Fudgy Lentil Brownies. High Protein Brownies that dont taste beany! Just process and bake. Vegan Gluten-free Recipe. Can be Nut-free
I love my Chickpea Peanut Butter Cookie Pie (you all do too, so many remakes!!). Currently, 1. I am on a break from chickpeas, 2. Chickpeas can tend to dry out. 3. I know black bean brownies are the rage, but the texture hasn’t worked for me. Enter lentils. Red Lentils.
The Quick cooking Lentils that dont have a skin, hence will not add the skin texture like beans. Cook the lentils, melt some chocolate, Process together with a bit of nut butter and the rest of the ingredients to make a batter. Pour into a pan and bake! Super Fudgy, Super Delicious!
These are not the usual brownie texture when they are just baked, but settle into a more fudgy state after cooling, esp chilling. For the regular super gooey, super chocolatey, super brownie Brownies, See the version in my book! There is a gluten-free option too.
There brownies are higher in protein with the lentils and nut butter, are gooey and chocolatey and perfect for the chocolate craving! Lets get to these.
More Fun Bakes from the blog
- No Bake Hazelnut Walnut Brownies. GF
- Vegan Pumpkin Brownies
- Brownie Cookie Dough bars. GF
- Gluten-free Brownies and Brownie Mix. GF
- Vegan Almond Butter Blondies with Chocolate Chips , GF
- Bleuberry Brownies!
- Coconut Flour Brownies GF
You can use cooked chickpeas in these brownies. Just bake them until set at the edges. If you make these brownies, do let me know how they turned out! 7+ gm of Protein per serve!
Cook the lentils.
Lentil Brownies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (90 g) red lentils
- 3 tbsp oil
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 1/2 cup (90 g) vegan semi sweet chocolate chips ( or a mix of semi sweet and dark)
- 4 tbsp sugar (1 tbsp more for sweeter)
- 1/3 cup (83.33 g) nut butter (heaping cup) (I like cashew butter), Use sunflower seed butter for Nutfree
- 1.5 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup (31.25 g) flour of choice All purpose, oat or glutenfree blend for gluten-free (add a tbsp starch if using gf flour and not a blend)
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) salt
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) baking powder
- 1/4 cup (4 tbsp) vegan chocolate chips to top and mix in.
Instructions
- Line a brownie pan with parchment paper ( I use 8 by 8 inch). Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F/180ºc . 9 by 5 loaf also works
- Rinse the red lentils. Drain and add to a saucepan. Add 1.5 cups of water and cook partially covered over medium heat. Cook for 12 to 13 minutes or until the lentils are cooked (total time including coming to a boil). Stir once in between. Cool for a few minutes, then drain any excess water from the saucepan (there should be hardly any). Add to a food processor or blender. (For instant pot, pressure cook for 2 minutes then quick release after 5 minutes, drain well and use)
- Heat maple syrup and oil in a skillet over medium heat. When hot, add chocolate and sugar and mix. Take off heat. Continue to mix until chocolate is melted and well combined
- Add the melted chocolate and the rest of the ingredients to the food processor and process until a smooth batter. Add 1 tbsp Dutch processed Cocoa powder for chocolatey brownies (highly recommended as chocolate chips vary in flavor). ***
- Pour into prepared brownie pan. Sprinkle 2 tbsp chocolate chips on top and mix them in. Sprinkle more to top. (I like to use mini chocolate chips to top). Bake for 32to 35minutes. Bake them a bit longer for more set and crispier edges. Check with a toothpick from the center if too soft/wet.
- Cool for 15 minutes before slicing and serving. Refrigerate for upto 4 days, freeze for later. The brownie texture improves after refrigeration for a bit.
Video
Notes
Add spices such as cinnamon if you like , or fold in chopped walnuts in the batter for variation. *** You want to process or blend while the melted chocolate is still warm so that the batter is flowy and easy to pour out into the pan. Blending with a blender is also easier when ingredients are warm. Nutrition is 1 of 8 serves (2 pieces)
Nutrition
Catherine Maxey
These are very good. I added an egg because I wasn’t paying attention. I added 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, 1/4 tsp decaf coffee crystals. Baked as muffins. Made 16 small and baked 23 minutes. Next time I will add chopped nuts. The egg probably made them cakier but still good texture
Vegan Richa Support
Sounds yum!
