The BEST sweet potato brownies which are fudgy, decadent and use real chocolate. They are vegan, refined sugar free, can be made gluten free and your ultimate healthy brownies!
I'm all about making wholefoods delicious whether it's through these brownies, my popular beetroot brownies or chocolate avocado mousse tart :)!
Why these are the ULTIMATE sweet potato brownies
These brownies are very rich and decadent because they have melted chocolate inside them! Lots of popular sweet potato brownie recipes only contain cocoa powder but NO melted chocolate. I can't personally fathom the idea of brownies without actual chocolate!
According to The Kitchn, cocoa-based brownies are softer and lighter whereas chocolate-based brownies are more fudgy and rich. To get the best of both worlds, I use both cocoa and melted chocolate in these brownies! These are REAL sweet potato chocolate brownies.
Adding melted chocolate also helps with binding the ingredients in these brownies as there is no egg!
Simple ingredients you'll need
I based this recipe on my popular tried and tested beetroot brownies. You'll need:
Plain / all-purpose flour
Semi-sweetened melted vegan chocolate. The better your chocolate, the better your brownies will be.
Steamed/boiled sweet potato for that extra fudginess and fun hidden vegetable. These brownies are perfect for using those misshaped potatoes such as from the 'Imperfect Picks' range from Harris Farm Markets!
Runny almond butter instead of oil. Oil creates more crumbly brownies which are slightly oily on touch. Almond butter (or any other nut butter) makes brownies even MORE fudgy and in tact.
Coconut sugar which has a slight caramel note and adds complexity to these brownies.
Dairy free milk for moisture. The brownie batter is very fudgy that we need to break it up somehow!
Cocoa powder. And a little baking powder to give these brownies lift but not too much so they become cakey.
These accidentally vegan brownies are also eggless and dairy free :). As always, all ingredient ratios are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post!
Preparing the wet ingredients for these brownies
I always strive to make recipes as simple and easy as possible. First, I'd recommend melting the chocolate and dairy free milk in a small saucepan. Doing this first will allow the mixture to cool down before you mix the final batter.
You'll need to puree about 250g of sweet potato. If you have a normal sized food processor or blender, you'll know how difficult it is to blend small amounts of anything! The easiest way to puree the sweet potato is to add it to your liquid chocolate mixture. Liquid always makes blending easier!
I have a stick blender so I blended it right in the pan. However, you can add it to a blender or food processor with the chocolate mixture! Allow it to cool a little then we can proceed to more yumminess :). You don't want the mixture to be too hot otherwise your sweet potato brownies will cook before they reach the oven.
Preparing the brownies
Add all the dry ingredients to a bowl and mix until there are no big lumps. Add your beautiful sweet potato chocolate mixture and your almond butter (or choice of nut/seed butter) and mix!
Initially, the batter will look quite dry but it will eventually come together. The final batter should be thick, fudgy and you'll want the whole bowl to yourself :). The batter tastes sooo good that you won't believe they are healthy brownies!
The brownies don't take long to bake in the oven. You'll know when they are ready when you can poke a skewer or knife into the middle and there's no wet batter on it (though crumbs are fine)!
Customising these vegan brownies
To make NUT-FREE vegan sweet potato brownies, simply omit the walnuts or pecans. You can replace them with sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds or even a swirl of seed butter such as sunflower butter or tahini! Oh my YUM!
To take these brownies to the NEXT LEVEL, sprinkle white/milk/dark chocolate and raspberries on top!
More vegan chocolate recipes
Best Sweet Potato Brownies
Ingredients
Wet ingredients
- 1 cup (170g) roughly chopped chocolate or chocolate chips
- ½ cup (125g) dairy free milk, such as almond, soy or coconut, or brewed coffee
- ~2 cups (250g) roughly chopped sweet potato, steamed, boiled or baked
- ½ cup (125g) runny almond butter, or any other nut or seed butter
Dry ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups (220g) plain or all-purpose flour*
- 1 cup (160g) coconut sugar, or dark brown sugar
- 2 tbsp (12g) cocoa or raw cacao powder**
- ½ tsp baking powder
To decorate (optional)
- ¼ cup (45g) roughly chopped chocolate or chocolate chips
- ~3 tbsp (20g) walnuts or pecans, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Line a 20 cm (8-inch) square baking pan with baking paper.
- Add the chocolate and milk to a small saucepan over medium heat. Melt until combined. Add the cooked sweet potato and almond butter and use a stick blender to puree the mixture until as smooth as possible (or use a food processor / stand blender). Set aside to cool slightly.
- Add all the dry ingredients to a large bowl and mix until there are no lumps. Add your chocolate mixture and mix until combined. The brownie batter should be thick and fudgy.
- Scoop the brownie batter into your baking pan and smooth the top.
- Optional: sprinkle the extra chocolate and walnuts/pecans on top and gently press them into the batter.
- Bake the brownies for 15-20 minutes (shorter if you like fudgy brownies, longer for crispy brownies). The brownies are ready when you can insert a skewer into the middle and and there are only some crumbs on your skewer. Keep in mind that the brownies will set more over time! Allow the brownies to cool in the baking pan.
- When you are ready to serve the brownies, remove them from the pan, slice and enjoy!
- Store the brownies in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 day, in the fridge for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 1 month.
Notes
This post was originally published in October 2019 and updated in April 2021.
Please leave a comment below if you made this recipe, have any questions or thoughts! Your comment will help other readers and Rainbow Nourishments.
I tweaked the recipe by using almond meal and coconut flour for gluten free brownies and let me tell you how moist and decadent the finish product turned out.
I also under bake it cos I like my brownies fudgey and gooey and it was just perfect. It was such an easy recipe to follow. The hardest part in my experience is not eating the whole tray in one sitting! Thank you for sharing 💕
Aw, reading your comment is making me hungry! I'm so glad these brownies worked with those substitutions - I need to try exactly that next time! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment x
Could you use tahini in the recipe for the nut/seed butter?
I think it would work - I haven't tried it with tahini so let me know how you go if you do!
I actually ended up using organic macadamia butter, did the gluten free option, and cacao nibs on top…AMAZING!
Probably a silly question but is sweet potato purée just boiled sweet potato which is blended? Or is there some liquid added when you purée?
Not a silly question at all! It's just boiled sweet potato and blended 🙂