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!
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.
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THE BEST VEGAN BROWNIES 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
SUBSTITUTIONS AND VARIATIONS
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
Tips for How To Make Vegan Brownies:
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.
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 can I serve with 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
Pin the best vegan brownies for later!
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The Best Vegan Brownies
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon ground flax seed
- 5 tablespoon water (74ml – used with flax)
- ½ cup water (118ml – used for simple syrup)
- 1 ½ cup vegan cane sugar (300g)
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour (180g – use GF if needed – see post for details)
- ¾ cup dutch processed cocoa powder, sifted (60g)
- ¼ cup powdered sugar (33g)
- ½ tablespoon espresso powder, optional
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup vegetable oil (118g)
- 2 teaspoon 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.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
This post was written on 9/26/2021 and updated on 1/7/2021.
Devon
I just tried this recipe and while it’s good I am a bit disappointed it’s is nothing like the video.. I followed the recipe to the letter, but my brownies ended up ROCK HARD :’) When I was whisking everything in the end it wasnt gooey it was very … powdery ? So I added water
LarishaBernard
Sorry that it didn’t work for you. If powdery, likely a mismeasured amount as that is what usually happens.
Jessica
This was definitely the best vegan brownie I have had the whole family loved it. Thank you for sharing.
LarishaBernard
So happy to hear that you loved it!
Robyn
I have had difficulty finding a vegan brownie recipe that I love. These were perfect. Thank you for providing the metric measurements too. I find they definitely make things no fail when using a scale to measure for baking. This will be my go to brownie recipe. No more searching. Thank you!
LarishaBernard
So glad to hear that you enjoyed the recipe so much!
Maya
LISTEN….these brownies!!!
Whenever I see a recipe for the best _____ ever, my immediate response is that I’ll be the judge of that. In this case, that statement is the absolute truth!
As background, I’ve been vegan for almost 12 years and am an experienced baker (pre- and post-vegan). However, vegan brownies have always been elusive for some reason.
On my first attempt several years ago, they never seemed to set up in the oven, so I kept them in for quite a while. Well, they were as hard as a brick once they cooled – a fact I didn’t discover until after they arrived at a family event. My great-aunt was kindly sawing them with all her might and telling me they had a good flavor as she tried not to break her teeth on them. She was a very sweet lady. I begged her not to put them out, but she insisted and said they would be fine. They were NOT fine. Of course, my cousins had plenty of jokes. A couple of years later, when I started introducing my then boyfriend, now husband, to my family, my cousins were like, “Whatever you do, don’t make him any brownies!!” Gotta love family. 😉
Since then, I’ve tried a recipe or two and even doctored up boxed mixes on occasion. The results were always average at best and I considered vegan brownies to be a lost cause…until now.
Made these a couple of days ago and had very low expectations. However, they were amazing!
The simple syrup seemed like an annoying step/extra dish to clean, but I went with it. Even with that, the recipe is really easy/straightforward and can be put together quickly from a well-stocked vegan pantry. The day after I made them, I got some sea salt flakes to add to the top of them and they were even more amazing. Will add them next time as soon as they come out of the oven.
Gave some to my parents and they loved them. Gave some to a friend and as soon as we parted ways, she called me. I thought something was wrong, but she was calling about the brownie. “You’re telling me these are VEGAN?!?” She could not stop raving about them. All I need to do is to get some of these to my extended family so that I can officially redeem myself. Ha, ha!!
Long review, but I wanted to provide the background of my vegan brownie tribulations and let you (and anyone else reading/researching) know that these are, in fact, the best vegan brownies ever. One of those recipes that will end your quest for the perfect recipe. And the ingredients and technique are easy and accessible to boot. #winner
Thanks so much for sharing this gem with the world!
LarishaBernard
OMG, first this is hilarious and we can’t wait for you to redeem yourself with the whole family. We genuinely thank you for such a detailed story and background as we do think it helps too. We loved reading this and we are so happy to hear that everyone is enjoying them. Thank you so much for sharing
Oseahellooo
Europeans friends 👀, measures in grams.
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I used neither espresso powder nor chocolate chips.
I used sunflower seeds oil.
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20 x 20cm square cake pan (8×8 inches)
15g ground flax seed
70g + 125g water
250g vegan cane sugar
235g all-purpose flour
80g dutch processed cocoa powder
35g powdered sugar
4g salt
115g vegetable oil
7g vanilla extract
90g walnuts, chopped
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24 x 24cm square cake pan (9×9 inches)
19g ground flax seed
90g + 155g water
310g vegan cane sugar
300g all-purpose flour
100g dutch processed cocoa powder
45g powdered sugar
5g salt
140g vegetable oil
10g vanilla extract
115g walnuts, chopped
Ruby
Thank you 💞
Hayley Craig
Hi! My partner is lactose intolerant and it’s been so hard to find dairy free items in grocery stores or even gluten free options, we are just starting to learn how to take care of our bodies better and I am happy I have found your channel. These brownies are super delicious and he can enjoy them without feeling like 💩 afterwards! Thank you for helping me cook and enjoy his (our) favorite things again!
LarishaBernard
So happy to hear that you both enjoyed them so much! Hope you try out some more
Sofia
Lovee them. Btw how long can they be kept in the fridge? and outside?
Best brownies ever!!!
Shelly
Hi there! Really want to try this recipe. Would it be possible to share metric quantity for the brownies?
LarishaBernard
We hope to have metric soon but for now just this chart : https://makeitdairyfree.com/basic-metric-conversion-chart/
Cole Nixie
Hi! hope u guys can see this on time but I wanted to use coconut oil for extremely important reasons that will not be disclosed but can be easily intuited. I’m just worried that they are not going to come out as good as it was intended to, hope I can receive some feedback on this cause I’m out here S T R U G G L I N G.
LarishaBernard
Assuming you mean coconut oil for the vegetable oil? Yes you can swap
Sofia
Instead of that much sugar could I reduce from 1 1/2 cup to 1 1/4 cup?
LarishaBernard
Yes
Jeff
Hi
That is really great recipe. It belongs now to my favorite brownie recipes.
I have one question though: what do you do with the second ingredient “3/4 cup + 1 tbsp water, divided” in your list? I’m not sure since it is not further mentioned in the instructions. Could you help me out?
Thanks a lot.
Jeff
LarishaBernard
Hi. It’s divided between steps 2 and 3
Kirstyn
Literally the best brownies ever. I can never eat another brownie without comparing it to these. Simply amazing!
LarishaBernard
So happy to hear that! Thanks for sharing
Maria
Made these last week! They’re amazing e soo easy to make. Everyone in my family loved it too.
Thanks for the recipe!!
LarishaBernard
Glad you found it easy and delicious! Thanks for sharing
jay
my favourite brownie recipe! these were so easy to make and they turned out perfect. defo making them again!
LarishaBernard
So glad that you loved it!
Stephanie
Sooo good! I ate them heated up with vegan vanilla ice cream! I will make these over and over again!!
LarishaBernard
Love that! Glad you enjoyed them!