I posted a “what I eat in a day” series of Stories on Instagram the other day, and as soon as I posted a photo of these fudgy vegan brownies (yes, I had three in one day, okay!), the DMs started flooding in.
Recipe pls! omg i need the recipe! NEED this recipe!
So, I had to oblige.
Speaking of decadent, if you want to see the texture of these babies, just take a look at this video montage below. :::::::::::::::::::heart eyes emoji:::::::::::::::::::
These brownies are very fudgy with a slight chewy bite and packed with morsels of dark chocolate. If that weren’t amazing enough, they get covered with a three-ingredient chocolate glaze and lots of raspberries. The raspberries are the perfect tart counterpart to the sweet, richness of the chocolatey brownies.
Of course, if you can’t find raspberries where you live, you can omit them.
Why you’ll love these Fudgy Vegan Brownies
They are double chocolate brownies, but technically they are quadruple chocolate brownies because you use both cocoa powder and dark chocolate on two separate occasions.
These brownies are fudgy, rich, gooey, and a little chewy. No cakey brownies here!
Raspberry and chocolate is my favorite dessert combination, as the tartness of the raspberries cuts the richness of the chocolate perfectly.
I fed these brownies to a group of five omnivores, and they were all amazed. One of my friends ate three brownies in one sitting and happily asked if there were more brownies left. Sadly, he had eaten the last brownie, so the answer was no.
Ingredient Spotlight: Chocolate and Cocoa Powder
When it comes to brownies, brownies made with cocoa powder typically turn out cakey, whereas brownies made with melted chocolate turn out fudgy. And if you think about it, it makes total sense. From a texture perspective, adding cocoa powder is akin to adding more flour to the recipe, and adding more flour makes for cakier brownies.
In contrast, adding a melted pool of chocolate essentially adds more liquid, making brownies more moist, dense, and gooey. But if you want to combine cocoa powder and melted chocolate, you get a little bit of both, which often results in chewy brownies. That’s what I do in this recipe, and the result is fudgy brownies with a slightly chewy bite.
And since I prefer my brownies fudgy, to take them over the fudginess top, I add extra chopped dark chocolate into the batter. I fold chopped dark chocolate chunks before pouring the batter into the pan, which brings extra rich chocolatey goodness to the brownies.
Some of the chocolate chunks will almost melt into the brownies, which means rich fudginess, but other chunks will stay firm (especially larger sized ones), providing a nice little solid piece of chocolate to bite into. For these chocolate chunks, I use the same dark chocolate used in the batter, but if you have vegan or dairy-free chocolate chips on hand, you could easily use those instead.
Baking Time
If you’ve ever baked brownies that came out a bit dry, you likely baked them for too long. I recommend checking your brownies at least 5 minutes before you think they’ll be done. Take them out of the oven and insert a toothpick.
The perfect time to remove brownies is when there are moist crumbs stuck to the toothpick. At this point, you might even think the brownies aren’t fully baked yet, but brownies continue to cook and set up while resting, especially brownies made with melted chocolate (as in this recipe).
If there are no crumbs, sadly, you have overbaked your brownies (oops!).
To clarify, you are looking for actual crumbs, not wet, gooey batter. If you get liquid batter on your toothpick, the brownies still need a bit more time in the oven.
Also keep in mind that all ovens are different! I include a time range of 20-25 minutes because every oven is different. If your oven isn’t calibrated, I highly recommend getting an inexpensive oven thermometer such as this so you know exactly what temperature it is inside your oven.
Tips for making these Fudgy Vegan Brownies
I recommend using a 70% dark chocolate for the best results. If you like your chocolate really dark, feel free to use a more intense dark chocolate in the 80-85% range, but they will be less sweet. Alternatively, you could use a slightly sweeter chocolate, such as 60%.
If you go the latter route, I would use a few tablespoons fewer of brown sugar, or omit the chocolate glaze; otherwise, the brownies might be too sweet.
I use refined coconut oil for the topping so the brownies don’t taste coconut-y, but if you don’t mind a coconut-y taste, feel free to use unrefined coconut oil.
When you are done making the brownie batter, the texture of the batter will be very dense and thick. It might feel almost like a chocolate ganache. I put together a video for you so you can see what I mean. However, if the batter feels too thick or dry, add in 2 tablespoons of boiling water, 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring to combine until the batter is a bit looser.
