Paleo Brownies
259 Comments
Updated Oct 30, 2022
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Paleo brownies are rich, chocolatey and fudgy brownies that are a quick and easy dessert recipe. You’ll never know that they’re gluten-free and dairy-free because they’re so decadent and delicious.
Top these brownies with flake sea salt or a scoop of ice cream and strawberry sauce (which I show on the video below). Then wash them down with an ice-cold glass of my homemade almond milk or cashew milk.
Fudgy Paleo Brownies
When it comes to brownies I’d like to think I’m a connoisseur. In other words, I’ve definitely sample my fair share. So for the very best brownies – paleo brownies included – I have a particular texture that I’m going after.
They can’t be too cakey, otherwise they’d resemble a cupcake. And they can’t be too dense and fudgy, otherwise you might as well just whip up a batch of fudge. No, they need to be the perfect balance of rich, fudgy texture but with enough lift to keep them light and moist.
Well, I’m happy to tell you I have those perfect paleo brownies for you today.
Brownies without Funky Ingredients
Many “healthy” brownie recipes out there include things like black beans or these sweet potato brownies. But in all honesty, I’m not averse to those ingredients and love sneaking more veggies into meals.
But today, I wanted a classic brownie. Or as classic as a paleo brownie can be. A brownie recipe with a handful of ingredients that is easy to make and which I know will blow your socks off.
Ingredients You’ll Need
So what’s in this paleo brownie recipe? Simple ingredients like coconut oil, chocolate chips, eggs, coconut sugar, cacao powder, tapioca flour, salt and vanilla extract. The only ingredient that’s a little more unique is the espresso powder, but if you’ve made my Paleo Chocolate Cake (a massive reader favorite), you’ll understand why that ingredient is key.
If you leave the espresso powder out of this recipe it’s certainly not the end of the world, but I do recommend you buy some as I use it in many of my chocolate recipes.
How to Make Paleo Brownies
These brownies come together quickly and there’s really just five steps:
- Melt the Chocolate: melt the chocolate chips and coconut oil together over a double boiler or in 20-second increments in the microwave
- Blend the Other Ingredients: in a separate bowl use a hand mixer to blend the remaining ingredients together in a mixing bowl.
- Add the Melted Chocolate: pour the melted chocolate into the mixing bowl and blend until it’s the consistency of cake batter.
- Bake the brownies: pour the brownie batter into a parchment-lined cake pan and bake for 25-28 minutes.
- Cool and slice the brownies: let the brownies cool for a couple of minutes, then slice and enjoy!
As you can see, this recipe couldn’t be an easier! Once your paleo brownies are cooled, feel free to sprinkle a little flake sea salt on top or create a showstopper dessert with ice cream and strawberry sauce! I show you how to do that on the video below. Now that’s a Valentine’s dessert worth enjoying.
Paleo Brownies Recipe Video
It’s really quite easy to make this recipe, but it always helps to have a quick video. Give it a watch below!
For More Delicious Chocolate Desserts
- Amazing Paleo Chocolate Cake
- Chocolate Mug Cake
- Flourless Chocolate Cake
- Chocolate Avocado Pudding
- Chocolate Truffle Tart
Paleo Brownies (Rich, Fudgy Brownies)
Description
Video
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup coconut oil (or butter/ghee)
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 3 large eggs
- 3/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1/4 cup cacao powder
- 1/2 cup tapioca flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp espresso powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Optional Garnish
- flake sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.
- Line an 8-inch by 8-inch square cake pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- Melt the coconut oil and chocolate chips together in a glass bowl over a double-boiler or in 20-second increments in the microwave. Stir together to combine.
- In a separate mixing bowl add the eggs, coconut sugar, cacao powder, tapioca flour, salt, espresso powder and vanilla extract. Use a hand mixer on low to gently blend the ingredients together for 30 seconds.
- Add the room-temperature melted chocolate to the mixing bowl of brownie ingredients and use a hand mixer on medium speed to thoroughly combine. It should resemble cake batter.
