The Best Healthy Protein Brownie Recipe is here! Rich chocolate flavor, fudgy texture, and made all in one bowl for easy cleanup. A nutritious dessert for breakfast that’s made with almond flour, white beans and natural sweeteners for a healthy protein packed, fiber full, and dairy free treat.
Brownies are hands down the best baked good out there. It’s one of the most classic chocolate desserts and I’ve never met someone who said they weren’t a fan of them.
Growing up, my siblings and I were whippin’ up brownies that came from a box on the regular. Now, we’ve come a LONG way from making things out of a box, which is usually loaded with sugar and tons of artificial ingredients no one can pronounce.
These easy breakfast brownies are so healthy you can have them for, well, breakfast! Of course, you can have them any time of the day, too. They are so rich, fudgy, chewy, and downright delicious.
I wanted a version of those boxed brownies to be made with healthy ingredients, yet still so decadent tasting. I am so excited to share this high protein brownie recipe that you can make! The best part? They are made entirely using a food processor (or blender), so no bowls, spoons or mixers. Making them and cleaning up is a breeze!
Jump to:
🍫 Ingredients to make the best healthy protein brownie recipe
These healthy protein brownies need very minimal prep, only natural, simple ingredients, and will satisfy any chocolate cravings! The following ingredients may look like a lot, but I promise they are SO easy to make:
- Almond flour
- White beans
- Chocolate protein powder
- Gluten free oats
- Cacao powder
- Monk fruit sweetener
- Maple Syrup
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Sea salt
- Egg
- Unsweetened Applesauce
- Coconut oil
- Almond milk
- Vanilla extract
- Dark chocolate chips (dairy free)
See recipe card for quantities.
🥣 Instructions
No need to grab any large mixing bowl or waiting for ingredients to reach room temperature, just gather the wet ingredients and dry ingredients and let’s get started with making these high protein brownies!
First, you’ll add the egg, maple syrup, and monk fruit sweetener to the food processor, or high-speed blender. Mix on high for just a moment, until ingredients are combined.
Once mixed, you’ll want to melt the chocolate chips and coconut oil using a microwave-safe bowl, heating in 30 second increments until just melted.
Next, add all of your wet ingredients to the food processor and mix on high until combined.
Then, incorporate the remaining dry ingredients and mix for just a moment, until all ingredients are just incorporated.
Once batter is mixed, you’ll want to line your baking dish with parchment paper and gently pour batter into the lined baking dish. Top the batter with dark chocolate chips, or mini chocolate chips, if you’d like!
Place in oven at 350F and bake for 20-30 min.
Hint: To get as traditional brownies as possible, you don’t want to over-mix your brownie batter. Once you add the dry ingredients, mix for a very short time.
📋 Substitutions
The key ingredients in the best protein brownie recipe you’re ever going to make can of course be adjusted to fit any dietary need or preference. The original recipe has no added sugar that’s artificial, and is an excellent addition to your protein snacks list. but. Here are some suggestions if you do need to make any substitutions:
- Almond flour – almond flour brownies are an incredible alternative to your usual all purpose flour ingredients, but you can of course still use those if you prefer! Another option would be whole wheat flour, coconut flour, or oat flour. Note: I have not tested these, so variations of amounts might need to be made.
- Cacao powder – unsweetened cocoa powder will be a great substitute
- White beans – beans pack in so much healthy fiber and can up the protein intake quite a bit, but feel free to swap this ingredient out with either ripe bananas, almond butter, or even sweet potato.
- Vegan protein powder – any kind of protein powder will do for this recipe. Pea protein powder, whey protein powder, or any plant-based protein powder will do. I would suggest to stick with chocolate flavored and avoid options like vanilla protein powder or unflavored protein powder, as the chocolate flavor helps make this protein dessert.
- Gluten free oats – any regular ‘ol oats will do. Or, oat flour if you prefer that instead.
- Monk fruit sweetener – coconut sugar would be an excellent substitute for monk fruit sugar.
- Coconut oil – this ingredient is used to melt the chocolate chips, but olive oil or any other oil will work just fine.
📖 Variations for the best healthy protein brownie recipe
These healthy brownies are made entirely with whole foods. The whole batch is made with less sugar, extra protein, healthy fats, and a little bit of cacao powder, making this easy protein brownies recipe so nutrient dense, while not compromising on those delicious regular brownies flavor. However, this healthy brownie recipes can easily be adjusted to come up with quite a few variations!
- Make peanut butter protein brownies by incorporating some peanut butter in place of either the applesauce or beans.
- Create vegan protein brownies by swapping the egg with a flax egg
- Make protein brownie bites by using a mini muffin tin and shortening the time in oven baking.
🥄 Equipment to make these high protein brownies
No need to pull out any large bowl to make this recipe, just a few simple tools will help bring this delicious healthy protein brownie recipe together:
- Food processor, or high-speed blender
- 8×8 baking dish
- parchment paper
- small microwave safe dish
- 1 cup, ½ cup, ⅓ cup, 1//4 cup, 1 tbsp, 1 tsp, ½ tsp, ¼ tsp
⏲️ Storage
These easy protein brownies will last roughly 5 days stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
💭 Top tip to make the best healthy protein brownie recipe
If you prefer your brownies to be a little bit more like chocolate cake instead of gooey or fudgy, then bake them for a bit longer than listed so there’s less raw batter and more baked, cake-like texture.
This is easily one of my favorite sweet treats to date and taste SO good topped with a little berry compote and yogurt in the morning if you’re enjoying for breakfast, or ice cream in the evening for a decadent dessert.
This recipe is certainly for all my chocolate lovers out there who are looking to optimize their health and nutrition while mindfully upping grams of protein so to stabilize blood sugar, build muscle, and improve your mood overall! This really is one of the best healthy brownies recipes you can make since it’s so simple and nutritious.
If you’re looking for more protein packed recipes, then you’ll love these!
- Rocky Road Protein Cookies
- Chocolate Strawberry Protein Donuts
- High Protein Coffee Cake Donuts
- Carrot Cake Protein Bites
- Apple Cinnamon Protein Donuts
If you decide to make this recipe, please leave a comment letting me know what you think!
Healthy Protein Brownie Recipe
Equipment
- 1 8×8 pan
Ingredients
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1 can white beans
- ½ cup chocolate plant-based protein powder
- ⅓ cup cocoa powder
- ¼ cup gluten-free rolled oats
- ¼ cup monk fruit sweetener
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup unsweetened apple sauce
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- ½ cup almond milk*
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 tbsp coconut oil*
- 3 tbsp chocolate chips, dairy-free* melted (plus 1-2 tbsp more for topping)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F, grease and line a square baking pan with parchment paper.
- Using a food processor, add the egg, monk fruit sugar, and maple syrup. Blend together until well incorporated
- Next, add all of the wet ingredients into the food processor and mix.
- In a small microwave bowl, melt chocolate chips with coconut oil in microwave. 30 seconds should work, but another 30 seconds might be needed if the chocolate chips aren't melted completely.
- Add the remaining dry ingredients, plus the melted chocolate into the food processor and mix until just incorporated. Try not to mix for too long.
- Pour batter into prepared baking dish, sprinkle top with chocolate chips, then bake for 20-30 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool, then enjoy!
Leave a Reply