These healthy vegan brownies have no added oil and are wholegrain, making them the perfect treat for anytime.
I have been taking a look at recipes I posted on this blog several years ago to see if I can update them for you, and today I wanted to reshare this vegan brownie recipe.
I posted this vegan brownie recipe more than 10 years ago, and it soon became a family favorite as well as a favorite for several readers who wrote to say they had made it and loved it.
When I first posted this recipe, I called it a fat-free vegan brownie because that was accepted terminology in those days for recipes with no added fat. But I’ve since renamed them because although these brownies certainly need no added oil, they do contain walnuts and flaxmeal, which means they are not entirely fat-free.
The fat from the walnuts and brownies is healthy, though, and there’s also a good amount of healthfulness here from the whole wheat and natural sugars, making these brownies pretty outrageously good for you.
Although my original recipe is still really, really good, I did make a couple of tweaks. I upped the amount of maple syrup from two tablespoons to four, because I now have a little one and his sweet tooth to please. Use less if you want to, and you’ll still get a great-tasting brownie. You can also just use all maple syrup instead of the sugar.
Even with more maple syrup, these brownies are not cloyingly sweet. If you want an additional hit of chocolate, stir 1/2 cup of bittersweet chocolate chips in the batter.
The brownies themselves are fudgy when you eat them rightaway, and get chewier as they stand. They make the perfect snack, so be sure to pack one — or two — in your little one’s lunchbox or your own.
Try these chocolate-y recipes next:
Vegan Chocolate Oreo Cake
Chocolate cupcakes
Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Brownies
Chocolate Cherry Muffins
Whole Wheat Chocolate Chunk Bars
Best Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever
Vegan Chocolate Cinnamon Cookies
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Healthy Vegan Brownies, no oil and wholegrain
Vegan Brownies, no added oils, whole wheat
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour (can sub with unbleached all purpose flour)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 2 tsp instant coffee granules (optional, but coffee really enhances the chocolate flavor)
- 4 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 tbsp water
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp flax meal (whisk with 3 tbsp water)
- 1/2 cup walnuts (lightly toasted and coarsely chopped)
- Chocolate sprinkles (optional)
Instructions
- Sift all the dry ingredients, including the flour, coffee, cocoa, baking soda and salt, into a bowl and set aside.
- In another bowl mix together the maple syrup, water, sugar, flaxmeal mixture, and vanilla extract. Whisk together until well mixed.
- Add the flour-cocoa mixture to this in 3 batches, mixing well after each addition using a ladle or spatula.
- Stir in the walnuts. The batter will be really thick.
- Prepare an 8 X 8-inch baking pan by lining it with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Leave an overhang on each side of the pan so you can easily lift the brownies out after they are baked. Spray the parchment or foil with non-stick cooking spray.
- Pour the batter in and, using a spatula or the back of a spoon, spread evenly in the pan. At this point, you can sprinkle some chocolate sprinkles over the top for a nice finish.
- Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool thoroughly on a rack. Lift out the brownies using the foil overhang as handles, and cut into squares. If you didn't use chocolate sprinkles, you can dust on some powdered sugar for a pretty finish.
Nutrition
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Luscious fat free, vegan brownies with chocolate and coffee. What more could a girl want?
this is such an awesome recipe – no butter, no eggs.. and so moist and yummy looking… bookmarked 🙂
wow..these look perfect….want to bite into one of these right now…thanks for the coffee tip…will try it next time!
Amen Jaya..nothing more to say 🙂
Guilt free and so tempting.
I read the recipe twice to make sure they are in fact fat free. How can you make such delicious beauties without fat?? How??? They look delicious Vaishali.. I’m going to try them soon.
It is definately not fat free. The flax is fatty so this recipe has more fat than a brownie made without any kind fat. This brownie is great with flax. I ve made it a number of times. But flax is the highest source of lignans and omega 3 in a vegan form. These brownies are fantastic because of the flax! Go for it! I am making them again today!
Donna, I appreciate the fact that you liked the brownies and thanks for letting me know. However, your comment is misinformed. Two tablespoons of flaxmeal, divided among 12 brownies, gives you 0.4 grams of fat in each serving from the flax. Were you to add eggs or butter– as a regular brownie would have– it would be far more than that.