Nina
I’ve made these a few times since I first stumbled upon this recipe and love them! They come out really fudgy! I’ve also frozen them on 2 occasions and they were fine after freezing!
The last two times I skipped the maple syrup (due to running out) and used half the recommended sugar. I used plain 90% chocolate (with hardly any sugar) and it came out great!
I don’t like it overly sweet so cutting down heaps on the sugar is what works for me! 🙂 Love the use of lentils + peanut butter – two of my favorite ingredients!! 🙂
Vegan Richa Support
excellent =)
Maggie
Absolutely delicious! I used tahini for the nut butter.
In my convection oven (I live in Austria) i only had to bake them for about 23 minutes.
They turned out great!! Thanks for your awesome recipe that saved my cooking fail (i had accidentally added homemade simple syrup instead of homenade broth to my lentils… Lol)
Vegan Richa Support
glad that it still turned out!! sweet & savoury lentils
MJ
Fantastic. I didn’t have chocolate chips so used 1/3 cup cocoa and 1/4 cup sugar plus the maple syrup. I left out the oil so added extra water. Perhaps 1/4 cup. 20 minutes baking. So fudgy.
Richa
Awesome
Gayatri
This was easy and quick to make and the brownies taste pretty good! The brownie texture was uplifted by the chocolate chips on the crust. To the next iteration, I would:
– Add walnuts
– Stick to the recommended amount of sugar (we decreased it slightly and that may not have been the best idea)
Additionally, my SO who is vegan enjoyed the slightly grainy texture from the lentil which deviates from the normal brownie texture but is nonetheless enjoyable. Many cultures use lentils in their desserts and this recipe just makes a ton of sense.
Richa
Thanks! Blend longer and yes the sugar amount adds structure as well.
Yolanda
OMG!!! amazing!!! You would never say it has lentils on it. My family loved it!
Thank you
Vegan Richa Support
Excellent !! thank you
MJ Walls
I don’t have chocolate chips, can I just use cocoa and extra oil?
Thanks!
Elizabeth
I am making these all the time lately– this recipe is so forgiving & I love that. I skip the melting of the chocolate chips in the maple syrup, & just use 1/3 cup cocoa powder plus 1/2 cup sugar, so I can just throw everything in the food processor all at once. It sometimes needs a tablespoon or so of water when I do it that way, depending on the moisture in my lentils. Thank you for this! I find all your recipes to be so straightforward & adaptable, I recommend you to everyone.
Richa
Yay
Amna Bakhtiar
I made these last night with leftover boiled green lentils. The lentils were more than 1 cup so I increased the oil and sweetness accordingly. I used almond meal and rice flour and substituted agave syrup for maple. They are some of the best brownies I’ve ever made/had and tasted even better the next day after putting them overnight in the fridge. This recipe is a keeper!
Vegan Richa Support
glad they turned out so well & thanks for popping in!
Amedeo
Are you sure about the cups/grams conversion? I followed the recipe super-closely but with the grams rather than the cups and it was super dry. I had to add milk on top to eat it…
Richa
They seem right. Did you change anything . Did you use red lentils and cook them in 1.5 cups of water. How was the batter. Was it similar to the pictures?
Amedeo
Thanks for the reply!
No I followed the recipe. They were red lentils and the texture seemed right that far. The batter was very different, in the pics it’s very runny, mine was much more “creamy” but on the dry side.
Richa
Hmm. Thicker batter will probably dry out a bit during baking. I am not sure why it was dry witb all the liquid from maple and oil.
Caden
Hi Richa,
I tried this recipe out and I absolutely love it! I did however modify it a bit, according to the ingredients I had at home and it’s more of a fudge blondie.
For my nut butter, I used some lovely macadamia. I used chickpea flour, with an extra 1tbsp of cornflour. I didn’t have chocolate so I used raw cacao butter and melted it down – it gave it such a rich and white chocolatey taste.
I love that there’s red lentils incorporated in this treat! Thanks for sharing.