Chocolate Glaze and Raspberry Topping
The chocolate glaze is made with just three ingredients—cocoa powder, coconut oil, and agave nectar—and takes 2 minutes to make! I use agave because it is very viscous and help the glaze adhere really well to the brownies, but you could also substitute maple syrup. And once you refrigerate the glazed brownies, the glaze permanently adheres to the brownies, making them even tastier!
When I make really rich chocolate desserts, I like to add something tart to help balance the sweet richness, such as in this chocolate cheesecake with cranberry compote. Similar principle here: the chocolatey fudginess is nicely counterbalanced by the generous amount of raspberries, making each bite a complete delight.
If your raspberries, are on the larger side, I recommend slicing them in half. It makes for a prettier presentation and makes them easier to eat.
How to store these brownies
These brownies are equally delicious when stored at room temperature or in the fridge, but they taste considerably different. When stored in the fridge, they taste almost like solidified fudge. When stored at room temperature, they taste more like a traditional brownie.
If you want to store these brownies at room temperature (in an airtight container), I recommend decorating them with only the amount of raspberries you plan to eat that day, as raspberries stored at room temperature will develop mold after a day or two.
Of course, you can avoid this problem by storing the brownies in an airtight container in the fridge. If stored in the fridge, you can bring them to room temperature before eating if you want a more traditional brownie texture.
If you give these Fudgy Vegan Chocolate Glazed Brownies recipe a try, be sure to tag me on Instagram with your recreations and please leave a comment below!
The Best Fudgy Vegan Brownies
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons (14 g) flaxseed meal
- 6 ounces (170 g) 70% dark chocolate, divided*
- 6 tablespoons (84g) vegan butter, roughly cut into chunks
- 1 cup (120 g) all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 6 tablespoons (~30g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons neutral-flavored oil of choice (I used sunflower oil)
- 1/4 cup (60 mL) plant-based milk (I used oat milk)
- 3/4 cup (144 g) loosely packed organic brown sugar (or coconut sugar)
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) maple syrup**
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons boiling water, only as needed
Chocolate Glaze and Raspberry Topping
- 6 ounces (170g) fresh raspberries
- 3 tablespoons refined coconut oil, melted
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon (20g) tablespoons agave nectar***
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F/175°C.
- Make the flax eggs. Mix the ground flaxseed meal with 5 tablespoons water, stir to combine and refrigerate for 15 minutes to thicken. Re-whisk the mixture again before using.
- Prepare a double boiler. Add a few inches of water to a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Nestle a large heatproof glass bowl that sits on top of the saucepan without touching the water to create a double boiler.
- Chop half of the dark chocolate (3 ounces or 85g) into bite-sized pieces and set aside.
- Melt the chocolate and butter. Take the remaining half of the dark chocolate and roughly chop it or break it apart with your hands. Place these chocolate pieces and the vegan butter in the heat-proof bowl on top of the saucepan. Allow the chocolate mixture to melt, whisking frequently until smooth and the chocolate is completely melted. Set aside to cool.Alternatively, you can add the chocolate pieces and the vegan butter to a large bowl and microwave it. Melt in 25 second intervals until mostly melted and smooth, stirring well between each interval (3 total intervals should be good).
- While the chocolate-butter mixture is cooling, line an 8×8″ baking pan with parchment paper.
- Mix the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sea salt, and cocoa powder.NOTE: I recommend sifting the mixture, as cocoa powder can be lumpy.
- Mix the wet ingredients. Once the chocolate-butter mixture is cool, pour in the oil, plant-based milk, brown sugar, maple syrup, flax eggs, and vanilla. Whisk well until smooth and well combined.
- Combine the dry and wet. Add the flour mixture into the liquid mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined. Then fold in the reserved 3 ounces /85 g of dark chocolate pieces using a silicone spatula. Pour the batter into the lined pan and smooth out the surface out with a silicone spatula.NOTE: The batter should be rich and dense, but if it feels too thick or dry, add in 2 tablespoons of boiling water, 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring to combine until the batter is a bit looser.
- Bake the brownies. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out almost clean. I always check my brownies a few minutes before I think they’re going to be done. They may appear slightly under-baked, which means they're fudgy and rich, and they will continue to bake after you take them out of the oven. Transfer the brownies to a wire rack to cool for at least 30 minutes before adding the glaze.
