Simple Vegan Brownies

Shortly after my father and sister went vegan we were visiting family and I wanted to make something yummy and vegan because it was thanksgiving or christmas or somebody’s birthday or something festive like that, but anyway I googled “Vegan Brownie Recipe” and Poof!! I find you!!! Long story short, the brownies were amazing and now I check your blog multiple times daily for new yummies to make even though I am not vegan (yes, I have tried….I Love dairy too much!!!)

I am so unsatisfied I’ve made these twice tonight and my batter is so thick compared to yours! And it doesn’t look as smooth either. My brownies also do not come out looking moist and fluffy like yours please help because I would really like to make these successfully and I would love to have vegan brownies that look like yours and taste good!

i had to make TWO batches of these brownies today! i wouldn’t change a thing and made this recipe absolutely to the T, with the exception of using Ecuadorian cocoa instead of Dutch process. Divine with a little icing sugar sprinkled on top. can imagine having these with the Coconut Bliss Sea Salt and chocolate Vegan icecream next time – mmmmmmmmmmmm!~ thanks for the simple delish recipe!

Anyone try subbing any amount of butter with apple sauce and less sugar?

So, I’ve made these brownies twice, and they taste delicious. The second time, I added orange zest to the batter…. pure heaven. I just have one problem- the brownies don’t sink in the centre like the ones in the picture. Instead they remain raised like a muffin. What am I doing wrong? The batter seemed dry compared to the picture, so I added 2 tablespoons of soya milk. That’s the only change I made.

I’m a vegetarian, but my boyfriend is vegan and we found that while dinner wasn’t a problem, dessert always seemed to be an issue. These brownies are a God send! We are both obsessed with them. Thank you so much for sharing!

My diet is mostly vegan but not quite there yet, I wanted to make these but don’t have flax so I used organic eggs, but followed everything else. these brownies turned out so delicious! The batter was just like a brownie batter. I added slivered almonds, and made an icing out of coconut oil, maple syrup and cocoa. Delicious!

These turned out great! I made one adjustment because I didn’t have baking powder; I used these substitution directions: “1/4 tsp baking soda + 1/4 cup molasses = 1 tsp double-acting baking powder (reduce liquid in recipe by 1/4 cup; adjust sweeteners)” Due to the substitution, I ended up using 1/2 cup sugar for the recipe, I didn’t reduce any liquid, however. Moist and delicious. Thank you!

These are delicious. They were bit more bitter then I like, so I will add a bit more sugar next time. Also, I added 2 tablespoons of soya milk to the batter, since it seemed a bit dry. They turned out great. This is my first time baking with flax seeds. Great recipe

I’m in the process of making these (still in the oven) and I made very minimal adjustments, to what could be disastrous ends.

I used coconut oil in place of margarine (as I do in a lot of recipes), and instead of sugar I used Hermestas granulated sweetener which is a 1 to 1 sugar replacement.

My mixture was extremely dry, like a cookie dough. I ended up having to add slightly over 1 cup of soy milk to make it even remotely the texture of a brownie mixture.

Other than the Hermestas perhaps being to blame, as I’ve never baked with it before, I can’t understand how the texture would be so different to yours, and presumably everyone else who’s tried the recipe.

Still waiting to see how they turn out…

I had some XOXO Baking Co all purpose flour mix to use up and I wanted to make a snack for my 4 year old and 2 year olds, so when I found this recipe and saw that I had everything that I needed, I gave it a try. I subbed coconut sugar for the sugar, coconut oil for the butter and when the batter was very dry at the end of mixing, I added 1/4 c coffee and 1/4 c home made almond milk. They definitely hit the spot for the chocolatey taste and fudgey texture!
Unfortunately, this flour seems to make everything gummy, so if it had been originally called for in the recipe, I give this 3 stars Since the weird texture was not your fault, I’m rating 5! I will definitely be trying these again in the future with a different gluten free flour.

I made these and they were SO good. I used 1/4 cup of butter and 1/4 cup of coconut oil and also added a teaspoon of cinnamon and they came out wonderfully. I love that the brownies come out being not too sweet and with a rich chocolate flavor. These are a keeper for sure, loved it!