Jenna
So good! I had extra lentils on hand and gave this recipe a chance . My kids and husband devoured these. Thanks for the recipe
Vegan Richa Support
Perfect use for them. thank you fro the review
Lubna
I tried it , its so tasty .thank you very much
Make more please
Vegan Richa Support
yay! will do. Thanks Lubna
Dana
Great base recipe! I added a tad more chocolate and sugar and also added kakao powder, and based on my “brownie expertise” (LOL) I took them out of the oven after 20-25 minutes already and they were perfect! At least for me, 35mins would have been wayyy too much. Anyway, lentils in brownies was new to me and it works really well!
Katie
Can you make this ahead of time and keep the batter in the fridge in a bowl or even on the lined parchment paper and just pop it in the oven after dinner finishes for more fresh but make ahead brownies?
Vegan Richa Support
Absolutely you could make ahead up to one day in mixing bowl or poured out into prepared pan and just increase the bake time by a few minutes. The end result will be brownies with extra-crisp edges and a moist, fudge-y center!! Let me know how they turn out 🙂
tanusha ajitsaria
can we cook the lentil in pressure cooker ? if yes then how much water and how many whistles (i use the Indian style pressure cooker)
Richa
1 whistle. Masoor dal cooks quickly
tanusha ajitsaria
can we use any thing else instead of maple syrup ?
Richa
sugar
Jocelyne
Hello,
I was wondering if canned black beans could work in place of the lentils?
Thanks!
Richa
it wont work as a direct sub as black beans are much dryer
Danielle
If I use homemade gf oat flour do I need to add the starch?? I have made these with AP flour and they were amazing but making for someone who is gf!
THANKS
Richa
yes youneed the starch for binding as oat flour is gluten-free
Danielle
Thank you ❤️
Marija
Really good! Thanks! Might be one if ny favourite brownies recipe from now on 🙂
P.s. Made it with peanut butter and oats flower
Richa
yay!
Roxana
Made these last night exactly per recipe & did add the 1tbsp of cocoa powder suggested option. LOVED them, huge hit with husband & I. Had some w/ coffee on the way to work too. Very fudgy & satisfying! Yum!
Richa
awesome!
Sara Santana
Hi! Just made my first batch of these and came out awesome with few changes: didn’t have any nut butter so substituted the total oil in the recipe for 1/4 cup sunflower oil + 1/4 cup applesauce, and added only 3 tbsp of agave as sweetener. Used semi whole wheat flour and 1 tbsp cocoa powder. They came out great! 😋
eb
Hello! Can I use lentil flour instead? thank you!
Richa
flour works very differently compared to cooked lentils. You can use lentil flour in my regular flour based brownies
Liana
So yammy thank you for this delicious recipe
Richa
yay!
Jacky
This recipe is incredible! Finally I am feeling more confident with vegan baking 🙂
I already had all the ingredients at hand so this recipe is excellent for spontaneous baking. I can’t wait to mix around with different flavors and combinations. Thank you so much, Richa! <3
Richa
awesome!!
Julie
Hi!
Can I use green lentils instead?
Richa
green lentils will taste more earthy and add the skin which might make them slightly gritty like black bean brownies. You probably will need to add more vanilla and sugar and blend longer to reduce chances of the texture and flavor not turning out.
Sarah
Did you use sweetened nut butter or unsweetened? I used unsweetened almond butter. Mine were not sweet at all though I used all of the sweeteners in the recipe. The red lentil base is perfect! I couldn’t taste it at all! The other thing is that mine were not fydgy as promised. I used Bobs Red Mill gluten free flour mix for the flour. Any suggestions?
Richa
i think its the flour. rice flour (which is a big portion of the bobs mix), tends to absorb a lot more moisture and also dried out incredibly on baking. so that explains the non fudgyness. Rice flour also often needs more flavor and sweetness compared to regular flour. Use half almond flour and half bobs mix. Also add more sweet. Taste the batter before baking. i use sweetened nutbutter, although the sweetened nut butters are very mildly sweetened, so you would still need the added sweet with the rice flour.
Sarah
I made these again and used pure almond flour, added more sweet to compensate for my unsweetened almond butter and inadvertently skipped the oil. They came out great! I will try again with coconut oil because I do like a little extra fat. I suggest editing the recipe to indicate what kind of nut butter you are using ( I.e. Raw, roasted, unsweetened, sweetened, …..etc.) because there are so many variations available.
The fudginess was exactly what I was looking for!!!—especially after refrigerating!
