These healthy oat flour brownies are moist, fudgy, and irresistibly delicious. They don't last more than a few days in our house. This recipe is proof you can enjoy a classic brownie, but with better-for-you ingredients like oat flour, antioxidant-rich cacao powder, and coconut sugar. Gluten-free, dairy-free with an option for refined sugar-free.
Looking for more ways to bake with oat flour? Try my one-bowl oat flour cookies and gluten-free banana oat muffins.
Why These are the Best Healthy Oat Flour Brownies
These oat flour brownies prove you can still enjoy a classic dessert made with simple, real food ingredients. I recently retested the recipe and made a few tweaks to create the perfect brownie - rich, fudgy, and so delicious.
Like my healthy oat flour pancakes, these brownies use oat flour as the base, adding whole grains plus extra nutrients, fiber, and protein. I also use cacao powder, which is less processed than cocoa powder and naturally rich in nutrients like antioxidants, magnesium, and iron.
Other things you'll love about this recipe:
- Fudgy, chewy center. These oat flour brownies have the perfect balance between fudgy and cake-like. Rich, fudgy, slightly soft center with chewy edges. Just what you'd expect in a brownie.
- Thin, crackly top. Is it even a brownie without the crackly top? Even with better-for-you ingredients, you'll still end up with that beautiful crackly brownie top.
- Ready for the oven in 20 minutes. While this does require using a few different bowls (important in the prep work to get the right texture and crackly top), it is ready for the oven in 20 minutes!
- Gluten-free, dairy-free and refined sugar-free friendly. Naturally gluten-free, these brownies can be made dairy-free and fully refined-sugar-free, too.
I cannot wait for you to try these! Enjoy!
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These last about 2 days in our house as we can.not.stop.eating.these! We love these as is, but they are also divine warmed in the microwave and topped with some ice cream and/or coconut whipped cream.
Love brownies? Try my chocolate brownie baked oats for a brownie like breakfast, or these no-bake protein brownie bites.
Or, if you need more better-for-you desserts, check out my no-bake vegan fruit tarts, healthier scotcheroos, vegan chocolate mousse, or coconut flour oat cookies. All great choices, if you ask me 🙂
Jump to:
- Why These are the Best Healthy Oat Flour Brownies
- Ingredient Notes
- Variations & Substitutions
- Step-by-Step Directions
- Sara's Tips for the Best Healthy Oat Flour Brownies
- Oat Flour Brownie Recipe FAQs
- How to Store Healthy Oat Flour Brownies (and freeze them)
- More Oat Flour Recipes to Try!
- Healthy Oat Flour Brownies
Ingredient Notes
- Oat flour - Homemade oat flour or store-bought can be used. I always use homemade, but both work. Check out my fluffy oat flour pancakes if you have extra oat flour on hand.
- Coconut sugar - Just like my gluten-free apple blondies, I use coconut sugar to sweeten these brownies. Brown sugar can be used as a substitute if needed.
- Cacao powder - I love using cacao powder in my recipes as it's less processed than cocoa. That said, unsweetened cocoa powder can also be used.
- Chocolate chips - I prefer semi-sweet chocolate chips, but you can use any kind.
- Butter - Unsalted butter is recommended.
- Tapioca flour - This can also be called tapioca starch.
- Espresso powder - This really brings out the flavor of the chocolate and I promise they won't taste like coffee! If you don't have any on hand, you can totally skip it.
A complete list of ingredients can be found in the recipe card below. The above are some specific notes to help with selecting ingredients.
Sara's clean food tips:
Chocolate chips: Look for ones that have no more than cane sugar, chocolate liquor/chocolate/cocoa powder and cocoa butter (Equal Exchange is my favorite). Brands that are Fair Trade certified and/or organic are even better!
Butter: Pasture-raised/grass-fed butter is the best option. At a minimum, I recommend organic butter.
Oat Flour: To avoid glyphosate, I highly recommend organic oat flour (like most grains, oats are sprayed with glyphosate prior to being harvested).
Cacao powder vs. cocoa powder: Why This Recipe Uses Cacao
While both cacao powder and cocoa powder come from the cacao bean, the difference is in how they are each processed. In a nutshell...
- Cacao powder is made from cacao beans roasted at low temperatures (or sometimes even raw beans). The minimal processing results in a nutrient-rich powder that preserves the nutrients from the cacao bean.
- Cocoa powder is made from beans that have been roasted at high temperatures, which reduces the nutrients, specifically antioxidants, found in the cacao bean.
All this said, this is why I always choose cacao powder. The taste is almost identical, and I'm always about choosing more nutrient-dense ingredients. You can try cacao in my protein chocolate banana bread, too.
Variations & Substitutions
- Double chocolate brownies: For a double chocolate brownie, mix in ½-3/4 cup of chocolate chips into the batter. Or sprinkle some on top before baking.
- Brownies with nuts: Add in ½ cup of chopped walnuts or pecans into the batter.
- Dairy-free oat flour brownies: Use dairy-free chocolate chips and replace the butter with melted coconut oil.
- Gluten-free oat flour brownies: Be sure to use certified gluten-free oat flour (even though oats/oat flour is naturally gluten free, oats can become contaminated with gluten during processing).
- Refined sugar-free brownies: While these are sweetened with coconut sugar, they also contain chocolate chips and most chocolate chips contain refined sugar. If you want fully refined sugar-free brownies, use Hu chocolate chips (they are sweetened with coconut sugar).
- Salt sweet: For a salty sweet brownie, sprinkle on some flaky or coarse sea salt after baking. Love salty sweet? Then check out my easy vegan chocolate turtles.
Step-by-Step Directions
- Add eggs and coconut sugar to a large mixing bowl. Use an electric hand-mixer to beat the eggs and sugar together for 2 minutes until light in color.