- Pour the brownie batter into your cake pan and bake for 25-28 minutes. These brownies are best slightly undercooked rather than overcooked.
- Remove the brownies from the oven and let cool for a couple of minutes, then slice and serve.
Lisa’s Tips
- This is the espresso powder I use in this recipe and recommend. And I love this flake sea salt for topping on the brownies.
- In the video I accidentally say 1/3 cup tapioca flour but 1/2 cup is the correct measurement.
Nutrition
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I made these with a few changes and they came out great.
I used 100% dark chocolate instead of chocolate chips
Dates instead of coconut sugar
And blended cashews instead of tapioca flour.
I omitted the cocoa powder as the 100% dark chocolate is plenty chocolatey already
Oh wonderful! Glad your brownies turned out perfectly, Katarina.
Made these today for my husband’s birthday and they were delish!! We stored them in the fridge after because we added a cream cheese frosting on top, and I may have eaten a second one tonight…I think they tasted even better cold! So yum. Thanks Lisa! Your recipes never fail me.
Hi Katie – Happy to hear these brownies worked out great for your husband’s birthday!
I just followed the recipe and it came out really delicious! Perfect Mother’s Day dessert !
Hi Yukasa – I’m so glad these brownies worked out great for Mother’s Day!
What can I substitute the eggs with if dairy free?
Hi Cindy – I haven’t tested this recipe without eggs yet, but you can maybe try using a flax egg instead!
@Cindy, did you try making these with a flax ‘egg’ instead, by any chance? I’d welcome a review, if so!
Hi! Can i use monk fruit? Or any low glycemic sweetener?
Also, i tried Erewhon Chaga brownies and i was looking for the recipe online. Yours use same ingredient but Erewhon used tapioca and almond flower, any ideas of ratio? Also, what about adding walnuts? Thank you Lisa!
I have been making this recipe ever since Lisa first posted this on her website. Our family has many food allergies ( gluten and sugar predominantly ) and I have many auto immune illnesses myself….and let me tell you….NO ONE can tell that these are made without regular AP flour…. and uses coconut sugar as a sweetener !!! I make these for every holiday….starting from New Years Day…. and continuing with Super Bowl Sunday . I decorate them in my team colors with sprinkles !!! Valentines Day with scoop of frozen yogurt……..Birthdays…..St. Patrick’s Day with green and white sprinkles…July 4th…..Halloween…( orange and black sprinkles) ….. Thanksgiving and even Christmas. And all the special occasions in between !!! I even made ice cream sandwiches with them. Let your imagination go wild. ….These are easy to make and EVERYONE loves brownies. I hardly have any left ! And if I do….I layer some into a bowl with coconut yogurt and a dollop of whipped cream . Heaven ! Lisa worked hard figuring out how to make these perfect. Trust me….they are just that.
Hi Valerie – Thanks for leaving a review and so happy to hear you’ve made such good use out of this brownie recipe!!
Great recipe,
My husband loved it!
I used rapadura instead of coconut sugar as that was what I had.
Hi Maria – Happy to hear you both love this brownie recipe!
Hoooly cow these are incredible!!! I didn’t have enough/the right kind of chocolate to make my go-to brownie recipe so I decided to try yours and I think I have a new winner! I’m out of coconut sugar so used 1/2 cup brown and 1/4 cup white sugar since my regular recipe uses a combo too. The texture and flavor of these is better than my usual AND I don’t have to sub a gf flour!
Hi Melissa – I’m so glad you love these brownies!
Each time we’ve made these brownies, they are sooo Delicious! But so are all of your recipes!!! I share your website recipes to so many of my friends constantly 💜
Curious tho, should there be a baking powder or baking soda put in these so they rise a little more ?? 🤔 Or would that make it more like a cake texture? 😂
I’m definitely not a pro baker or anything , so I wouldn’t know if you should or shouldn’t 🤷♀️
Thanks so much for sharing my recipes, Tami! You could definitely add a bit more baking powder if you’d like them to rise more. Just don’t go overboard as it can affect the flavor. Enjoy!
