The BEST Healthy Vegan Gluten-free Brownies that are so fudgy, oil-free, nut-free and so rich, chocolatey, fudgy, (not cakey) and are incredibly moist. Dairy-free, egg-free and made with only 8 ingredients and all made in a food processor.
BEST HEALTHY VEGAN GLUTEN-FREE BROWNIES
Warning: the following post will produce extreme salivation. You have been warned. To me, a brownie that decides to call itself a brownie should require these characteristics: dense, fudgy, chewy and very chocolatey. Cakey brownies, step aside. You are not brownies, you are cake. Accept it and move on. These are the vegan brownies you want in your life.
These healthy vegan brownies are gluten-free, nut-free, oil-free, coconut-free and kid-friendly. Bonus that these only have 8 ingredients (+ salt & water)! These oil-free vegan brownies are just as rich and decadent, but much healthier. See all my oil-free baking tips and guide here!
These are some of the best brownies I’ve ever had and I’m not exaggerating. It doesn’t matter if they are vegan brownies or gluten-free brownies. What is shocking about that statement is that these are filled with ingredients that you would NEVER expect in a brownie recipe. Ya know, like the expected all-purpose flour, butter, sugar and eggs.
So, what’s the main secret ingredient?
Yes, sunflower kernels make it possible for all of you nut-free folks out there. You can now have your brownies and eat them too.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED
- Raw, unsalted sunflower kernels: These provide all the fat that normally oil or butter would provide. Using the sunflower seeds makes these extra fudgy and rich, but healthier.
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
- Pure maple syrup
- Baking powder
- Brown rice flour: This keeps these vegan brownies gluten-free and whole grain.
- Oat flour: Using oat flour also keeps these gluten-free and provides a bit of chewy brownie texture that we all love.
- Vanilla
- Dairy-free semi-sweet chocolate chips: I use Enjoy Life.
HOW TO MAKE VEGAN GLUTEN-FREE BROWNIES
Step 1: Make the brownie batter. Add just the sunflower kernels to a food processor and process into a flour. Add the remaining ingredients and blend for several minutes until completely smooth and no bits of seeds remain.
Step 2: Transfer the batter to a bowl. Add the chocolate chips and stir.
Step 3: Bake the brownies. Add the batter to a loaf pan and bake at 350°F for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with sticky crumbs, not wet batter and not dry.
Step 4: Cool 45 minutes to an hour before cutting. This is important so they hold together and not fall apart, which cutting them while warm will yield crumbly brownies.
TIPS FOR SUCCESS
- Use a scale: This is so important for baking, especially vegan gluten-free baking. Without eggs, traditional flour or oil, precision is key!
- Follow the recipe closely: Omitting any step will affect the outcome and texture. It’s imperative to blend the ingredients as instructed until completely smooth. This is how the brownies turn out fudgy and hold together.
MORE VEGAN BROWNIE RECIPES TO TRY
- Vegan Peppermint Brownies
- Vegan Fudgy Coconut Butter Brownies
- Vegan Fudgy Zucchini Brownies
- Chocolate Pumpkin Cake Brownies
- Raw Brownies with Raspberry Coulis
- Fudgy Vegan Low-Fat Brownies
UPDATE: I originally wrote this recipe using the Oriya protein powder. However, I NO longer use the protein powder, I only use the flours listed below now. The specific protein powder that I used in the recipe is no longer available and therefore do NOT recommend protein powders in the recipe anymore because so many will yield an unpleasant aftertaste, so please use the flours listed.
If you make this recipe, be sure to leave feedback below and share your pic on Instagram or Facebook and tag me @thevegan8 #thevegan8!
Healthy Vegan Gluten-free Brownies (So Fudgy!)
Ingredients
- 1 cup (140g) raw, unsalted sunflower kernels (Do NOT use roasted or you will get an aftertaste!)
