Black Bean Brownies: gluten-free, dairy free, date-sweetened, impossibly delicious
My kids will only eat these black bean brownies. They’ve told me other brownie recipes are too sweet and too “dense.”
Seriously. I’ve never liked how much sugar is in typical brownie recipes. Just thinking about them, (even my great-grandma Bea’s noble one-pan brownies) I get that post-brownie sugar crash. At some point after going dairy-free, I tried black bean brownies, and I was delightfully surprised by the rich fudgy texture. I’ve eaten more pans of these than I’d care to admit. If my kids smell them, you can pretty near set a timer for 20 minutes until the pan is gone.
Because these are sweetened with dates and no added sugar (beyond what is in the chocolate of choice), you will not feel gross after eating these. In fact, all the fiber from the dates and the black beans will leave you full in a way that most desserts cannot. It’s pretty rare to get an actually healthy dessert, but these date sweetened black bean brownies absolutely fit the bill.
What’s even better is that they are naturally gluten free and dairy free. There’s no weird substitutions, no expensive ingredients. There’s real food and pretty much everyone can eat them unless you can’t tolerate eggs. It’s tough sometimes to navigate people’s food sensitivities when you have company. Hospitality is important to me, and I love to be able to offer something that most everyone can say yes to.
Grab your food processor , and let’s whip up a batch.
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Black Bean Brownies (Date Sweetened, gluten free, dairy free)
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Ingredients for black bean brownies
- Black beans: canned or homemade, no salt or regular; all work here.
- Dates: deglet noor or medjool
- Oil: coconut oil or olive oil (I like both even though they both have their own unique flavors. Use can also use butter if you can tolerate dairy)
- Cocoa: Hershey’s Special Dark is my first choice, though regular cocoa powder, carob, natural cacao or a rich Dutch process cocoa like Droste all work.
- Eggs: large
- Vanilla: paste or pure vanilla extract. Of late, I make my own paste as I love the floral flavor of the vanilla beans , but extract is good too.
- Chocolate: I prefer chopped chocolate from 70%-85% dark chocolate bars such as Lindt. Irregular chopped bits are more interesting and melt beautifully into the batter. You can use chocolate chips as well.
- Baking soda: just a little for leavening.
- Eggs: large
Equipment needed for black bean brownies
- Food processor : this will make the smoothest batter. You could use a high-powered blender as well, though I’ve only ever used this with a food processor . My Mom is determined to use her small cusinart on it!
- Knife: for chopping chocolate. I prefer a serrated 10″ knife.
- Baking spatula : for scraping down the sides of the work bowl.
Step by step pictures
Fun Valentine’s variation
To make these black bean brownies into Valentine’s brownies, you’ll need two things:
- Bar of white chocolate
- freeze dried raspberry powder
All you need to do is melt the white chocolate in the microwave and stir in about 1 1/2 teaspoons of the raspberry powder. This will give the white chocolate a bright berry taste that is so so tasty with the brownies.
Once the brownies are done baking, pour over the melted pinkish white chocolate and smooth it out. It’s okay if the chocolate from the brownies swirls into the white chocolate. Actually, that looks pretty great. Set the brownies in the freezer just until the white chocolate sets before you cut them. If you’d like, you can cut the brownies into hearts with a small cookie cutter.
Black bean brownie recipe
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The Best Black Bean Brownies
- Total Time: 1 hour 8 minutes
- Yield: 16 brownies 1x
Description
Gluten free and sweetened with dates, you’ll be amazed at how rich these brownies taste. Kick your sweet tooth without any sacrifices!
Ingredients
- 1 can black beans (15 oz)
- 1 cup dates (organic preferred)
- 1/4 cup coconut oil or olive oil
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp vanilla extract or paste
- 3 large eggs
- 3 oz. dark chocolate chopped (85 g)
White Chocolate Raspberry topping (optional)
- 3 oz. white chocolate
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons freeze dried raspberry powder
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350. Line an 8×8″ baking pan with parchment (see note).
- First, place dates in a small pan and cover with water. Bring the pan to a boil, then let the dates soak for 10 minutes.
- While the dates are soaking, drain the black beans in a small strainer. Rinse off the can liquid, then strain out the excess water into the sink.
- Place the dates in the same strainer and press out the excess water with a spoon.
- If you’re using coconut oil, melt it first.
- Next, place the drained beans and dates in a food processor along with the coconut (or olive) oil, cocoa, baking soda, vanilla and all of the eggs. Process until everything as smooth as possible, which will take 4-5 minutes. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the food processor periodically in this time. Give one last good scrape down all around the sides of the food processor, then pulse a few more times to get a very smooth mixture.
- Add in the chopped chocolate and pulse 3 times, quickly. The mixture likes to explode upwards onto the lid assembly, so try not to press for too long. This won’t change anything, just make more of a mess for you!
- Bake 18-20 minutes until the top of the brownies springs back in the middle and there’s no jiggle if you shake the pan a bit.
- Cool for 30 minutes before slicing.
Notes
- What kind of cocoa? I prefer dark cocoa such as Hershey’s Special Dark, but I’ve made these with everything from carob to natural cacao to black onyx cocoa. All are good, I just prefer the rich dark color for these.
- How dark is dark chocolate? I use Lindt 70% chocolate bars most of the time, but sometimes I’ll go as dark as 85% chocolate. I’m not a milk chocolate fan, but if you like it, go for it. Use the chocolate you like!
- To make a parchment sling: cut 2 pieces of parchment the width of your baking pan. Lay them on the bottom of the pan, one covering two sides, and the next one covering the remaining two sides. Once baked, you can use the overhanging parchment to pull the bars out of the pan easily.
Valentine’s Brownies
Melt one 3 ounce bar of white chocolate in the microwave at 30 second intervals in a small bowl. It should take about 90 seconds. Mix 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of freeze dried raspberry powder into the white chocolate. This will give you a pinkish white chocolate with bright berry flavor. Once the brownies are finished baking, pour over the white chocolate and spread it over the top of the brownies. It’s okay if the dark chocolate swirls into the white from the brownies below. Pop the brownies into the freezer until the white chocolate is set before you cut them into squares. If you’d like, use a small heart cookie cutter to cut the squares into brownie hearts for extra Valentine’s charm. Sprinkle on some extra raspberry powder for some extra color.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Additional Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 18 minutes
- Category: Healthier Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 brownie
- Calories: 126
- Sugar: 7
- Sodium: 154
- Fat: 6
- Saturated Fat: 4
- Carbohydrates: 14
- Fiber: 3
- Protein: 3
- Cholesterol: 30
Extra mix-ins for brownie variations
This is one of my few recipes that I make plain nearly every time. That being said, there are countless ways to make these black bean brownies more interesting. Here’s a few mix-ins you can include. Pick one or two for some added texture or flavor, then fold them into the batter:
- Nuts: 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, almonds, pecans, macadamia nuts etc.
- Berrylicious: 1/2 cup dried blueberries or strawberries
- Orange: 1/4 cup chopped candied orange or the zest of one orange
- White chocolate: 1/2 cup chopped white chocolate or white chocolate chips
Let me know what you think of these. Given my family’s love for these, I think you’ll be surprised!
