Coming up with a recipe for gluten, egg, and dairy free brownie should be pretty easy…you would think! I don’t know how many times I’ve baked up a batch of brownies that were just not what I was going for. I didn’t want them to be too cakey or too oily. I just wasn’t getting the balance I was looking for. Baking with food allergies, I’ve realized, is an adventure. Many hurdles to overcome along the way. My motivation…I was in need of a good go-to brownie recipe!
I FINALLY discovered a winner! I did all the trial runs for you, so now you can head on over to your kitchen and bake up a batch of these gluten free and vegan brownies. They are the perfect balance of cake-like and gooey brownies. So moist. So good. Coconut oil is the oil that I found works the best (and makes the flavor extraordinary). They are also so easy to put together! This my friends, is a one bowl recipe. Sift the dry ingredients, add in the wet, stir and bake. Then serve warm with a big scoop of dairy free mint chocolate chip ice cream!
gluten free vegan brownies
serves 9
- 1 cup Sarah’s gluten free flour blend
- 3/4 cup organic cane sugar
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1/4 cup So Delicious unsweetened coconut milk, room temperature
- 1/4 cup water, room temperature
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 8×8-inch square baking dish with parchment paper, so that it hangs over the sides (for easy serving). In large mixing bowl, sift together flour blend, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Stir in the melted coconut oil, coconut milk, water, maple syrup and vanilla extract. Mix until just combined.
Pour batter into prepared baking dish and smooth out with rubber spatula. Bake for 25 minutes. To keep the best texture, DO NOT over bake. Allow to cool in pan for 15-20 minutes. Carefully lift brownies out of pan, using the parchment paper. Cut into squares. Store in air tight container, with parchment in-between brownies (to keep from sticking together).
amethystjean says
April 20, 2013 at 12:57 amThank you! I've been craving brownies and though I have perfected my brownie recipe, it has eggs and I'm not really eating them any more.
Anonymous says
April 20, 2013 at 4:37 pmMichelle W says: YUM! Gonna make these today. Will use a dfferent gf four blend, coconut sugar and agave, tho. May also sub carob powder, too.
Anonymous says
April 27, 2013 at 5:29 pmMichelle W says: Ok, made these last night and I am ADDICTED to them, lol! I did use a different gluten flour blend that I had on hand, and subbed coconut sugar for the white sugar and agave for the maple syrup. MAJOR YUM! Will keep making these for any potlucks, etc. Thanks so much!
Anonymous says
May 5, 2013 at 1:07 pmThese were amazing!! SO moist and perfectly sweet! Thank you!! This is now my go to brownie recipe 😀
Anonymous says
May 7, 2013 at 5:12 pmThis looks great, I will definitely try this recipe this week…thanks!
Anonymous says
May 9, 2013 at 5:59 pmDo you think they would work with a different non daity milk?
sarahbakesgfree@gmail.com says
May 27, 2013 at 1:01 amYes, any non-dairy milk should work fine.
Anonymous says
July 9, 2013 at 5:17 amVery good I have been trying to become a vegetarian and this helps a lot. Thank you, I enjoyed them very much.
Peggy says
May 11, 2013 at 8:48 pmThose look really good. I've struggled to find the perfect gf/vegan brownies and will be excited to try these someday soon!
celiackiddo says
May 17, 2013 at 4:26 pmFirst, can I just say I LOVE your blog 🙂 It's so beautiful and the treats are so inclusive, which always warms my heart 🙂
Question about this particular recipe – I need to make it for a girl who is allergic to tree nuts, so I might sub in canola oil for coconut oil, and regular milk for coconut milk. Do you think this might be okay?
-Dana (mom to a gluten free kid who likes to share treats with her nut and egg free friend)
sarahbakesgfree@gmail.com says
May 27, 2013 at 1:03 amDana, I have not made these brownies with canola oil, but it should work fine. Any milk should work as well. Let me know how they turn out!
Anonymous says
May 28, 2013 at 1:25 amThese came out too cakey, rise was too high for me (for brownies) Any suggestions?
Isabelle says
June 28, 2013 at 11:46 amThey look delicious, really tasty. I will have to give them a go at the weekend! I made some super healthy gluten free brownies and they turned out really tasty. Here is the link to the recipe http://bit.ly/12Zks7Y 🙂
Hannah Masoner says
July 23, 2013 at 2:45 amYUM!!! So moist and rich! I used 1/4 cup organic brown rice protein powder in place of part of the flour and did 1/3 less sugar and they are the bomb!! Thanks for an awesome recipe!
sarahbakesgfree@gmail.com says
July 23, 2013 at 4:11 amI'm so glad you enjoyed them, Hannah! I love the idea of adding protein powder…I'll have to try that!
Anonymous says
July 29, 2013 at 2:04 amwhat do you think about substituting xylitol for the other sugars, for diabetics? would you change anything else to allow for it's dryness?
Carlinne says
August 31, 2013 at 2:23 amThese were amazing! best gluten free / vegan brownies I have made!
