The day before Christmas, my brother walked over to my house around midday to keep me company during a baking session. Grandma and Dad had planned to pick up a classic bûche de noël as a fancy holiday dessert, so because of my brother’s egg allergy, I offered to whip up a couple of different homemade goodies for him so that he’d be able to enjoy something sweet after our Christmas feast.
When he arrived, he requested these cookies (literally our all-time favorites… we’re completely obsessed!!) as well as brownies. He mentioned that it had been years since he had eaten one of those classic rich and fudgy dessert bars because it was nearly impossible for him to find any decent store-bought options, and as an incredibly busy graduate student, he really didn’t have much time to try baking his own.
I immediately agreed to bake both, and once I had whipped up a double batch of our favorite cookies and put the mixing bowl in the fridge so the dough could chill, I turned to the brownies. I offered to add whatever fun mix-ins my brother wanted to the batter, and his eyes lit up as he started pawing through my vast pantry of ingredients.
He ended up pulling out mini pretzels, milk chocolate covered caramel bites, dark chocolate covered pretzels, pecans, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, and mini M&Ms… And just like I had promised, I folded all of them into the bowl of batter.
Well, except the pecans… With them sitting on a different counter, we accidentally forgot about them — but at least he didn’t mind!
After a quick trip to the oven, the pan of my brother’s special candy-laden and egg-free brownies sat cooling on the countertop in all of its incredibly rich, decadent, chocolaty, and fudgy glory. Because the brownies needed to cool and set for at least eight hours, we left them at my house for the evening…
But after baking the dough, I brought over a few of our favorite cookies for my brother that night when we headed to Grandma’s for Christmas Eve!
The next afternoon when we sliced into the brownies after our Christmas dinner, my brother excitedly reached for the first one while the rest of us looked on, waiting for his verdict… And the biggest, sweetest smile spread across his face as he licked the fudgy chocolate remnants from his fingers and reached for a second.
I’d call those brownies a big success!
And today, I made an even better version! Not only are these Healthy One-Bowl Fudgy Chocolate Chip Brownies eggless… They’re also flourless and dairy-free!
That’s right! No butter, eggs, cream, refined flour or sugar in these yummy brownies, yet they’re still incredibly rich and decadent. They literally taste like big squares of fudge! And they’re 72 calories too!
HOW TO MAKE THE BEST HEALTHY ONE-BOWL FUDGY FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE CHIP BROWNIES
Let’s go over how to make these healthy one-bowl fudgy flourless chocolate chip brownies! Just like the recipe title implies, you’ll need one medium mixing bowl to start. I always love one-bowl, one-pot, or one-pan recipes… They usually result in fewer dishes to wash!
The first ingredients to go into your bowl are a small amount of olive oil, a splash of vanilla, and a pinch of salt. A little over a year ago, I discovered how much I love using olive oil in brownies! As I learned here, it’s so easy to measure and use (no butter to melt!), and it adds a silky smooth richness to the batter. It also keeps these healthy one-bowl flourless fudgy chocolate chip brownies dairy-free!
Even better? You only need 1 tablespoon of olive oil. That really helps keep these healthy one-bowl flourless chocolate chip brownies low calorie and low fat! That tiny amount also means your brownies won’t taste like olives at all. I pinky swear promise — you’ll only taste lots of chocolate in these!
Next comes the special ingredient that replaces the eggs and cream (or Greek yogurt, if you’ve tried any of my other brownie recipes!). Can you guess what that is? I have a feeling you probably know…
Unsweetened applesauce! And the combination applesauce and olive oil means your healthy one-bowl flourless fudgy chocolate chip brownies are vegan too! (Although with me previously mentioning that these are eggless and dairy-free… I’m guessing you probably figured out that these healthy brownies were vegan already! 😉 )
To make life as easy as possible for you, I designed this recipe to use exactly 1 single-serving container of unsweetened applesauce (like this!). I know not everybody buys big jars of applesauce to eat each week (some of my family members used to, but I certainly don’t!), and since those single-serving containers are shelf-stable and can usually keep for a few months, I thought that using one of them would both minimize food waste and make measuring the applesauce super easy. Just dump in the contents of that single-serving container and you’re good to go!
Next, you’ll stir in coconut sugar. Coconut sugar is exactly what it sounds like: an unrefined sweetener that comes from coconuts. However, it does not actually taste like coconuts! It has a rich caramel-like flavor, very similar to brown sugar, which gives these healthy one-bowl vegan fudgy chocolate chip brownies a really decadent flavor. (You can usually find it on the baking aisle at the grocery store right next to the regular sugar!)
