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Vegan Chickpea Brownies. Grain free Brownies with chickpeas and nut butter or seed butter. These Vegan Gluten free Brownies Can be made without nuts. Fudgy Healthy No Added Oil, No Added refined sugar Jump to Recipe
I am always playing around with beans and lentils in desserts 🙂 And the successful results show up on the blog! You all have been loving my lentil brownies and this Chickpea Cookie Pie. In this version, I use chickpeas for a fudgy delicious brownie!
These Vegan Chickpea Brownies need a few ingredients, cooked chickpeas, nut butter or seed butter, chocolate in various forms (melted, chips and cocoa powder), vanilla, almond flour and baking powder. They are also grain-free!, have no added refined oil or added refined sugar. There might be sugar, oil in the chocolate chips depending on which you choose to use. There are brands that use just cocoa butter and are unsweetened or sweetened with stevia.
These Brownies are smoother(no bean skin!), fudgyier and tastier than bean brownies and use less sugar and fat than regular brownies. Everything gets added to a food processor to process to a smooth stiff batter, which is spread in a brownie pan and baked. Serve these warm with vegan ice cream!
Ingredients used for these Fudgy Chickpea Brownies and Substitution options
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips melted with 1/3 cup non dairy milk and 3 tbsp maple syrup. This makes the chocolatey wet of the brownie mixture. It adds a chewyness to the otherwise easily crumbly or dense brownie. The melted chocolate is also a good binder. You can use more non dairy milk instead of maple.
- 15 oz can cooked chickpeas or 1.5 cups cooked chickpeas make the base of these brownies. You can also use white beans such as navy or northern.
- 3/4 cup nut butter such as peanut almond or cashew, or use sunbutter to make nut-free. This helps keep the brownie more brownie like and less cakey or beany.
- 5 tbsp Coconut sugar or other sugar, you can use less or more to preference.
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder, adds additional layer of chocolate.
- 1/4 cup almond flour To help offset some of the moisture. I use almond flour to keep these brownies grain-free.Feel free to use a different flour if you like(all purpose or gf flour like oat or rice).
- 2 tsp vanilla extract. You need extra vanilla in this recipe so the chickpeas can absorb the flavor and the chickpea flavor does not peak through.
- Some Baking powder to lighten the brownie up
Step by Step photos:
Assemble the ingredients for the brownies. Heat the non dairy milk and maple until just about boiling. Add the chocolate chips and mix to melt until smooth.
Add the chickpeas, nut butter, sugar, salt, vanilla, cocoa and baking powder to a food processor. Process for half a minute to combine. The nut butter might not incorporate depending on the nut butter used. It will mix in after adding the melted chocolate.
Add the melted chocolate and process again until well mixed and smooth(1-2 mins). Immediately transfer the mixture to a parchment lined baking dish. The mixture can start to stiffen as it sits, so you want to spread it out soon. Stiffer mixture will just take longer to spread. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top and bake.
Try to let it cool for atleast 10 mins, then slice and serve. The flavor improves on sitting, so they will be more chocolatey the next day. Warm and serve.
Variations of these Chickpea Brownies:
- Mix 3 tbsp peanut butter with 1 tbsp maple syrup and swirl on top for peanut butter swirl brownies.
- Add 1 tbsp oil for chewier and 2 tbsp more non dairy milk for softer brownies.
- Make individual bites in muffin pan. Bake for 20 mins.
- Add cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice for spiced up brownies. Add mint extract for mint chocolate brownies.
- Use cooked black beans instead of chickpeas to make Black bean brownies. Make sure to process long enough so the beans get smooth.
More Brownies and Blondies 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
Troubleshoot:
– Dryish brownie: Bake for less time(5 mins), Drizzle melted chocolate on top. Add 1-2 tbsp of oil to the batter for the next time
– Not sweet enough, add more sugar to the batter
– Batter too stiff, add 2 tbsp non dairy milk or milk + oil and process.
Vegan Chickpea Brownies
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup non dairy milk, such as almond or coconut or soy
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips
- 15 oz can chickpeas , drained, or 1.5 cups cooked
- 3/4 cup nut butter such as peanut, almond or cashew, or use sunbutter to make nut-free
- 5 tbsp coconut sugar or other sugar, , use 7-8 tbsp for sweeter
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup almond flour, , see note for nutfree
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/8 to 1/4 tsp salt, depends on if the nut butter and chickpeas are already salted
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 4 tbsp vegan chocolate chips for folding in and for topping
Instructions
- Heat the non dairy milk and maple syrup in a skillet or microwave until just about boiling. Take off heat. Add the chocolate chips. Mix until melted and smooth and set aside. Line a brownie pan with parchment. Preheat the oven to 350 deg F (180 C).
