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The Best Black Bean Brownies

Black Bean Brownies 1

Happy VALENTINE’S Day! I love V-day. It’s the sap in me. A day involving love, chocolate, and flowers…I’m in. Very in.

When I got home from work yesterday, I found a box of chocolate-covered strawberries waiting for me at the door. The card read, “Please save some for me! See you tomorrow. Love, Mark and Lil Lil”. Share?? My gift? Silly man. Silly, silly man.

Perhaps I would’ve considered it before he got home from a work trip, showered (loudly), and crawled into bed at 4am…and then tossed and turned for the next several hours, keeping me awake. China is 11 (or 12? 13?) hours ahead of Michigan’s EST.

Black Bean Brownies 2

I’m guessing a romantic date night is out. He’ll probably be buried under the sheets trying to recover from jet lag. Clearly, my chocolate-covered strawberries are not to be shared. It may be the only shred or romance I receive this year.

What I did share was these brownies. I’ve made them THREE times this week. I made them once to trial the recipe and received the approval of my staff. I then recreated them for my diabetes cooking club on Wednesday (they LOVED them). I did scare off one gentlemen who was interested in joining the class…until he learned what recipe we were making. I tried to convince him how delicious black bean brownies could be, but…he wasn’t willing to have a little faith. His loss!

I then recreated them a third and final time to share with Mr. Prevention this weekend. Typically, after he has been away for work, he likes to dine in…yet, he always appreciates a splurge. I have no doubt he’ll never question these brownies. He’ll probably eat 3 of them before coming up for air and a question along the lines of, “Are these healthy?”

Muahahaha. Oh, Valentine.

Black Bean Brownies 4

4.5 from 2 reviews
The Best Black Bean Brownies
Author: 
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 16
 
I've had some good black bean brownies and I've had some bad. But these? These top the charts - so good! And easy!
Ingredients
  • 1 (15 oz) can low-sodium black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 2 large eggs
  • ½ cup cocoa powder
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • ½ tsp olive oil
  • 1 Tbsp unsweetened almond milk
  • 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp ground coffee or instant coffee
  • ¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips, divided
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Mist a nonstick 8 x 8-inch pan with cooking spray and set aside.
  2. In the bowl of a food processor, add the beans and pulse 10-15 times. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add eggs, and pulse an additional 10-15 times or until well-combined.
  3. Add cocoa powder, sugar, olive oil, almond milk, vinegar, baking powder, baking soda, and instant coffee. Pulse to fully combine. Remove the blade of the stand mixer and carefully stir in ½ cup chocolate chips; transfer to the baking pan, spreading batter to the edges. Sprinkle the top with the remaining ¼ cup chocolate chips. Bake for 25-32 minutes or until an inserted toothpick is cleanly removed.
Notes
Recipe from Skinny Taste
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 1 brownie Calories: 131 Fat: 4.3 Carbohydrates: 21.4 Sugar: 9.1 Sodium: 87 Fiber: 2.1 Protein: 2.8 Cholesterol: 26

 TGIF! I’m reeeeeeeally ready for the weekend! 😀

Be well,

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45 Comments

  1. Christie - Food Done Light
    February 14, 2014 / 9:28 am

    I have been wanting to try black bean brownies forever but never fully sure of them. You’ve sold me! I’ve got a hubby who travels across the world for work too. I can totally picture the scene coming home and falling asleep at 8pm the next day. LOL.

  2. julia
    February 14, 2014 / 9:43 am

    I am so interested to try these! I have never made brownies with black beans–what a great idea! Healthy and I am sure they still taste great.

  3. Lauren @ Healthy Delicious
    February 14, 2014 / 11:13 am

    I keep hearing the bean brownies are good, but I just can’t get past it. I need someone to feed me one without my knowing it, I think.

  4. Rachael@AnAvocadoADay
    February 14, 2014 / 12:17 pm

    Too funny about scaring off that man! Poor guy was probably wondering what on earth he had gotten himself into! I actually like black bean brownies better than regular ones. They are so much more fudgy and dense!

  5. Emily
    February 14, 2014 / 1:25 pm

    I totally linked up this recipe today, too. A snow day on Wednesday was the perfect day to bake and they were insane!!!!

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  7. Roz@weightingfor50
    February 15, 2014 / 9:04 pm

    Hi Nicole. Long time since I’ve commented! (so behind in blog reading…life is getting in the way) Hope all is well with you and the whole gang. Just wanted to let you know I linked to both your site and Eat the Love on my post today. I saw your link on Facebook, and happened to make soft boiled eggs today. The instructions of ETL were excellent, and the eggs were perfect. All the best, will so try to get back to your site more often!!! I miss bookmarking your wonderful recipes and seeing how you are. Take Care. Roz

  8. Andrea
    February 16, 2014 / 12:03 pm

    Made these- SO GOOD!!! Nobody at the Galentine’s party I’m taking these to will suspect they have black beans in them… muahaha. I had a lot of difficulty cutting them, however… did you have that problem, and what did you do? I did accidentally leave out the milk, which may have helped…

    • Nicole, RD
      Author
      February 16, 2014 / 12:05 pm

      Hi Andrea! I’m sure they’ll be a hit. I refrigerated mine overnight before cutting…after having the same problem as you. They definitely cut better after being chilled. ๐Ÿ™‚

  9. Kim of Mo'Betta
    February 16, 2014 / 4:45 pm

    These look WAY more awesome than the last black bean brownies I made. Must give them a try soon!

