best brownies, but we are here to say that for at least us these are the best vegan brownies that we’ve had.
Some people like fluffy, more cake like brownies, but if you are looking for those, it’s not going to be here, we’re sorry.
To us, vegan brownies should be gooey and almost melt in your mouth when you bite into them. They do not crumble and they are loaded with intense chocolate flavor.
These a sweet, rich, and pure bliss of everything you could want in a vegan brownie recipe.
Whether you are a crispy edge person or a gooey center lover, you will be able to enjoy pieces from this recipe. Best of all, these are dairy free and egg free brownie without the compromise.
Vegan Brownie Recipe Ingredients
Below are notes about the ingredients before we get into the full recipe located lower in this post on how to make these vegan brownies recipe:
- Ground Flax – when you combine ground flax seed with water and let it sit, you get this gelatinous mixture that mimics in baked goods what eggs do
- Vegan Cane Sugar – Cane sugar is what we are using. If you want to learn more about why your sugar may not be vegan, you can learn more by clicking on the link. We actually combine the sugar with water and heat it to make a simple syrup. When you add this to the dry ingredients, it blooms the chocolate giving it a more intense flavor
- Flour – we are just using all-purpose flour for this recipe. When measuring flour, make sure that you are not packing your cup.
- Cocoa Powder – the first layer of chocolate for this delicious recipe. We prefer to use a dutch processed cocoa powder. The better quality of your cocoa powder, the better your vegan brownies will be at the end.
- Powdered Sugar – for a touch more sweetness and without having to add any baking soda or powder, we love how this turned out together
- Espresso Powder – while this is an optional ingredient, it enhances the chocolate flavor and we highly recommend adding it
- Vegetable Oil – oil is needed for texture and richness. Brownies need a fat source in order to create the perfect texture and without it, you will end up with a mess of crumbles.
- Vegan Chocolate Chips – use a semi-sweet vegan chocolate chip for the best texture
Vegan Brownies Recipe Substitutions
Below are notes about the ingredients before we get into the full recipe located lower in this post on how to make these vegan brownies recipe:
- Ground Flax – we have subbed this recipe with applesauce and vegan egg replacer here, but we prefer the flax egg. However, both subs will work. ½ cup of applesauce or enough vegan egg replacer for 2 eggs.
- Powdered Sugar – Powder sugar – Since powder sugar contains cornstarch, it is a great option to help thicken the brownie batter. This helps with dodging the chemical additives while encouraging that great box brownie taste everyone loves.
- Vegetable Oil – canola or grapeseed are good substitutions, as is vegan butter melted. If you are oil free – you can sub the oil for applesauce (same amount) but the texture will be completely different. If using vegan butter, you want a high fat vegan butter (mostly all oil and water is not the first ingredient).
- Walnuts – totally optional, but if you love walnut brownies, definitely chop them up and add them in
- Vanilla Extract – sometimes it’s fun to play around with the extract, maybe mint or orange for a different taste
Vegan Brownies Recipe Tips
If you want the absolute best, fudgey vegan brownies, then you’ll want to follow these tips:
- Follow the measurements and instructions pretty please. Baking is a science, especially when making the best vegan brownies. Every step has a purpose to ensure that at the end you have a delicious vegan brownie recipe.
- While we don’t do it in the video or the recipe, if you are not super comfortable baking, we highly recommend sifting the dry ingredients into the bowl. This loosens the ingredients and make sure there are no clumps.
- Make sure to line with parchment paper and grease your pans. No one likes brownies that can’t come out of the pan. It’s one of the most frustrating things and doing these two things will helps.
- Make sure that you evenly distribute the batter so your brownies cook evenly.
- This batter is not as thick as dough, but it is thicker and not runny – see video below for texture before pouring into pan. Do not try to adjust ingredients.
- Don’t over bake them. These are fudgey and gooey. Just because a toothpick doesn’t come out clean doesn’t mean they aren’t done.
- When the brownies are cooked, remove from oven and allow to cool completely before cutting. Cutting too soon does not give the brownies time to set up and can alter the final texture.
Vegan Brownie Storage
To store these, you’ll want to let them cool completely first. Then, cover with a lid if you baking pan has one or with foil. Leave at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Yes! Use a gluten free flour instead of all-purpose. We like a 1:1 blend like Bob’s Red Mill or King Arthur the best.
Otherwise, you will want to make sure to use safe chocolate chips (like Enjoy Life) and a soy free vegan butter.
These amazing vegan brownies will last for 3-5 days if stored in an air tight container. They do not need to be refrigerated.
Yes. These vegan brownies may be frozen. We recommend a freezer safe container and to consume within 3 months of first freezing them.
Yes, you can double this recipe if you need more and you have two separate baking dishes.
We really love the Enjoy Life brand because they are free from so many allergens.
However, the Organic Top 8 Free chips from Wal-mart (Great Value brand) are accidentally vegan and they have a slightly better pricer point and still taste great.
