Easy paleo brownies done in 30 minutes! This recipe includes simple, clean ingredients like almond butter and coconut flour. They have the perfect crinkly top with a rich and gooey center.
Watch the video below to learn how to make paleo brownies with tons if tips!
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Why we love these paleo brownies:
- Paleo brownies are gluten-free, dairy-free and refined sugar-free. And in this case also with a low carb option!
- Pantry staples: this recipe only includes pantry staples for healthy baking. No fancy ingredients you'll only use once!
- Minimal flour: this recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of coconut flour total! No need for multiple types of flour and makes it an easy recipe to adapt to keto.
- So much chocolate: this recipe has double chocolate with the cocoa powder and chocolate chips! We love biting into a melted pool of dark chocolate right out of the oven.
Are paleo brownies healthy?
From an ingredient perspective, yes, paleo brownies are healthy! They’re made with ingredients that your body will love and without any things that can sometimes cause inflammation (ie dairy, sugar and gluten).
They're not going to help with balancing blood sugar, but they're great when you want a sweet treat without a lot of processed ingredients.
The simple ingredients
- Almond butter: this is the base of the recipe and what we're using instead of fat from butter. You can use any nut butter you have on hand like cashew butter, but remember peanut butter isn't technically paleo-approved.
- Coconut sugar: this adds sweetness without any refined sugar!
- Maple syrup: the mixture of coconut sugar and maple syrup is what makes these sweet and the maple adds a depth of flavor.
- Coconut flour: You only need 2 tablespoons here for the entire recipe! Coconut flour absorbs a lot of moisture so this is all you need.
- Eggs: We're using a mixture of eggs and an egg yolk for extra fat and to hep bind everything together.
- Vanilla: for flavor!
- Cocoa powder: this is the main dry ingredient and is why we barely need any flour in this recipe.
- Baking soda and salt: the salt balances out the sweetness and the baking powder is the leavener that helps them rise.
- Dark chocolate: for extra chocolate! Most dark chocolate is dairy free already, but be mindful of the type of chocolate you buy to make sure it doesn't include refined sugar.
How to find paleo chocolate chips
We really love Enjoy Life chocolate chunks or baking bars because they're allergy friendly. However, they do include a small amount of refined sugar so they aren't technically super paleo. My two paleo-approved chocolate brands are Hu Kitchen and Lily's.
How to make paleo brownies:
- Whisk the wet ingredients together in a large bowl until combined and no yellow streaks from the eggs remain. Next, add all of the dry ingredients including the baking soda and cocoa powder. The batter will be very thick, this is what you want! It’s why they’re extra fudgy!
- Pour the batter into a prepared baking pan and bake for the allotted amount of time before removing and cooling on a wire rack.
Must read recipe tips:
- If you like really gooey brownies cook them for a little less time but if you like more chewy brownies cook them a little longer.
- Can you freeze paleo brownies? Place the cooled brownies on a baking sheet and freeze for 1 to 2 hours. Once they're frozen solid, wrap them individually and store in an air tight container or bag for up to 3 months. Cover them in an air tight container and keep them in the freezer for up to 3 months. To thaw, place them in the refrigerator overnight to soften then warm up in the oven or microwave
Keto paleo brownies option:
Substitute the coconut sugar and maple syrup for 1/3 cup of your favorite low carb sugar (i.e. stevia or erythritol)
How many carbs in paleo brownies: There are 26.8 carbs in these paleo brownies. If you want to make the keto version, there are 15 carbs (11 net carbs) in those.
If you make and love this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram with #whatmollymade or @What_mollymade so I can see it and feature you!
Here are a few more paleo chocolate recipes:
Recipe
The BEST Fudgy Paleo Brownies
Ingredients
- 1 cup creamy almond butter
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs + 1 egg yolk
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoon coconut flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 dark chocolate baking bar chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line a square (8x8 or 9x9 inch) baking pan with parchment paper. To do this, cut a square piece of parchment paper then cut diagonal slits in each corner to keep it in the pan easily.
- Whisk the almond butter, coconut sugar, maple syrup, vanilla extract, eggs and egg yolk in a large bowl until smooth and no yellow streaks remain. Gently fold in cocoa powder, coconut flour, salt and baking soda until there are no clumps. Fold in 1/3 cup chocolate chips or chopped chocolate into the batter. The batter will be thick.
- Spread the batter evenly into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until knife inserted into the middle comes out mostly clean (some crumbs are okay). Be careful not to overbake!
- Remove and cool on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes. Grab parchment paper on the sides and lift the brownies out of the pan to cool completely.
Suzanne says
Just took a batch of these out of the oven. I made a few adjustments--didn't have almond butter so I used peanut butter and some sample packs of sunflower butter....didn't have coconut sugar so i used stevia. I used Hershey's special dark cocoa powder and tossed in special dark chocolate chips. These are rather good and will definitely satisfy a brownie craving for those watching carbs or are on a strict Paleo diet.
Molly Leonard says
Love to hear that, Suzanne! Thank you! They definitely satisfied my chocolate craving!
Jessica says
How is one brownie 26 grams of carbs considered a low carb paleo brownie recipe!? I’ve been making this for years before the nutritional facts up. I thought it’d be like 9g or something. 26!?!?
Molly Thompson says
Hey Jessica! Are you using the swerve or low carb option in this recipe? The post itself has an option for low carb and says that the low carb option has 11 net carbs. Here's the paragraph I'm referring to:
Substitute the coconut sugar and maple syrup for 1/3 cup of your favorite low carb sugar (i.e. stevia or erythritol)
There are 26.8 carbs in these paleo brownies. If you want to make the keto version, there are 15 carbs (11 net carbs) in those.
Hope this helps!
Jenny says
Paleo and keto are very different in that, 26 is still better then the regular brownies you can buy in the store (which last time I wanted them was close to 50 carbs!!) I haven't made these yet (making them now tbh) but keto means your under 20 carbs a day paleo means your carbs count in everything you eat
Molly Thompson says
Hi Jenny! 26g of carbs is for the regular, paleo-approved brownies. Paleo just means they're gluten, refined sugar and dairy free here. If you check the recipe notes, I have the carb breakdown for the keto version. The recipe itself is not keto, but I offer a keto subtitution in the notes along with the net carbs, which is 11g if you follow the keto recipe. Hope that helps!
Linda says
I am a caterer who cooks for a client on the paleo diet. He really enjoys me making sweet treats for him alongside the savoury food I make. I liked the sound of your recipe, and baked it. I am really sorry, but it was terrible. I had all the right ingredients, followed the instructions exactly, and the final result was bitter, dry and inedible. What a waste of money and time.
Shannon says
I just took these out of the oven. Really good. So moist and delicious !! Yummy ! Thank you !
Molly Thompson says
You're welcome, Shannon! So glad you love them!
Josie says
Very good! They were fluffy and gooey. The only thing is that I used peanut butter and Himalayan salt and they were a tad too salty. I’ll try the almond better next time and maybe lessen the amount of salt.