Paleo Brownies
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 mashed sweet potato or black beans. In all honesty, I’m not averse to those ingredients and love sneaking more veggies into meals. I have a feeling I’ll probably whip up sweet potato brownies in the future (given my love for all things sweet potato).
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)
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.
Reading the comments I am wondering what I have done wrong. Mine came out rock hard, tasted like a week old chocolate cake. Not cute at all.
Hi Alex – it sounds like you may have over baked them. Hopefully they turn out better on your next try!
Love your recipes! Is the espresso powder necessary for the brownie to bake properly, or can I leave it out?
Hi Harry – no, it’s more flavor. So you can leave it out if you’d like.
As someone who is paleo and always on search for new recipes, I say this looks delicious! I would love to bake these brownies, but the only problem is that I do not have any tapioca flour on hand. Have you tried any other flours in this recipe, if not which do you think would work best in this case? :)
Hi there – If you don’t have tapioca flour, you can use arrowroot flour or any gluten-free flour blend.
These brownies are a rich and fudgy piece of heaven! When baking, the smell of coconut oil was pretty present, so I was nervous the brownies would taste too much like coconut. But once they cooled, the coconut oil was undetectable. Highly recommend this recipe!
Yes, the coconut flavor isn’t detectable at all. Thankfully the chocolate overpowers it. Ha! I’m happy you loved these brownies!
this recipe is awesome! perfectly fudgy on the first try.
Glad this recipe came out perfectly on the first try :)
So so good!! I used butter instead of the coconut oil and almond flour instead of tapioca (it’s all I had in my kitchen). Mouthwatering and delicious. It’s very hard not to eat it all in one day :)
Hi Terri- So glad this recipe still came together with the ingredients you had on hand! I will keep in mind for others who ask :)
I also used butter and almond flour and it was awesome! I love the almond flour taste it in (-:
Great! I’m happy you loved the brownies Barbora!
I made the brownie again yesterday, this time properly with the tapioca flour, coconut sugar and coconut oil and it is exactly as it was supposed to be. The best brownie I have ever eaten :) to be repeated for sure, I put it in my cooking/baking notebook not to ever loose it :)
Thanks for everything, Lisa!