Chickpea Blondies
Soft and fudgy chickpea blondies made from healthier ingredients. These blondies are easy to make and are naturally vegan, refined sugar-free and can be made gluten-free just like my chickpea cookie dough!
Why you’ll love this recipe
FLAVOR/TEXTURE: Soft, fudgy, sweet yet wholesome. This recipe uses more maple syrup and nut butter than most chickpea blondie recipes so it minimizes any possible chickpea flavor. Chickpea blondies will never taste exactly like conventional blondies but the textures and flavors are similar!
EASY TO MAKE: You only need a food processor (or blender) and oven to make these blondies.
Simple ingredients you’ll need
The full list of ingredient quantities and instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Notes on the ingredients and substitutions
Cooked chickpeas or white beans. You can use canned or soft home-cooked chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans).
Nut butter of choice. I used natural cashew butter as its flavor reminds me of cookies. Peanut butter or almond butter will also work. If you use sunflower seed butter, your blondies will turn green due to the natural chlorophyll in sunflower seeds (but your blondies will still be delicious).
Pure maple syrup for sweetness and to make these blondies extra fudgy. Alternatively, you can use any other liquid sweetener in the same amount.
Oat flour for structure. Alternatively, you can use almond flour or all-purpose flour (with slightly different results). I don’t recommend coconut flour as it’s too absorbent.
Note: If you’re gluten-free, use uncontaminated gluten-free oats. In Australia and New Zealand, all oats contain traces of gluten, so use almond flour to make these celiac-friendly.
How to make chickpea blondies
Simply, add all your ingredients except the chocolate chips to a food processor and blend until smooth. Alternatively, you can use a stand blender or stick blender! The consistency of your batter will depend on what nut butter you used and how thoroughly you blended it.
Note: If you’re making your own oat flour, blitz them in your food processor first. If you add the oats with all the other ingredients, the oats won’t fully break down and your blondies will be grainy.
Lastly, remove the blade of your food processor and mix in your chocolate chips (or other add-ins). After a few minutes, your batter will thicken as the oat flour will absorb the moisture from the chickpeas.
Baking the blondies
These vegan blondies take about 22-28 minutes to bake, depending on your oven. For fudgier blondies, bake them for less time. For sturdier brownies, bake them for longer.
Your chickpea blondies are ready when they puff up and the surface is golden brown. When you let the blondies cool, they will deflate a little – don’t worry, this is completely normal!
Tip: How to cut chickpea blondies
Chickpea blondies tend to be fudgier and stickier than classic brownies and can be tricky to cut. However, here are my top tips for neatly cutting the blondies:
- Wait for the blondies to fully cool before cutting them. This can take 1-2 hours.
- Use the sharpest knife that you own!
- Run your knife under hot water and cut the blondies with the warm knife. The heat from the knife will help cut through the chocolate chips.
- If your blondies are still sticking to your knife, spray or brush your warm knife with oil.
- Cut the blondies in one motion. Don’t move the knife back and forth.
- Wipe your knife clean between each cut.
Optional add-ins
I added vegan dark chocolate chips to my blondies but you can also add:
- Dairy-free white chocolate chips
- Chopped walnuts, pecans, or any other nut
- Cinnamon and nutmeg for blondies that are reminiscent of donuts
To make brownies, I recommend checking out my black bean brownie recipe or no-bake vegan brownies. Cocoa powder is more drying than oat flour so we can’t simply swap them.
Adapting this recipe
You can use any liquid sweetener (such as agave nectar) in the same amount. Granulated sweeteners will also work but I suggest using the grams measurement.
You’re welcome to reduce the sweetener, to taste. However, your batter will be thicker and I recommend baking your blondies for less time so they don’t dry out. Your final blondies will also be thinner.
These blondies will also work in a 7-inch square pan. However, you’ll need to bake them for a little longer. A 9-inch square pan will work but your blondies will be thinner.
You can also halve the recipe and bake it in an 8-inch loaf pan. They’ll take about 20-23 minutes to bake.
More wholesome vegan desserts
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Chickpea Blondies
Ingredients
- ~1 ½ cups (250g) chickpeas, canned or fresh and drained well (I got this amount from one 15oz or 440g can)
- ½ cup (125g) cashew butter, or nut butter of choice (note 1 for alternatives)
- ½ cup (45g) oat flour, (note 2 for alternatives and gluten-free note)
- ½ cup (170g) maple syrup, (note 3 for alternatives)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ⅛ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- ½ cup (85g) mini dairy-free chocolate chips, plus extra to decorate
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F). Line an 8-inch (20 cm) square baking pan with parchment paper.