Oh and i forgot those uwalnuts. Those are fatty also. Those are kept to a minimum….but is still fat. Its very misleading. If someone wanted a fat free recipe and did not want any fat..they would in fact get a low fat recipe. If you have a heart condition you may be told to lay off the fat including plant sources. Also the manufactures use this trick. The serving size is very small and they can say its non caloric or fat free if a teaspoon or so is under a certain amount. Your site says fat free. If you eat 2 brownies the fat gmams go up. I need 20 grams a day per mcdougall…uh oh..i just ate up 1/4 th of my allotment for the day. You re recipe is still wonderful. I made it fat free. It was still great!
Fats from non animal sources are not bad fats.
I think you’re missing the point, it is an healthier alternative to oil (fat). Flax and walnuts have healthy fats and you can choose to add the walnuts (optional topping). She stated it is oil free not fat free.
This is a boon I say.. My favorite brownies are gonna be fat free.. wow. 🙂
Always looking for a good brownie recipe! This one looks yummy!
This is an awesome recipe. I have been looking for a good eggless brownie recipe and I just found it :-))
WOOOOOOOOOOOOW!
i feel like making them right away! will try this weekend for sure.
Guilfree and yummy … interesting fat free recipe will definetly try. Bookmarked it..
I am always craving for chocolate and few of these would make me rely happy.
Wow such an awesome brownies, veganised brownies looks gorgeous..
Guilt free goodness..i m drooling over my monitor..
Fat Free, Fudgy, absolutely yummy Vaishali!! Will try this..
Mmmmmm … anything with coffee and walnuts is just for me. Want to pick up gooey piece Vaishali. 🙂
Fat free and whole wheat too! I once made fat free brownies from Sinfully Vegan but it used all purpose flour. But your version is healthier than that.
Wow…decadent-looking brownies…healthy ones with flaxseeds and walnuts…thanks for sharing this awesome recipe Vaishali…I have bookmarked this to try it soon 🙂
“Fat-free” is like music to my ears. 🙂
I make a version of these, but mine has butter. 🙁
Should give your version a try. Btw, there’s a little more in your brownies from the walnuts, but its the good kind and I’m not copmplaining. 🙂
I did not have eggs and was looking for eggless baking and landed here – thanks so much for this wonderful recipe. I probably may never go back to egg/butter version. I will come back to your site for more guilt free food – calorie wise and other wise!!
– Krithika
Hi vaishali..
I made these brownies yesterday, but they turned out to be too crumbly..and not chewy and moist.. Any idea where i might have gone wrong..or any suggestions? i followed the recipe almost to the hilt.
Thanks
Neha
Neha, Your oven must be heating too much– it’s not something anyone but you can determine. I’d advise reducing the cooking time and doing the toothpick test earlier the next time.
Also,I’m curious to know what you mean when you say you followed the recipe “almost” to the hilt– changing the smallest ingredient in baking can throw the whole recipe off. Replacing the maple syrup, for instance, would not make the brownie as chewy. Removing the flax would not make it as moist. Changing the type of flour could also have consequences.
Hi Molly, You could replace some of the sugar with agave nectar which is low-glycemic. It might also make the brownies chewier. Substituting the sugar with artificial sweeteners would produce a drier brownie and I don’t recommend it.
If you don’t mind less sweet brownies, you could just reduce the amount of sugar, You might want to reduce the baking time by a few minutes because there will be less moisture in the batter.
I would guess spelt might work in this recipe, although I can’t honestly say since I haven’t tried it with spelt.
I just used ethrytol and some date sugar (ground dates)…I added a small amount of powderd sugar but youll need to add some nut milk or water to make it more moist.
Great recipe, I just finished baking them (and devouring them).
However, do you have any suggestions as to how I could reduce the sugar. Any substitutions/reductions I could try next time.
Also would using spelt flour be okay?
these were very good, I omitted walnuts and added 1/4 minced fresh mint. I also found that baking them for 20 minutes was long enough. Thanks for the great vegan recipe!
These are a dream come true! Would it be okay to replace the maple syrup with agave nectar? Thanks!
Lydia, that should work. Good luck!
