These Avocado Brownies are rich and indulgent but secretly healthy, and definitely don’t taste of avocado! They’re a good source of protein and fibre, super satisfying and easy to make. They’re vegan, gluten-free, refined sugar free, date-sweetened, grain-free, oil-free and nut-free optional. A delicious alternative to my Sweet Potato Brownies or Black Bean Brownies!
Using avocado in brownies might seem a bit strange, but it’s a great idea! They create a velvety, fudgy texture but you can’t taste the avocado at all once you add the cocoa powder.
Tips for baking with avocados
- Make sure your avocados are soft and ripe – the softer the texture of your avocados, the better the texture of the brownies.
- Make sure to blend up the avocados until they’re completely smooth – nobody wants chunks of avocado in their brownies!
- Be careful when peeling and pitting the avocados – don’t remove the stone with a knife, it’s dangerous!
How to make these Avocado Brownies
Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe (including measurements and full instructions).
- Place the soaked and drained dates, avocados, almond butter and plant-based milk in a food processor or blender.
- Whizz until completely smooth.
- Transfer into a glass mixing bowl along with all the other ingredients.
- Mix well.
- Transfer the batter into a square baking tin.
Tip: Line the tin with greased baking paper to make it easier to remove the brownies after.
- Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
- You can also spread over a chocolate frosting if you like – instructions in the recipe!
- Leave to cool completely (and ensure the frosting has firmed up) before cutting into squares.
Frosting options
I’ve included a simple chocolate frosting recipe in this post, but here are some other options:
- Chocolate ganache.
- Sweet potato chocolate buttercream frosting.
- Cashew chocolate buttercream frosting.
Substitutions you can make to this recipe:
- You can use any type of nut or seed butter – almond butter, peanut butter, cashew butter, sunflower seed butter, tahini etc.
- You can use any type of plant-based milk – almond milk, cashew milk, soy milk, rice milk, oat milk etc.
- You can replace the ground almonds with ground hazelnuts, ground walnuts or ground sunflower seeds.
- You can make them nut-free by using ground sunflower seeds instead of ground almonds, sunflower seed butter or tahini instead of almond butter and nut-free plant-based milk.
- You can add chocolate chips!
How long do these Avocado Brownies keep for?
These Avocado Brownies keep covered in the fridge for up to a few days – the taste and texture remains unchanged which means they’re great for meal prep and making ahead for entertaining.
More vegan brownies:
- Sweet Potato Brownies
- Black Bean Brownies
- No-Bake Brownies
- Zucchini Brownies
- Peppermint Brownies
- Pumpkin Brownies
- Beetroot Brownies
If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I’d really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo @rhiansrecipes #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Avocado Brownies (Vegan + Gluten-Free)
Ingredients
For the brownies:
- 350 g (2 cups) pitted dates soaked overnight in cold water or for 10 minutes in boiling water
- 2 small ripe avocados , peeled, pitted and diced
- 60 g (1/4 cup) smooth almond butter (or sub any other nut or seed butter)
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) unsweetened almond milk (or sub any other plant-based milk)
- 360 g (3 cups) ground almonds (almond meal)
- 75 g (3/4 cup) cocoa powder
- Pinch salt to taste
- 2 teaspoons baking powder (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
For the frosting (optional):
- 50 g (1.8 oz) dark chocolate * (ensure vegan/gluten-free if necessary)
- 4 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk (or sub any other plant-based milk)
Instructions
For the brownies:
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit)
- Drain the dates and place in a food processor or blender with the avocados, almond butter and almond milk
- Blend until completely smooth, mixing it around a couple of times if necessary
- Transfer into a large mixing bowl along with the ground almonds, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder
- Mix well, adding a tiny splash more milk if it’s looking too dry
- Transfer the mixture into a square or rectangular baking tin lined with greased baking paper – I used a 23cm/9inch square baking tin
- Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. They should be slightly cracked at the top and slightly firm inside but still quite gooey – be careful not to overcook!
For the frosting (optional):
- Break up the chocolate into small pieces and place in a bowl with the almond milk
- Place the bowl over a pan of boiling water and stir regularly until melted – make sure not to overheat it as the chocolate will ‘split’ if you heat it too much
- If the chocolate does split, you can easily fix this by adding boiling hot water to it 1 teaspoon at a time and stirring well until the mixture goes back to normal
- Carefully pour the frosting over the brownies
- Use a spatula, knife or spoon to evenly spread the chocolate across the surface
- Leave to cool completely (and ensure the frosting has firmed up) before cutting into squares
- Keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days
Notes
- You can use any type of nut or seed butter – almond butter, peanut butter, cashew butter, sunflower seed butter, tahini etc.
- You can replace the ground almonds with ground hazelnuts, ground walnuts or ground sunflower seeds.
- You can make them nut-free by using ground sunflower seeds instead of ground almonds, sunflower seed butter or tahini instead of almond butter and nut-free plant-based milk.
- You can add chocolate chips!
Tips for baking with avocados
- Make sure your avocados are soft and ripe – the softer the texture of your avocados, the better the texture of the brownies.
- Make sure to blend up the avocados until they’re completely smooth – nobody wants chunks of avocado in their brownies!
- Be careful when peeling and pitting the avocados – don’t remove the stone with a knife, it’s dangerous!
Disclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you click through and purchase any of these products, a small percentage will come to me, with no extra cost to you! This income will go towards the running of this blog – thank you.
Cindy
Hi could you use banana in place of the seed butter? Can you replace the almond meal with any other flour like oat flour or coconut flour etc? If you have allergies to nuts/peanuts? Thanks
Cindy
Rhian Williams
Yes I think banana will work, or the nut butter can be left out. You can use oat flour in place of the almond meal I think, though the texture will be a little bit different – more chewy I think!
Dilushani
Is it possible to use raw cacao powder instead of cocoa powder? Thanks so much. This looks delicious! Definitely saving the recipe 🙂
Rhian Williams
Thank you! Yes you can!