Prepare the chickpea blondies:
- Add all the ingredients except the chocolate chips to a food processor or blender Blend until the mixture is as smooth as possible. It should be slightly runny.
- Remove the blade of your food processor. Add the chocolate chips and mix with a spoon or spatula. Make sure your blondie batter isn't warm when you add the chocolate otherwise the chocolate will melt.
- Pour the batter into your prepared baking pan. Smooth the surface with a spoon or spatula. If desired, sprinkle additional chocolate chips on top of the batter and press them in.
Bake the chickpea blondies:
- Bake the chickpea blondies for 23-28 minutes. The blondies are ready when they have puffed up and the surface is golden brown. If you insert a toothpick in the middle, it should come out clean (a few moist crumbs are fine but there shouldn't be any wet batter).
- Place the square baking pan on a wire rack. Allow the blondies to cool completely in the baking pan for at least 1 hour. The blondies are very soft when they're warm.
- When the blondies have completely cooled, remove them from the baking pan and cut them with a sharp knife. The blondies are very fudgy so it may help to run your knife under hot water before cutting them (see the blog post above for more tips for cutting). If desired, sprinkle the blondies with flaky sea salt or enjoy with vegan ice cream.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.
Notes
- Natural peanut butter or almond butter will also work. Sunflower seed butter will make your blondies turn green, although they will still be delicious! My cashew butter was quite thick so if your nut butter is runny, your final batter will be a different consistency. The blondies will bake similarly.
- To make oat flour, blend ~1/3 cup (45g) of traditional rolled oats in a food processor or blender until as fine as possible. Alternatively, you can use the same amount of all-purpose flour or almond flour (blondies made with almond flour will be more fudgy and moist). If you’re gluten-free, use uncontaminated gluten-free oat flour. Note that oats in Australia and New Zealand contain traces of gluten.
- Alternatively, you can use any other liquid sweetener in the same amount. Brown sugar and coconut sugar will also work (use the grams measurement). You’re welcome to reduce the amount of sweetener but I recommend baking your blondies for less time. Your final blondies will also be thinner.
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I was looking for the oat flour alternative, but note #2 is mission, as is note #1 and #3. What alternatives do you recommend?
Hi Jolene, if you can’t have oat flour and cashew butter, AP flour, almond butter and either sugar would be my second recommendations. The blondies will turn out darker and a different texture but are still great to eat. I haven’t tested any other alternatives apart from what’s listed,
Hi Anthea, I accidentally put baking power instead of baking soda… Does it still come out ok? or shall I add baking soda before baking?
Hi Hiromi, baking powder is fine – the blondies will just be a little more cakey. Hope that helps!
Omg so good!!!!
I used 115g agave sirup and oat flour.
Thank you for this recipe I will definitely make it again!
Hi Tereza, I’m so glad you loved these blondies and that they’ll be a keeper for you! Thanks so much for your feedback!
Love this recipe! Super easy! I remove the skins from the chickpeas but that’s just my own preference. Easier on my stomach. My 5 year old son loves them and I use sunbutter on purpose to turn them green and he calls them hulk brownies. And eats them up! I’ve made them 4 times now!
Hi Mary, I’m sooo glad to hear that! And I love that you use sunbutter for a green color too. Thanks so much for letting me know 🙂
I love these. Have made them more time than I can count and use them as my afternoon snack when the sweet tooth kicks in. I use allulose maple syrup and Lilly’s chips to reduce the sugar as I’m prediabetic and they are still awesome. Everyone in the family has asked for the recipe.
Oh I’m so glad to hear you’ve made and loved these blondies many times! It’s good to know they work with allulose maple syrup as well. Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know!
I’m so embarrassed, my son is on a protein kick and so I made these at his request with a grimace thinking “this will never work”.
Reader, it worked. Absolutely delicious. Now ready to work my way through all the other recipes with a much more open mind.
*ps had to use tahini instead of peanut butter so the kids could take them to school and it worked beautifully.