  10. Shannon
    February 18, 2014 / 10:29 pm

    The recipe keeps talking about pulsing in a stand mixer and removing the blade. Do you mean food processor?

    • Nicole, RD
      Author
      February 19, 2014 / 6:59 am

      Hi Shannon, thanks for catching that typo, I just fixed it. Yes, it should (and now does) read food processor ๐Ÿ™‚

  11. perfect weight
    February 19, 2014 / 9:45 am

    wow these look great

  12. Amy
    February 23, 2014 / 10:05 am

    Could you sub the sugar for maple syrup/honey or even a mashed banana??

    • Nicole, RD
      Author
      February 23, 2014 / 10:08 am

      Hi Amy, I think you could play around with it — I think there’d need to be some additional dry ingredients if you remove the sugar and add in honey/syrup. I don’t know that banana would yield a great flavor and likely not sweet enough with all of the cocoa powder.

  13. Sheena
    March 3, 2014 / 1:11 pm

    I made them and they were fantastic. I was wondering if you could use Stevia in place of sugar.

    • Nicole, RD
      Author
      March 3, 2014 / 6:52 pm

      Sheena: If it measures 1-to-1, I think you’d get good results. Otherwise, I’m not sure…

    • Desiree
      April 3, 2017 / 10:50 am

      I did, mostly stevia with about 2 tablespoons of sugar.

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  16. jun
    March 23, 2014 / 3:55 pm

    Hi, One of the ingredients is cocoa.. can I use raw cacao powder for that? Also can I use coconut sugar in place of the sugar, and coconut milk in place of almond milk? I’m looking forward to trying these!
    Thanks!

    • Nicole, RD
      Author
      March 24, 2014 / 7:24 am

      Hi Jun, raw cocoa powder will work, yes. The coconut milk would replace fine, but the coconut sugar you’d need less of, probably…it’s very absorbent. I don’t work with coconut sugar a TON, so I’m sorry I can’t be of more help. Good luck!

    • Desiree
      April 3, 2017 / 10:52 am

      I used coconut milk and oil in mine. I use coconut sugar in my regular choc chip cookies so it should work for this, but I used stevia in these.

  17. Kris Simms
    April 24, 2014 / 4:28 pm

    These are great! Perfect taste and texture

  18. Samantha
    May 6, 2014 / 3:30 pm

    These are amazing! Do you know how long they’ll keep and how they’d do if you froze them??

    • Nicole, RD
      Author
      May 14, 2014 / 6:53 am

      Samantha, sorry for just now getting back to you…but I’d say they’re good for 5 days in the fridge. I would freeze them wrapped in wax paper and then foil. ๐Ÿ™‚

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  20. shikha
    June 18, 2014 / 1:45 pm

    Can you make these in a blender?

    • Nicole, RD
      Author
      June 18, 2014 / 9:46 pm

      It would be thick, but I think so…just don’t over-blend ๐Ÿ™‚

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  23. Liz
    July 21, 2014 / 8:47 pm

    Will it work if you leave out the coffee?

    • Nicole, RD
      Author
      July 21, 2014 / 9:14 pm

      Yep, absolutely!

  24. Ellen Norton
    September 13, 2014 / 12:34 pm

    I couldn’t wait to try these. Followed the recipe exactly, except I added chopped walnuts . Took almost 10 more minutes to bake than in the recipe. I used ground coffee instead of instant, as was the choice.
    Result: Hard to cut without falling apart. I even put in freezer for a little bit. Ground coffee was in my mouth all night, it does not dissolve. Tasted, I don’t know, a bit chalky for some reason. Not bad, but I expected a little better.

  25. Diana Maier
    October 27, 2014 / 9:27 pm

    These are delicious!

  26. Lynette
    October 10, 2015 / 7:40 pm

    Just tried this recipe and they are DELICIOUS!!! Really quite delightful! And easy to make since all the ingredients get mixed in the food processor.

  27. Tiffany
    November 1, 2015 / 3:25 pm

    I’m going to make these today, but I don’t have a food processor. I’m hoping to just use my electric hand mixer. Do you think this will work out well, or should I just skip it?

    • Nicole Morrissey
      Author
      November 1, 2015 / 7:51 pm

      Tiffany, I think that should work fine…just mix really well to break up the skins of the beans ๐Ÿ™‚

  28. catherine
    July 27, 2016 / 11:41 am

    Is that 1/2tsp olive oil? Surely that is too little?

    • Nicole Morrissey
      Author
      July 28, 2016 / 8:38 pm

      Catherine, that is correct – 1/2 tsp. You can use a bit more if you wish, though – should be just fine!

  29. Desiree
    April 3, 2017 / 10:47 am

    I just made these. I used mostly stevia with about 2 tablespoons of sugar, coconut milk and oil. I think it needs more oil so I’ll increase it next time. Plus I did it in a blender as I don’t have a food processor. They are pretty good.

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  31. Libby Johnson
    January 20, 2019 / 12:36 pm

    Can you substitute something else in place of the eggs? My son will not eat can’t have eggs.

    • Nicole Morrissey
      Author
      January 21, 2019 / 2:45 pm

      You can use a flax egg – 1 Tbsp ground flax mixed with 3 tablespoons water and allowed to sit for 5 minutes.

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