Ooey, gooey fudgy Chickpea Brownies complete with a decadent chocolate centre and the perfect crackly top | Gluten Free + Vegan
I don’t know about you but I’ve got a lot of opinions about brownies.
If they don’t so much as look right I won’t even bother eating them because I’d honestly rather not waste the calories. And I don’t even count calories.
That being said – I make a lot of brownies because my husband’s love for chocolate is not unlike that of a PMSing woman. With all of the brownies I’ve made him over the years only a couple have made it on to the blog here because I’m so picky about making them right and I don’t want to share anything less than perfect.
A good brownie must have two key features or I’m out:
🌟A crinkly, paper thin crusted top
🌟A rich, melt-in-your-mouth fudgy centre
Ideally I’d also like a few chocolate chunks thrown in for good measure but I’m not quite as discerning about that.
Well, friends.
These chickpea brownies are my new favourite. They’re everything a brownie should be/have and they just so happen to be vegan, grain free & nut free.
Let’s get to it!
How to Make: Vegan Chickpea Brownies
First things first just start melting your chocolate and coconut oil to get that out of the way. 30 second intervals in the microwave stirring every so often should do it. Once melted just set aside to cool a little bit while you prep the rest of your ingredients.
Aquafaba
What is it?
It literally just means bean water… as in the water that you and I used to pour down the sink when draining a can of chickpeas. This website answers a lot of the questions you might have on aquafaba, but basically what you need to know is that the water from the chickpea cans mimic the proteins in egg whites making it a really great egg substitute in things like:
Instead of eggs, these brownies use a combination of aquafaba and chickpea flour for all our binding needs. Lots of chickpea love going on here.
Aqauafaba Notes
When using aquafaba in baking it’s often important to whip it up well first. Use either a stand mixer and an electrical handheld mixer to beat the aquafaba and sugar on high – after a couple of minutes it will become shiny and increase in volume.
Once that’s happened you can stir in your melted chocolate & coconut oil. Then start mixing in your dry ingredients: chickpea flour, cocoa powder and baking soda followed by any additional chocolate chips you might want.
Your batter will be thick and fudgy looking. Transfer the batter to a prepared baking tin and use a spoon to spread it out to all the edges of the pan – it might be a little tricky spreading it but you’re on the right track.
Then just pop it in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes before testing for doneness.
The end result are fudgy, melt-in-your-mouth, decadent brownies that are seriously delicious.
I’ve been making these brownies on and off for the past month or so trying to get them just right and I can honestly say they’re the best brownies I’ve ever made. No question.
Actually that’s not true I do have one more question for you: Are you a centre piece person or a corner piece person? I’m all about the corner pieces myself. I should really invest in this brownie tin – they’re ALL corner pieces in this!
Vegan Chickpea Brownies
Ooey, gooey fudgy Chickpea Brownies complete with a decadent chocolate centre and the perfect crackly top | Gluten Free + Vegan
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup | 145 g coconut oil
- 180 grams dairy free dark chocolate chopped finely or in chips
- 1/2 cup | 120 ml aquafaba (the watery brine from unsalted cans of chickpeas)
- 3/4 cup | 150 grams sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cup | 150 grams chickpea flour, sifted if lumpy
- 1/4 cup | 22 grams unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup | 90 grams dairy free chocolate chips, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F/160°C. Lightly grease or line an 8x8inch baking tin. Set aside
- Place the coconut oil and chopped chocolate together in a microwave safe bowl. Melt in 30 second increments whisking after each segment until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth. Once melted set aside to cool.
- In another large mixing bowl beat the aquafaba and the sugar together with an electric mixer until thick and shiny. Mix in the vanilla extract and the melted chocolate mixture.
- Stir in the chickpea flour, cocoa powder and baking soda. Mix until you have a thick, fully mixed batter. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking tin. Bake for 30 minutes and then check for doneness. Insert a knife or tooth pick into the centre of the brownies - if it comes out with a wet batter it needs more time. If only a few moist crumbs remain on the knife/tooth pick it's done. If you need to cook the brownies longer check every 3-4 minutes until it's done and then remove from the oven.
- Let the brownies cool in their tin completely before slicing into.
Notes
- Chickpea flour can also be called garbanzo flour or gram flour
- Feel free to use coconut sugar in place of white sugar but keep in mind that the top might not have that signature crinkly top.
- Updated March 12, 2020 - You can use gluten free all purpose flour in place of chickpea flour but you need to wait for the brownies to cool down to room temperature before slicing and serving. If you cut into the brownies too soon they'll fall apart so be prepared with a spoon and a plate if you run out of patience.