Best brownies ever!!! I slightly underbaked some (about 18 minutes) and they turned out gooey, fudgey and absolutely stunning. Also, I substituted 1/4 cup low fat peanut flour and some stevia! Thanks for the recipe!!!
hey vaishali!! u wud laugh if u knew how i stumbled upon ur site but m so glad i did! i ve 1 ques,what do u mean by whole-wheat pastry flour.is it the same as whole wheat flour(atta) m in jaipur and i dnt get all kinds of things here so was just curious. i hope u reply!!
Sonal, no it’s not the same– whole-wheat pastry flour is very low in gluten which makes it an ideal, healthier substitute for all-purpose flour which is refined. Atta flour has a higher gluten content. If you don’t have whole-wheat pastry flour, I’d suggest using just all-purpose instead.
Hi Vaishali,
Thanks for this recipe! I’ve now tried 3 different low fat vegan brownie recipes (one with black beans that I ended up having to throw away, which really made me feel guilty) and I’m hoping these will break my unlucky streak!
However, I have two small issues; I’m diabetic, so I will have to replace the sugar with sweetener (I acknowledge that you said this will make the brownies drier, but that’s fine) and I don’t have flax seed – can I replace this with applesauce?
Thanks in advance!
Yes, replace the flax with 1/2 cup of applesauce. In fact, if you plan to skip the sugar and substitute sweetener instead, you might want to double the applesauce. That’s because sugar is considered a wet ingredient in baking, not a dry one, and the applesauce would put back some of the moisture in the recipe.
So glad I read through the comments before asking you how best to cut back on sugar……now I know!
I have actually made the brownies already, and they were delicious. We don’t get wholewheat pastry flour here in the UK so I used wholegrain spelt which worked beautifully. I like to avoid refined flour where possibles.
I will try out your idea of double applesauce no sugar next I think, or maybe try no sugar, a little extra maple syrup and a little bit more applesauce as I love the taste of maple and would be perfectly happy to sweeten entirely using that. It is never obvious how to reduce and eliminate sugar without wrecking the recipe so your suggestions were great. I happen to care more about reducing sugar than reducing fat and it would be much appreciated if you are able to tell us (when you can, and where you remember!) in your guidelines how to go about this (if you know!)
Xx
I can’t believe these don’t have any added fat to them! They look incredible!
I made these and substituted about half of the sugar with agave nectar, also added a couple spoons of peanut butter – turned out great! I didn’t leave them baking as long though, I took them out at about 20 minutes. Thanks so much for the great recipe!
I made these brownies today and was shocked at how well they came out….without oil or butter. Thank you! They have the texture of a chewy brownie without making you feel the guilt. I did take a reviewer’s suggestion and baked them for 18 minutes. That helped keep them moist. I also added some vegan chips and pecans, because I didn’t have walnuts. These are the low fat brownies I’ve been looking for!
Hi Rebecca, so happy you liked the brownies. I am now suddenly craving them. 🙂 Gotta make them soon.
Hi Vaishali,
I tried the brownies. They are amazing, I followed the recipe as is and it came out fantastic. Thanks for the great recipe
VK
Vani, so happy you liked them!
These were delicious! Great recipe. The only fault I found was the aluminum foil; I had to peel it off of each individual brownie. I think parchment paper would’ve worked much better. Otherwise, perfection 🙂
Anna, glad you liked them. I agree with you about the aluminum foil — it is a problem when it enters the crevices in baked goods. I usually use parchment paper, but some readers in other countries don’t find it as readily.
what’s the calorie count on these? I have some in the oven right now and I’m on a diet (lol)
I made these this morning and they turned out delicious – despite some minor changes. i’m not a great baker but this is one recipe that I will definitely add to my limited repertoire 🙂 Thank you.
Lakshmi, glad they worked for you! Thanks for letting me know. 🙂
Anyone have a suggestion for swapping regular coffee if I dont have instant?
Can I use applesauce instead of the sugar? Or maybe in place of the sugar and maple syrup?
Hi Nicole, it won’t work to substitute all of the sugar with the applesauce– the applesauce will make it too tender and the brownies won’t hold their shape.
Oh dear, now I’m really confused. I’ve just read a comment above about replacing sugar and thought it was ok to go for an applesauce substitute?
X
I will use chia seed meal instead of flax meal. That’s what I have in hand. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Hi Vaishali,
If I need to substitue chia seed meal for flax meal, should I use 2 tsp or 2tbsp?