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (36g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 cup (160g) pure maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons (10g) vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (90g) water
- 3 tablespoons (30g) brown rice flour (Or sub with 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons (16g) oat flour (or sub with 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour if you can't tolerate oats)
- 1/4 heaping cup (60g) + extra on top dairy-free chocolate chips
NOTE
- This makes a small amount in a loaf pan, so if you want a larger batch, double the recipe and use an 8x8 pan. If you want to use all regular all-purpose flour, then leave out the oat flour and brown rice flour and just use 1/4 cup (32g) all-purpose flour in place of both. The texture was slightly more cakey/puffy with the all-purpose flour. I preferred the more dense/fudgy texture using the gluten-free flours, but both are delicious .
NOTE
- As always, I recommend highly to use a scale to prevent room for error. You don't need cups or to compare the weights to cups, just simply follow the weights listed, as this is exactly how the recipes are tested and made. Make sure to zero out before adding each ingredient.
- I use this scale.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and spray WELL a 9X5 loaf pan with nonstick spray. I tried some with parchment paper and didn't like how they stuck to the paper and were more fragile.
- Add the sunflower kernels to a food processor and process for 30 seconds until a flour is formed. Add the cocoa powder, baking powder and salt and process again until just mixed.
- Add the syrup, vanilla and water and process for 3 minutes or so until completely smooth. Scrape the sides down and process for a few more seconds. It should be COMPLETELY SMOOTH and no chunks of sunflower kernels left before adding the flours next. If it's not all mixed and smooth, you will end up with dry crumbly brownies since the fat from the sunflower kernels is what makes these so fudgy!
- Add the brown rice flour and oat flour (or all-purpose flour) and process again until it is all blended and thick like a smooth nut-butter consistency. Add the batter to a bowl and make sure to scrape out all of that chocolatey goodness. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread out evenly to the corners. Place extra chocolate chips on top.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes depending on your oven. I would suggest checking yours at 35 minutes. I took mine out closer to 40 minutes. Here is the thing, these will not look done based on the top of the brownies, but will form that shiny firm top AFTER they are out of the oven cooling. Do not check for a clean toothpick either, it will not come out clean. It shouldn't be wet batter, but more of a sticky batter. The edges should be firm and have slightly pulled away from the pan. If you are doing a version with all of all-purpose flour in place of the oat and brown rice flours, then they were done at 35 minutes and just slightly more cakey/puffy.
- Cool for 45 minutes to an hour, with no exception. They will fall apart if you try to remove them earlier. Carefully cut them with a smooth sharp knife. Gently remove the first brownie and then the others by sliding a spatula underneath. Then they will firm up considerably even more as they sit on a plate. They will be firm, moist and super fudgy. Store at room temperature wrapped tightly in foil.
Nutrition
The Vegan 8 is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. As an Amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please see my full disclosure policy here.
Hi Brandi, can I use pumpkin seeds instead of sunflower seeds?
Lydia
You are welcome to try it but they are more bitter, do the taste may be strong!
Yay thank you Amy!!
Wow these are delicious!!! I have been searching for a vegan brownie recipe for a long time (one that wasn’t too hard!). Thank you !!! 🙂
Yum!! these turned out so well and were so quick and easy to make. I love all your recipes! every one I have tried has turned out delicious. Thank you so much!
I made these for the second time and I doubled the batch. These are the fuddgiest brownies ever (vegan or non-vegan)! I made sure to blend a little longer to get that smooth texture and that was the trick to get them so fudgy. I wish I could post a picture here. They look out of this world good! Pictures coming up on my IG.
Thank you so much Sherri for sharing the beautiful photo on IG! They are perfect and I’m so happy to hear how much you love them!!
Delicious! Thank you!!!
Thank you so much Erin!!
I just made these and they are AMAZING! Thank you! <3
Yay, so awesome to hear that Sherri! Thanks for the feedback!
