This page contains some affiliate links. Please review my disclosure policy.
A healthy and delicious recipe for avocado brownies! Replace oil or butter with heart-healthy avocados for a delicious and nutritious dessert. These rich and chocolatey brownies are actually good for you!
Brownies with Avocados!
You can have your brownies and eat them too with these healthy avocado brownies!
In place of more traditional fats like butter or oil, we’ve used avocado which keeps them 100% dairy-free and also saturated fat free.
We also swapped regular wheat flour for coconut flour making these brownies totally paleo (technically not keto because of the maple syrup) and low carb. Not to mention using maple syrup for sweetener – honestly these brownies are delish!
Ingredients in Avocado Brownies
- Avocado – one large, ripe avocado.
- Applesauce – you could also replace with 1 large, mashed banana if you don’t have applesauce.
- Maple Syrup – for sweetness. You could replace with honey, if desired.
- Vanilla extract – for flavor.
- Eggs – I know 3 eggs seems like a lot but it’s necessary for the ratio with coconut flour.
- Coconut flour – do not skip or replace! I’ve never had any luck making these with a different type of flavor so proceed with caution if replacing.
- Dutch-processed cocoa powder – do not use regular cocoa powder or cacao, they will be too bitter!
- Sea salt – helps to amplify the sweetness. Omit if watching sodium levels.
- Baking soda – to help these avocado brownies rise
- Chocolate chips – you can also use chocolate chunks. Highly recommend!
Learn how to make Avocado Brownies Step-by-Step
Are these avocado brownies healthy?
Love it or hate it, these avocado brownies are healthy! Will these taste like Betty Crocker boxed brownies? Hell.to.the.no. But they will taste totally delicious! Better yet they’re made with super healthy swaps like:
- Avocado for butter
- Coconut flour for regular all-purpose flour
- Applesauce for fudgier texture (you can also replace with 1 large banana if you don’t have any)
This is probably the most controversial recipe I’ve ever posted. If you read the comments you will see that people love them or absolutely hate them! At the end of the day it comes down to taste buds. Like I said, if you like a super decadent and sweet brownie, these are not for you. However, if your tastebuds are acclimated to not that much sugar and grain-free recipes, you will love this avocado brownie recipe.
Tips for Making Avocado Brownies
- Make sure your avocados are ripe – but not TOO ripe. They should be green and creamy inside
- Coconut flour is essential to keep these brownies paleo – do NOT replace with another flour (even almond flour) unless you know how to adapt flours
- SIFT YOUR FLOUR! I’m a #lazybaker so I often skip this step but if you watch the video above you’ll see that these avocado brownies come out clumpy if you forget to sift your flour. Still delicious but the texture is off.
- Use dutch-processed cocoa powder. Because these brownies are already rich, using unprocessed cocoa will make them too bitter.
- Depending on how you like your brownies adjust the baking time for texture. At 25 minutes they come out on the fudgier side but if you prefer more fudgy bake for less or more cake-like bake for longer
How To Store These Avocado Brownies
I prefer to store leftovers in the refrigerator though they’ll last for 2 days on the counter in an airtight container.
My favorite way to eat these though is directly from the freezer! I know…sounds gross but it tastes like fudge. Just cut into 16 brownies (or desired amount) and once fully cool place them in a sealed ziplock bag or airtight container to freeze. Take one out and enjoy right away or let sit for 5-10 minutes to thaw up a bit. They’ll last up to 6 months in the freezer (though they never last that long here!)
More Healthy Brownies!
- Dark Chocolate Tahini Brownies
- Sweet Potato Peanut Butter Brownies
- The Ultimate Grain-Free Brownies
- Raw Walnut Brownies
- Black Bean Brownies
Avocado Brownies
A healthy and delicious recipe for avocado brownies! Replace oil or butter with heart-healthy avocados for a delicious and nutritious dessert. These rich and chocolatey brownies are actually good for you!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 16 brownies 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 1 large avocado
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (replace with 1 large banana if you don’t have any)
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened dutch-processed cocoa powder**
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup of chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease an 8 x 8 inch baking pan with coconut oil or line with parchment paper.
- In a blender or food processor blend avocado, applesauce, maple syrup and vanilla.*
- Add these wet ingredients to a large mixing bowl and whisk in eggs.