Aw, we love that this recipe won you over! It’s such a great way to add a protein boost, and the chickpeas give the best texture without being able to taste them at all. We’re so happy they turned out delicious and love the tahini swap, that’s perfect for school lunches! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment, and we hope you enjoy trying more recipes 🥰
I can’t even count how many times i made them. Such a great recipe!! Thank you so much! But i use just half or max 100 g of maple sirup and it is still so sweet. I could eat them every day. My whole family likes them.
Thank you so much for your lovely feedback! Hearing that you could eat them every day is the best compliment! We’re glad they are a family favourite and that they worked for you with less maple syrup x
WoW!! I’ve tried several recipes tot make vegan blondies, this one makes the most delicious!!
I only swapped cashew butter with almond butter!
Texture is amazing, and becomes better when I leave it in the fridge for one night
This is so lovely to read 💛 Almond butter sounds like a delicious swap and thank you for mentioning the overnight fridge trick, we’ll have to try that next time!
These were amazing!
I had leftover chickpeas from pressure cooking a bag of dried chickpeas for a sweet potato and chickpea soup, so I went searching for a recipe to use them up.
I didn’t have enough maple syrup or peanut butter, so I used honey and whole cashews and macadamias in the food processor, and then added olive oil and water in the final processing phase to get the right batter consistency.
They turned out great! A bit darker than your picture (my honey was quite dark, and I chopped my chocolate up from a block which added some fine chocolate flakes to the mix which melted), but the flavour and consistency was great. They were nutty, light and fluffy, like friands.
Thank you so much for sharing this 💛 We’re so glad you enjoyed the recipe and we love hearing how you made the recipe work with what you had! Those fine chocolate flakes sound like it would give an extra decadent touch!
what the heck??? these are insanely delicious. it’s fluffy like a cake and there’s no over-sweet or buttery aftertaste like in a sugary blondie. there’s no egg either which makes it even more insane how cakey it is. AND it’s healthy!
btw where did the chickpeas disappear to? I can’t taste them in these amazing blondies so they must have run away from the oven when I wasn’t looking
Haha, we love this comment so much! We’re so happy you liked the texture and balance and that you’re as obsessed as we are with these blondies! Thank you for sharing your feedback 💛
I didn’t cook it long enough but holy balls was still so amazing! Question though… I’m trying to log my calories and I don’t know how to log these recipes. Do you have calorie counter for this?
I’m so glad you enjoyed these and underbaked blondies actually sounds amazing! Thanks so much for letting me know! For calories, tap on the ‘nutrition information’ underneath the notes in the recipe card 🙂
Hey why is there no baking powder? Why the baking soda
Baking soda helps baked goods spread and adds depth of flavor, whereas baking powder adds lift to a recipe. Blondies are meant to be dense and are better with baking soda!
These are delicious but my batter is so thick it is hard to get it to mix in either the food processor or a blender. Not sure how the batter could possibly be runny.
Hi Lora, glad you enjoyed these blondies! By any chance, did you use cups to measure the oat flour? Packing too much flour into your cup will make the batter very thick. Also, the consistency will depend on your cashew butter – some brands are thicker and will change the batter consistency. Hope that helps!
✨Lovely & simple! I made my own cashew butter since I had cashews and no butter. It came out nice and light. I think they add extra oil to premade butters. I will probably add a tablespoon of avocado oil next time so it comes out like yours! 😁 I love sweets that are made with bean bases like this, so much healthier ❤️🩹
Glad that you enjoyed these blondies! For this recipe, I used a cashew butter without any added oil, although there are many nut butters in the shops that have added oil. Thanks so much for your feedback 🙂
I used 30 grams less of maple syrup and I realized I didn’t have chocolate chips once I had already made the batter. AND ITS STILL SO AMAZING. I’ve made plenty of chickpea treats before but was always able to detect the taste of the beans. In this recipe you genuinely can’t taste them at all and i love how they’re healthy but taste so decadent!!
Hi Gabby, ahh I’m so happy that you enjoyed these blondies and even with slightly less maple syrup! Thanks soo much for your glowing feedback 🙂
These turned out so well! Can only taste the chickpea the tiniest bit.
Hi Rebecca, aw that’s great to hear!! Thanks for your feedback 🙂
Can I use chickpeas in brine and rinse them
Yes, that’s what I used!
I love these blondies, thanks for the recipe. Can they be frozen?
Hi Keeley, I’m so glad that you love them! And yes, they definitely can :). I’ve stored them in an airtight container for up to a month 🙂