- Melt the chocolate chips and butter. Add these to the eggs and sugar. Beat on medium speed for an additional 2 minutes.
- Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl.
- On low speed, mix the dry ingredients in with the wet ingredients. Mix until just combined.
- Spread brownie batter into a generously greased 8x8 baking dish.
- Bake at 350-degrees F for about 30 minutes, or until edges are set and a toothpick entered in the center comes out just barely clean.
Sara's Tips for the Best Healthy Oat Flour Brownies
- Thoroughly grease the bottom and sides of the pan. You can also line with parchment paper for easy removal of the brownies.
- To ensure the right structure and texture, use room temp eggs. Room temperature eggs incorporate with the ingredients better than cold eggs.
- To quickly get room temp eggs, put them in a bowl under hot running water for 1 minute.
- When measuring oat flour, spoon and level the oat flour into the measuring cup. If you pack it in, you'll end with too much.
- Beat the eggs and sugar for 2 minutes and beat for an additional 2 minutes when you add the melted chocolate and melted butter. These is super important with texture and getting that crinkly brownie top!
- Bake until edges are firm and center is just set. A toothpick entered in the center should come out barely clean. Don't over bake 🙂
- Allow brownies to cool and set in the pan for a minimum of 30 minutes before cutting. Oat flour is more fragile than wheat flour and needs additional time to set.
Oat Flour Brownie Recipe FAQs
I have not tried a substitute for the eggs, so I can't guarantee the results. Oat flour is more fussy than wheat flour, so I don't know how well an egg substitute will hold up. If you try, please let me know how they turn out!
All ingredients, including the oat flour, are naturally gluten free. However, oats can become cross-contaminated with gluten during processing, so if you are serving these to someone that is gluten sensitive or intolerant, you will want to use certified gluten-free oat flour.
Absolutely! As long as you have a high-speed blender to grind down the oats into a fine powder/flour. If so, both store bought and homemade oat flour work. Follow these directions for how to make oat flour from scratch if you'd like to use homemade oat flour.
"Healthy" is a very subjective term. Oat flour brownies do still contain sugar and are not a nutrient dense food. However, they do contain more nutrients than brownies made with while all-purpose flour. It also depends on the quality of the rest of the ingredients.
How to Store Healthy Oat Flour Brownies (and freeze them)
To store: These oat flour brownies can be stored in an air tight container at room temp for 3-4 days, or in the fridge for up to one week.
To freeze: They can also be frozen in a freezer safe container for up to 3 months.
More Oat Flour Recipes to Try!
If you make this recipe, please let me know what you think! I would so appreciate you leaving a star rating and/or comment below. And don't forget to share a photo on Instagram or Facebook and mention @CleanPlateMama!
Eat Clean.Be Well!
-Sara
Healthy Oat Flour Brownies
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Equipment
- 1 8x8 baking dish
- 3 mixing bowls
Ingredients
- 6 oz. chocolate chips (6oz = roughly 1 cup) (use dairy-free if needed)
- 8 tbsp. unsalted butter (or coconut oil for dairy-free)
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup coconut sugar
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- ¾ cup oat flour (certified gluten free if needed)
- ¼ cup cacao powder
- 2 tbsp. tapioca flour (also called tapioca starch)
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. espresso powder (optional)
- ½ tsp. fine sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350-degrees F. Grease the bottom and sides of an 8x8 baking dish and set aside. You can also line the baking sheet with parchment paper for easy removal of the brownies.
- Place chocolate chips in a small microwave safe bowl and melt in the microwave in 45 second increments until fully melted. Set aside.6 oz. chocolate chips
- In a separate microwave safe bowl, melt the butter and set aside.8 tbsp. unsalted butter
- In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs and coconut sugar. Using a hand-held mixer, mix on medium-high speed for 2 minutes and light in color. Next, add the melted chocolate chips, melted butter and vanilla extract. Beat on medium for another 2 minutes.2 eggs, room temperature, 1 cup coconut sugar, 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- Add the oat flour, cacao powder, tapioca flour, baking soda, espresso powder and salt to the wet ingredients. Beat on low until just combined.¾ cup oat flour, ¼ cup cacao powder, 2 tbsp. tapioca flour, 1 tsp. baking powder , ½ tsp. espresso powder, ½ tsp. fine sea salt
- Spread brownie batter into prepared 8x8 baking dish and bake for 28-32 minutes, or until a toothpick entered in the center comes out clean (or almost clean) and edges are set.
- Allow brownies to cool in the pan for a minimum of 30 minutes before cutting.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- I recommend semi-sweet chocolate chips.Â
- To quickly get eggs to room temp, run them under hot water for 1 minute.
- Beating the sugar and eggs and then the chocolate and butter in important for the crackly tops and texture. Don't under beat the ingredients.Â
- Spoon and level the oat flour into the measuring cup. This is roughly 70 grams; if you have a kitchen scale, you can use that to measure.Â
- Espresso powder is optional - it helps to bring out the rich chocolate flavor (I promise they won't taste like coffee), but if you don't have any on hand, it can easily be skipped.Â
- If you'd like to double the recipe, use a 9x13 pan and bake for a few extra minutes, but watch closely so they don't over bake.Â
-Sara
Nutrition
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Rita says
I have cup4cup King Arthur flour, almond flour, and oat flour. I’d like to make these since I am celiac and dairy allergic. Must I buy tapioca flour?
Sara says
Hi Rita - No, you can skip the tapioca flour. I tested them with and without tapioca and prefer the texture a little more with the tapioca, but they were still excellent without it, so you can just omit it if you don't have any. Enjoy!
Sara says
You'd never guess these are gluten-free and made with healthier ingredients. My kids LOVE these and we will be making these often.