Applesauce Brownies are ultra-fudgy and double chocolate, made without oil, butter, or refined flours—no weird ingredients, just rich, delicious flavor!
Try more baked goods like Flourless Banana Muffins, Healthy Ice Cream, or Healthy Chocolate Cookies!
The Best Applesauce Brownies
Applesauce Brownies are rich, fudgy, and made with simple ingredients—no beans, veggies, or weird stuff. They’ve got a gooey, cake-like texture with a peanut butter-chocolate flavor.
I’m a huge brownie lover, but like most people, sometimes I want a little less of a sugar rush. After trying tons of different “healthy” brownie recipes loaded with beans and random ingredients, I finally decided to get to work and create one that actually tasted good.
After some testing, I truly think I nailed it—these can give regular brownies a run for their money!
Quick Tip
I also created a healthy brownie recipe without peanut butter for those who don’t love peanut butter.
Applesauce Brownie Ingredients
- Creamy peanut butter: Use smooth peanut butter instead of chunky. If using natural peanut butter, stir well to keep it from being oily.
- Honey: Help sweeten the brownies.
- Brown sugar: Not as much as most brownie recipes. Adjust as needed.
- Vanilla extract: Gives a nice flavor.
- Unsweetened applesauce: Grab some that has no added ingredients.
- Egg: Just one large egg needed.
- Oat flour: See below for more details!
- Cocoa powder: Use natural cocoa powder, not Dutch-process.
- Baking soda, baking powder, salt: Make sure they’re fresh for the best results.
- Dark chocolate chips: I love dark chocolate in these but use your favorite.
Quick Tip
Adjusting the brown sugar. Prefer sweeter applesauce brownies? Add more sugar. Okay with less? Use less. They’re great with 1/4 to 1/3 cup packed brown sugar.
Instead of white or whole wheat flour, these applesauce brownies use blended oats as flour. No need to buy oat flour—it takes seconds to make.
How to Make Oat Flour:
- Add old-fashioned or quick oats to a food processor or small blender.
- Blend until the oats look like flour.
- Stir to make sure no big pieces are left.
- Measure after blending, not before.
Applesauce Brownies Tips
- Line the pan with parchment, leaving extra hanging over the sides to easily lift out and cut the brownies.
- Check labels to make sure everything is gluten-free.
- Add some dark chocolate chips on top before baking so there’s chocolate in every bite!
Storage
Store leftover applesauce brownies in an airtight container at room temp for up to 3 days or in the fridge for up to a week.
For longer storage, freeze them in a sealed container or bag for up to 3 months.
More Healthy Baked Goods
- Healthy Zucchini Muffins with Greek yogurt
- Healthy Caramel Sauce with almond butter
- Chocolate Energy Bites with protein powder
- Chewy Granola Bars with mini chocolate chips
- Healthy No-Bake Cookies with coconut
Applesauce Brownies
Equipment
- 8 x 8-inch baking pan see note 1
- Small blender or food processor
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup oat flour old-fashioned oats that have been blended
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1/4 cup brown sugar lightly packed, see note 2
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder not Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips divided, or semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8×8-inch baking pan with parchment paper.
- Pulse oats in a food processor or small blender until ground into a flour consistency. Measure 1/4 cup after blending.
- In a large bowl, mix peanut butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, egg, and applesauce until smooth. Once smooth, stir in oat flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and 1/2 cup chocolate chips until combined.
- Transfer batter to the lined baking pan, smoothing it evenly. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips and gently press them in. Bake for 20–22 minutes or until lightly puffy. Check doneness by seeing if the batter pulls away from the edges slightly or a toothpick inserted in the center (not in a chip) comes out clean or with moist crumbs or clean.
- Remove and allow to cool in the pan on a cooling rack for about an hour before cutting and serving. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Really great recipe. I skipped the brown sugar and went for a little bit of pure monk fruit instead. I only had sweetened applesauce but it still turned out really great.
I am so thrilled to hear this! Thanks for sharing Emmaline!
So fudgey and delicious!!! no one even knew they were made with nut butter 🙂
Yay! Such a win! So glad you enjoyed these Applesauce Brownies! Thanks Jess! 🙂
Hiya,
Peanut butter – what type – regular like Jiff or
Skippy or real natural peanut butter with
out that other stuff?
Deb
I typically use Skippy!
Made these tonight for my family since we ran out of flour and was looking to make something sweet! These are soooo good!!!! All my kiddos age 11, 9, 4 and 2 loved them!! Will keep this in rotation! Love that they are healthier! Plan to double the batch tomorrow and try a 13×9 pan since it is 6 of us!! Thanks so much!!
So happy to hear this! Thanks so much Mercedes! 🙂
Do you think I could replace the sugar with a mashed overripe banana?
No I think they’d end up too wet!
These are amazing!! I am SUPER picky and loved them. Next time I’ll try a mixture of half traditional peanut butter and half natural. I bet I won’t be able to tell. I accidentally mixed all of the chocolate chips in rather than saving some for the top, but it turned out just fine. I’m off to find more oat flour recipes. Thank you!
Yay! I’m so glad you enjoyed! Thanks Amy! 🙂
Used chunky peanut butter. Came out extremely decadent and delicious!!! Thank you.
So glad these were a hit; thanks for the comment 🙂
I’ve only gotten so far as the batter, but man did it taste good!!!! Currently baking in the oven. I had a larger pan so increased some ingredient amounts. Also put in protein powder.
Great idea to add protein powder!