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.
Love these brownies.
I’m wondering how far ahead of time I can bake them. Will they still hold up two, two & a half days later?
I am glad you are loving the brownies! Thank you for your fabulous review! I store them on the counter and they are good for a few days, maybe 4-5. You can refrigerate them for longer. These brownies can also be frozen. Hope this helps!
truly the best brownies ive ever had! i only used 3/4cup sugar and put some melted chocolate in the batter which makes all the brownies so much more fudgy! also had to add some soy milk since the batter was extremely dry. i added some chocolate on the top 10 minutes after i put it in the oven so it wouldnt melt too much. the flax egg gives the brownies su h a nice texture, ill try putting some chia seeds in the batter as well next time!
So good!! My batter was really dry for some odd reason so I had to add two tablespoons to even mix it but otherwise perfect.
I’m glad the brownies turned out delicious for you! Thanks for your wonderful review!
delicious brownies!
my boyfriend and i have made these twice. they turned out perfectly the first time as we made the recipe as normal. the second time we tried subbing the flour for bob’s 1 for 1 gluten free flour. unfortunately they came out looking cooked, but absolutely raw on the inside.
the recipe is great, but don’t make the same mistake we did. next time we’ll try nora’s gluten free recipe instead.
I have made this recipe before and my friends kept asking if the brownies are really vegan because it was so so good!
Question: can I use all brown sugar? No white sugar on hand.
Thanks!
I think you could, but I haven’t tested it. I’m so glad everyone likes the brownies!
Hi, I love your other recipes and think I must be doing something wrong with this one because when I make it, it never rises well, the middle is always kind of sunken in and the texture is fudgey but almost too fudgey, like uncooked brownie batter. I believe I am following the instructions but maybe there is something I’m missing?
Hi Sydney! These brownies don’t rise the way cake would or something so I wouldn’t expect much rising. It’s normal for the middle to sink a little bit compared to the sides and I would say these are very fudgy brownies, not cake-like. When hot straight from the oven, the middle will be quite fudgy and seem uncooked. You have to let them cool for the best texture; as they cool they stay together more and become fudgy but not overly so, if that makes sense. If you didn’t like these, you might like one of my other brownie recipes better: Ultra Fudgy Crackle Top Eggless Brownies, Chewy Vegan Brownies.
Hi! I’m just wondering if you think substituting flax for aquafaba will yield similar results?
I haven’t tried that for this recipe, but I think it may work.
If you do half quantities, do you reduce baking time at all? Thanks.
Yes, I would reduce the time a little bit, perhaps by 10-15 minutes.
Best ever is right!!! I used Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa. Thanks so much for your awesome recipes! 🙂
I used 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup white sugar, 1/2 cup cocoa powder. Also added peppermint extract and the vanilla extract and walnuts. I didn’t have chocolate chips so I omitted them. Like the flax eggs substitution.
Nice moist brownie
The brownies turned out amazing, definitely some of the best I’ve ever had! Made them for my boyfriend who’s not vegan and he loved them! However, I halved the sugar and chocolate chips. I also had to add quite a bit of water to the batter because it was way too thick.
These are amazing! I added walnuts and they’re delicious ! They’re up there with your chocolate cake! I love all your recipes…your recipes are my go to!
Hi Kate. I’m thrilled you love the brownies! Thank you so much for your awesome review, and for using my recipes! I appreciate you!
Amazing recipe! Turned out so well and was delicious!
If I’m making these in a sheet plan, do I double or triple the recipe? Also how long should I bake for in a sheet pan?
I’ve never made them in a sheet pan so I’m not sure. Do you mean a quarter sheet pan or FULL sheet pan? I’d say probably just double for a quarter sheet pan, and I’m really not sure how long they will need to bake. I’d have to test it out. Maybe 30-40 minutes?
Thank you so much for this! My dad can’t have eggs and I usually end up just trying to substitute using a regular brownie recipe. Which usually ends up flat and crunchy 💀 But these are great!! ❤️
You are welcome, Daisy! I’m thrilled your dad can enjoy. some fudge brownies! Thanks for your awesome review!
Very rich and gooey, we could only eat two each before getting an upset stomach! The rest will have to go in the freezer for another day.
How are they when you take them out of the freezer? Thinking of putting the rest of mine in but I’m not sure that they’ll be as nice when they defrost
This is such an odd negative review. Isn’t rich and gooey a good thing? Why would you need/want to eat more than two brownies in a sitting anyway?
I made them recently and they were delicious. We each ate two the first night, refrigerated the rest, and happily ate them for breakfast and snacks the next day.
These were the best vegan brownies I have ever made. They were so easy to make and are delicious on their own or topped with vegan ice cream. I topped mine with some of the leftover chocolate ganache I had from making Nora’s Bundt cake recipe and that definitely took it up a notch. I will be making these again soon!
I’m thrilled you loved the brownies! Thank you so much for your wonderful review!
Hi! Is it best to use dark brown sugar or light?
And I wanna add nuts to the mixture, should I substitute that amount from the amount of chocolate chips or can I just add it in as extra?
It’s best to use light brown sugar, and add 1/2 cup of nuts and 1/2 cup of chocolate chips (or 1/4 cup nuts, 3/4 cup chocolate chips, or another ratio depending on what you prefer!). Hope this helps!