- Meanwhile, make the chocolate glaze. Whisk together the melted coconut oil, cocoa powder and agave nectar until smooth. Slice any large raspberries in half.
- Top the cooled brownies with the chocolate glaze and spread evenly, using a spatula as needed. Top with all the raspberries. If you have any leftover glaze, drizzle it on top (I did so in the video). Place in the fridge to fully harden for at least 30 minutes.
- For storage tips, see the note in the blog post called “How to store these brownies.”
Dear Nisha, these brownies sound sooo perfect! I absolutely have to try them. Thank you for sharing your recipe. xxx Susanna
Hi Susanna! Thank you so much for visiting! So happy you like these brownies and I hope you give them a try!
Hi there
Unfortunately I am gluten free as well. Is there something else to I could use instead of flour? Thanx
I love all of the chocolate going on here…and with the raspberries, I’m in heaven! Eating 5 in one day is completely understandable. My boys will go crazy for these! Thank you for this amazing recipe :)
Hehe yay! I am so happy to hear that! Let me know if you make them for your boys (and yourself haha)
I hate to ask I haven’t tried a lot of vegan but I’m open to it but for now do you have the different ingredients listed Incase we don’t have vegan ingredients? :)
Hi Jessica, you can certainly use butter and eggs for the flax eggs and vegan butter. For the almond milk, I’m not sure if regular milk would work because it’s so much thicker, so if you have a non-dairy milk, I’d advise that!
Im not vegan, but i def want to try and make these! :)
Hi Rachel! I hope you give them a try! All of my non-vegan friends looooved them!
Hi, this recipe sounds too lovely! My store doesn’t have almond butter, do you think it will be possible to use vegan butter the whole amount instead? In that case, I will be able to bake them today 😍 Thank you!
/Amanda
Hi Amanda! I’m so sorry for the late reply – I didn’t get a notification about your comment until now :( The closest substitution would be peanut butter or any other nut butter or tahini! Does your grocery store have that?
They look so good Nisha! Love the raspberry topping too. Raspberries and chocolate is SO good together!!
Thank you, Jess! It is definitely my favorite combo :)
This looks so beautiful! I was trying to make a non vegan brownie recipe that I have, vegan. I always keptgoing g wrong somewhere. Will definitley try this because the texture seems absolutley divine. I never tried coconut oil and 2 flax eggs. Always used a neutral oil and 3 flax eggs, and it always turned to be a soupy mess
Hi Suraj! I hope you give these brownies a try! I think 3 flax eggs might be too much, which could’ve caused them to be soupy. The coconut oil is actually for the glaze on top of the brownies :) I use vegan butter and almond butter in the brownie itself.
They look so amazing and pretty! Drooling big time :)
Hehe thank you Ela! I wish I could share them with you!
Is is possible to use frozen raspberries? Fresh are so expensive!!!
Hi Kiera! Yes, you can use defrosted frozen raspberries :) They might look a little mushier/less firm, but the taste will still be delicious!
Hi Nisha, I saw on your Instagram that you put pink frosting on a batch of your brownies. What ingredients did you use to make the pink frosting? :)
Hey Kristi! I made a homemade vegan frosting and tinted it pink with some beetroot powder. For the frosting, I beat together 1.5 cups organic powdered sugar with 3 tbsp vegan butter and then added 1-2 tbsp almond milk until it was a spreadable consistency. At the end, I added the beetroot powder.
Hello. This looks so good! I would like to make a non vegan version. What would be non vegan substitutions for the cocoa nut oil and agave nectar in the topping?
It would be wonderful if you could also write the ingredients in grams because I’m from Italy and I always mess up with cups! Btw these brownies look amazing
Hi Viviana! I included the grams and mL amounts for this recipe! I typically don’t include them because I never calculate it on my own and only use conversions that I can obtain from the packaging or online, but I hope this helps!
These do look seriously yummy!Two questions about the recipe:Could you put the amount of butter in grams? That would be super helpful!In the comments you say that you’re using almond butter but I don’t find that in the list of ingredients. Am I overlooking something there?Thanks so much for your wonderful recipes!!
Thank you! I just updated the recipe with butter grams, sorry about that! Yes, I first shared this recipe in 2018 but have since modified/updated/improved it, so there’s no almond butter in the recipe anymore!