I LOVE these brownies, and have made them several times. In fact, I have a pan cooling right now. I leave out the salt and the chocolate chips, and the brownies are nice and fudgy without them.
The first time I made them, I didn’t process the sunflower seeds long enough, and had little gritty bits in the brownies. They’re just for me, so it wasn’t a big deal. Since the food processor didn’t get them fine enough, I now process the seeds for a minute in my Vitamix before dumping everything into the food processor.
Thank you so much for this recipe!
So happy to hear you love these Barbara!! My Cuisinart processor is really powerful and gets the batter perfectly smooth, but that’s a great tip to use the vitamix first if one’s food processor isn’t that powerful!
What a fabulous idea to use sunflower seed flour! These were fantastic. There was a unique and lovely taste to these brownies. Thank you for a fabulous recipe!
I’m so happy you loved these!! Thank you so much for making them!
Thanks for another amazing recipe, as always! For sweetness, I added one banana (I only had one!) and two spoons of brown sugar, and it turned out great, not too sweet. Next time I will definitely try to completely replace the sweetener with bananas, trying to avoid sugar as much as possible (including syrups).
Hi Neringa! Glad you enjoyed them. Banana would make these much more dense and much less sweet, but I’m glad it worked out for you! Thanks for making them!
So good! I tripled the recipe and used just oat flour. I subbed the maple syrup for coconut sugar. So instead of 1.5 cups of syrup, it was 2 cups of sugar and i just added more water to adjust for different moisture amounts. About a cup more. But just as needed. I used muffin tins and added a big scoop into each spot. It made 24 pieces. Cooked for about 22 minutes. They were about 1 cm thick. Very fudgy in the centre!
Wonderful, so happy to hear your changes still worked Tannis!
I’ve made these brownies several times and they are ahhh-mazing. I usually sub rice malt syrup for maple (because it’s a bit cheaper). Other than that I follow this recipe and it always turns out great. I can hardly believe they have no oil!?
That is so wonderful to hear Josie, thank you so much for sharing!
Hi!I wanted to ask…can they be refrigerated? I’m looking to make around 6 big badges for the next day but wanted to make sure I can store them inside the refrigerator! Help
Thanks
Hi! They will get really firm like fudge, they are best at room temperature. No need to refrigerate!
I made these today for my gluten free but non-vegan sister’s birthday, and the first words out of her mouth were “it’s like the abyss is a friend”. 😂😂😂 She loves them!
Haha! So funny! So glad they were a hit!!
I made these tonight subbing all the flour with bob’s red mill gluten free flour and they came out perfect! I also just used a Nutributllet and made the entire batter in the belnder(blended the seeds first as recommended). So easy and delicious! Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
Yay! So glad to hear that! Thank you for the lovely review! Would you mind adding the star rating too, thank you so much!!
These are so freaking good! My picky son loves them too! Thanks Brandi 🙂
Woohoo, wonderful to hear Silvana, thank you!! If you could click the star rating next time, that would be awesome, they help me out, thank you so much!
Just wondering if I can use white rice flour instead of brown? And to make it all gluten free, can I make it with gluten free flour instead of oat flour?
Thank you for all the good recipes.
Hi Stina! I honestly don’t know since I haven’t tested it with a gluten-free blend, only the 3 flours I listed above. I’m sure it would work but my guess is since there is starches in GF blends it would make them cakier, but I would assume they’d still be good. Give it a try and let me know!
I made these this afternoon, followed the recipe exactly and in the oven for 35 mins but they turned out dry and crumbly. There are parts of it that is a little gooey so I can imagine how nice they would be. I guess less time in the oven next time.
Hi Amanda, did you process all of the ingredients as noted in a food processor?? These brownies are nothing but super fudgy and gooey, not dry and crumbly at all. Not even the slightest dry. All I can think is that your oven is way off or somehow the ingredients were not processed fully into the liquid because it is all the fat from the sunflower seeds that give them all their incredible moisture as well as binding. They are very, very fudgy and firm. As noted they firm up a ton as they cool. These all have perfect rave reviews from all other readers as you can see above, so I’m not sure what happened on your end! I’ve made them dozens of times and they are extremely fudgy every time and I even go to the full 40 mins baking time.