Wow, those brownies look great! Do you think the flour could be replaced with ground hazelnuts or spelt or almond flour?

I just made these and they were incredible. I had only semi-sweet chips and canola oil on hand (instead of dairy-free butter and dutch-process cocoa), so after the necessary adjustments for fat/sugar/leaving content the recipe I ended up with hardly resembled this one, but was a hit! I accidentally overfilled the cups and the batter ran over a bit, creating concave brownie muffins with a crisp rim and a chewy center. Perfect for holding a scoop of vanilla ice cream. :) Thanks for our fave new brownie recipe.

I just made these for National Brownie Day today and they were so good!! Although I added a bit of coconut oil since I didn’t have enough butter, the texture and taste was there!

Hi!
I tried this recipe yesterday and the brownies turned out really hard and firm. I followed the recipe thoroughly and I don’t understand what I’ve done wrong. The batter tasted great, and when I removed them from the oven they were soft (I even ate one warm.. delicious!!). But after they cooled, they seemed stones.
Do you have any idea on what I must have done wrong for the brownies to turn out like they did?

Uhmm, can I use corn oil or any oil instead of diary-free butter? The recepie looks great! Thanks in advance :)

I – LOVE- THEM!

I stumbled on this recipe by mistake and ….I just HAD to try it! They are in the oven just now, the smell is unbelievable…unfortunately the “shape” is a disaster!! your are so perfect! do you use any tools to make it look so perfect? I mean I scooped one spoon on each little paper cup but the batter was a bit sticky so I wet my hand to help it slid inside the cup…then I had some more batter and I added hence the shape got lost. … Just wandering if you guys use any tools to shape them, I read once u used for something (patties I think) the top of the peanut butter jar. to give them all the same size and thickness…was it you or someone else…I can’t remember….
Anyway fingers crossed for the end result! Will write once again! ;o)

Did anyone else find the batter to be exceptional dry? I added about 1\4 cup soy milk just to get the flour to mix in.

They are in the oven now but I did lick the batter bowl clean so I’m giving this recipe 5 stars:)

These are THE BEST vegan brownies. I don’t try any other recipe. I always bake mine in a square dish. After 30 mins I just guess the further baking time. They’re excellent as they are, with walnuts, or with chocolate chips. Today I doubled the recipe, and added walnuts to half, and chocolate chips to the other. I upsized the pan to cook them together, yet on either side. Delicious. :)

Dana, Thanks for the Vegan Brownie Recipe.
I tried it with whole wheat flour and it was a success @home.
Served it warm with a scoop of Vanilla Ice cream.

HI!!! I can’t even tell you how much I love these brownies!!!!!!!!! So amazing!! We just moved and I can;t find my muffin tin. DO you think they could be made in an 8×8? Or was there a reasoning behind the muffin tins? I don’t want to mess with a good thing!!! Thank you!!!

Love love love these! We’ve had a hard time finding a vegan brownie recipe that isn’t too flat or dry or perpetual batter so I’ve become skeptical, but these are perfect and so easy. I used canola oil in place of buttery spread and added nuts and chocolate chips, and put these in a 8×8 pan and cooked them for 27 mins and then let them sit to firm up a bit. Thanks for the recipe!

I have tried your recipe, the brownies are deliciouse but they comes out pretty dry and not as shiny as your images. Even though I leave them less time in the oven. I tried them for like 7 times!!! ;)
How come???

thank you for your answer

This is pure perfection!! I tried it with regular cocoa, was amazing. I tried it with eggs for the family I’m nannying for; appparently, they were as delicious. I noticed they rose a bit more with the eggs. I will make them, over and over again! :)

I made these and love them. I made one big brownie (8X8), used two cornstarch eggs, and baked for about 21 minutes. Gooey right out of the oven and great the next day.

I made these and they were divine! I am gluten intolerant so I used Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose Gluten Free Flour Mix and I melted 1/2 a cup of chocolate chips with the butter. They were perfectly fudgy and melted in my mouth. I put peanut butter frosting on it too. Heaven!!