This recipe is soooooo good. Best brownies ever 🌟
Thanks for sharing your fabulous review! I’m glad you love the brownies!
Delicious and excellent texture! Have you found any effective ways to add veggies to this recipe, or can you point me in the direction of something similar with beets and/or spinach? My child will not eat either of those veggies, so I’m always looking for ways to fool him.
It hasn’t been tested, but I’m sure you could fold chopped spinach or beets into the batter before baking. Let us know if it works! 🙂
Can you use coconut sugar?
Other commenters have tried coconut sugar but the brownies came out tasting more bitter, likely because it isn’t as sweet as white and brown sugar.
Hi Nora,
I made these brownies yesterday following your recipe using Trader Joe’s vegan butter and left out the vegan chocolate chips. I had planned to use heart cutouts to decorate for Valentine’s Day.
First I want to mention, the batter was extremely thick. I had to use parchment paper to press the batter into the 7×11 parchment lined pan without it sticking to my hands. I don’t believe by leaving out the chocolate chips, this would make the batter thick BUT using TJ vegan butter could. What do you think I may have done wrong? Thank you!
Hi Betty. The batter is supposed to be very, very thick, and nothing like a runny brownie batter. But that makes the brownies fudgy, and not cake-like, which is what happens when you add a lot of milk.
These are the best vegan brownies I’ve ever had! I followed the recipe exactly and used earth balance butter for the best results, and it did not disappoint! I used an 8×8 pan since that’s what I had on hand, and baked it for 37ish minutes which was perfect. Even my family who is also vegan thought these were non vegan!
I’m going to bake these again for a party and double them – can I double the recipe ingredients in a 9×13 pan and just bake it for longer? Thanks Nora!
Hi Jenna. You can bake a double recipe in a 9×13 pan. Add an additional 15 minutes baking time. Happy baking!
The flavor on these brownies was so incredible my first time making, but these are the issues I found myself making… 1st off the recipe here called for 1/2c water. I’m not sure if you may have forgotten to add that into the instructions part or if you are supposed to mix the flax with it, but I just used a vegan egg substitute instead and made the eggs according to the package, then added 1/2 c water to the batter. Some comments complained it was too dry so I thought maybe that could’ve been the problem. I’m not sure how that affected the texture overall, but I feel like an 8×8 pan just ruined these brownies. Next time I need to try a bigger pan and get thinner brownies. We don’t like them to be that thick, and the biggest issue in the 8×8 pan was they didn’t fully cook through in the whole middle, but luckily I froze the undercooked middle pieces and then rebaked them for about 40 more minutes and they somehow came out better than the first batch. My husband and I were both really impressed with the flavor. The first batch’s edges that did cook had more of a cakey texture (maybe because I did add water?) but they were really good… the second round recooking brownies were slightly more fudgy some of them resembling cosmic brownies. The only thing we didn’t like was the clumps of the egg replacer which was really my fault for not just being patient and getting flax powder, but I think next time I’d do without the egg replacement l, maybe will use applesauce? Not sure yet, but clumps of weird chickpea powder kinda ruins a brownie.
Overall, this IS the best vegan brownie recipe and I WILL make them again. I optimally want to get the flax powder and make them just like you wrote and bake them in the correct size pan so they cook properly. I recommend these brownies to anyone. Just use good vanilla extract and they will come out tasty!
Will this recipe work with almond flour instead of all purpose flour?
Hi Ashley. Almond flour will not work well in this recipe, however, a quality gluten free flour mix will work quite well. Hope this helps!
I made these yesterday for a Super Bowl party and they were a hit!!! Dense, fudgy and chewy. Absolutely perfect and so easy to make. And all the non vegans loved them.
This recipe is perfect as written and I would not change a thing.
My word! I have used this recipe for so long now. I usually put in cacao nibs instead of dark chocolate chips and it gives almost a fruity crunch to it. I also replace the water for some kind of plant milk, usually macadamia or almond but whatever you have works fine. I have also put in the recipe some fruit that I had on hand because I needed to get rid of it and oh wow wow wow!!! I make this a ton during fasting periods for church and there is never any left at the end of it. I remember a few of the guys having a such a shocked reaction when I first made them because they tasted as good or even better than regular brownies. These brownies have caused such an uproar in my life and now I just prefer to make them over the original because they taste better and are healthier. Thank you so much Nora! This recipe is brilliant.
I’m so glad you have been using this recipe for so long! And loving it! Thank you for leaving a review.
You said in the notes that I could replace apple sauce with vegan butter. How much apple sauce should I add?
1/2 cup, it’s a 1 for 1 swap with the vegan butter.
These were wonderful!
I substituted whole wheat flour, and used chia seeds instead of flax. I mixed coconut oil with avocado oil for the butter component.
I added some extra chopped chocolate and walnuts. 35 min made the most perfect, fudgy brownies! I might leave them in for 40 next time to get the edges extra crunchy.
Love your recipes Nora, thank you.
You are welcome, Alicia! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review!
Hi Alicia, just wondering if you used whole chia seeds? If yes, did you notice any crunch or clumps occur from this? Trying to find the perfect egg replacement with what I have on hand.
Good question, I also plan on making these for the first time this week and I have a load of chia seeds at home. If it would work as a substitute, I might also use it in the future, but for the first time trying, I will follow the original recipe. Curious how it would turn out with chia.