Anonymous says
September 15, 2013 at 6:50 pmI've never actually made the brownies, but this recipe has become a go to for my friend and I when we just want brownie batter. Also, it's amazing if you mix it into banana based vegan ice cream.
sowmya says
October 3, 2013 at 1:47 amNice one Sarah! I made some adjustments with what I had at home: sunflower oil, soy milk, organic raw sugar, 1 cup black rice flour with 1 cup brown rice flour. It was not fluffy and I didn't expect it to be as it is supposed to be gooey brownie. But it was a good texture for a 8 inch round spring form. Awesome taste and pretty easy to make. Only, I had read that we have to mix at least 1-2 min with electric beater for fluffiness in gluten free I did for about 1 min although you recipe calls for "dumping" the ingredients. But the batter.. was not batter it was dough and stuck all over the beaters.. should I add more water or milk next time? I was not sure if it would screw up the xanthum gum and water balance..
Anonymous says
November 19, 2014 at 7:04 amSarah's recipe calls for one cup of her flour blend, and you used two cups of flour. That's probably why your batter came out like dough. Since this post was made over a year ago, you may have figured out the problem on your own.
Michelle Fullante says
January 12, 2014 at 1:20 amI just made these tonight and I have to say…they were wonderful! The only thing I did different was to use xylitol. These are soft and chocolately and really fulfill that craving for something baked and delicious. I'm so thankful for all of your vegan recipes because we have to be gluten free and my son is allergic to eggs. I also appreciate how easy these were to bake. Some gf recipes just make me exhausted and totally burnt out with baking because of all of the steps and huge list of ingredients. So thank you, thank you, thank you!
sarahbakesgfree@gmail.com says
January 13, 2014 at 1:51 amMichelle, Thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed them! I'll have to try them with xylitol too.
Anonymous says
April 1, 2014 at 3:10 pmThese are great! Thanks for posting your recipe! God bless you!
Sarah
Anonymous says
April 5, 2014 at 3:41 pmAny tips on adjusting baking time or temp when using a smaller pan (I think it's 6×6)? They were definitely not done in the middle after the 25 minutes, which is my own fault for using a different pan! The piece I tasted was delicious, though, and definitely easy with ingredients I almost always have on hand!
Kirsten says
April 6, 2014 at 1:16 amMy 2 & 4 year old daughters were just diagnosed as gluten-free, dairy-free and egg-free, and tomorrow's the first family birthday party we're attending – thanks for giving me a not-overwhelming recipe so they can have "cake" too 🙂
Anonymous says
February 8, 2015 at 3:08 pmThank you so much we have tried forever to find recipes that my son will eat he is very very picky. These won over him they passed the "Alex Test" with flying colors we did add 1/2 tsp of cream of tarter because our first batch had a bitter after taste and I didn't have coconut milk so I used regular. He is just gluten free so it worked fine and tasted wonderful. We also added nuts to it. BEST BROWNIES and we have tried so many. We are trying the chocolate chip cookies today. Another one that we struggle so hard to master. Looking forward to trying more and hopefully we will be able to find a fluffy dinner roll on your site.
Judy Power says
May 4, 2015 at 9:24 pmSarah, Yesterday I wanted to make a sweet treat for my daughter who just had a baby. She loves brownies but is gluten free, egg free, dairy free, and soy free (not by choice, but because she has Hashimoto's disease and allergies), so the first place I looked was your site. I've used it for many other recipes to make for her and I have never been disappointed in one yet. My daughter ate 4 or 5 before realizing she had done so! She loved them. Even my son-in-law (who has no food allergies) thought they were so "fluffy." They were definitely a hit! Thank you…Judy
Jack Cactus says
September 9, 2016 at 3:21 pmWONDERFUL RECIPE! THANK YOU!
I made this because I had the ingredients on hand but made a few substitutions and they still turn out terrific:
– I had to sub out the flours. I used a combo of brown rice flour, corn starch, and Maseca corn flour in a ratio similar to the linked recipe for GF flour blend, along with 1/2tsp of xanthan gum. No issues there, which is where I usually flub on GF baking.
– I used olive oil instead of coconut oil. Still delicious.
– I used grape jelly instead of the maple syrup… HAH! No issues really, but if you do this I’d recommend blending it with the other wet ingredients in the blender or something. I ended up with a few “chunks” of jelly, but I didn’t really mind because I’m weird.
– Used all water, no So Delicious or anything like that.
– Baked it in a heart-shaped pan… not sure if relevant.
– Mine could have used a bit longer in the oven, but I definitely didn’t want to over-bake because I love a nice moist, chewy brownie. I baked them for 25min exactly, but they probably could’ve gone 28 or even 30 min.
This is my new, favorite, DRAMA-FREE brownie recipe! Amazing!! Thank you!
nat says
February 7, 2018 at 5:42 amawesome thanks!!!!!!!
Karen Cormier says
June 17, 2018 at 10:45 amI just made these and they are wonderfully chewy and chocolatey, although not as cakey as I expected but I did have to sub the coconut oil with non-hydrongenated shortening because my son has a coconut allergy.
Give this one a go if you need chocolate!!!