You want to have a semisweet chocolate for vegan brownies that is at least 67% or less cocoa.
You can either remove ½ cup of the cane sugar or remove all of the powdered sugar but do not do both options. You need to leave one.
You want your brownies to cool completely for the optimal texture. Ideally, this is going to take 2-3 hours before you can cut into them for the best texture from the outside edges to the center. However, if you want to speed up the process, you can refrigerate the brownies for 30 minutes once the pan is cool enough to touch.
What to Serve with the Best Vegan Brownies
So you made and love these vegan brownies (we know you snuck a piece), but you also need to know what to serve with it! Here’s some ideas:
- Easy Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Banana Bread
- Easy Vegan Double Chocolate Muffins
- Vegan Chocolate Sticky Buns
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Vegan Brownies Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons ground flax seed
- 5 tablespoons water (71g – used with flax)
- ½ cup water (114g – used for simple syrup)
- 1 ½ cups vegan cane sugar (297g)
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour (180g – use GF if needed – see post for details)
- ¾ cup dutch processed cocoa powder, sifted (63g)
- ¼ cup powdered sugar (28g)
- ½ tablespoon espresso powder, optional
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup vegetable oil (99g)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¾ cup vegan chocolate chips, divided (130g)
- ¾ cup walnuts, chopped (Optional) (85g)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F/ 176C. Line an 8×8* pan with parchment paper with overhang and grease the pan with cooking spray.
- To make flax egg – In a small bowl, whisk ground flax seed and 5 tablespoon of water. Set aside.
- To make simple syrup – In a sauce pan over medium heat, add cane sugar and ½ cup water. Stir to combine, heat for about 6-8 minutes, and the sugar has dissolved completely. (DO NOT add more water. DO NOT let come to a boil or the mixture will evaporate)
- While waiting, in a large bowl, add in the flour*, cocoa, powdered sugar, espresso powder (if adding), and salt. Whisk together.
- Once simple syrup is ready, while hot, add it along with vegetable oil, vanilla, and flax egg. Combine with a spatula just until combined. Do not overmix. Batter should be fudgy and pourable. See video for reference.
- If adding walnuts, add now along with ½ cup vegan chocolate chips. Fold to combine. Do not over mix.
- Pour batter into greased pan. Top with remaining ¼ cup chocolate chips. Bake for 35-40 minutes. A toothpick may not come out clean since they are fudgy.
- Remove from the oven and let cool completely before slicing. The brownies need time to set up. For a firmer brownie, place in fridge. Slice in 16 equal sized pieces (or desired size)
- Store leftovers in an air tight container.
Notes
Video
Nutrition
This post was written on 9/26/2021 and updated on 1/7/2021.
Hi! This has become my new go-to brownie recipe – it’s absolutely wonderful!!! I did have one question: I swear I follow the instructions diligently (measuring to the exact gram) but on occasion the brownies come out tasting too sweet (like hurts your teeth-sweet). At other times it’s perfect. I do wonder if there’s something about how I prep the syrup that would change the sweetness? Or if I could reduce the amount of sugar in the future without hurting the texture?
I appreciate your input!
Ps I usually don’t add chocolate chips and walnuts, not sure if that has an impact too
Hi! First off, thank you so much for the kind words. I’m really glad these brownies have become your go-to. 🙌🏾
Based on what you described, the simple syrup step is the most likely reason you’re occasionally getting a batch that tastes extra sweet.
If the syrup cooks a little longer than intended, or the heat runs slightly high, more water evaporates and the syrup becomes more concentrated. That can make the brownies taste noticeably sweeter from batch to batch.
Heat the syrup just until the sugar fully dissolves, then remove it from the heat. You don’t want it simmering or reducing which can happen FAST.
I’d start there first before changing the sugar amount, because this recipe is pretty sensitive to that step. Although possible by 2-3 tbsps.
could I just use chia instead of flax
Yes!
I made these yesterday, and yummy everyone loved them. I changed the following: I used a little less than half a cup of applesauce (instead of the flaxegg) and added one shot of espresso. Also added some caramel on top after they cooled down, so so so good!
Those sound like some delicious ways to make this recipe your own! Thank you so much for giving the recipe a try!
Do you measure the flax before or after you grind it?
after
Hi! I followed your recipe, but I think I overblended the mixture in my electric mixer. I had to add more liquid, it was so thick I couldn’t stir it by hand. I didn’t have cocoa powder so I substituted strong espresso roast coffee for the water and it tasted fine. It got just a little like cake and less brownie. But I loved it and I’ll make it again, thanks for sharing this recipe with us all!!!
We are so glad you still enjoyed it! It sounds like the extra mixing incorporated a lot of air into the batter, which would definitely give it that cakier texture. We love the idea of using espresso roast, that sounds like a delicious twist! Thanks so much for giving our recipe a try and sharing your experience with us!