These vegan avocado brownies are super fudgy, gooey but yet chewy, and simply delicious!
And because they’ve got avocado in them, we could probably also say they’re healthy, couldn’t we?? Well, at least healthier than regular brownies…
This recipe is easy to make, won’t chew up much of your time and can be tweaked or adapted to your preferences!
Contents
Ingredients for these Vegan Avocado Brownies
- ripe/soft avocado
- flour
- baking powder
- cacao powder
- salt
- sugar
- plant milk of your choice
- nuts and vegan chocolate chips (optional)
(see recipe card for quantities)
See? Pretty simple, huh? There are some things you can substitute and change to make these avocado brownies to your liking. I’ll discuss these options below, right after the instructions.
I love using my homemade vegan dark chocolate instead of chocolate chips in these avocado brownies. I just chop half of a bar into smaller pieces and add them at the end (see instructions below).
Instructions
1.) I always start by mashing the avocado, with a fork. So, you really want to make sure that your avocado is soft or ripe enough in order to do this.
If your avocado is still a bit hard or if you don’t want to use a fork, you could use a food processor or stick blender instead to mash it. You may need to add a bit of water to help it if the avocado is not quite ripe.
Don’t worry if the avocado mash isn’t 100% smooth and there are still some tiny pieces left. As you can see in the picture above, mine isn’t either and it works perfectly fine!
2.) In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients which are flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and cacao.
3.) Add the mashed avocado and plant milk until a gooey batter is achieved (have a look at the picture below). Depending a little bit on the size of the avocado, you may need to add more milk (if too dry) or a bit more flour (if runny, pancake-batter-like).
4.) Add vegan chocolate chips and/or nuts, if you like and stir them in.
5.) Scoop brownie dough into a 20cm x 20cm (8-inch) square tin/pan, well-greased and floured or lined with parchment paper. Spread evenly.
6.) Bake your vegan avocado brownies at 180°C / 350°F for about 15-20 minutes. I usually just check after 15 minutes and touch the top quickly to see if it is firm.
If it feels too soft (like as if you could easily poke your finger through), leave it in for another 5 minutes. Unless, of course, you love your brownies undercooked, in which case you can take them out now (wait with cutting them until completely cooled).
7.) Let your avocado brownies sit on the benchtop and allow them to cool for at least half an hour before cutting them into squares. They might fall apart because we don’t use eggs in this recipe, of course.
Substitutions
Affiliate Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links. That means I may earn a small commission, if you purchase the linked product, at no extra cost for you.
- cacao – I prefer using cacao because it’s in its raw form and has not been processed. However, feel free to use cocoa powder instead.
- caffeine-free – you could try carob powder (affiliate link) instead of cacao. It doesn’t exactly taste like chocolate (to me, anyway), rather caramel-chocolate, but the brownies will still taste great!
- gluten-free – I haven’t tried making them gluten-free yet, as I’m a bit short on gluten-free flour at the moment. But I will try it as soon as I can. I’m sure though, these brownies also work with gluten-free flour.
- sugar – my favourite way to make these vegan avocado brownies is with using ¼ cup coconut sugar and ¼ cup maple syrup. Adding maple syrup, definitely makes them softer, thus fudgier, in my opinion. I prefer using coconut sugar but if you prefer “normal” sugar, use brown or raw sugar rather than white. If you have a sweet tooth, you may want to add ¼ cup more sugar (so ¾ cup of sugar in total).
- plant milk – the milk in this recipe is simply to add some extra moisture. I like using my homemade oat milk, but any plant milk will work in this recipe. You might even want to try just using water! The avocado and chocolate (or cacao) are rich and flavourful enough.
How to store these Vegan Avocado Brownies
You can store these vegan avocado brownies in an airtight container in the fridge for several days (3-5 days). They’ll firm up a bit while in the fridge but you can pop them in the microwave for a few seconds to warm them up again.
These brownies also freeze well. Just like any other baked good, you may keep them in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Top tip
This recipe is ideal if you have some avocados that need using up. Just like we would use brown, overripe bananas for making banana bread, we can use ripe to overripe avocados for these vegan brownies.
Just make sure, the avocado still tastes alright. Otherwise, it might spoil your brownies.
📖 Recipe
Equipment
- 20x20cm / 8" square tin/pan
Ingredients
- 1 ripe, medium-sized avocado see notes
- 140g / 1 cup plain, all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 50g/ ½ cup raw cacao powder see notes
- 110g / ½ cup brown sugar (add ¼ cup / 50g more for sweeter) see notes for unrefined sugar options
- 125ml/ ½ cup plant-based milk see notes
- 80g/ ½ cup vegan chocolate chips optional, see notes
- a handful walnuts optional
Instructions
- Start by mashing the avocado with a fork or a stick blender/food processor. Don’t worry if the avocado mash isn’t a 100% smooth and some tiny pieces are left. That's fine.
- In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients which are flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and cacao powder.
- Add the mashed avocado and plant milk until a gooey dough is achieved. Depending a little bit on the size of the avocado, you may need to add more milk (if too dry) or a bit more flour (if runny, pancake-batter-like).
- Add vegan chocolate chips and/or walnuts, if you like, and stir them in.
- Scoop brownie dough into a 20cm x 20cm (8-inch) square tin/pan, well-greased and floured or lined with parchment paper. Spread evenly.
- Bake your avocado brownies at 180°C/ 350°F for about 15-20 minutes. I usually just check after 15 minutes and touch the top quickly to see if it is firm.If it feels too soft (like as if you could easily poke your finger through), leave it in for another 5 minutes. Unless, of course, you love your brownies undercooked, in which case you might want to check after 10 minutes.
- Let brownies sit on the benchtop and allow them to cool for at least half an hour before cutting them into squares. They might fall apart because we don’t use eggs in this recipe, of course.
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-5 days or freeze them for up to 3 months.
Notes
- avocado – you really want to make sure that your avocado is soft or ripe enough in order to mash it. If your avocado is still a bit hard or if you don’t want to use a fork, you can use a small food processor or stick blender instead. You may need to add a bit of water to help it if the avocado is not quite ripe.
- cacao – feel free to use cocoa or carob (for caffeine-free) powder instead
- unrefined sugar – my favourite combination in this recipe is using ¼ cup coconut sugar and ¼ cup maple syrup. Adding maple syrup, definitely makes these brownies softer, thus fudgier, in my opinion.
- milk – these brownies will work with just water too. The milk is simply used to add some moisture to the dough
- chocolate – instead of using chocolate chips, you can also chop a vegan chocolate bar into smaller pieces. I love using my homemade dark chocolate!
