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.
These brownies look so fudgy and moist! I plan to bake them with Lily’s dark chocolate, to bring down the sugar content a little more.
Sounds great! I hope you love these Joanne! 🙂
Thank you & I meant how pleased we were. Amazing!!!
Interesting recipe.. dying to try it .. Any substitute for apple sauce? I’m from India .. applesauce in a jar is unheard of here…
Thanks so much Maria! 🙂 You can absolutely make your own applesauce for this recipe, the applesauce in the jar isn’t necessary 🙂
Seriously one of the best brownie recipes on the planet! And those photos … wow!
Omg these brownies were SOO GOOD I had to make a review right away. They are the softest most gooey brownies ever, not to mention they’re HEALTHY!! The only difference I made was used 3 tbsp white chocolate chips because I was set on making a healthy brownie & the 1/2 + 1/4 cup that the recipe calls for was just a big no. It tasted great with the minimal amount of chocolate chips but if you’re not used to eating healthy you can keep the amount written. Also, when I was mixing the peanut butter it wasn’t turning into a liquid consistency because I don’t have an electric beater, so I just popped it in the microwave after I put the applesauce and that did the trick. Will only make this recipe from now on, YUM!!!
Yay!! I am seriously so thrilled you enjoyed these brownies so much! Thanks for the great review Jennifer! 🙂
Could I use wheat flour instead?
Looks great by the way!
Thanks Rachael! I haven’t tried wheat flour so I’m not sure how it would work in these. I do know that oat flour (and oats) absorb more liquid than wheat flour so I don’t think the substitution would be 1:1
I tried these with whole wheat flour and they turned out perfectly! They are so incredibly delicious! I have to try and stop myself from eating the whole pan now! Definitely a keeper!
I’m so happy these were a hit! Thanks so much Naomi 🙂
OMG! Made these last week and were awesome, fudgy and delicious!
I was wondering if I could make them in cupcake liners… Do you think it’ll be a disaster? :S
I’m making them tomorrow again!
Oh I am so, so happy to hear these were so well enjoyed!! Thank you Laura! I’ve never tried them in cupcake liners so I’m not really too sure how they’d turn out, but good luck! I’d love to hear the results 🙂
What is the fat grams and calorie count?
Just made these and felt compelled to leave a comment because they are SO DELICIOUS! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! It will be my new go to brownie recipe too! AWESOME RECIPE!
Yay!!! I love hearing things like this!! So glad you loved these and thanks for the kind comment! 🙂
Delicious brownies! I cut the sugar in half, and they were perfectly sweet and chewy. 🙂
Just wondering, are the oats quick oats or long cooking oats? Can’t wait to bake these. Thank you! We diabetics appreciate your dedication.
Either type will grind down to a great flour in a blender or food processor 🙂 I usually use old fashioned because I have that on hand, but quick oats will work the same! Hope you enjoy these 🙂