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Fudgy Lentil Brownies. High Protein Brownies that dont taste beany! Just process and bake. Vegan Gluten-free Recipe. Can be Nut-free
I love my Chickpea Peanut Butter Cookie Pie (you all do too, so many remakes!!). Currently, 1. I am on a break from chickpeas, 2. Chickpeas can tend to dry out. 3. I know black bean brownies are the rage, but the texture hasn’t worked for me. Enter lentils. Red Lentils.
The Quick cooking Lentils that dont have a skin, hence will not add the skin texture like beans. Cook the lentils, melt some chocolate, Process together with a bit of nut butter and the rest of the ingredients to make a batter. Pour into a pan and bake! Super Fudgy, Super Delicious!
These are not the usual brownie texture when they are just baked, but settle into a more fudgy state after cooling, esp chilling. For the regular super gooey, super chocolatey, super brownie Brownies, See the version in my book! There is a gluten-free option too.
There brownies are higher in protein with the lentils and nut butter, are gooey and chocolatey and perfect for the chocolate craving! Lets get to these.
More Fun Bakes from the blog
- No Bake Hazelnut Walnut Brownies. GF
- Vegan Pumpkin Brownies
- Brownie Cookie Dough bars. GF
- Gluten-free Brownies and Brownie Mix. GF
- Vegan Almond Butter Blondies with Chocolate Chips , GF
- Bleuberry Brownies!
- Coconut Flour Brownies GF
You can use cooked chickpeas in these brownies. Just bake them until set at the edges. If you make these brownies, do let me know how they turned out! 7+ gm of Protein per serve!
Cook the lentils.
Lentil Brownies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup red lentils
- 3 tbsp oil
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 1/2 cup vegan semi sweet chocolate chips, ( or a mix of semi sweet and dark)
- 4 tbsp sugar, (1 tbsp more for sweeter)
- 1/3 cup nut butter (heaping cup), (I like cashew butter), Use sunflower seed butter for Nutfree
- 1.5 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup flour of choice, All purpose, oat or glutenfree blend for gluten-free (add a tbsp starch if using gf flour and not a blend)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup vegan chocolate chips to top and mix in.
Instructions
- Line a brownie pan with parchment paper ( I use 8 by 8 inch). Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F/180ºc . 9 by 5 loaf also works
- Rinse the red lentils. Drain and add to a saucepan. Add 1.5 cups of water and cook partially covered over medium heat. Cook for 12 to 13 minutes or until the lentils are cooked (total time including coming to a boil). Stir once in between. Cool for a few minutes, then drain any excess water from the saucepan (there should be hardly any). Add to a food processor or blender. (For instant pot, pressure cook for 2 minutes then quick release after 5 minutes, drain well and use)
- Heat maple syrup and oil in a skillet over medium heat. When hot, add chocolate and sugar and mix. Take off heat. Continue to mix until chocolate is melted and well combined
- Add the melted chocolate and the rest of the ingredients(except 1/4 cup chocolate chips) to the food processor and process until a smooth batter. (Add 1 tbsp Dutch processed Cocoa powder for chocolatey brownies (highly recommended as chocolate chips vary in flavor). ***
- Pour into prepared brownie pan. Sprinkle 2 tbsp chocolate chips on top and mix them in. Sprinkle more to top. (I like to use mini chocolate chips to top). Bake for 32to 35minutes. Bake them a bit longer for more set and crispier edges. Check with a toothpick from the center if too soft/wet.
- Cool for 15 minutes before slicing and serving. Refrigerate for upto 4 days, freeze for later. The brownie texture improves after refrigeration for a bit.
Video
Notes
Add spices such as cinnamon if you like , or fold in chopped walnuts in the batter for variation. *** You want to process or blend while the melted chocolate is still warm so that the batter is flowy and easy to pour out into the pan. Blending with a blender is also easier when ingredients are warm. Nutrition is 1 of 8 serves (2 pieces)
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I don’t have chocolate chips, can I just use cocoa and extra oil?
Thanks!
I am making these all the time lately– this recipe is so forgiving & I love that. I skip the melting of the chocolate chips in the maple syrup, & just use 1/3 cup cocoa powder plus 1/2 cup sugar, so I can just throw everything in the food processor all at once. It sometimes needs a tablespoon or so of water when I do it that way, depending on the moisture in my lentils. Thank you for this! I find all your recipes to be so straightforward & adaptable, I recommend you to everyone.
Yay
I made these last night with leftover boiled green lentils. The lentils were more than 1 cup so I increased the oil and sweetness accordingly. I used almond meal and rice flour and substituted agave syrup for maple. They are some of the best brownies I’ve ever made/had and tasted even better the next day after putting them overnight in the fridge. This recipe is a keeper!
glad they turned out so well & thanks for popping in!
Are you sure about the cups/grams conversion? I followed the recipe super-closely but with the grams rather than the cups and it was super dry. I had to add milk on top to eat it…
They seem right. Did you change anything . Did you use red lentils and cook them in 1.5 cups of water. How was the batter. Was it similar to the pictures?
Thanks for the reply!
No I followed the recipe. They were red lentils and the texture seemed right that far. The batter was very different, in the pics it’s very runny, mine was much more “creamy” but on the dry side.
Hmm. Thicker batter will probably dry out a bit during baking. I am not sure why it was dry witb all the liquid from maple and oil.
Hi Richa,
I tried this recipe out and I absolutely love it! I did however modify it a bit, according to the ingredients I had at home and it’s more of a fudge blondie.
For my nut butter, I used some lovely macadamia. I used chickpea flour, with an extra 1tbsp of cornflour. I didn’t have chocolate so I used raw cacao butter and melted it down – it gave it such a rich and white chocolatey taste.
I love that there’s red lentils incorporated in this treat! Thanks for sharing.
So good! I had extra lentils on hand and gave this recipe a chance . My kids and husband devoured these. Thanks for the recipe
Perfect use for them. thank you fro the review
I tried it , its so tasty .thank you very much
Make more please
yay! will do. Thanks Lubna
Great base recipe! I added a tad more chocolate and sugar and also added kakao powder, and based on my “brownie expertise” (LOL) I took them out of the oven after 20-25 minutes already and they were perfect! At least for me, 35mins would have been wayyy too much. Anyway, lentils in brownies was new to me and it works really well!
Can you make this ahead of time and keep the batter in the fridge in a bowl or even on the lined parchment paper and just pop it in the oven after dinner finishes for more fresh but make ahead brownies?
Absolutely you could make ahead up to one day in mixing bowl or poured out into prepared pan and just increase the bake time by a few minutes. The end result will be brownies with extra-crisp edges and a moist, fudge-y center!! Let me know how they turn out 🙂
can we cook the lentil in pressure cooker ? if yes then how much water and how many whistles (i use the Indian style pressure cooker)
1 whistle. Masoor dal cooks quickly