I just tried this and, much to my chagrin, they came out rather crumbly albeit gloriously savory (I’m salivating while I type this. My oh my) Perhaps it was the 1/4 C of whole wheat flour that I added subbing 1/4 of AP flour – which also reduced the batter a bit. I will definitely try this again with the original recipe – except for the vegan butter because it’s hard to find here so I’ll stick to my faithful coconut oil. Anywho, I also wanted to express my love for this blog. You guys don’t understand how much I love it in here and I usually spread the love around; I love all things minimal and you guys make it happen. Keep it up! :D

Hi! I’m dying for some brownies, but where I live is REALLY hard to find vegan butter and coconut oil. Do you think replacing the butter for peanut butter would work? If not, do you have any suggestions?
Thanks!

These are really good and turned out perfectly! I meant to use walnut chunks but it ended up more like walnut flour thanks to the spice grinder. I think I actually prefer the walnut like that because each bite has subtle walnut flavour.

Hi,

Can i use almond meal instead of flax seed meal?

Thanks

these just did not turn out! disappointed. it said flaxseed so i added water to flaxseed but none of the water absorbed into the flaxseed so then i ground it all up and it did thicken then. but my cupcake linings were soaked in butter and the batter looked cracked and not smooth as the pictures show. sigh. my attempt at a vegan recipe but i think i’ll go back to using good ol’ eggs!

I think that my substitutions may have wrecked these- I added vegan chocolate chips, and used spelt flour- They came out so sooo mushy & falling apart, not sure if it was too much melty chocolate from the chips? I then kept recooking them thinking that if they cooked longer they’d firm up. Whoops.

I did, however, eat at least 1/4 of the batter, sooo delicious. I will try this again for sure :)

These brownies are spectacular! I make them for my non vegan people and they ask for the recipe!
Thank you Minimalistbaker

Fabulous! And thanks for the flax egg recipe too. Added a hint of cayenne and sprinkled coarse salt on top for my teenage daughter!

Hi, when you say “prepare flax eggs” do you grind the flax seeds or just add them to water? Thank you!

After 3 years of being a vegan, I have finally found the perfect brownie recipe! Thanks soooo much for these! The only thing I did differently was use 1/2 tsp of almond extract instead of 1 tsp vanilla (I didn’t want to run to the store for vanilla!). These were super delish and the texture was spot on. With a handful of choc chips thrown in- fab. Even my anti-vegan family enjoyed them! (reluctantly)

These PERFECT – crispy outside, chewy inside – Brownies call for All-Purpose Flour, but I replaced it with a GF cup-for-cup flour blend (pamelas products artisan-flour blend). I also used ground chia seeds instead of the flax seeds and cocoa powder rather than the richer dutch process cocoa powder (for no reason except that’s what I had in my cupboard).

These were fantastic. I followed the recipe exactly and they turned out amazing. Served warm with some organic ice cream :)

These were fantastic. I chopped up a bar of dark chocolate orange flavour and it was amazing!

Perfect brownie texture. Definitely will be making them again!

Loved them! I substituted Egg Replacer and coconut oil for the vegan butter. Yumm! If need to replace the sugar, I would suggest Stevia as it is natural though cannot advise how much.

I’m not vegan, so would normal eggs go with this?

Thank you for this recipe!
Just whipped up a double recipe, and the taste and texture are amazing.
My 14-year old daughter came home from school asking if we could make some brownies so she could bribe her art teacher to let her stay in her current seat. Just before bed last night, I got an “Oh yeah, Mr. Neilsen is vegan.”. 0.o
Happily, I only had to pick up 2 ingredients, and the store I went to had both.
My daughter loves that she can eat the raw batter, since there are no eggs.
A big thanks also to previous posters who recommended cutting the cooking time to 16 minutes for the mini muffin tin.
I had to add about 1\4 cup of water extra to the mix, about a tablespoon at a time until the batter was the right consistency. I should have read through the comments a little further. The idea to add some chocolate “milk” is brilliant!
Once again, thank you for this quick, simple, vegan recipe. Saved my bacon!

