These Vegan Fudgy Coconut Butter Brownies are amazing! They are gluten-free and only 8 ingredients. These are HUGE hits and declared “Best” brownies even among non-vegans!
VEGAN FUDGY COCONUT BUTTER BROWNIES
I can’t express how amazing and delicious and perfect these Vegan Fudgy Brownies are that use coconut butter!
It’s kind of a known thing that brownies are really rich because of their traditional butter, refined sugar and white flour, right?
I knew I had to mimic that taste and texture….but without all of those ingredients. Oh, I made them gluten-free and oil-free too….but you’d never know. These fudgy brownies are not low calorie or low fat….they are brownies. I like my brownies rich and sweet. In fact, whenever I see a dessert labeled fat-free or sugar-free, that usually screams artificial chemicals! Using bananas or avocados just isn’t going to cut it here on flavor, either. I wanted them to both taste and look authentic.
VEGAN BROWNIES MADE WITH QUALITY INGREDIENTS
These bad boys are not full of processed junk and they are ingredients I feel good about. Plus, I love that they are oil-free….which you hardly ever see in a brownie recipe. That said, control yourself and don’t eat the whole pan at once. They are so rich though, honestly one is very satisfying.
Look at that crackle top…..
PERFECT VEGAN GLUTEN-FREE BROWNIES
I’ve tasted a few vegan brownies before and they were ok, but never knocked my socks off…typically too mushy and always containing ingredients I didn’t love or needed to sub.
I have been baking for years and am very comfortable with it, but when I started baking gluten-free, I learned there are about a billion different flours and they ALL produce different results. It’s not as easy as just throwing white flour, sugar and eggs together. It is even more challenging when trying to fit everything within 8 ingredients.
But I have learned a lot through trial and error with gluten-free flours and starches. I have perfected recipes with what I have learned. I have high standards with brownies and I finally got what I was after.
My 7 taste testers can account for their authenticity. I had my friend’s family and her children (all not vegan), as well as my hubby and daughter, give their big approval. My friend called them “fudgy, perfect texture, moist, wow, and I can’t think of one criticism”! Do you know how happy and relieved I was to hear this?! I had worked to perfect these gluten-free brownies, that once I nailed it, I was thankful that others loved it too. Each of us have our own opinions though, so you be the judge and try them yourself. 🙂
Well, I tried many different flours, amounts, liquids, dry sweetener, liquid sweetener, etc. Then I stepped back and thought about what I wanted in my brownies, but have them still taste as rich and decadent as any of the best brownies out there.
Here was my criteria:
- vegan, obviously
- gluten-free….without needing 3 or 4 different flours
- oil-free…without the use of vegan butter
- fudgy
- rich
- sweet
- very thick and substantial
- to bake evenly and not dip in the center, like so many recipes
- the famous crackle top
- 8 ingredients….duh
I make my own coconut butter for my recipes too. Super easy. You can do this if you have a food processor, or just use store bought.
DO YOU TASTE COCONUT?
DO YOU TASTE COCONUT?If you don’t like coconut, then these brownies may not be for you. However, the coconut is just a hint, not overpowering. I’m afraid subbing the coconut with all nut butter would be too heavy. Please do not sub with coconut oil! That would make them a brick of greasy oil. I do not recommend subbing though, because I tested this recipe many times and the coconut butter is a major ingredient and what worked so well. For a nut-free version, you can try creamy sunbutter in place of the almond butter. I haven’t tried it yet though.
These vegan brownies contain both almond butter and coconut butter for the ultimate rich, fudginess that we all love in a brownie.
MORE VEGAN BROWNIE RECIPES
- Fudgy Sunflower Brownies
- Vegan Zucchini Brownies
- Hazelnut Brownies
- Fudgy Vegan Low-Fat Brownies
- Raw Brownies with Raspberry Coulis
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If you make this recipe, be sure to leave feedback below and share your pic on Instagram or Facebook and tag me @thevegan8 #thevegan8!
