These incredible fudgy black bean brownies are made without flour. Chocolatey, satisfying, full of goodness, gluten free and suitable for vegans.
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Black beans are a wonderful source of plant-based protein. These brownies are made by blending cooked black beans with the other ingredients, before baking.
They don’t contain any flour.
If you take a look down the ingredients list below you’ll see that they’re pretty healthy. The main ingredients are:
- flax eggs
- dates
- black beans,
- coconut oil.
Plus a little cocoa powder, maple syrup, vanilla extract, baking powder and vegan chocolate chips. More on those chocolate chips below.
Can you make black bean brownies without the chocolate chips?
Yes. But - and I mean but - they don’t taste nearly as good. I’ve also tried substituting raisins and again, they were good, but not as good as the chocolate chip version.
If you can’t find vegan chocolate chips you could use chopped up dark chocolate instead.
How difficult are these vegan black bean brownies to make?
They’re very easy to make - as long as you have a food processor*.
Once you’ve mixed your flax eggs - see below - and pulsed your dates you simply need to process all the ingredients together.
And then bake of course.
What ingredients do you need to make black bean brownies?
For full recipe, ingredients and quantities go to the printable recipe card at the end of this post.
- ground flax seeds (linseeds)
- dates
- black beans
- cocoa powder
- coconut oil
- maple syrup
- vanilla extract
- baking powder
- vegan chocolate chips
How do you make a flax egg?
Flax seeds, when ground down and mixed with water, make an excellent egg substitute. To make 1 flax egg mix 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds with 2 tablespoon water. Many recipes call for 3 tablespoon water per tablespoon flax seeds but I’ve always found that 2 is enough.
This recipe calls for 2 flax eggs - so 2 tablespoon ground flax seeds mixed with 4 tablespoon water.
Flax eggs are best used to aid binding in baking. This means that they help the ingredients to stick together in the same way as eggs. However, they’re not good at helping baked goods to rise. That’s why you need baking powder in this recipe.
Read more about how to make a flax egg.
Do you need any special equipment to make these brownies?
You will need:
- a small bowl and fork
- a food processor*
- some baking paper, and
- a 20cm square cake tin. If you have a cake tin with a loose bottom that would be ideal.
More brownie recipes you might like
If you like this you might also like:
How do you make black bean brownies?
If you have made this recipe I would love it if you’d leave a comment and rating below. Thank you!
Please do not reproduce this recipe without permission.
Black bean brownies
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds (linseed)
- 4 tablespoons cold water
- 100 g dates chopped (soaked in hot water if dry)
- 480 g tinned black beans 2 standard 400g tins
- 75 g cocoa powder
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil melted
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 100 g vegan chocolate chips
Instructions
- Check your dates. If they're dry you should soak them for 20 minutes in hot water before using. Medjool dates won't need to be soaked.
- Pre-heat the oven to 180°C (fan)/200°C/gas mark 6. Grease a 20cm square cake tin and line with baking paper.
- Next make your flax eggs. Mix 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds with 4 tablespoon water and set aside to thicken.
- Drain and rinse the two tins of black beans.
- Drain the dates if they've been soaking. Place 100g chopped dates into a food processor and pulse into a puree.
- Add the black beans to the date mixture and pulse again.
- Add the flax eggs, 75g cocoa powder, 3 tablespoons melted coconut oil, 3 tablespoons maple syrup, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 2 teaspoons baking powder to the black bean mixture and pulse until well combined.
- Stir 100g chocolate chips into the mixture.
- Place the brownie mixture into your prepared cake tin.
- Put into the oven and bake for 50-60 minutes until the top is beginning to crack and the brownie mixture is coming away from the sides of the tin. A skewer inserted in the centre should come away almost clean.
- Allow to cool in the tin, them remove, cut into squares and store in an airtight container.
Notes
Nutrition
If you like this you might also like these black bean burgers.
Pin vegan black bean chocolate brownies for later
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Lucia
These sound great! I have been looking for ways to get more nutrients into my fussy son. Can I use normal eggs instead of flax eggs as we don't need them to be vegan? Thanks
Mandy Mazliah
Hi Lucia, I haven't made them with eggs but I am sure they'd work fine. Let me know how they turn out!
Sian Lang
Unbelievable! These are seriously good, easy to make, the kids like them even AFTER I told them they were made from black beans, and I can eat them with zero guilt because they are so healthy. You can not taste the beans at all, they are delicious.
Mandy Mazliah
Ah thanks so much Sian! So happy that you enjoyed them so much
Raych
Definitely fudgy!
I love sneaking extras in cakes (still not tried the beetroot brownies!) and this is a fab recipe.
I forgot the baking powder so they turned out v dense but still yummy - not over sweet but that's how I like them!
Thanks for sharing, off to put black beans on the shopping list!
Raych
Mandy Mazliah
Oh thanks so much Raych! I'm so glad that you loved them even without the baking powder.