I love your blog, just stumbled upon it. I’m not vegan, but I’m allergic to gluten, corn,soy,dairy, almonds and eggs so I have to eat paleo and vegan for recipes. Any chance I can sub granulated sugar for honey?

Looks Yummmmmm – ? I’m out of flax can I sub with vegan egg-replacement?

YUMMY. I’m not vegan, but I dabble in vegan baking because sometimes the result is a wee bit healthier/I often don’t have eggs/I have vegan friends etc. I made these yesterday with 2/3 sugar, 1/3 Splenda, which made the tops look a bit different, but the taste was deeeelish! I added some fleur du sel on top before putting them in the oven, which made them taste even better. Great, simple recipe.

Just made these and they turned out pretty well! I loved how easy they were- I whipped them up in just 10 minutes and after baking for 20, they were ready to eat in 30 minutes flat! I did them in mini muffin tins and reduced cook time to 15 minutes. They did fall apart a little (I made no substitutions) but all around this is a great vegan recipe!

Just made these for the first time and used dark cocoa powder. Batter was very thick and they just did not taste good. I have been vegan for over a year, so am done with the refined chocolate taste. Wondering if the dark cocoa powder was just too much for the recipe? Will try again…

I just made these brownies and followed every single direction to a tee and they did infact take 30 minutes in total to make. Unfortunately they just tasked like butter and a bit of cocoa, they were also cakey. Ill definitely be looking out for a better brownie recipe: I will not be using this one again.

Great recipe! I’m an avid baker and after searching for hours for my original brownie recipe, to no relief, I needed something quick and easy to whip together for my family. I added a 1/4 cup chocolate “milk” to the recipe for more moisture and a little extra chocolate kick. Turned out great! Thanks for sharing :) great recipe for when you need to get something together quickly

Baking is often a losing battle for me, but I was wanting a sweet treat this afternoon and these brownies came out perfectly! I swapped in stevia for some of the sugar (since sugar makes me hyper/edgy). Love these! Will totally make again. Thank you! :-)

These did come out delicious (made a simple vegan custard to go with them and ate them hot, yum!).

However I followed the very closely and found that when I added the flour it was so dry I couldn’t even mix in the flour properly. So I grabbed rice milk and added until I had a batter that was more familiar for brownies (from my pre-vegan days). I estimate about 1/2-3/4 cup of rice milk was needed.

Expected some others in the comments to have this issue but no one seemed to! I was probably about 10g under on the butter (around 100g instead of 113g, not Earth Balance, another vegan marg that I found here in Budapest) and used a little less sugar. So apart from the 6 tablespoons of water where else does the moisture come from usually?

I’ll be making these again for sure. Had a friend complaining about not being able to be vegan recently because of deserts and this will shut their trap ;).

They really look like some of the best brownies I have ever seen and will definitely be giving them a go. Might try them with almond meal as the flour but that is only because it is my favourite.

Yes yes yes yes.
We are on our fourth batch of these as we speak. Two of my children have multiple anaphylactic food allergies, including (but not limited to) egg and dairy and nuts and black bean. I have triedSO MANY brownie recipes, this one finally hits the spot. I use vegan becel and it worked great.

Made these with gluten free flour and in an 8×8 pan and they came out amazing! So wonderful to have a go to simple brownie receipe that I can pull together quickly!

I licked the batter and I didn’t feel bad for doing so :)

Made them without flax and replaced 1/3 of cocoa with carob powder. Turned out incredibly delicious.

Thanks for this simple recipe! The batter tasted delicious as did the brownie. I made it in a bread loaf pan. Though crumbly, it still maintained its taste integrity. I made it with coconut oil and whole wheat pastry flour (as that’s what I had on hand). Next time I’ll add some nuts and maybe coconut flakes to this mix.

DROOL! I think I’ll make these riiiiiiiight now. And, how brilliant! Individualized in a muffin tin!! Is it bad that I want to double the recipe to do one in the muffin tin and another in a reg pan? One can never have too many brownies, right? (Especially when one’s husband scarfs down baked goods before they even have a chance to cool down! haha)

They were easy enough that my seven year old sister could help quite a bit!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!

I LOVE these brownies!!!!! They are AMAZING!!!!! I substituted coconut oil for the vegan butter.