Fudgy Coconut Butter Brownies
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (96g) superfine oat flour
- 1/2 cup (48g) unsweetened natural cocoa powder, not dark cocoa (I used Ghirardelli) Add up to 2 tablespoons more for a less sweet brownie
- 3 tablespoons (24g) tapioca starch
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 1/2 cup (120g) semi-sweet dairy-free chocolate chips
- 1 cup (320g) pure maple syrup, room temp
- 3/4 cup (180g) melted coconut butter (it MUST be melted as a liquid, see directions)
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (96g) roasted creamy almond butter (roasted is important, as it's oilier/smoother)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (8g) vanilla extract
NOTE
- Make sure to use a scale for the best most accurate results. No need to use cups to compare, just follow the weights listed, as that is how all my recipes are tested. Do not sub with extra almond butter or other nut butters in place of the coconut butter, as that would make it too heavy and oily.
- I use this scale.
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 350°F and lightly spray an 8x8 aluminum or light metal pan with nonstick spray. I tested these in a dark metal pan and found the edges to burn too quickly, so therefore not recommended.
- To a large bowl, add the oat flour, cocoa powder, tapioca starch and salt. Whisk well. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- You can use homemade coconut butter or store-bought. I like the MaraNatha brand. Regarding the coconut butter...before adding, it needs to be the consistency of oil, as pictured. It should be 100% smooth and runny. Just make sure it is melted and in complete liquid form when measuring 3/4 cup. The jars at the store will be solid, so the best way to work with this is to take off the lid, heat up the jar in the microwave for 15-30 seconds or so, just until it becomes soft enough to scoop it all out into a separate container. I find this is the best way to stir it and mix up the separated coconut meat and oil and totally smooth, as well as storing it this way for future use. After adding it to the container, heat a few more seconds if needed to soften it just until you can stir it a bit until it all comes together, is runny and smooth. See pic in post. Be very careful about overheating coconut butter or it will burn it and make it mealy.
- Add the liquid coconut butter to a separate bowl, then the room temperature syrup, almond butter, vanilla and stir until very smooth and well mixed. It is important that the other liquids are at room temperature, because if they are cold, it can cause the coconut butter to separate.
- Now, pour the liquid into the dry ingredients and stir until well combined. The batter will be thick. Immediately pour into the prepared pan, as the batter thickens up quickly from the oats. Spread out evenly to the edges and dampen your fingertips, if necessary.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes. Mine were perfect at 21 minutes on all 4 batches. However, due to oven variances, yours may cook faster or take a little longer. They are done when a toothpick comes out with a few sticky crumbs on it (not liquid), the edges have slightly pulled from the pan and the top is beginning to crackle. Be VERY careful about over-baking so they don't dry up.
- Let the brownies cool in the pan 45 minutes, untouched. This is crucial so they don't fall apart. Resist the urge to cut them early. Cut them gently after the 45 minutes, cool another 10, then serve! Cover with foil and store at room temperature.
Nutrition
Best brownies ever !! (Seriously…the BEST.) I can’t wait to “slap” my non-vegan friends & family with these. Haha!
Hahaha, that made me laugh!! Yay! SO happy to hear that! These are constantly a huge hit with all my non-vegan friends and family too!!
I have resisted making these, knowing they would be so good my undisciplined self would eat them all the time… but a special occasion sprang up and I decided it was time to face the brownies. Brandi. BRANDI!!!!! This is the BEST ever ever ever brownie recipe- in history, and I mean all brownies, not just vegan brownies. They are like a recipe I grew up with- eggs, butter, milk, white sugar… and since becoming vegan and not eating refined sugar, I thought I’d have to give that decadence up forever. These are not only “as good”- they’re better. You hit it out of the ball park once again! I really do think I’ll put you in my will… hope you like craft supplies! HA HA! Thank you for your recipe making genius.
