Dark Chocolate Beet Brownies are incredibly moist and chocolatey! You would never know that they're loaded up with ½ pound of beets! These beet brownies are easy to make and will be a hit for any brownie lover.
It was my friend Shashi of Savory Spin who inspired these brownies. She posted Chocolate Beet Cookies and I couldn't stop thinking about them. I'd eaten (and loved) chocolate beet cake, but cookies? Then I wondered, what about brownies?
Beets and brownies are buddies.
It's fun to come up with recipes with unusual ingredients that taste unexpectedly delicious - I'm looking at you Cauliflower Fried Rice (surprise, there's no rice!). But if you're still skeptical about adding beets to a dessert, consider carrot cake. Imagine the prejudice it must have endured before that first bite, "hey, wait a minute..." Beets in chocolate desserts have the same magic. It's about the moisture and depth they add, not the beet flavor.
Did you see this post from The Kitchn - Brownie Philosophy: Chewy, Cakey or Fudgy? I like my brownies to be fudgy, but I also like them to rise and have a delicate texture, so somewhere between fudgy and cakey. These brownies are toward the fudgy class, but have a lightness too. They're entirely moist and, for me, are even more delicious from the fridge the next day than when they're warm. I had to try them both ways, R&D you understand. 😉
How to Make Beet Brownies Fudgy
There is a key to ensuring that these brownies keep their moist texture: don't overcook them. You want some moist crumbs to come out when testing with a knife; they'll look done around the edges but still slightly wet in the middle. If they cook longer, they'll still be moist and delicious, but will lean more toward a cakey texture.
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Dark Chocolate Beet Brownies Recipe Video
Dark Chocolate Beet Brownies
Ingredients
- 8 ounces boiled and peeled beets about 2 medium beets
- 1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks, plus more for buttering parchment paper
- 8 ounces dark chocolate chopped or chips
- 1¼ cups white whole wheat flour (150 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 eggs at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup golden brown sugar packed
Instructions
- Quarter beets and transfer to food processor; process until pureed, scraping the sides down twice. (You should end up with a scant one cup of beet puree.)
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Line a 9-inch by 9-inch brownie pan with parchment paper or grease pan generously.
- Cut sticks of butter into tablespoon size chunks and place in a heavy saucepan. Add chopped chocolate and cook over low heat, stirring constantly until mixture melts and is smooth. Remove the pan from heat and set aside to cool.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, gently mix the eggs for about 30 seconds. Add vanilla and brown sugar; mix on medium-high until light and airy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed and add beet puree and then slowly add chocolate mixture; mix just until combined. Add flour mixture and again, mix just until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top with a rubber spatula.
- Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until a knife inserted into the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs sticking to it. Allow brownies to cool for 5 minutes then transfer with parchment to cooling rack.
- Cut and serve warm, at room temperature, or straight from the refrigerator (my favorite).
dark chocolate beet brownies - I want to try this recipe but need to know exactly how much butter to use. You have 2 sticks on the recipe, but I have seen sticks that are 1/4 cup and some that are 1/2 cup. So do I need 1/2 cup or 1 cup of butter???
Hi there, Simone! You'll need 1 cup of butter.
Love this will try soon
But can you share recipes using the metric measurements as well? Only Canada and the US use imperial yet people all over the work want to try out recipes
Hi, Mackenzie! You're absolutely right - I've updated this recipe so you can now click on 'Metric' to convert the measurements.
These are pretty fluffy like cake- amazing delicious cake - but they don't have the density I was looking for in a brownie. I may replace my favorite 'drop-the-beet' cake recipe with this one and cover it in a cardamom clove glaze.
Glad you enjoyed these even though they weren't quite what you were looking for.
I baked these for 25 minutes and they came out completely cakey rather than fudgy. Not what I was expecting but we called it chocolate snacking cake and everyone was happy. The important thing is that they don’t taste like beets at all. We hate beets so this is a great use of the ones that come in our csa. I have another large beet to use up so I’ll try cooking them less and adding some chocolate chips to give them more of a brownie vibe.
Hi Laura! Glad you're enjoying the recipe and making it your own.
Sadly, these were much more cakey than fudgy. We're not fans of cakey brownies so will just give these to someone who is. Just want to warn others who prefer fudgy beet brownies to keep looking. I should have paid more attention to the picture, as they look fluffy and cake like. Oh, well. I'll keep searching for a good fudgy beet brownie recipe.
Sorry these weren't what you were hoping for, Tara. My best guess is that they were in the oven too long, which leads to a more cakey texture.
2 sticks of butter? Wow, surprised no one commented. Can't have butter, any ideas. Love beets!
Hi, Gigi. You can swap in an oil like coconut oil or a neutral vegetable oil like avocado oil. You can also do 1/2 oil and 1/2 applesauce. Hope that helps!
Just found this recipe today and tried it. Wanted to comment since I did a couple alterations that I saw asked about in the comments.
First - I used a gluten-free 'measure for measure' flour with xanthan gum, made to work as a 1-to-1 substitution for regular flour. It seemed to work pretty nicely! The batter was thick and fluffy.
Second - I had pre-packed, pre-cooked beets that came out to closer to 12 oz instead of 8. So I did as suggested by the author and used that extra amount plus 1 more teaspoon of baking powder and took out two eggs. It doesn't seem to have compromised the structure of the brownies.