This was my first attempt at vegan brownies and I loved them! I followed the directions exactly and they turned out perfect. I might use a little less flour next time, or not bake them as long. Thank you!

I would pull these at 22 minutes max (or even earlier); they were quite dense at 22 minutes; great flavor though – next time Ill pull them at 20 minutes

for anyone wondering, you can bake these in an 8×8 pan as well. Mine took right at 30 minutes. I also subbed applesauce for the vegan butter, with great results.

These came out terrible! I followed the recipe perfectly but they were just bubbling up as if there was far too much earth balance butter, they looked greasy. After 27 mins, it wasn’t even beginning to form into anything resembling a brownie. Threw it all out.

Hi
I got all my ingredients gathered to make tomorrow
I don’t have Dutch processed cocoa, can I use regular cocoa? I did Internet research and it says ok
Any advice?

Oh, you made this vegan very happy! I only had brown sugar and tub Becel Vegan margarine on hand so I had to use both of those but the recipe still turned out pretty well. :)

I made this with virgin coconut oil and white whole wheat flour. Great texture and taste. The coconut oil didn’t work well since it’s too cold here for that. Definitely give white WW flour a try. I’ve made many other recipes with it with great results.

Can these be baked in either a regular 8×8 or 9×16 pan? I don’t have a muffin tin…
Thanks!

These look great! I am making them today for my daughter who is allergic to eggs. Can I sub in 1 stick of regular butter for the vegan butter? Wasn’t sure if the amount is the same and if it would change the outcome. Thanks!!

Made these delicious brownies the old fashion way, a square pan. Substituted the vegan butter with coconut oil and mixed in half whole grain flour. They are sooo yummy!! Thank you for this great recipe!! Oh, I did add some dryed coconut to the mix as well :)

PS Is there a website where I can calculate the nutritional information for the changes I made?

I’m 16 Uk and iv been vegetarian my whole life and have found the transition from Veggie to vegan pretty okay – except the chocolate. Iv just made these and they turned out perfect first time round, there absolutely brill and I’m no longer craving processed chocolate! I’m thinking of trying them with a twist of orange zest next time

I just made these in a mini muffin tin. It took about 10 min to bake. They are amazing! Perfect texture and taste. I made them for my brother-in-law, who is vegan, but I’d make them again for anyone!

I made one batch straight up and they turned out really well, with the exception of one of my cupcake pans is old and didn’t grease up so well so half the recipe crumbled away as it stuck so I HAD to eat it all with a fork instead. So now I am using my son’s “perfect brownie pan” (the as seen on TV pan.) Curious though, have you ever added Chili Powder to your brownie recipe. I considered trying it, but then again I didn’t want to mess up the recipe again. Thanks for sharing this though.

Hi! I found this recipe from a google search… YUM. Absolutely delish! Except I used Rice flour and added some linseeds whole … Next time I’d love to add our family-grown almonds!

Soo good! I doubled the recipe and added some sugar, but soo good and nobody could tell the difference

Making this was fantastically simple; I love that the gratification was as instant as my craving. The simplicity was a huge plus, and I love working with flax seed in place of eggs because the consistency is so familiar that it brings me back to cooking brownies out of the box with my mom. However, the consistency of the overall batter never reached the viscosity of that in the picture; it stayed grainy and a little too much like paste throughout mixing and putting into the tray, and subsequently baked that way. These were a little too bitter for my taste even after adding agave nectar into the mix, and were a bit dry. Less greasy than the other brownie mixes I have tried, and luckily this recipe doesn’t contain any weird ingredients such as vinegar like the other recipes I’ve found, but the simplicity of the recipe is evident in the outcome for me this time – bland and nothing too special.
Others seemed to have a lot of success with this though, so maybe I’ll try again in the future and go through the steps extra carefully.

This looks awesome. This may be a silly question, but how does using natural cane sugar affect the flavor?