Hi Brandi, yes I put them in for 3 mins like you said. I had the timer going and it looked super smooth. Not sure why then, maybe ill try them again and pull them out of the oven earlier, or process them longer. I’ve had a lot of your other recipes which are amazing so it must be something on my end. Just disappointed I didn’t get to eat these yummy looking ones in your pics!
The best vegan brownies, just fallen in love for this recipe and I will repeated over and over, but I need to mentioned that I put agave syrup instead of maple, also I mixed cocoa with karob and I like to add on top when I serve them homemade peanut butter (sugar free, salt free, any oil free- just peanuts roasted by me and then blended very well until they become a thick but smooth paste), also on top of them some home made granola; my secret is to keep them into the fridge before u eat them!
Yay! SO very happy to hear how much you loved these Cristina! Thank you so much for the awesome review! Peanut butter on top sounds so delicious!
Thank you for making a vegan recipe without oil!!!!! I love coconut but it is high in saturated fat and you just can’t get around that. No mayter what saturated fat clogs your arteries and is just as bad as trans fat. Being dairy free, most of my desserts have to be vegan… so finding one that isn’t ridiculously high in bad fats makes dessert much more enjoyable.
These are UNREAL….we tripled the recipe and made a pan-full of these. If you follow your directions to the letter, they come out PERFECTLY. We did make one modification and instead of Oat Flour we tried Coffee Flour (yes, its a thing) and the outcome was great.
My wife’s first comment after trying them….”o.k., I’m vegan now”!
Thank you, wonderful recipe.
Hahaha, this is the best comment ever Christopher! I love that these brownies instantly converted her, I laughed out loud! I’m SO happy you both loved these so much! You described exactly how I feel about them too and why they are my favorite brownie on the blog (I have many!), although I do love them all. Would you believe that I have a brownie recipe in my upcoming cookbook that is even better (in my opinion) because it mimics that true classic brownie like the boxed kind with the thick texture and top! Anyways, thanks so much for the awesome feedback! If you get a chance to leave the star rating, that would be awesome, they help me out so much!
Love love love this recipe! My go to chocolate fix recipe. Thanks girl!
Thank you so much Melanie, I’m so happy to hear that!
This recipe is so easy and so yummie! Even my boyfriend liked these brownies. I made 1.5x the recipe and put it in a muffin tray. Twelve delicious brownie-muffins in 20-25 minutes. Wonderful. Brandi, I am hooked on your recipes. Thank you so much!!
Thank you so much Andrea for taking the time to leave the review! I really appreciate it! SO happy to hear you are enjoying my recipes 🙂
I made the Sunflower Brownies for the third time this week. I cannot keep them in my house. Since finding the Vegan 8, my life has changed. My daughter is eating healthy, easy food that I prepare because it tastes great! I had a hard time getting her to eat ANYthing healthy before. Thank you so much for the awesome, easy recipes! I have not made any of your recipes that we have not liked yet! Blessings to you and your family!
This is the best review ever Seanah!! So so happy you loved these brownies so much and thank you very much for your kind words. I can’t tell you how happy your words made me and what it means to hear how much you are loving the recipes. Thank you so much!
Made these yesterday and wow are they good! The best brownies I’ve ever made (vegan or not). I followed the recipe to a T including the protein powder. I used part of a vega one vanilla protein packet and it worked. I left it sit for an hour like she said and I was shocked when I cut it open. All the fudge-y goodness! It’s also so easy to make and I didn’t dirty tons of bowls. I’m going to make this for everyone I can.
Yay, yay, yay! Makes me so happy to hear this Morgan! Thank you very much for the awesome review both here and on Instagram, it is so appreciated!