Yay!!! I’m so happy you loved these so much Liz!! These are my all-time favorite brownies too, so much better than any I ever had growing up. Thank you very much for writing such a thoughtful and kind review, I really appreciate it!
Brandi I really don’t want to ask about subbing anything but unfortunately where I live (New Zealand) pure maple syrup is sooo expensive so a cup would just be cost prohibitive each time I wanted to make these. Is there anything else I could use? Agave perhaps? Or would that change your perfect recipe too much?
Hi Jan! Oh, agave would work just fine here!
Thanks so much Brandi x
Hi Brandi, Can I sub corn starch for the tapioca starch?
Hi Cinde, I don’t think that will work as well because cornstarch doesn’t have the same binding and moisture characteristics as tapioca, so I think they would crumble quite a bit and be more dry. This is specifically why I use tapioca in a lot of my recipes because it helps bind so well, since there are no eggs.
Thank you for your reply. I will wait to make them until I pick up some tapioca starch. These sound awesome! 🙂
I’ve made these more than 5 times and i always used potato starch(not the flour!) since i don’t have access to tapioca starch where i live (it’s very hard to find) And it works perfectly, they come out just as in the pictures and i use the exact same amount so if you have trouble finding tapioca try potato starch 🙂
Thank you so much Elisabeth! I’m so glad to hear they work out for you using the potato starch. I know that potato starch does make things more crumbly and drier, usually, so I’m glad to hear it works in these brownies though! Thank you!
Omg, I’ve made a lot of vegan brownie recipes and these are by far the best! Crazy good! I rarely post comments but these were spectacular! Taste even better than they look in the photos. Chocolately, moist, chewy, fudgy, delicious. Exactly what I want from a brownie. After removing the edge pieces I did put the pan back in the oven to cook the center a little more which worked great and avoided drying out the edge pieces. The hunt ends, this recipe will be my go-to brownie recipe.
Oh, this feedback makes me so happy Elizabeth!! So very happy these are the best you’ve had! They are my favorite I’ve ever had as well! Thank you so much for the kind words!
I followed this recipe to a T and unfortunately they turned out horribly dry. Not fudgey at alllll. Definitely would not recommend.
Hi Jessica, I’m sorry to hear that you had trouble with the recipe. Something definitely went wrong because these are very fudgy and moist, as you can see from all the reviews above, every reader has absolutely loved these. I’ve made them at least a dozen times and served them at parties with huge success. They have a very large amount of fat from the almond butter and coconut butter so it’s pretty impossible for them to turn out dry unless they were overbaked. Did you weigh the ingredients? Regarding coconut butter, some people have trouble when using coconut butter and use the dried portion of the coconut without melting and mixing up the contents of the jar well, which can really result in a dry result.
Oh. Muh. GAWD. These are to frelling die for. I made them for a friend (I make a lot of your recipes for friends, what the heck? I need to be keeping this stuff at HOME!) but kept a few for the fam and man oh man am I happy I did. These are the best brownies I think I’ve ever had. Ever. EVER! I’m a little sad because I want to make them again and eat them all and it’s just not the best thing for the relationship between me and my jeans. Thank you, once again for all the work and time you put in to make your recipes delicious.
Ack, I forgot to star this bad boy! Anyway, another chance to rave about these now that I’ve made them again. My friend that I made them for had given up sugar for awhile was glad to break her fast with these guys! You go make these. Now!
What would you think about using roasted cashew or roasted peanut butter? I love this recipe so much and want to make it for an easy snack while breastfeeding but don’t have roasted almond butter right now and have too many nut butters around to justify it. Thank you!
Hi Melinda! So glad you love these! You could definitely try roasted cashew butter. Peanut butter I don’t think would work as well. Just a note though, cashew butter has a lot less oil in it than roasted almond butter…That is, unless you are using one from the store with added oils, it may make them a bit drier or cook faster, so just keep an eye on them!
Great texture but unbearably sweet.
