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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!

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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
A healthy and delicious recipe for avocado brownies! Replace oil or butter with heart-healthy avocados for a delicious and nutritious dessert.

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!

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Avocado Brownies

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5 from 13 reviews

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!

  • Author: Davida Lederle
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 25 minutes
  • Total Time: 35 minutes
  • Yield: 16 brownies 1x
  • Category: Dessert
  • Method: Bake
  • Diet: Gluten Free

Ingredients

Scale
  • 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

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Grease an 8 x 8 inch baking pan with coconut oil or line with parchment paper.
  3. In a blender or food processor blend avocado, applesauce, maple syrup and vanilla.*
  4. Add these wet ingredients to a large mixing bowl and whisk in eggs.
  5. In a separate bowl, sift your coconut flour and dutch-processed cocoa powder. Mix in sea salt and baking soda.
  6. Slowly add your dry ingredients to avocado mixture and stir until well-combined.
  7. Stir in chocolate chips.
  8. Add batter to baking dish and spread so top is even.
  9. Place in oven to bake for 25-30 minutes (slightly less for fudgier brownies or slightly longer for more cake-like brownies).
  10. Allow to cool for 20 minutes before cutting into 16 brownies.
  11. 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!

Meet the Maven

Hi! I'm Davida and welcome to my corner of the internet. I'm a wellness blogger, yoga teacher, certified herbalist, and green beauty lover.

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186 Comments

  1. I was just Dx with Celiac Disease and craving brownies. I had a perfect avocado and the rest of the ingredients so I made them and waited for them to cool and then poured my coffee. I ate one and wanted to cry. The intensity of the cocoa with so little sweetness made them almost bitter even though the look and texture was so inviting. I sprinkled with raw brown sugar and had hubby try and he said, so disappointing, my tastebuds expected brownie and I am not sure what I just ate. Oh well, it was worth a shot.

  2. I made these today and they taste great!! I used 1 cup of avocado, and 1/4c honey plus 1/4c maple syrup.
    I will definitely make them again!!

  3. My daughter is in 4-H and went to a foods judging workshop this spring. They suggested trying a healthy recipe, so she looked online for a healthy brownie recipe to enter in the county fair and found these. We are not used to gluten free foods and did not care for the brownies but with a little chocolate frosting or perhaps salted caramel buttercream, we would probably like better. We actually were not going to take but at the last minute, decided to because she went to the effort and expense to bake them. Guess what?!! She received a purple! The judge said her son was gluten free and it was hard to find good recipes and thought her son would like them. Three different judges then judged all the purples for the different age divisions and drum roll…..she received RESERVED CHAMPION overall for juniors! Thank you for a good recipe and teaching us more about healthy foods!

  4. Just made these tonight and will admit I was super nervous about them turning out, but they ended up working SO well! Thanks for the recipe – will definitely be making more! 🙂

  5. These are A-Maziiing! I saw a lot of people found they were sweet enough. I personally don’t eat a lot of sugar so I thought they were delicious (as did my 1 and 4 year old). My hubby on the other hand has quite a sweet tooth. If you find they aren’t sweet enough you can always make brownie icing on the side for those who need a little extra. But honestly I find this recipe wonderful as it is.

    1. Thanks Vanessa! I think I’ve trained myself so very little sugar tastes sweet to me. Glad I’m not the only one out there who feels the same way!

  6. I made these a cople days ago. I made 20.
    They come over super mosit.
    When i bite into them they are super yummy, super light and so much healthier than stire brought. Not sweet which i love. This recipe is a keeper.

  7. I just made these tonight and they were amazing! Especially topped with some almond butter ?
    I will definitely make these again!

    Thank you for the recipe!

  8. Hey!
    I made your brownies a couple days ago and for some reason it’s coming through really bitter and didn’t cook at all. I stirred in a little sugar hoping that it’ll make it sweeter, but even so, there was an unpleasant aftertaste from the Avocados. I baked it for an entire hour and it STILL didn’t cook through. Any suggestions?