To keep these healthy flourless fudgy chocolate chip brownies dairy-free (and vegan!), you’ll stir in some non-dairy milk after the coconut sugar. I use unsweetened almond milk because it’s my family’s favorite milk (many of them are lactose-intolerant!), so I know they’ll always have it on hand. It’s also just 30 calories per cup with zero added sugar!
Tip: Any milk will work in this recipe, so just use whatever you normally keep in your fridge! Oat, soy, rice, cashew, nonfat, whole, coconut… The sky’s the limit!
Time to add the dry ingredients! You’ll need oat flour and unsweetened cocoa powder. Oat flour is literally just oats that have been finely ground into a powder… But “powdered oats” doesn’t have quite the same ring to it! 😉 So I wasn’t sure whether to call these healthy one-bowl fudgy vegan brownies “flourless” or “practically flourless”… But either way, I promise they’re delicious!
Tip: This is my favorite store-bought oat flour (or this for a gluten-free version), and I also show you how to make your own oat flour at home here!
Just use regular unsweetened cocoa powder, like this! I don’t recommend substituting Dutched or special dark cocoa powder. Both of those have a different acidity level, which can affect the taste and texture of your brownies. Besides, you’re adding equal amounts of oat flour and cocoa powder, so your healthy one-bowl fudgy vegan chocolate chip brownies will already taste incredibly rich and decadent without those other two options!
Before you stir in the oat flour and cocoa powder, sprinkle a teensy bit of baking powder over the top. Yes — sprinkle! Don’t just dump it straight into the bowl. Sprinkling the baking powder over the top of the other two dry ingredients helps prevent clumps, which means your healthy one-bowl fudgy vegan brownies will bake evenly!
Of course, there’s still one last important ingredient… The mini chocolate chips! These are my favorite vegan chocolate chips. I love how rich they taste, and their small size ensures that every bite of your healthy one-bowl fudgy flourless vegan brownies contains at least one morsel of chocolate. I always save some to press into the top of the batter just before baking it too!
To ensure these healthy flourless vegan brownies turn out as fudgy as possible — literally tasting like oversized squares of fudge! — you’ll bake them low and slow. Just 300°F! You’ll know the brownies are ready to come out of the oven when the center still looks glossy and underdone but the edges look firm. If the edges begin to pull away from the pan within 10 minutes of removing them from the oven, you’ve baked them long enough!
However… You must let the brownies cool completely to room temperature and then rest for 8+ hours before slicing into them. I know it feels like pure torture to wait that long! Yet the brownies turn even fudgier while you let them rest, which gives these healthy one-bowl fudgy flourless vegan chocolate chip brownies the best taste and texture imaginable!
And if you’re anything like me… You just might reach for a second! 😉 And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! ????) I’d love to see your healthy one-bowl fudgy flourless vegan chocolate chip brownies!
| Healthy One-Bowl Fudgy Flourless Chocolate Chip Brownies | | Print |
- 1 tbsp (15mL) olive oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 (111g) single-serving container unsweetened applesauce (the equivalent of 7 tbsp + ½ tsp!)
- ½ cup (96g) coconut sugar
- 6 tbsp (90mL) unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- ¾ cup (90g) oat flour (gluten-free if necessary and measured like this)
- ¾ cup (60g) unsweetened cocoa powder (measured like this)
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- 3 tbsp (42g) miniature chocolate chips, divided
- Preheat the oven to 300°F, and coat an 8”-square pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, stir together the olive oil, vanilla, and salt. Stir in the unsweetened applesauce. Stir in the coconut sugar. Stir in the milk. Pour in the oat flour and cocoa powder, and sprinkle the baking powder over the top (to prevent it from clumping!). Stir in the oat flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder until just incorporated. Stir in 2 ½ tablespoons of miniature chocolate chips.
- Spread the mixture into the prepared pan. Gently press the remaining miniature chocolate chips on top. Bake at 300°F for 17-21 minutes (17 minutes for the fudgiest brownies, 21 minutes for firmer and slightly cakier brownies). Cool completely to room temperature in the pan, and let the brownies rest for at least 8 hours once at room temperature for the best taste and texture before slicing and serving.
Remember to measure the flour and cocoa powder correctly, using this method or a kitchen scale. (← That’s the one I own and love!) Too much oat flour and cocoa powder in the brownie batter will make your brownies dry and crumbly, rather than chewy and fudgy. Too much cocoa powder will also make your brownies taste bitter, rather than rich and chocolaty.
White whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour, regular whole wheat flour, and all-purpose flour can all be substituted for the oat flour.
For a non-oat-flour gluten-free option, I recommend the following: ½ cup (60g) millet flour, 2 tablespoons (15g) tapioca flour, 2 tablespoons (15g) brown rice flour, and ¼ teaspoon xanthan gum. Many store-bought gluten-free flour blends (like this!) will also work, if measured like this.
I do not recommend substituting Dutched or special dark cocoa powder for the regular unsweetened cocoa powder (this kind). Both Dutched and special dark cocoa powder have a different acidity level, which can affect the taste and texture of your brownies.
Any oil may be substituted for the olive oil. (If using coconut oil, make sure to melt it first!) Regular butter and vegan butter that have been melted will also work.
To make life as easy as possible for you, I designed this recipe to use exactly one single-serving sized container of unsweetened applesauce (like this!). That’s why the tablespoon + teaspoon measurement is so weird! If you only have sweetened applesauce, that will also work.
Brown sugar may be substituted for the coconut sugar.
Any milk may be substituted for the unsweetened vanilla almond milk.
These are my favorite vegan miniature chocolate chips!
The brownies are ready to come out of the oven when the edges look firm but the center still looks glossy and underdone! The heat from the pan continues to cook the center while they cool. If the edges of the brownies pull away from the edges of your baking pan within 10 minutes of pulling them out of the oven, then you’ve baked them for long enough!
If you’re too impatient to wait for 8 hours once your brownies are at room temperature, then you can stick the pan in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours once they’ve reached room temperature to speed up the process!
{gluten-free, vegan, dairy-free, egg-free, clean eating, low fat}
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♡ Healthy One-Bowl Flourless Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookie Bars
♡ Healthy Flourless & Eggless Double Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
♡ Healthy Fudgy Flourless Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies
♡ Healthy One-Bowl Flourless Chocolate Chip Blondies
♡ Healthy Flourless Chocolate Monster Cookies
♡ Healthy Flourless Chocolate Chip Nutella Cookies
♡ …and the rest of Amy’s healthy brownie recipes!
hi amy!
these brownies look amazing!!
really want to make them sugar free 🙂 i only have pure stevia powder, would i be able to make it with this? and how much would you recommend?
thanks! 🥰
I’m honored that you’d like to make these brownies, Sarah! What’s the exact stevia product (brand + product name) that you’d like to use?
its the bulk powders stevia powder! the ingredients and just straight up stevia! its super super sweet – i usually use around a teaspoon/ small scoop per each cup of sugar, do you think that would work here?
🥰💕
I see! The reason I ask for the exact brand and product name is because many stevia products have slightly different sweetness levels, so I look up their conversions for you before making recommendations about (a) whether they’ll work and (b) any other recipe modifications you’ll need to make. Unfortunately, without that information, I can’t guarantee the results. 🙁
However, if you’re confident that 1 teaspoon of your stevia is the equivalent of 1 cup of sugar, then you’re welcome to try using a little more than ½ teaspoon to replace the coconut sugar AND also increase the milk by an additional ¼ cup to compensate for the missing volume. Something else to keep in mind: cocoa powder has a way of muting stevia’s sweetness, so even if you use a bit more than ½ teaspoon of your stevia product, your brownies still might not taste as sweet as the originals (instead of 72% dark chocolate, they may taste closer to 80% or 85%).
If you end up trying this recipe, I’d love to hear how your brownies turn out!
I just love how you give all the alternative ingredients that can be used. I have wheat, gluten and egg allergy .
Thanks!!
It’s my pleasure, Emily! I’m glad you find that useful. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of these brownies!
Hello Amy! Happy new year 🥳 thank you for sharing these wonderful healthy recipes:) I’m wondering if There’s any substitute for apple sauce. I don’t have it where i live.
Happy New Year, RayRay! If you don’t have unsweetened applesauce, then pumpkin purée would be the next best thing. If you don’t have that either, then you can try substituting mashed banana. However, bananas have a much stronger flavor than applesauce, so you’ll most likely detect a small amount banana flavor in your brownies.
I’d love to hear what you think of these brownies if you try making them!
I have made this twice but unfortunately, both times, it comes out thin – not the height that a brownie should have – very flat. I used coconut oil instead of olive oil, I used brown sugar instead of coconut sugar and I used homemade oat flour with old fashioned oats (not gluten free). All the other ingredients were exactly what you had in the recipe. I also used an 8 inch square pan, baked it for 21 min. It just doesn’t seem to rise. What am I doing wrong?