Hands down, best brownies EVER!!!! I made coconut butter and almond butter using your recipes so that I could make these brownies! Worth every minute. Love love LOVE these!
Woohoo, that is so amazing to hear Molly! Thanks for the amazing feedback!
Hi is there any way I could replace the arrowroot flower with mor e oat flour?
There is no arrowroot in this recipe, are you on the right recipe?
Ohhh yes i meant to say tapioca starch!
I wouldn’t omit the starch completely, as it helps to bind the bars and give them structure and texture. All oat flour will make them a bit too dense and crumbly I think in this particular recipe. You can use cornstarch though instead of tapioca.
Hi I would love to make these brownies but I don’t have tapioca starch. I don’t want to use cornstarch because I want to keep it healthy. Is there any way I could use an egg? Would that still give the brownies that crackly top?
Hi Cassie, unfortunately an egg will not work the same because that is adding extra liquid. Starch is dry and helps these bind but keeps them from being TOO moist. These are high in fat and sweetener, so they already aren’t exactly healthy, so a small amount of cornstarch isn’t going to make them that much worse. I’m really not sure what else to tell you to sub since tapioca and cornstarch are written to work with the recipe. If you are looking for a healthier brownie, then I’d suggest my low-fat fudgy bean brownies. They are a reader favorite, rich and much healthier and require no starch. Definitely do not skip the chocolate chips though or they will be way too bitter. or these Zucchini Brownies. Both of those are actually healthier options and more popular with readers.
Also if I did this how many calories would it be? I’m not sure how to calculate it.
I’m trying to figure out what I did wrong. They look amazing – but the oil bubbled up to the top of mine and the top never got dry. Yes, I made a few changes – maybe that was the problem? I couldn’t find oat flour so I used almond flour. And I used a glass pan so I turned the heat down to 325. I’d love to try them again.
Hi Ann, yes, that was the problem. Baking is very scientific, so if you make changes, you will end up with a different results, especially when changing flours. Oat and almond flour are completely different. Oat is drying and almond flour is high in fat and adds TONS of moisture, so that is why they did not work out. You can find oat flour online easily on Amazon or other places and at many grocery stores or if you have a Vitamix, you can blend up quick oats into a fine flour and try that.
I made these brownies and they are by far the best brownies I have made so far!! My husband thought so too! Thank you! I have been on a search for a couple of years for the perfect, no oil, healthy brownie recipe and I think this is it! I want to make them again but I’m out of cocoa powder and can’t seem to find it at our local store lately. Can I substitute cacao instead?
Yay Lisa! That is so amazing to hear, thank you for the awesome feedback!
Oh and yes, cacao powder should be fine!
Very excited to try these, but don’t have oat flour and I’m not coeliac – can I use regular plain flour? (think your guys call it ‘all pirpose’. Thanks a mill!
Hi Manda! Yes, that should be fine! Use the same weight amount, they may cook slightly faster since it’s drier, so keep an eye out.
Hi Brandi! Really appreciate all of the work and experimentation you put into creating the perfect vegan brownie recipe. I was wondering what brand of semi-sweet dairy-free chocolate chips you use? Thanks!
Hi Emily, thank you! I use the Enjoy Life brand! Just fyi, this is a much newer recipe and I think these are supreme over these brownies! And all the reviews attest the same, so I’d recommend these instead haha: https://thevegan8.com/vegan-chocolate-peppermint-brownies/
These were soooo fudgy and delicious! I added walnuts to half the pan before baking for those that prefer them. Mine were perfect at 21 minutes as well, and we enjoyed them with the vanilla cheesecake recipe from this site. 👌
Thanks for all your recipe testing!
Very happy you loved these!!
Hi! I totally mistakenly bought almond flour instead. Do you think this recipe will still turn out with it? It’s Super-Fine Almond flour.
Hi! No, that will make them too wet and mushy, you need the oat flour!
Could you use sugar instead of maple syrup?
No, the syrup is part of the liquids ratio and texture. You could use agave if you prefer.