- Add chickpeas, nutbutter, coconut sugar, cocoa, vanilla, salt and baking powder to a food processor. Process for half a minute. (The nut butter might not fully incorporate, which is ok)
- Add the warm melted chocolate + milk mix (from step 1), almond flour and process again until smooth and even mixture. Add a tbsp more milk if too thick. (Or add 2 tbsp oil for chewier result)
- Fold in 2 tbsp chocolate chips into the batter. Transfer the batter immediately to the parchment lined brownie pan. Spread using a spatula. to even out the top as much as possible. (This batter doesnt melt like regular brownie, so the uneven top will bake uneven. and not even out during baking). Sprinkle some chocolate chips on top.
- Bake at 350 F for 35 to 40 mins. Cool for 10 mins then slice and serve with whipped coconut cream or vanilla ice cream. Store on the counter for the day and refrigerate for upto 5 days. Freeze for upto a month
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Excellent. Not an easy recipe, but I’m sure the second time around will be better. (I had to call hubby in to help clean up the mess I made.)
No one at Easter picnic will know there are beans in this.
Important to smooth the top of the batter prettily, as they don’t liquify, spread or puff up like most baked goods. How you put it into the oven, is how it comes out.
Thanks for this great recipe.
awesome! yes i should add that tip to smooth it out nicely.
Best legume brownies I’ve had! A little soft in the middle when cooking 40 minutes, so I let mine go a little longer. Also would recommend a longer pan. I used a brownie one and they were really thick!
awesome! Probably the chickpeas or nut butter were more voluminous? Use a bigger pan for sure.
Trying these out this weekend! Thanks a ton for sharing the recipe!
I saw these on insta and had to make them immediately… so yes I made these already lol. I used a can of black beans and it worked beautifully. these are by far the best bean brownies I’ve made and I love that they’re grain free. sooo good
yay! thats awesome!
I have made the chickpea cookie pie on several occasions; which is surprisingly quite tasty! So naturally I am very excited to try these~! They look very fudgy. As a vegan myself, I have tried many of Richa’s recipes. Some better than others; but I find myself really digging the curry flavors. Thanks for the variety!
awesome thanks Let me know which ones need some improvement 🙂
it says to add melted chocolate but where is that step in the ingredients/ what type of chocolate? how much?
from step 1 where we melted the 1/2 cup chocolate in the non dairy milk and maple syrup. i’ll update to be clearer.
I’m definitely going to try these! Thanks for making such flexible recipes. My husband and I were at a an Indian street food restaurant and I wished you could have been there whispering in my ear what’s what and what is vegan. We ended up with a tasty meal, but weren’t exactly sure what it was 🙂 It’s the same when I go to the Indian market. There are so many beans that I don’t know!
Thank you Susan!
You should ask the shop people to explain 🙂 Many indian street foods are like nachos. Some crispy base with toppings and dressings(chutneys) but very different flavor profile, Some are sandwiches, and some like a salad but like a whole new level 🙂
Thanks Richa, I like idli and we usually try to get thali where are there are choices. Language is the barrier, they can tell us if it’s vegan, but don’t always know what ingredients are called in English. 😂 In the store I like to walk down the aisles and look at everything, just wonder what I’m looking at sometimes. 🤣 You know, not that I would buy, just wonder what it is.
I love your recipes and cookbooks do you think you will do another cookbook?
Thanks!! yes i am trying to write one. Its a lot of work and I need to hire some help for the blog to be able to write a book 🙂
OMG this looks awesome!!! I’m actually not a chocolate fan (crazy isn’t it!) but this recipe is too good to pass on…and I have to share it! Just out of curiousity if I was to try this without the chocolate what spices would you suggest?
try the chickpea cookie pie instead. https://fettabbau-trim.today/2017/05/peanut-butter-chickpea-cookie-pie.html%3C/a%3E some cinnamon always does well.
Thank you …I’m torn as I really love all the ingredients here as I can eat everything in them! Thanks again for such great recipes 🙂
they are pretty similar recipes, so you can use that as reference. omit cocoa from this one and just add warmed milk and maple, probably just a 1/4 cup milk. should work out fine
Yikes I have all the ingredients except I don’t have a food processor 🙁 I have a Vitamix but not much practice with that yet. Can I make it by hand or if not…can I use Vitamix as a food processor by just pulsing it?
hmm it should work in the vitamix. warm the nut butter before adding. You will need to add more non dairy milk (2-4 tbsp is ok to add) to get things moving. Then trasnfer tothe pan. it will be a mess to clean it up 🙂 or you can just blend the chickpeas inthe vitamix and then mix the rest with it in a bowl.
Hey Richa !!
Thanks for those incredible ideas, i really impressed by your yummy recipes. thanks again !