The best Healthy Brownies! Made without flour, refined sugar, butter, or eggs, these rich, fudgy, and deeply chocolatey brownies can be easily prepared with ingredients found at your local grocery store. Plus, there’s an optional frosting recipe for those who love frosted brownies.
Next time try our popular Applesauce Brownies or Gluten-Free Brownies!
Healthy Brownies
Brownies are hands down one of my favorite desserts — the richer and fudgier, the better! And if I don’t have a plan for a batch of brownies to go (family, friends, neighbors, etc.) they will all get consumed by yours truly. Literally, every single piece, and I wish I were exaggerating but I’m not.
As a result, I’ve worked and worked and worked on a healthy recipe that I absolutely love but has better ingredients, because I shouldn’t eat this entire tray of Peanut Butter Cup Brownies. So now, when I eat these at least I’m getting some health benefits from it. 🙂
What to expect from this recipe
This brownie recipe is one of the recipes I am proudest of — it’s pretty amazing how great the ingredients are for the insanely fudge-y, rich, and delicious flavor and texture these brownies deliver. But I also want to be completely transparent; these brownies aren’t for everyone. Read on to see what I mean.
Texture-wise: So, this is probably contrary to every single brownie law of the universe, but these healthy brownies are best served cold. Cover these tightly and chill them overnight (or about 4-6 hours) and then you’ll know what I’m talking about. They taste like rich, dark chocolate fudge. After being chilled they are very dense and not at all cake-like. When warmed up they do have a lighter and more cakey texture. Healthy Brownies are thick, chewy, and quite rich (especially with the frosting on them).
Flavor-wise: These brownies have a slightly bitter, strong dark chocolate flavor. I use 53% cacao dark chocolate so I don’t find them overly bitter, but they do taste strongly of dark chocolate. If you don’t love dark chocolate, you can use milk chocolate. Beyond the dark chocolate, these also have a lot of Greek yogurt in them. I recommend you use a good, sweet, and non-tangy Greek yogurt (more on this later).
Healthy Brownie Ingredients
Here are the ingredients I use and recommend for the best results in this recipe. None of them are sponsors; they’re just what I use when making this recipe.
- Dark chocolate. I use Nestle’s® Dark Chocolate Chips. Read up on the benefits of dark chocolate here. If you’re not a dark chocolate fan, milk or semi-sweet will work in its place.
- Greek yogurt. This is in my opinion the most important ingredient in this recipe. It can definitely make or break the final flavor. I have tried so many different Greek yogurts and hands-down, the best yogurt to use is Honey Vanilla Greek yogurt (made by Greek Gods®). Greek yogurt contributes loads of protein to these brownies, among other benefits.
- Coconut oil. I have found a good amount of variation in coconut oil brands; mainly there is a stronger coconut flavor in some brands as opposed to others. I personally use LouAna® Coconut Oil and don’t find any recognizable or pronounced coconut flavor in these Healthy Brownies.
- Vanilla extract, salt, and baking soda. These ingredients contribute to the flavor and leavening of the brownies.
- Coconut sugar. This sugar is a non-refined sugar that has become very mainstream in grocery stores in the last few years. You should be able to find it among other baking sugars or in the health food section of your grocery store. If you don’t want to buy a special sugar for this recipe, brown sugar can be used instead. It’s a 1:1 substitute, but note that brown sugar is refined sugar.
- Old-fashioned oats. More on this ingredient in the next paragraph.
Let’s talk oats
If there’s no flour in these flourless healthy brownies, what are we using? Regular old-fashioned oats! (Make sure to use old-fashioned or rolled oats, not quick or steel-cut oats). The oats are blended up before being added to the batter, and they resemble flour and serve the same function; read the “quick tip” below for a breakdown of the process.
Quick Tip
How to make powdered oats: Add the old-fashioned oats to a food processor or small blender jar. Pulse the oats until they are ground into a powder-like consistency that resembles flour. Stir the oats around to be sure that all the oats have been finely ground and there aren’t any whole oats left. (This will affect the texture and liquid absorption of these flourless brownies.) Make sure to measure the oats once they’ve been blended into a powder and not before.
Healthy Brownies Frosting
The frosting on these is optional. While it is a whole lot healthier than most frosting recipes, it does have refined powdered sugar in it. If you are avoiding refined sugar, you’ll want to leave off the frosting on this recipe.
