These are the perfect vegan brownies! They have no added oil and are wholegrain, making them a healthy treat for dessert or a snack. The brownies are sweet and fudgy and get chewier as they stand. And they are super chocolatey!
These are the most scrumptious and fudgy vegan brownies you'll ever make and eat, guaranteed, and they're both whole wheat and oil free.
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.
It still amazes me that healthy vegan brownies with no added oil can turn out so delicious, and these are not just delicious--they are mindblowingly so. You can put away your vegan butter and vegetable oil and coconut oil while making these. Although keep in mind that they are oil-free but not fat-free, because they do contain walnuts and flax eggs made with flaxmeal, but those are healthy fats.
There's also a good amount of healthfulness here from the whole wheat and natural sugars, making these brownies pretty outrageously good for you.
I have made a couple of tweaks to this vegan brownie recipe since I last posted it. 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 vegan chocolate brownies are not cloyingly sweet. If you want an additional hit of chocolate, stir ½ 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 child's lunchbox or your own. Then come back and tell me if these aren't the best vegan brownies you ever made and ate!
Why you'll love these vegan brownies
- They're oil-free, yet moist and tender.
- They're delicious without being cloyingly sweet. This'll become one of your favorite vegan brownie recipes, if not THE favorite.
- They're made with whole wheat.
- They're super chocolatey and you can make them even more so!
- Kids'll love them. You can even bake these homemade vegan brownies together for some family fun together.
Ingredients
- ¾ cup flour. I used whole wheat pastry flour in this recipe, which I love here. But you can substitute unbleached all purpose flour or use a mix of half all purpose and half whole wheat flour. (For brownies made with gluten free flour check out this vegan gluten free brownies recipe. It's absolutely yummy!)
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder. Try and use Dutch process cocoa powder.
- 2 teaspoons instant coffee granules. This is optional, but coffee really enhances the chocolate flavor.
- 4 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons water
- ¾ cup sugar. Use any sugar, including turbinado sugar or cane sugar or brown sugar.
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp flaxmeal (whisked with 3 tablespoon water to make one flax egg)
- ½ cup walnuts (lightly toasted and coarsely chopped). Or, for even more chocolatey flavor, stir in half cup vegan chocolate chips. Or add an equal amount of peanut butter chips, which would be awesome!
- Chocolate sprinkles (optional)
How to make vegan brownies
- Prepare the baking pan: 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.
- Sift dry ingredients: This includes the flour, coffee, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Sift into a mixing bowl and set aside.
- Mix wet ingredients: In another large mixing bowl mix the maple syrup, water, sugar, flaxmeal mixture, and vanilla extract. Whisk together until well mixed.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients: 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 but that's fine.
- Pour batter into prepared pan: 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 the vegan brownies: Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool thoroughly. Cool the brownies on a rack. Once they are cool lift the brownies from the pan using the foil overhang as handles, and cut into squares. If you didn't use chocolate sprinkles, you can dust on powdered sugar for a pretty finish.
Try these vegan dessert recipes next
- Vegan Chocolate Oreo Cake
- Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream
- Vegan Keto Brownies
- Chocolate Cherry Muffins
- Best Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever
Vegan Brownies Recipe
Vegan Brownies
Equipment
Ingredients
- ¾ cup flour (whole wheat pastry flour or can sub with unbleached all purpose flour or a mixture of half whole wheat and half APF)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup cocoa powder (try and use Dutch cocoa powder)
- 2 teaspoon instant coffee granules (optional, but coffee really enhances the chocolate flavor)
- 4 tablespoon maple syrup
- 2 tablespoon water
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon flaxmeal (whisked with 3 tablespoon water to make one flax egg)
- ½ 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.
panprinandproprin
I can't believe these don't have any added fat to them! They look incredible!
Anonymous
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!
Vaishali Honawar
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.
Helen
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
Vaishali
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.
sonal shekhawat
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!!
Qi Ting @ Misadventures of Fat free Baking
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!!!
Vaishali
Lydia, that should work. Good luck!
Lydia
These are a dream come true! Would it be okay to replace the maple syrup with agave nectar? Thanks!
Anonymous
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!
Vaishali
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.
kim
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.
Molly
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?
Vaishali
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.
Neha
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
Anonymous
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
Aparna
"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. 🙂
Gita
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 🙂
egglesscooking
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.