Vegan Beetroot Brownies with Chocolate Avocado Frosting

Fudgy and decadent vegan beetroot brownies with a smooth avocado chocolate mousse frosting. Approved by vegans and non-vegans alike!

These vegan beetroot brownies are pretty deceiving! Even though they contain beetroot and avocado, they are:

• Rich and fudgy
• Decadent
• Indulgent

These beetroot brownies are also refined sugar-free, don't have butter or eggs!! If you love the idea of healthy vegan brownies but don't want beetroot, see my recipe for sweet potato brownies or my 5-ingredient no-bake vegan brownies.

Ingredients to make vegan beetroot brownies

This recipe uses simple ingredients including:

Notes about the ingredients

Beetroot puree made simply from cooking fresh beetroot and blending them into a puree.

Vegan dark chocolate makes these brownies EXTRA fudgy and decadent! They also help the brownies set a little. You may use vegan chocolate chips or bar chocolate that has been chopped up.

Coconut sugar, granulated cane sugar or brown sugar will work too.

Ground flax or chia seeds are our partial egg replacer and help the ingredients stick together. Without this, the brownies are crumbly.

A complete list of ingredients, quantities and instructions are in the gray recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Why should we add beetroot to brownies?

Beetroot is a healthy and nutritious vegetable but also has a few DELICIOUS benefits!

1. The fibre and moisture content of beets makes these brownies extra fudgy and melt-in-your-mouth. Adding fruit to cake (such as in banana bread) makes the cake more dense. This is exactly what we want for brownies!
2. The beetroot gives the brownies a beautiful red hue which is reminiscent of red velvet baked treats!

I haven't tried substituting the beetroot for other vegetables, but I imagine pumpkin and black beans would work. Let me know if you try other vegetables!

Will the brownies taste like beetroot?

You may or may not taste the beetroot, depending on the flavor of your other ingredients, the freshness of your beetroot and your personal tastes!

If you use strong-tasting chocolate and puree the beetroot very finely, it's less likely you will taste the beetroot.

If you DO taste the beetroot, it's very subtle! My partner isn't a huge fan of beetroot but he loves these brownies!

I've served these brownies to non-vegans multiple times and they don't always notice there is beetroot in them. My beetroot brownies are often slightly red, so they just assume I added food coloring to them, haha!

How to make beetroot brownies

This is an easy one-bowl recipe. You don't even have to prepare a special 'flax egg' for the recipe!

Simply add all your dry ingredients to a medium bowl and mix until there are no more big lumps. Add all your wet ingredients and mix until combined.

Tip: if you haven't pureed your beetroot yet, you can add it to a food processor with the rest of your wet ingredients (chocolate, oil and milk) and process it until smooth. Then you can add the beet mixture to your flour mixture!

Will the frosting taste like avocados?

No! Similar to the beetroot in the brownies, if you add enough sweetener and cocoa powder to the avocado frosting, you're on your way to bliss.

If you've never had avocado mousse/avocado frosting before, just imagine the creaminess of avocado with the irresistible taste of chocolate. Combine those elements and BAM!

For the frosting, I used:

• A ripe avocado. If your avocado has some brown spots and a little too ripe, it definitely still will work well!
• Cocoa powder
• Medjool dates, pitted
• Maple syrup or any other liquid sweetener

Making the vegan avocado mousse frosting

You can use dried dates instead of Medjool dates but just make sure you soak them in water beforehand so they become soft!

To make the avocado frosting, simply add all the ingredients to a small food processor and blitzed it. Alternatively, you can add the ingredients to a medium bowl and blend them with a hand blender.

If your frosting is too thick to blend, I'd strongly recommend adding a little liquid to help your food processor or blender. You can use plant-based milk, some of the excess beetroot water from boiling it, or just water.

However, add the liquid a little at a time as you still want a thick spreadable frosting, not a chocolate drink!

Depending on the quality of your Medjool dates, you may have some tiny chunks of dates throughout the frosting. If so, add some liquid and keep on blending.

If you have time, allow the frosting to sit for 1 hour as this will force the pieces of dates to soften. When you blend it again, it'll be easier!

I hope you enjoy this recipe!

More healthy vegan chocolate desserts

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This post was originally published in June 2015 and updated a few times since then.

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