Just made these – taste is great! However texture isn’t really fudgy :/ It’s not “cakey” per se so not a total disasater! But it’s not really what I envisioned a “fudgy” brownie would be. Not sure what might’ve gone wrong, I didn’t make any substitutions. I even took them out earlier (baked for 17 mins only).
Hi Olivia – all ovens do bake slightly different and yours may cook a bit warmer. So next time I’d try baking them for 15 minutes. :)
Delicious but dangerous as I could eat the whole batch in one sitting! Added choc chunks and walnuts and they turned out just great👌🏻
WOW. That’s all I can say about this. Just SOOOOOOOO good. Thanks again, Lisa! You are a goddess in the world of cooking for autoimmune conditions and strange allergies!
Thrilled to hear you’re loving this brownie recipe Kylea!
First, I would like to say that I have made several things from your site since finding you and have loved everything so far. I love that you have recipes for an array of dietary types.
For these brownies, you highly recommend using the espresso powder but will they still be good without it? Would love to make these but any time I have put espresso powder into a baked good, my family can tell and they do not like it. And as much as I love my coffees, I have to say I am not fond of it in recipes.
You can omit it, but I normally like to use espresso powder for a richer chocolate flavor!
Can I use cassava flour instead of tapioca starch? Because, this is what I have on hand. Thanks!
Unfortunately no. Cassava flour is highly absorbent and not the same as tapioca starch.
As always a great recipe!
Thank you Lisa x
Happy to hear you’re loving these brownies :)
I cannot tell you how many times I’ve made this recipe. It’s my favorite to make especially because of how rich and chocolatey it is. Even my toddler loves it and eats it with me. The best part is I get to eat this all myself since my husband doesnt like chocolate lol
I’m so glad the whole family is enjoying this brownie recipe Nagat!
Epic texture and flavor! I used Lily’s chocolate chips and the sweetness is perfect.
Glad you enjoyed these paleo brownies!
5 stars! Turned out perfectly!! These taste just like rich, traditional brownies – perfectly rich and decadent, with a beautiful crusty outside. I omitted the espresso powder because I didn’t have any and decreased the coconut sugar slightly (closer to 1/2 cup). I used a good sized cup of very finely chopped dark chocolate to replace the chocolate chips which I didn’t have on hand. Also – for anyone wondering – 1/2 cup of coconut oil is 108 grams! I also baked it in a lined, round springform pan (8″) which made for a thicker version that could be sliced like cake (I served it with vanilla ice cream and raspberry sauce) but because it was thicker I had to cook it a bit longer.
Thrilled to hear your brownies turned out perfectly! :)
THESE ARE AMAZING!!!!
Has anyone used these for the Brownie Trifle recipe? Simple Mills is so expensive and wanted to sub it with this!
You can use regular brownies with the brownie trifle recipe as well!
Wonderful!
Hi,
Recipe looks yummy. Can I use something else instead of coconut sugar…normal sugar or maple syrup?
You can use any other granulated sugar!
great thanks
These brownies are absolutely yummy! I made them and brought them to work for a co-worker’s birthday and everyone loved them. They have a rich chocolate flavor and the espresso powder really adds to the richness of the brownie. Thank you, Lisa, for yet another fabulous recipe!
Glad everyone enjoyed these brownies Teresa!
Can I use date syrup or maple syrup instead of coconut sugar?
Hi Jen – I would stick with granulated sugar to keep the wet and dry ratio the same.
Can I substitute a different flour if I don’t have tapioca on hand?
You could swap that with arrowroot powder.
Hi Lisa – Thank you so much for all your wonderful and very healthy recipes. Regarding the Brownies, I cannot have espresso nor coffee. Could you please let me know if I can have a substitute or I can eliminate the espresso and will not ruin the recipe. Please advise – thank you!
Raquel
You can just leave it off from the recipe. :)