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!

Applesauce Brownies with ice cream and chocolate syrup

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 Brownies being cut into squares

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.

Image showing how oat flour is made: place oats in the blender; process until oats are pulverized into flour.

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:

  1. Add old-fashioned or quick oats to a food processor or small blender.
  2. Blend until the oats look like flour.
  3. Stir to make sure no big pieces are left.
  4. Measure after blending, not before.
Process shots: images of all the ingredients being added to a bowl and mixed together and transferred to a prepared pan and baked

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!
Close-up view of Applesauce Brownies

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

5 from 32 votes

Applesauce Brownies

These double-chocolate Applesauce Brownies are ultra-fudgy and made without oil, butter, or refined flours! And don’t worry—no veggies, beans, or weird ingredients here. They’re so delicious, you won’t even miss the butter and oil!
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Servings: bars

Equipment

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

Note 1: Only use an 8×8 baking pan, and don’t forget to line it or these brownies won’t come out well.
Note 2: If you are new to healthier desserts, you may want a bit more sugar in these brownies. If you make a lot of healthier recipes and don’t mind the brownies being less sweet, you can slightly reduce the sugar. I like these brownies best with a lightly packed 1/4 cup. If you’d like them sweeter, add 1/3 cup.
Gluten Free: To have gluten-free brownies, make sure all ingredients are, in fact, gluten free. While the ingredients called for in these brownies are naturally gluten free, make sure to check all your ingredient labels to verify they weren’t processed in a facility with gluten.
Storage: Store cooled brownies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week. These brownies are best enjoyed within 23 days.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 140kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 12mg | Sodium: 110mg | Potassium: 187mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 20IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 44mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Meet Chelsea


Hello, and welcome to Chelsea’s Messy Apron! I’m Chelsea, the recipe developer, food photographer, and writer behind the site. I’m passionate about creating simple, reliable, and delicious recipes that anyone can make.

Thanks for stopping by—I hope you find something delicious to make!

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5 from 32 votes (2 ratings without comment)

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110 Comments

  1. Carla says:

    OMG! These are amazing!!! I made them lastnight and I loveee them. I’m a chocolate/pb fanatic but I’m trying to watch my sugar so I only used 1tsp of brown sugar and 1 tbsp honey and they were perfect.
    I keep them in the fridge and they’re even better the next day…with coffee.
    🙂 Go to town on these, they’re worth it.

    1. chelseamessyapron says:

      Thanks so much for your kind comment Carla! So glad to hear you enjoyed these (and with less sugar!) 🙂

  2. Marybeth Lopez says:

    Simply the best! I had to change peanut butter with sunbutter and since I didn’t have applesauce I used pumpkin! Oh my gosh they were so good! Thank you!

    1. chelseamessyapron says:

      Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! I’m so glad you tried this recipe and loved it 🙂 Your substitutions sound awesome! 🙂

  3. Sandy says:

    I’ve tried some of your other oat flour recipes ( pumpkin and chocolate and they were wonderful ) do you know if these can be frozen ? Thank you.

    1. chelseamessyapron says:

      Thanks Sandy! I’m not sure since I’ve never tried freezing these, but I’ve had a few readers freeze muffins with great results so I don’t see why not!

  4. Hulda says:

    5 stars
    Can you say “YUMMY”? Just made these tonight. Was a little short on peanut butter so I finished off the 1/2c with almond butter. Also added sliced almonds for crunch. They turned out so gooey and good we could have eaten the whole pan! I will be making these from now on as my “go-to” brownie recipe. Delicious!

    1. chelseamessyapron says:

      Thanks so much for taking the time to comment!! So glad you loved them – and I love all the additions/changes – definitely adding sliced almonds next time because that sounds awesome!

  5. Chelsea says:

    These look wonderful! Have you tried them using an egg substitute?

    1. chelseamessyapron says:

      Sorry, I haven’t tried these with an egg substitute. If you do try them and they are a success, I would love to hear about it!

  6. admattai says:

    5 stars
    just made these brownies for breakfast – they were so good! thanks so much for the great recipe.

  7. Kristina says:

    Made these using natural peanut butter and worked out great. Delicious! I loved them, kids loved them and I am sure if there are any left tonight, my husband will love them too!

  8. Jenn says:

    These are amazing, made them tonight and they hit that chocolate craving.

  9. Jocelyn says:

    These sound amazing! I love that they are so healthy. That means I can eat 4 and not feel guilty, right?! 😉

  10. Kayle says:

    5 stars
    YOU ARE A COMPLETE AND UTTER GEEEENIUS!!!! Pinning and totally making these!