I don’t have vegan butter on hand, can o use oil coconut or safflower or a nut butter?
I think I just replied to you on Instagram, but I think safflower oil would be a good sub!
Oh my, oh my!!! I made this today and it was absolutely amazing! Best vegan sweet I’ve made yet! My Dad said I could stop with this recipe. He wanted another piece- he’s 87 & very set in his ways. Only used 2/3 bar of 78% for chopped pieces, 70% for melted, maple syrup, 22 minutes – perfect!
C. B.
This looks so good! Can’t wait to try it! Can I use a gluten free flour instead of all AP flour?
I made them with strawberries on top and the brownies were amazing! The recipe is easy to make and it took almost only half an hour! Totally woth it to make them, even as a non-vegan!
These are the best brownies I have ever made! Fed them to all my non-vegan friends and they were a hit. I was skeptical about putting them in the fridge (I’m partial to the warm, gooey brownie) but it really did make all the difference in producing a fudgy, satisfying result. Next time, I might add some nuts or try a different topping but will definitely be making these again.
I made this for my sisters birthday, none of my family are vegan (I including myself but I opt for vegan alternatives as much as possible) and honestly theses were inhaled in 0.5 seconds! They are INCREDIBLE!! They’re so rich and indulgent and gooey they are better than any brownie I have ever tasted and that is no exaggeration… nobody guess they were even vegan! I even dropped one off to my friends house (we are currently still in lock down in the uk) and she messaged me saying ‘well that was incredible recipe ASAP pls’ So if you like dark chocolate and all things that taste amazing these are a winner. I’ve tried many of Nishas recipes before and you can just tell so much time has been put into trialing and testing recipes because they ALWAYS pull through with the goods. Even if you’re not vegan please make these!! you will not regret it!! Amazing
Hi NishaI am making these tomorrow and was wondering if I could sub the flax egg with aquafaba? Thanks in advance
Hi Sujata, I haven’t tried it myself but I have made brownies with aquafaba before and it should work out just fine. I would use 6 tbsp aquafaba.
I made these for my boyfriend’s birthday and we LOVED them!!!!!! We couldn’t stop eating until we felt sick! They are so fudgy and crunchy at the same time, and they are rich and yet not too sweet!!! We are not vegan and we were extremely surprised by the results since sometimes vegan desserts can be a bit disappointing! So if you’re looking for an amazing brownies recipe, don’t hesitate to try this one! It will definitely be my go-to brownies recipe!!!!!
These are AMAZING! Honestly, I’ve made a few vegan brownies before which were disappointing so I didn’t have high hopes but these were incredible! They’re rich and fudgy and chocolatey and just unreal!I’d recommend waiting for them to cool completely and putting them in to the fridge for a few hours before serving them up if you want a really fudgy brownie!I’ll definitely be making these again! <3
These are so good! A wonderful combo of chocolate, fudgy, raspberry goodness! I used gluten free all purpose flour and it worked really well. Not too sweet, just very rich and satisfying. My oven runs a little hot so next time I’ll start checking on the brownies at 15 mins instead of 20. But even with my extra hot oven these were so good!
These brownies are exquisite! Make them!
They turned out really good!!!! Made them twice… First time I used less sugar… (I always use less sugar than a recipe calls for because I like less sweet desserts) and then made them again for another occasion but this time I trusted Nishas recipe and made them exactly how she suggested and they were even better. So yummy. Now I want to go make them again!
Hello thank u for this amazing recipe. Could I use coconut oil instead of vegan butter? I don’t like to use vegan butter as it’s not a natural product. Any advise hugely appreciated. Toni x
Hi Tony, yes you can use coconut oil! I’d use refined coconut oil so that there’s no strong coconut taste (unless you don’t mind that).
I love these brownies. Super easy to make and tasty. I have also made these with gluten free flour (Bob’s 1:1). They’re not as chewy but still very delicious!
What a pair, so rich and indulgent with just perfect tart/ sweet balance with the raspberries. My husband and friends at work I shared these with couldn’t have guessed this was vegan so I call that a win!
Fudgy explosion, just wow! My kids and I couldn’t get enough of these. Even my chocolate-hating husband enjoyed them. Perfect fudgy texture – so rich and satisfying!