Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies
Posted Jan 15, 2022, Updated Feb 20, 2024
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These healthy peanut butter brownies are fudgy, and chocolatey. Made with 8 nutritious ingredients (no flour) in less than 30 minutes, they’re an easy & gluten-free & dairy-free dessert to satisfy your sweet tooth.
This healthy peanut butter brownie recipe was born out of my love for nutritious baking and the chocolate peanut butter flavor combination.
These healthy peanut butter brownies are fudgy, and chocolatey and made with 8 good-for-you ingredients (no flour) in less than 30 minutes, which means they’re easy to make when the craving strikes!
They’re an easy, gluten-free and dairy-free dessert to satisfy your sweet tooth.
Healthy Peanut Butter Brownies: Ingredients & Substitutions
- Creamy peanut butter. You could substitute crunchy peanut butter if you like little bits of peanuts in your brownies. Really, any nut or seed butter should work well in this recipe.
- Honey. Maple syrup can be used in place of honey.
- Applesauce. You can replace applesauce with and equal amount of butter, coconut oil or mashed banana.
- Cocoa powder. be sure to use unsweetened cocoa powder.
- Sea salt. If using iodized salt, decrease the amount by half.
- Chocolate chips. Great subs for chocolate chips are: peanut butter chips, chopped peanut butter cups, chopped chocolate bars, etc.
How to Make Healthy Peanut Butter Brownies
This recipe comes together in one bowl in 5 minutes! Don’t forget to watch the video and follow the step-by-step photos!
Begin by combining the wet ingredients in a medium-sized bowl until the mixture is smooth.
Then, add the dry ingredients and stir until the batter is smooth. Next, fold in the chocolate chips until evenly distributed throughout the batter.
If you prefer a different mix-in, here are some suggestions:
- Peanut butter chips
- chopped peanut butter cups
- chopped chocolate bar
- White chocolate chips
- nuts
- dried fruit (cranberries, cherries, etc.)
- a swirl of peanut butter
Next, pour the batter into a prepared baking dish and bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the top is set (it will still be shiny) and the brownies are only slightly jiggly.
Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting.
Serve
Serve these healthy peanut butter brownies slightly warm with a dollop of peanut butter (try this homemade peanut butter), a scoop of vanilla ice cream (or healthy chocolate peanut butter ice cream), or a dollop of homemade whipped cream.
Store/Freeze
Let the healthy chocolate peanut butter brownies cool completely. Then, store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
I suggest gently reheating them in the microwave to restore their fresh-from-the-oven, melty chocolate taste and texture.
Healthy Peanut Butter Brownies Recipe FAQs
Yes, double the ingredients and bake the brownies in a 9×13″ glass baking dish.
Yes, you can use almond butter, cashew butter, sunflower seed butter, tahini, etc.
You should be able to use egg replacer or make a flax/chia egg but combining 1 TBS ground flaxseed or ground chia seeds with 2.5 TBS hot water.
If you make and love my recipes, it would mean so much to me if you would leave a comment and rating! And don’t forget to follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube – be sure to tag @joyfoodsunshine and use the hashtag #joyfoodsunshine so I can see your creations!
Healthy Peanut Butter Brownies
Ingredients
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 egg beaten
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8×8” baking dish, set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, mix together peanut butter, honey, applesauce, vanilla and eggs until smooth.
- Add cocoa powder and sea salt and stir to combine.
- Fold in chocolate chips.
- Pour batter into prepared baking dish and bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the top is set (it will still be shiny) and the brownies are only slightly jiggly.
- Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting.
Video
Notes
- Creamy peanut butter. You could substitute crunchy peanut butter if you like little bits of peanuts in your brownies. Really, any nut or seed butter should work well in this recipe.
- Honey. Maple syrup can be used in place of honey.
- Applesauce. You can replace applesauce with and equal amount of butter, coconut oil or mashed banana.
- Cocoa powder. be sure to use unsweetened cocoa powder.
- Sea salt. If using iodized salt, decrease the amount by half.
- Chocolate chips. Great subs for chocolate chips are: peanut butter chips, chopped peanut butter cups, chopped chocolate bars, etc.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
delicious! these were fantastic and i’m absolutely still craving them. I had to add 1-2 tbsp sugar though because it wasn’t sweet enough to my liking, but otherwise this was a great recipe. will make again!
Yet to try making this but looks easy and quick. Can I use salted peanut butter and the. Skip adding any additional salt ?
Sure. I’d suggest tasting the batter first to make sure it has enough salt to your liking!
Can I use cocoa powder that is not unsweetened ? That is what I have. Thanks
I don’t recommend sweetened cocoa powder.
Just made these and Omgosh sooo good. I’m waiting for my taste tester. Told him they were “real brownies”.
Only complaint they look nothing like yours.
I just made these with my granddaughter. I had not idea what to expect. These were really good!!! I used milk chocolate chips and a sprinkle of semi sweet because that is what I had . We will definitely be making these again!
This looks delicious! Quick question — the instructions in the recipe card say to add baking soda with the cocoa powder and sea salt, but I don’t see baking soda anywhere else in the recipe. Should there be baking soda?
Hey Joanna! NO! I’m so sorry! I fixed that! No baking soda or powder in this recipe! Thank you for bringing that to my attention!
Thanks for getting back so quickly! I have a friend who has a gluten intolerance but loves fudgy brownies, so these look like a great treat to make for her. Thank you!
Hi, I would like to try this. Can you please add grams please. Thanks alot.