I’m honored that you tried making my recipe, Robin! That sounds disappointing and not like how these brownies are supposed to turn out, so I’d love to help figure out why that is. 🙂 In order to do so, I have some questions for you!
Does your square baking pan have slightly sloping sides? When you measure your pan, is it 8 inches across the top rim or the bottom of the pan?
If you measure the height of your fully baked and cooled brownies, how tall are they?
When you removed the pan from the oven after 21 minutes, did the center still look glossy and underdone?
Can you describe the brownies’ texture and flavor?
Did you make any other substitutions or modifications to the recipe (other than the oil, sugar, and homemade oat flour!)?
Did you use a kitchen scale or measuring cups/spoons for all of the ingredients?
I know I just asked a LOT of questions, but I’ll have a much better idea of the culprit once I know your answers to all of them!
Thanks for getting back to me.
Square pan does not have sloping sides. The pan has an imprint on the bottom saying it is 8 inches.
The height of the brownies after they cooked were very thin, almost like a cracker. If I had to measure, I would guess less than 1/2 inch.
The brownies did not look glossy when baked for 21 minutes. I let them sit for 8 hours like you suggested.
I did not substitute anything else except what I previously mentioned.
The texture is fudgy like – the flavor was very good – like a normal brownie would taste.
I used measuring cups for everything.
This really baffles me – I bake a lot but just can’t put my finger on what went wrong so any input would be greatly appreciated.
It’s my pleasure, Robin! I’m happy to help. 🙂
Are you able to measure your pan with a ruler? I understand there’s an imprint on the bottom, but it would be incredibly helpful for me if you were able to measure its width yourself!
When I think of a cracker’s thickness, I imagine something that’s between 1/16″ and 1/8″ thick. Is that how thin your brownies were?
These brownies are typically about ½” to ¾” thick (closer to the former, for pans with straight edges, or the latter, for pans with sloping sides!). They’re not actually supposed to rise much, if at all, since there’s only ¼ teaspoon of baking powder. (If they rose a lot, then they’d have a bready and cake-like texture instead. Very little rise is what helps make their texture so dense and fudgy!)
Does all of that make sense?
Also, if you’d like their texture to be fudgier, then see my note in the Notes section (located directly underneath the Instructions!) about how to tell they’re done and ready to come out of the oven!
Hi Amy,
I measured the pan with a ruler as you suggested and it was 8 inches.
Maybe 1/ 8 thick. Could be because of the baking powder?
They came out fudgy and i left them out for 8 hours like you said.
Oh well, I have been eating them but i won’t make them again.
Thanks for getting back to me.
Thanks for measuring your pan, Robin! That’s really helpful to know — but it also makes this even more of a mystery, especially if your brownies were only 1/8″ thick. Would you be willing to email me (my email address is here!) photos of your pan and your brownies, if you have any brownies left? If you made the recipe exactly as written (other than the substitutions that we discussed!) with the exact same measurements, then the batter should’ve been at least ½” thick in an 8″-square pan… So I’m racking my brain trying to figure out what is causing your brownies to be so thin!
The only other thing I can think of is your homemade oat flour. When you made the oat flour, did you measure ¾ cup of old-fashioned oats first, and then turn them into flour by grinding them in a food process or blender? Or did you measure ¾ cup of oat flour once you had already turned your old-fashioned oats into flour?
I did not see how much yogurt????
Can’t wait to try
Selby🤔
I measured 3/4 cup oats first, then put them thru the food processor. Then I only used 3/4 cup of the grinded oats. I am emailing you a picture of the brownies. And, by the way, they taste better each day! Especially on a rainy, cold day with a cup of strong coffee!
Thank you so much for emailing me your photos, Robin! I think your pan actually does have slightly sloping sides (they’re not true 90° right angles, especially at the rounded corners, if I’m seeing things correctly — but I didn’t see the “8 inch” stamp on the bottom!), and I also see what you mean about the brownies being thin. It looks like the one in your photo was an edge piece, where the left side (edge) was thicker than the right?
But even better news…
We found the culprit!!
