These Beetroot Brownies are soft and fudgy with a rich flavour, and definitely don't taste of vegetables! They're vegan, gluten-free, refined sugar free, date-sweetened, grain-free, oil-free and nut-free optional. A delicious alternative to my Avocado Brownies, Sweet Potato Brownies or Black Bean Brownies!
Using beetroot in brownies might seem strange, but beetroot does pair really well with chocolate as its earthy flavour adds even more richness. And you really can't taste the beetroot at all once you add cocoa powder.
Tips for baking with beetroot
- Make sure your beetroot is cooked until very soft, which will make it easier to blend up.
- Make sure to blend up the cooked beetroot until completely smooth - nobody wants chunks of beetroot in their brownies!
- Don't use pickled beetroot!
How to make this recipe
Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.
- Cook the beetroot.
- Place the soaked and drained dates, cooked beetroot, 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.
- Sprinkle over some chocolate chips, if desired.
- Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
- Leave to cool completely before cutting into squares.
Frosting options
You can spread a frosting over these brownies if you like. Here are some options:
- Chocolate frosting.
- Chocolate ganache.
- Sweet potato chocolate buttercream frosting.
- Cashew chocolate buttercream frosting.
Substitutions you can make
- 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.
- For a refined sugar free version, use refined sugar free chocolate chips.
- You can omit the chocolate chips.
How long do these Beetroot Brownies keep for?
These Beetroot 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
- Avocado Brownies
- Sweet Potato Blondies
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.
Watch how to make this recipe
Beetroot Brownies (Vegan + Gluten-Free)
Ingredients
For the beetroot:
- 2 small beetroot (around 300g/10.5oz in total)
For the brownies:
- 350 g (2 cups) pitted dates soaked overnight in cold water or for 10 minutes in boiling water
- 60 g (¼ cup) smooth almond butter (or sub any other nut or seed butter)
- 120 ml (½ cup) unsweetened almond milk (or sub any other plant-based milk)
- 360 g (3 cups) ground almonds (almond meal)
- 75 g (¾ cups) cocoa powder
- Pinch salt to taste
- 2 teaspoons baking powder (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
To decorate (optional):
- Dark chocolate chips * (ensure vegan/gluten-free if necessary)
Instructions
For the beetroot:
- Cut both ends off and dice the beetroot.
- Place in a pan and cover with water.
- Bring to the boil and turn down and simmer on a low heat for around 30 minutes, until soft enough to gently pierce with a fork.
- Drain and leave to cool slightly before peeling off the skins - they should come off very easily.
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 cooked beetroot, 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.
- Sprinkle over chocolate chips to decorate, if desired.
- 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!
- Leave to cool completely (and ensure the frosting firmed up) before cutting into squares .
- Keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days.
Video
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 walnutsor 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.
- Make sure your beetroot is cooked until very soft, which will make it easier to blend up.
- Make sure to blend up the cooked beetroot until completely smooth - nobody wants chunks of beetroot in their brownies!
- Don't use pickled beetroot!
Disclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you 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.
Ian Cannon
Sounds great,nice to find recipes that are sugar free,will definetly be trying it out.Thank you
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, so happy to hear that!
Natalie
I’m a bit confused. Is it 20 or 50 minutes to cook. The post reads 20 but the recipe says 50. I don’t won’t to burn them!
Rhian Williams
It's 20 minutes in the oven, and the beetroot takes 30 minutes to cook, so total cook time is 50 minutes. But just the brownies is 20 minutes baking time!!
SFranklin
These are delicious especially considering how healthy they are. I didn’t use any chocolate but put pecans in instead
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, so happy to hear that!
Jenni
The beet took a LONG time to cook for me, much longer than 30 minutes. Eventually, I added the drained water from the dates to the beet mixture and let it boil down so none of the sugars were lost. I substituted a dark chocolate bar and some chocolate chips for the almond butter and the cocoa-- stirred into beets while they were warm before processing in the food processor.
I'm not sure what the baking step is supposed to accomplish here because the batter doesn't contain egg so there isn't any chemical transformation that is taking place in the heat. The oven just kinda dried the batter out a little bit so it would hold together better.
With the almond flour, these are very dense and rich--not a low calorie food!
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much for sharing your feedback and substitutions!