These Vegan Gluten-Free Chocolate Brownies are fudgy and gooey, seriously indulgent and made with a secret ingredient! Sumptuously chocolatey, seriously moist and luxuriously dense, they're also refined sugar free, oil-free, naturally sweetened with dates, flourless and grain-free, and high in protein and fibre. They require just 6 ingredients and 30 minutes to make! And they leave you feeling pleasantly satisfied and full of energy, rather than nauseous and lethargic.
What's the secret ingredient?
I stumbled across a recipe for Ricotta Brownies and wondered how I could make a vegan version...then I thought of tofu! It's made in a similar way to ricotta (but with soy beans instead of milk), so it has a similar thick and creamy texture.
If you find the idea of a tofu-based dessert repulsive, I must say I was also a little nervous about the brownies tasting too strongly of tofu, but the cocoa powder actually renders the flavour completely undetectable. The tofu really enhances the texture as it works as a kind of butter substitute, adding creaminess and richness.
The sweetness in these brownies comes entirely from dates, which get blended up with the tofu to create a thick, silky-smooth, caramel-like mixture.
Inspired by my Chocolate Torte recipe, the flour-replacement in these grain-free brownies is ground almonds (almond meal/flour), which creates a simultaneously fudgy and chewy texture without sugar. The ground almonds paired with the tofu add lots of protein, which makes these brownies filling and satisfying.
How to make this recipe
Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.
- Place the soaked and drained dates, silken tofu, plant-based milk and salt 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 15 minutes.
- Leave to cool slightly before cutting into squares!
Substitutions you can make
- You can replace the ground almonds with ground walnuts or ground hazelnuts.
- You can replace the tofu with the same quantity of plant-based yogurt - coconut yogurt, soy yogurt, almond yogurt etc.
- You can add some chocolate chips to the batter.
How long do these keep for?
Quite unusually for gluten-free baked goods, the texture of these brownies lasts for a good few days - they should be stored covered in the fridge as you don't want the tofu to go bad!
More vegan and gluten-free chocolate recipes
- Chocolate Cookies
- Chocolate Banana Bread
- Chocolate Muffins
- Chocolate Mousse Cake
- Chocolate Cupcakes
- Chocolate Tart
- Avocado Brownies
- Beetroot Brownies
- Rice Chocolate Mousse
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 it
Vegan Gluten-Free Chocolate Brownies
Ingredients
- 300 g (10.5 oz) silken tofu
- 235 g (1 ⅓ cup) pitted dates soaked overnight in cold water or in boiling water for 10 minutes
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk (or sub any other plant-based milk)
- Pinch salt
- 200 g (1 ⅔ cup) ground almonds (almond meal) *
- 50 g (½ cup) cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking powder (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Drain and rinse the tofu, then pat dry with a paper towel.
- Drain the dates.
- Place the tofu, dates, almond milk and salt in a food processor or blender and whizz until completely smooth.
- Transfer into a bowl and add the ground almonds, cocoa powder and baking powder. Mix well.
- Transfer the mixture into a baking tin lined with baking paper (I used a 23cm/9inch square baking tin).
- Bake in the oven for around 15 minutes until the top is cracked and the brownies have just set - don't worry if they still look a bit gooey when you take them out, as they will firm up as the cool down.
- Leave to cool slightly before cutting.
- Keeps well covered in the fridge for up to a few days.
Video
Notes
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.
Julia Doty
Hello: I was looking for low-carb desserts without artificial sweetener, and I ran across your blog, thankfully. I’m thinking of starting the keto riot, but I absolutely detest artificial sweetener. Everything that is low-carb seems to have that in there. I’m not vegan, but your recipes look very good. Can you tell me if there are ways to make them a little less in the carbohydrate, department? I’m new to all this stuff, and I don’t think I could do it without some good things to eat, especially sweets. So any advice would be much much appreciated! And I do look forward to trying some of your recipes. They look really good! Thank you so much!
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much! I think these chocolate brownies would be a relatively good lower-carb option as they don't contain any grains as the base is made with ground almonds. I hope that helps!