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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.










Hi Richa,
What is the alternate for maple syrup? I don’t have it and would prefer some alternative to it.
use sugar and add 3-4 tbsp more non dairy milk
Would these freeze well?
yes
Just made these. Added 2 tbsp oil for decadence and extra chocolate chips. Gosh they turned out so delicious! I agree that they get fudgier after cooling for a few hours. Perfect with some vanilla ice cream
awesome
I hate to write this but these didn’t turn out good for me. I would use a can of black beans instead. Maybe I didn’t put enough sugar in them. I cut that back to 3 tsp.
I ended up throwing them away. Bummer. I normally love all that you make. I own both cookbooks. Could have been me.
oh no, you probably do need the sugar as theres just enough in these. Many vegan chocolate chips are not sweet enough, so you need enough additional sweetness. You can taste the dough before baking. i’ve tried some blackbean brownies before and had to give them away as i didnt like the texture. What was the problem other than less sweet? Also, The texture and sweetness improves as they sit and chill.
if the only issue was sweet, You could crumble them up, drizzle some melted chocolate and vanilla ice cream and they would work just fine. theres always ways to fix food :). Lets figure out what happened.
Turned out very good. I followed the recipe.
awesome!
Very yummy!
How many grams would be per serving?
I am doing macros so would be great to find out 🙂
2″ square cut is approx 60g
These look so so good. Question – I don’t have a food processor – will it get smooth enough with a blender stick? thanks
You will need to add more non dairy milk. Use warmed non dairy milk, warmed nut butter and also blend while the chocolate mixture is still warm as it thickens quickly and the blender will seize.
thank you
Chickpea brownies are such a delicious treat! I tried a recipe with chickpeas, peanut butter, baking powder, and maple syrup. SO easy yet addictive! I have to try your recipe out because it probably would be a little bit more well-formed and solidified!
Just tried your Vegan Chickpea Brownies, Great recipe, I am just starting WFPB lifestyle medicine so I took out all salt and still great brownie. I tried making nut -free way as well as almond flour and both again turned out delicious. I used Ghirardelli powdered chocolate in the base mixture and then took Ghirardelli powder mixed with fresh, pure maple syrup and drizzled on top before serving, Everyone loved the brownies even after telling them they were vegan and WFPB!
thanks!
Hey, Can this be be cooked in a cooker ?
not really. the texture will be very different. you can try a small portion at high pressure for 10 mins
Best legume vegan brownie we’ve ever had!! Best of all – kids devoured it!! Thank you so much for sharing it!!!
yay!