The frosting contains only four ingredients and uses similar ingredients in the brownie base — more dark chocolate and more Greek yogurt, plus some milk and powdered sugar. I use almond or macadamia nut milk, but any plant-based milk works great here.
The frosting is very thick and ganache-like. It will harden as it sets and firms up on the cold brownies. It can soften and get melty in a warm environment, so I recommend keeping these brownies chilled.
Tips
- Use the right ingredients. Take a minute to read through the ingredients section. The ingredients matter a lot on this recipe and you can end up with very delicious or, er… less-than-exciting, brownies, based on the ingredients used.
- Line the pan. These brownies are very fudge-y and can be difficult to get out of an unlined pan. Save yourself the trouble by lining the pan with parchment paper and leaving an overhang for easy removal.
- Wait until they’re chilled. These brownies are at their best after being chilled overnight. We love them best the next day. But even a few hours in the fridge and they’re delicious.
- Use a sharp chef’s knife to make cuts. Run the knife under warm water, dry on a kitchen towel, and repeat for each cut. These brownies are rich and sweet that you’ll want to cut them pretty small.
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Healthy Brownies
Ingredients
Brownies:
- 1 and 1/2 cups (53% cacao) dark chocolate chips divided Note 1
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons coconut oil Note 2
- 1 cup honey vanilla Greek yogurt Note 3
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar (or use light brown sugar)
- 3/4 cup oat flour (just blend regular oats in your blender)
Optional Frosting:
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened vanilla almond milk or whatever milk you have on hand
- 2 tablespoons vanilla Greek yogurt
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- PREP: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (176 degrees C). Line an 8x8-inch pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang for easy removal. Lightly spritz with nonstick cooking spray.
- MELT CHOCOLATE: In a large bowl place 1 cup (175g) of chocolate chips and set aside. Add the solid coconut oil to a separate, microwave-safe bowl. Microwave the coconut oil and then measure the coconut oil in its melted, hot state to get 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons. Pour the hot melted coconut oil over the dark chocolate and stir the chocolate until it is completely melted. If needed, microwave the chocolate and coconut oil in 10-15 second bursts, stirring in between each burst for 20 seconds until completely melted and smooth. Let cool slightly.
- REMAINING INGREDIENTS: Add in the Greek yogurt; stir to combine. Stir in the vanilla, salt, baking soda, and coconut sugar (or brown sugar).
- BLEND OATS: Add old-fashioned oats to a blender or food processor. Blend or process until the oats are fine and resemble flour. Measure the oat flour after blending and not before, to get a level 3/4 cup. Add blended oats and remaining 1/2 cup (91g) chocolate chips to brownie batter. Mix to combine.
- BAKE: Spread the mixture (it is very thick) into the prepared pan in an even layer. Bake in the preheated oven for 28-32 minutes or until a fork comes out clean when inserted into the center. Do not overbake. Slightly underbaking is better and will yield a superior taste and texture (more fudge-like). Remove from the oven and allow the pan of brownies to cool completely at room temperature on a wire cooling rack. If desired, frost the cooled brownies (see next step).
- OPTIONAL FROSTING: In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the 1/2 cup chocolate chips and 2 tablespoons milk. Microwave in bursts of 15 seconds, stirring for 15 seconds in between each burst until the chocolate is completely melted. Stir in the Greek yogurt until fully incorporated and then whisk in the powdered sugar. Frosting may seem thin -- don't worry; it thickens as it cools. Let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes and then spread frosting evenly over the brownies.
- CHILL: Cover the frosted (or unfrosted) brownies and place them in the fridge to fully chill. These brownies are best cold (we like them best after being chilled 6-8 hours). Once chilled through, remove the brownies using the overhang of the parchment paper. Cut into small pieces and enjoy!
- STORAGE: Store leftover brownies in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-5 days. Freeze individually wrapped brownies for up to 2 months. The frosting does get a bit watery upon being thawed.