Nutrition Information
Serving Size:
1 brownie (out of 16) Calories: 250Saturated Fat: 12gSodium: 53mgCarbohydrates: 26gFiber: 2gSugar: 17gProtein: 4gA few more gluten free brownies you might like:
Megan says
Thanks for the recipe! I made them tonight but only had unsalted black beans so I used the liquid from there. Came out so good. You don’t know how many failed vegan brownie recipes I’ve tried. This one is a winner!! Only down side… waiting for the brownies to cool completely.
Sarah says
Thank Megan! So glad you liked them! Totally feel you on the waiting part!
Aditi Chang says
Tried these tonight. Used a mix of cane and date sugars, which did give a bit of the shiny crust.
I love how they turned out. The texture feels “real” and there’s no hint of anything “weird” in the flavor. My only change next time will be to cut back on the cocoa a bit. They’re a little bit too dark/bitter for my taste, but maybe is because, like a crazy person, I don’t have any vanilla ice cream in the house! 😉
Thanks for a great recipe!
Sarah says
Haha now you’ve got me thinking about brownies and ice cream! So glad you liked them 🙂 Thanks for coming back to let me know what you thought!
Caz says
Just made them they turned out great, used flaxseed eggs as I had no ‘aquafaba’ (lol I just like saying that word). My niece can’t eat eggs, flour (only gluten free no almond flour), dairy, list goes on. Plus they like low fructose sugar (like rice malt syrup). These were perfect!
Sarah says
Ooh that’s great to know about the flax seed – thanks for sharing that! So glad you liked them!
VANESSA MUSI says
Hi Sarah! Thanks for sharing such great recipes! I love your work!
One question: I just made these and the garbanzo bean flour I used (1 1/2 cups doesn’t measure 180 gr but 130 gr) and the batter came out a bit light .. should I use the 180 gr measurement? Also if I replace sugar for coconut sugar would that be ok?
Huge thanks!
Sarah says
Hi Vanessa! Thank you so much – that really means a lot!
I’m not sure what you mean by the batter being light. Funny you mentioning the weight though. I just double checked the weight of chickpea flour and it should actually be somewhere in the middle of what we both got – 1 1/2 cups should come out to about 150 grams. I think the difference it weights will come down to the different methods of measuring out flour (scooping flour versus spooning the flour into a measuring cup). If the brownies still worked I would just keep doing what you’re doing but if you think the batter needs a little more to it than I’d go ahead and add a just a little bit more.
As for the sugar – that’s totally fine!
Hope that helps!
Rachel says
These are truly amazing! Actually the only brownies that work for me. Everything else turns out cakey or over cooked. Only thing is, the first time I made these a few weeks ago the American cup measurements and sensible metric measurements were side by side. I see that you can select metric and while that’s ok it then gives you weird measurements. 118.29ml Aqua faba??? The first time I made these it was 120ml. The exact cup amount rounded up to what’s actually measurable in a domestic kitchen. Please can you put it back to the way it was, it worked much better. Thanks
Sarah says
Hi Rachel! I’m so glad you like these! Thanks so much for letting me know what you thought! I totally hear you on the measurements! I was debating what the best way to list the measurements were so that’s really helpful feedback. The program that I’ve been testing to list out the amounts uses the exact version whereas the ones you saw before were just the ones that I rounded up/down to the nearest whole number. Since the differences are so small it’s pretty negligible but I can see how that would make it more complicated looking
Amy says
Do I need the chocolate pieces?
Sarah says
Hi Amy! You need the chopped chocolate pieces that get melted along with the coconut oil but you don’t need to add any additional chocolate chunks/chips to the batter at the end – those ones are totally optional!
Sam says
How should i store them? Airtight container on the counter or refrigerate? They’re delicious, thanks!
Sarah says
Thanks Sam! So glad you liked them 🙂 Just store them on the counter & you’re good to go!
Renee says
Does the aquafaba replace egg? Or just liquid? If I don’t have any could I replace with almond milk or an egg?
Thank you.
Sarah says
Hi Renee! I’m not really sure how it would work out differently because I haven’t tried this with anything other than aquafaba yet. That being said I think eggs would work here as well – I’d try it with two if it were me, but again I can’t guarantee it will come out exactly the same
Rachel says
Can you freeze them successfully? I’d like to make them ahead of time for a vegan guest.
Sarah says
Hi Rachel! I haven’t tried freezing these myself yet but I do think you would be able to. I’d recommend wrapping them up individually if you try it out – these are really fudgy and might get a little messy otherwise
Frances says
Hey, just wondering if you could use vegetable oil instead of coconut?
Sarah says
Hi Frances! It’s been a long time since I last did much baking with vegetable oil so I’m not positive but I do think you should be able to swap it out without problem here!