I used an 8x8 pan instead of a 9x9 (I didn't realize the size was off until after) and the batter was extremely fluffy and thick. After ~30 minutes I had some dark spots on the top and it was slightly jiggly in the center. It was definitely a bit underbaked in the middle and I should have kept it in longer, but the outer half along the edges are wonderful. I can barely taste the beet and even my husband said he would have never guessed they were different, and he has a rather discerning pallet. I have two more pre-measured packs of beets and I think I'll definitely be using this recipe again!
Thank you for your cooking notes, Cady. Glad you're enjoying the recipe!
These brownies are super delicious, I use pre cooked beets available at my supermarket they work just fine, is it possible to make it in patty cake pans and how many would this recipe make, the patty pans are 7cm diameter.
So glad you enjoyed these, Jacinta! I haven't tested the batter in smaller pans. I'm sure it will work, but you'll want to reduce the cooking time quite a bit if you want to maintain a moist / fudgy texture in the middle.
Absolutely loved these! I added walnuts and chocolate chips and glad I did. Also - “red velvet” brownies sound sexier than “beet” brownies 😜
That's wonderful to hear, Maggie, thank you! And, you're right, Red Velvet does sound better. 😉
We really wanted to like this recipe, and we even put chocolate icing on top to make them even fancier and more chocolatey, but they did not taste good. The texture was OK—certainly not what I would call "fudgy" but more of a cake texture. The taste, though? Beets. My husband actually asked me if I put dirt in the brownies, because they have so much earthy flavour from the beets. We're going to have to compost the rest of the pan, because nobody in our household will eat another. So disappointed! Especially since everyone in the comments swore up and down they wouldn't taste too beet-like, and I wasted $10 of fair trade, organic chocolate to make these. And we LIKE beets in this house. We just don't like brownies that taste like dirt. 🙁
Oh no, Lia! I'm sorry this one wasn't a hit for you.
I just got delivered some giant beetroot in a veg box so think I'll try these out! Marissa - I have wholewheat flour not white wholewheat, would you recommend I mix the wholewheat with plain/all purpose flour? If so, any thoughts on ratio? Thanks!
Hi there! White whole wheat flour has a milder flavor than standard whole wheat, but you can absolutely use the whole wheat flour you have on hand. If you want to add some all purpose flour, I'd go with a ratio of 25% all purpose to 75% whole wheat. Enjoy your brownies!
Made these last weekend and they are very tasty, a bit different and not too sweet which is ideal! Thanks for the tip Marissa.
So glad you enjoyed these!
I forgot the eggs but it still turned out fine. I also used 2/3 spelt flour and 1/3 plain flour. It came out more of a light cake which was still enjoyable to eat.
So glad these turned out, Sally! Thank you for coming back to let me know. 🙂
Hi Marissa!
I am going to try this recipe with my 4 year old son who loves to help out in the kitchen.
I was wondering if you can make these in a pan - loaf pan? Will it turn out the same?
Hi Japu! I love that you're going to make these with your son. You'll need to compare the size of your loaf pan to the 9x9 square pan I used for this recipe (81 square inches) and will likely adjust the baking time. You may even want to divide the batter between two loaf pans. Have a look at this article that goes into depth about different pan sizes and how they affect baking times. I hope that helps! Please let me know how it goes.
These were delicious!
So glad you enjoyed these, Kyra! Thank you for coming back to let me know!
Hey you say two sticks of butter.. could you pretty please tell me how much that is in grams? Thanks I can’t Wait!!!
Hi there, Vix. 2 sticks = 1 cup = 227 grams Hope you love these! 🙂
Can u freeze them?
Hi, Cheryl! Yes, absolutely.
Can I make these with Gluten Free flour and Xanthan Gum? Any other changes to the recipe needed to make them Gluten Free?
Hi there, Selena! I haven't made these brownies with gluten free ingredients. My guess is that it would work just fine, but without testing it, I can't say for sure.
Hi Marissa,
How long do you boil the beets for?
Thanks, Christine
Hi, Christine. 🙂 You'll want to boil the beets in their skins until they're very tender. The boiling time depends on the size of your beets - it's best to have beets of similar size. Start them in cold water as you would potatoes and bring to boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until tender, 30 to 60 minutes. Transfer to an ice bath. Once they're cool enough to handle, the skin should slide off easily.
Hi, I started out several years back tossing ground cooked beets in to my zucchini brownies. What zucchini called for, use half and then other half beets. Hot recipe shared many times.
That's great, Joyce. 🙂
These look delicious!! I was surprised to see that it calls for 4 eggs in addition to a cup of beet puree-- seems like a lot of eggs for a 9x9" pan. Can I swap some of the eggs for more beets or do you think the beet flavor would be too intense?
Hi, Chelsea! I think that swapping out eggs will have some affect on the flavor / texture, but you absolutely can substitute some fruit puree along with a little extra leavening - 1/4 cup of beet puree and 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder for each egg that you leave out (I wouldn't leave out more than two). And here's an article for other egg substitution ideas you might find interesting. Hope you love these!
I made these for my sons track team. (Most of the kids do not like beets!) and no one could tell there were any veggies in there, at all. I have a digital scale so I measured exactly and it came out spot on. This recipe is sound! I would advise buying a some extra beets at the green grocers because remember you have to lop the nub or top off, you will lose some weight, and you really want 8 oz in total of beets. I cooked the beets in the oven, wrapped in foil, which I think is less messy than boiling. The brownies end up nice and chocolate-y, but not overly sweet, so they work for adults, too. Thanks Marissa, great recipe!
You made my day, Dimity! So glad everyone enjoyed these!!