- In a separate bowl, sift your coconut flour and dutch-processed cocoa powder. Mix in sea salt and baking soda.
- Slowly add your dry ingredients to avocado mixture and stir until well-combined.
- Stir in chocolate chips.
- Add batter to baking dish and spread so top is even.
- Place in oven to bake for 25-30 minutes (slightly less for fudgier brownies or slightly longer for more cake-like brownies).
- Allow to cool for 20 minutes before cutting into 16 brownies.
- Keep them on the counter in an airtight container at room-temperature for up to 2 days or for a longer shelf-life store in the fridge or freezer (see notes above).
*You can also mash these together by hand but make sure that you mash it up very well and there are no clumps.
** Make sure you use dutch-processed otherwise your brownies will taste bitter – this is the step that people often forget!
Hardly a healthy recipe. With 3 eggs to one avocado, there is so much cholesterol, you might be better off using butter!
Better to call them ‘Egg Brownies’ 🙂
Hello, I don’t agree as you wouldn’t be eating the whole pan by yourself so the amount of cholesterol in the eggs would be divided so that it wouldn’t have much affect anyway. Also if you were to have the whole pan you are allowed 3 eggs a day anyway so you would be fine 🙂
Not to mention it’s good cholesterol and good fats in eggs and avocados respectively. If you happen to eat the whole pan it wouldn be as bad if you ate a whole pan made with butter. Think about sinking our teeth into a block of butter vs and egg or an avocado. Personally I’d take eggs and avocado any day ?
These look so good! Can we use regular flour instead? We never buy any other kind of flour other than plain white.
Unfortunately, no. Coconut flour cannot be substituted because of it’s texture and special absorbance factor. It would throw off the egg-flour ratio drastically. Wish I could help!
If we aren’t bent on it being grain free and don’t have coconut flour on hand, would regular flour work?
Unfortunately, no. Coconut flour cannot be substituted because of it’s texture and special absorbance factor. It would throw off the egg-flour ratio drastically. Wish I could help!
I had my little fingers crossed that this would be a grain free recipe…and it is!! Time to buy that bulk bag of avocados from Costco?
It is always the right time to buy the bulk bag of avos 😉 Totally grain-free! You’ll love em’ 😉
These look delicious Davida! I haven’t yet tried avocado in brownies, but this looks like a great recipe to start with!
I do love avocado with anything and everything, and that includes baked goods!
These look so so delicious, exactly the thing to sink my teeth into right now. X
It really is so versatile! Definitely worth sinking your teeth into 😉
As interesting as these brownies sound, I was very displeased with the way they tasted. Granted they are a healthy recipe, but I felt like I was eating pure cocoa. I had to throw them all away.
I made these and substituted coconut oil for applesauce because I didn’t have applesauce. Also added almost 1/4c extra maple syrup, because my kids are used to brownies with 3c sugars so added a bit more. Delicious.cooked 20-22 min.came perfectlyo it of pan and kids are them up hot (2 each!! ) yum!!!!!!
So happy you liked them Maria! They’re definitely less sweet than your typical boxed brownie mix, which admittedly I’m so acclimated to, I hardly notice when something isn’t too sweet. Thanks for making a great suggestion for those who may need a bit of time to get used to the lack of sugar!
I completely agree! I followed the recipe exactly and I was very displeased with the taste too. i had to toss them as well
Thanks for the delicious recipe! Just wanted to give you a heads up-there’s a typo. Adding vanilla in is listed twice & baking soda is listed in ingredients but not in directions. So I assumed that the second direction to add in vanilla actually means baking soda. 🙂
yes! You are so right. Thank you for catching that. The second vanilla is definitely supposed to be baking soda. Thank you!
could another flour be used instead of coconut flour?
I wouldn’t recommend it. Coconut flour is hard to substitute, but if you do attempt with another flour, be sure to decrease the liquid as coconut flour is highly absorbent and requires more liquid!
Can I get a partnership with SoulCycle or Lululemon? Yes please. Also probably with Scribe because wine + cute boys.
Uh seriously though, just ate 1.5 brownies and it’s everything I can do not to eat the other 14.5. These were so. freaking. good.
Right?! Lee and I were in Lululemon being like WORK WITH BLOGGERS…and then spent our life earnings.
UM I KNOW. They only took me 3 tries. WORTH IT.