If you measured the oats before grinding them into flour, then you didn’t use enough oat flour! Whole oats take up more space (volume) than oat flour, so ¾ cup (volume) of regular old-fashioned oats weighs 75g, whereas ¾ cup (volume) of oat flour weighs 90g. If you followed my DIY oat flour tutorial (I linked to it in the Notes section of this brownie recipe!), then you’ll see that 3 ½ cups of old-fashioned oats only yields 2 cups of oat flour and 1 cup of “instant” oats — aka you need to use more oats volume-wise to yield the correct amount of oat flour.
So if you measure your oat flour after making it (rather than measuring the oats before!), then your brownies should have the correct thickness because you’ll be adding more flour to the batter!
Does that make sense? 🙂
I’m so glad you’re continuing to enjoy your brownies too! I’ve found they get better day after day as well. They seem fudgier with a slightly stronger chocolate flavor, which I love! 😉
Ah ha! That makes perfect sense – not enough oat flour! OK, now I am headed back to the kitchen to give it another try. What does “slopping sides” of the pan do to the way the product bakes? Is it better to have a pan that doesn’t have slopping sides?
Thanks, Amy – I appreciate your prompt responses and your expertise.
It’s my pleasure, Robin! I’m SO excited that we figured out the mystery!! 🙂
One of the biggest reasons I personally prefer pans that don’t have sloping sides with rounded corners is because there’s zero confusion about their size. When pans have sloping sides, the top rim is often a bit wider than the bottom, so it often confuses people about what size their pans actually are. (It can sometimes affect the thickness of the baked good as well!)
For example, if a square pan with sloping sides is 9″ wide across the top but only 8″ across at the bottom (where the batter goes!), that’s still a 9″-square pan. The pan measurement always refers to the top opening, not the bottom dimensions!
So as long as you understand how pan dimensions are measured (at the top!) and use the correct size pan for every recipe, it shouldn’t have a massive impact on your baked goods. In other words, I wouldn’t rush out to buy a whole new set baking pans, unless you’ve already been considering getting new ones! 😉
PS One other minor reason I prefer pans with true square, right angle corners… I think it looks nicer when the corner brownie or cake pieces don’t have one rounded corner while the other three are perfect right angles! (Really minor, I know — just something I keep in mind for my recipe photography! 😉 )
Hello! Do you think cassava flour could work in place of the oat flour? Thanks
Not sure if I prefer these to the other one bowl fudge brownies, but they are both good.
I did substitute the oat flour for normal and the coconut sugar with brown sugar.
Very rich chocolate flavour. Slight tang probably from the apple sauce.
I’m glad you enjoyed these brownies, Simon! That’s really strange that you noticed a tang though. I’ve never detected that! What’s the exact applesauce that you used? And I’m assuming you mean all-purpose flour by “normal” flour, correct?
Bramwells Bramleys apple sauce. I’m in the UK, I think I got it from Aldi. It must be sweetened, I guess the tang is very mild but it’s almost like apple tango.
Flour – yep all-purpose white flour. My brownies came out at 97 calories but only 2.2 g of fat per 2-inch piece. (Worked out using my fitness pal)
Thanks for sharing, Simon! I tried researching that particular brand of applesauce just now, but I could only find images of the front of the jar. I couldn’t find the nutrition label or ingredients! However, I also tried researching Bramley apples… And that’s the culprit! It’s a variety I’m not familiar with, but it looks like they’re tart cooking apples, similar to what we call Granny Smith apples (green apples) in the US. So I think you’re right — your variety of applesauce is probably the culprit and the source of the tang! Our applesauce in the US is made from sweet red apples, so it isn’t tangy at all and therefore great as an egg replacer in baking recipes because you can’t detect any of its flavor.
I’m not sure if you have other varieties of applesauce that are made with red apples in the UK, but if you can find those, they would work much better! 🙂
We have granny smith over here as well. I will look for some applesauce made with red apples. I wonder if my local ASDA has it ( same company as wal-mart)
Thank you for your advice and keep up this fabulous blog – I love reading your recipes.
It’s my pleasure, Simon! And thank YOU for your kind words about my blog and recipes — you just made my entire day!! 🙂
Hello – Can we make unsweetened applesauce at home rather than buying? If yes, pls suggest some tips
Yes, you can make your own applesauce at home! I haven’t perfected a recipe to share on my blog about how to make applesauce with a super smooth texture just yet, but it’s on my to do list. If you have pumpkin purée, that would be a good substitute if you don’t want to buy or make applesauce! If you don’t have that either, then you can try substituting mashed banana. However, bananas have a much stronger flavor than applesauce, so you’ll most likely detect a small amount banana flavor in your brownies.
I’d love to hear what you think of these brownies if you try making them, Anjali!