Video
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Fabulous!!! I didn’t have half the right ingredients ..found these as a healthier choice for my husband on Valentines Day at the last minute so I made lots of substitutes and I’m sure I compromised the “healthiness” of them some – I only had chocolate Greek yogurt and not quite a whole cup so added sour cream to make a cup, also used avacado oil instead of coconut oil. I had little bits of different chocolate left over from the holidays so used what I had. I also used brown sugar instead of coconut sugar. These are awesome!! I just cut them into hearts and refrigerated them, though I don’t know how the taste can get any better! I can’t wait to buy the proper ingredients and try them again the proper way. I still feel that because they are made with healthier oils, no butter, and oatmeal instead of all purpose flour and dark chocolate they’ve got to be at least a little less bad for us! 😉
I’m a skeptic when it comes to healthy recipes because I’ve tried a few and they’re TERRIBLE, but yours is quite the opposite; it’s DELICIOUS! My batter is a bit thinner compared to yours I don’t know why but it still came out great and tasted great. I just seriously need to thank you for creating a healthy recipe that doesn’t taste like sand lmao
Seriously best brownies ever! I tried baking them in a muffin tin to more easily share at work and after 20 min they were perfect. sooooo perfect. and if anyone is wondering, they are great with plain yogurt too.
Quick question – I like to experiment with adding flavors to chocolately treats – do you think it might work to add toffee bits, mint extract, hazelnuts, or raspberries into the batter? Any weird consequences I haven’t considered to adding any one of those?
Thank you SO much 🙂
I’m so happy you’ve enjoyed these brownies!! I don’t think you’ll have a problem adding most things into the batter especially extracts and toffee bits 🙂
WOW! I was super skeptical of a “healthy” brownie, but these are AMAZING! I can’t.stop.eating. 😉
I have a question about combining the oil and choc chips. My heated coconut oil did not melt the chips at all! I used a double boiler and it melted easily, but wanted to ask what others did to melt the chips with the oil. Thank you!
So happy to hear you’re enjoying these! 🙂 If the coconut oil doesn’t fully melt the chocolate chips, the double boiler works great too 🙂 You could also try microwaving the chocolate chips with the coconut oil in short bursts of 15 seconds and stir in between each burst until melted.
My 3 year old son is all about baking lately, which is fun, but also not the healthiest thing 🙂 I found your recipe and they are delicious! I even omitted the sugar, completely by accident….some how I skipped right over it, and noticed after I already had them in the oven. I did not have vanilla greek yogurt, so I just added a few extra splashes of vanilla. Some day I am going to learn to follow a recipe, but luckily for us this one worked out just fine!!!
These brownies are SUBLIME! It’s now going to be my go-to recipe! I replaced the sugar with 3/4 cup of honey – thus added another 1/2 tsp of baking soda and lowered the temp to 330 degrees F to adjust with the honey. They ended up turning out GLORIOUS – fudgy, sweet, and so amazing!
If anyone is like me despite my controlled diet I have a real sweet tooth! I came across this recipe and with all the ingredients in the cupboard I gave it a go! My oh my these are incredible taste like the real deal! ? Lovely to find a recipe without peanut butter don’t get me wrong I love encorperating into my healthy treats but sometimes it’s nice to not have it! Thank you! These are great! X
I’m so happy you enjoyed these brownies! Thank you so much for the comment 🙂
Hey Chelsea,
I’m not much of a baker since I can never stick to precise measurements and your brownies were my first attempt. I must say I did cheat and used cacao powder instead of chips but it was still amazing.
I did have one question, mine as yummy as it was, was quite crumbly, could you tell me why so next time I don’t repeat my mistake. Less oil? Less yogurt?
Thank you so much for introducing me to easy fuss free baking 🙂
I’m happy you enjoyed these! I think they were crumbly from using the cacao powder since that is going to be a lot different than chips (powder verses a “liquid” when the chocolate chips are melted). If you use the chocolate chips I think that should solve your problem! 🙂
O.M.G. These are AMAZING!!!
First time I made them as per the recipe, but unfortunately since my toddler has inherited my (lack of) self control when it comes to all things chocolate, I now use unsweetened applesauce instead of the oil and cut the sugar in half…. that way I don’t feel too terrible when we sit down on the kitchen floor as soon as the pan has cooled down enough to touch and we finish about half in one sitting. But when I’m making it for a girls’ night in, I make no changes, double the recipe and bask in the chocolaty praise as it gets devoured 🙂
I’m so happy these have a been a hit! 🙂 Haha! Thank you so much for the comment 🙂
I love this recipe!!! more than perfect for my family 😉 <3
That’s so great to hear! Thanks for the comment Manelly ?