Thanks
Use the same amount as flax.
So delicious!! I now have a favorite brownie recipe and it is low fat too… So great next time I will be doubling the recipe for sure though!!!
I just made these today. I have to say I was skeptical because I usually don’t care for fat free/low fat baked goods. These are amazing! I omitted the walnuts because I don’t like nuts in my brownies, but they are perfectly fudgy and delicious. Can’t wait for my husband to try them. They are definitely a keeper in my book. Thanks so much! 🙂
Awesome recipe! My husband adores these brownies. Can’t believe they are low fat! Thank you for sharing <3
I just wanted to say thanks for this recipe (even if it was originally posted years ago, lol!). This has become my go to brownie recipe and I’ve honestly lost track of how many times I’ve made it. It is super simple, delicious, and can be made into a variety of different flavors (for example, I’ve done Smores brownies, peanut butter swirl brownies, frosted brownies of several varieties, chocolate-orange brownies and more using this as the base recipe). They are always a hit, with vegans and omnivores alike! 💖
Hi Vaishali,
I also wanted to say “Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!”
I made these about 2 weeks ago and when I did I used Pecans, skipped the coffee, used Chia Egg instead of Flax Meal Egg and processed the nuts finely in a food processor.
This resulted in a brownie with a perfect brownie texture, moist and yummy.
They disappeared – Same day!!
On the list for this weekend!!
I used this recipe as a base for an egg free, oil free cookie, substituting teff flour, coconut sugar, chia sead meal and pumpkin seeds instead of the unbleached flour, white sugar, flax meal and walnuts using exact same amounts and all the other ingredients. Used all your combining recomendation tips. Spooned them onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Pressed them out with a fork like one would peanut butter cookies. Baked for nine minutes at 350 and let cool completely on the warm cookie sheet. They were very moist and delicious. Next time may add cocao nibs also. Loved the coffee flavor and rich cocoa together…..thanks for the inspiration…..
I’m not very experienced with baking but I found the recipe as presented produced dough so thick as to be virtually unspreadable. I added a quarter cup or more of additional water and then it was fine. The only sugar I had was confectioner’s sugar. Could that have caused the overly thick batter? I also used dark chocolate cocoa powder. Since as a vegan I haven’t had a brownie for more than 2 years, I thought these were pretty yummy !
Holy Cow! So good…crispy top, moist inside, perfect degree of sweetness. I skipped the walnuts and used vegan chocolate chips 1/4 c and used parchment paper. Some of the sugar I used was maple sugar, about 1/4 c that I had left. These are the best vegan brownies I have ever had. Thank you for this recipe, a keeper once again. Hard not to eat them all this instant.
So happy you tried this, Denise.
These actually surprised me in a good way. I usually don’t care for fat-free/low fat baked goods. These turned out well and pretty tasty. I omitted the nuts to make them lower fat. I also had to bake them in a smaller pan because I didn’t feel there was enough batter for an 8×8 pan. I did them in my little toaster oven roasting pan and baked them about 18 minutes. I think I’d do a minute or two less next time. Over all, I’m pleased and will make them again. 🙂
Luscious fat-free, vegan brownies with chocolate and coffee. Brownies are my all time favorite and love making it at home.
Amazing! Made these for my boyfriend for valentines because he loves brownies but doesn’t like to eat a lot of fat. I didn’t have whole wheat pastry flour, so used regular whole wheat flour instead. Used pecan instead of walnuts. Wish I used decaf coffee. They kept me awake last night. 😁 I have tried lots of low fat brownies. These are the winners. Btw, my batter was very thin. But I just poured it into the lined pan and baked it as suggested. They are perfection!
So happy you tried these Ann.
The texture of these brownies were really good. But they did not taste chocolately at all. Kinda wierd. Maybe they need more cocoa?
Loved this, what an awesome recipe!!
I nearly doubled the cocoa powder, used 7-8 softened pureed dates instead of sugar, and added a half cup of fresh pitted cherries. Also a quarter cup of chocolate chips, and the walnuts, and some toasted shredded coconut.
But the real game changer was the packet of instant coffee I added – best idea ever! Thank you so much!
Served with banana nicecream (flavored with cherries and cocoa powder). Couldn’t possibly be more satisfied 🙂