Cheers! :)

WOW……. I’m in awe that these turned out. My sister n her boyfriend are newly vegans. i love baking, but now they cant eat the bake goods i make. So i always go on the internet to look up vegan recipes and none of the recipes ever turn out and that always upsets me. My sisters boyfriend is in love with my brownies i make but it contain eggs and he cant eat them anymore. I have promised him i would find a vegan brownie recipe and i have!!!!!!! This is a great vegan Brownie Recipe and i cant wait to surprise them tonight with them after dinner. Thank You

I just had one of these with my son, wow! They are so good, thanks for such a simple and delicious recipe, these will be the ones from now on.
The only modification was an extra flax egg (I thought I could bake 1 1/2 recipe but then found out I didn’t had enough cocoa), and half normal butter (I can’t find non-dairy where I live) half coconut oil.
This is my first time from your recipes, with this outcome I’m sure I’ll try a lot more.
Blessings : )

Just took a batch out of the oven that I made a few substitutes in (used real eggs, WW pastry flour, and coconut sugar) and they turned out fairly well. They were a little dry, which I think was due to a combo of being cooked for too long and too much flour, so next time I will stick to 22 mins in the oven and use just shy of 3/4 of the flour and I think they will be perfect!

These turned out delicious!!! I am in awe of how good they were! Thank you for the recipe! My fiancé and I just transitioned from vegetarianism to veganism this week and after a tough day today we really needed to treat ourselves. The only adjustment I made was I cooked them in a mini muffin tin and reduced my cook time down to 16 minutes.

These sound perfect; my boyfriend’s dad is allergic to eggs and the last time I tried making egg-free brownies (I used egg replacer mix) the constancy was flat, hard and chewy. Never heard of flax seed eggs

Oh. My. GAWD.

So I stumbled upon this recipe looking for egg-free brownies. I have an egg allergy but I NEED me some brownies. I tried it one time with the flax seeds but it just wasn’t working for me – maybe I just need to grind them next time. Anyway, I’m not vegan so I just did 1/2 kefir and 1/2 greek yogurt to replace the flax eggs on the second try.

Best. Brownies. Ever. Cannot. Stop. Eating. Them.

Can I make these in a 9×12 baking pan?

i subbed splenda for sugar, otherwise followed this recipe to the letter and it came out terrible. i actually threw them away because they were so bitter and crumbly.

when do you put the flax eggs in? i made them and they were resting while i followed the recipe then i was about to put in the flour and noticed the flax eggs sitting on the counter. maybe if i added them earlier or something, idk. once the batter was done it was crumbly and not liquid in any way

i’ve made brownies with similar recipes and never had an issue, not sure where i went wrong, but this one went very wrong for me :(

These turned out like cupcakes, not brownies. They were good still but they were very cakey and not chewy or dense like most brownies are.

I still haven’t made vegan brownies since I became vegan. I better get on it! These looks amazing! Thanks for sharing :) Cheers!

Hi there, this recipe looks amazing!
quick question: I know that its meant to be a vegan recipe and all, but would it be alright if I just used normal eggs rather than the flax-seed eggs in this recipe? would this alter the outcome of the brownies?

Muffin tins are a perfect idea! They would be super adorable in mini-muffin tins, too. :)

What is the difference between regular and dutch process cocoa? I haven’t been able to find the latter anywhere!

Can you please pass that stack of brownies there?!

We’re best friends. And we haven’t even met. xoxo.

I love vegan brownies. They get that quintessential brownie chew, it’s unbeatable. And these look gorgeous.

These look amazing. Do you think WW pastry flour could be substituted? I don’t keep all purpose on hand…

Perfect! I’ve been looking for a simple vegan brownie recipe that tastes like classic brownies!

I love so many things about these! Especially the simple ingredient list and that the recipe makes a reasonable amount no love chocolate too but have a problem with portion control :) We have vegan friends who just moved to our neighborhood so I’m on the lookout for more of these kinds of recipes for entertaining.

Around here chocolate is served with breakfast, after lunch and surely after dinner. Everyday. We have one too many chocoholics around here!!
These are gorgeous and perfect!

I constantly need chocolate too, and a brownie is definitely the way to go! These look great!

Yes, I feel you. Sometimes a girls just NEEDS a brownie. This looks like the perfect recipe for those days. 30 minutes start to finish? My kind of baking!