Richa
awesome! ill add that. and also a note to taste the batter befpre baking to adjust sweetness. Its mostly cooked ingredients, so you can as well eat some batter 🙂
Ania
Can I store it in the fridge? How much time can I store it?
Richa
upto 5 days in the fridge
Iris
I just made these with a few alterations: using lindt chocolate 70 , almondpaste and almondflour, no sugar just 3 tblsp maple syrup. I wanted to add flaxseed but forgot.
thank you for sharing, great recipes!
Julie
Can almond butter be used instead?
TIA! 🙂
Richa
yes
Julie
Holy moly, these are incredible! So fudgy and dense. I made them as directed, but didn’t have baking power. I subbed it for 1/8 tsp baking soda and 1/4 tsp white vinegar. Thanks for the great recipe! 😋
Richa
yay!
Makayla
Could you use brown lentils for this? We get lots of them on WIC and I can’t get my kids to eat them.
Richa
they can be a bit too earthy. Try them with extra vanilla and chocolate chips (brown lentils take longer to cook, use cooked lentils).
Erin
These sound great! What do you mean by starch?
Richa
any starch will do like cornstarch, arrowroot starch, tapioca starch
Divya
Hi, planning to make this for my baby.. so can I switch the white sugar with coconut sugar to make it a tad bit healthier? Also, is there any other substitute for maple syrup since I have none on hand. Is honey a substitute? I know it’s not vegan..
Richa
Yes coconut sugar will work fine. I use raw unrefined sugar in my recipes when it says sugar. For the maple syrup you can use jaggery syrup or coconut sugar syrup. I havent used honey in a while so I am not sure of the behavior in baked goods in good enough amounts
Divya
Hey! Thanks for the suggestion! These are great alternatives. I can’t wait to try out the recipe now. Great recipes by the way, all of them!
Maria Caruso
Honey is not ok for babies. They don’t have the digestion for it and it can cause a serious reaction. Please don’t give your baby honey!
Amy
Thanks so much! I love these. I cooked the lentils in the Instant Pot (for 2 minutes with 1.2 cups of water) and they softened enough that they were easy to mash. No draining or food-processing necessary. Delicious.
Richa
awesome!
Delia Noto
These look amazing! I’ve never thought of using lentils in brownies before – but I like the idea that they’re more mild in flavor than black bean brownies. 🙂
Eileen
Great brownies! I made them last night with peanut butter/whole wheat flour and added cocoa powder. I left out all of the white sugar that was called for and they tasted amazing (you can’t tell they use lentils at all), so you’re probably fine to ditch it if anybody else decides to make them. Thanks!
Richa
awesome!
Paige
Do these have an alternative flavour? They look absolutely amazing and I’m desperate to try them! When the builders are out the house and I have an oven back (rather than cooking on the BBQ or with a microwave!) I’ll be making these.
I made black bean brownies once and they had such a strong bean flavour, I’m a little apprehensive :/
Richa
not really. add a bit more vanilla and cocoa to mask it even more. black beans are much stronger flavor in general. red lentils are mild and with nut butter, they become very nut buttery
Sanja
Hi, do you think that I can use coconut flour? Or it is better to stick to oat flour? Thanks
Richa
Yes you can use coconut flour. 3 tbsp should be enough. You might want to add a tbsp of starch for binding as coconut flour has no binding.
JOSIE
Yum. Really nice brownies. For me the cooking time could have been less though as mine weren’t as gooey as I’d have liked. Maybe it’s just my oven though.
Richa
Great! Yes adjust that based on the oven, pan etc.
Nicole @ Vegan Nom Noms
Red lentils, that’s a new one to me! I really wanna give this a try, I just wish ovens were a thing in Thailand, haha. It’s on my list for my oven binge once I return to Europe!
Richa
You can make the batter into fat pancakes i think. Add a bit more flour. Use a cookie cutter so that batter rises within in. and cook at low-medium heat.
Nicole @ Vegan Nom Noms
Thanks for the suggestion, that’s definitely worth a try for my next chocolate craving!
Cassie Thuvan Tran
Love that you used a bean that isn’t a garbanzo bean or black bean for a brownie! I love this idea. Red lentils are always amazing for anything that you’d need for a thick paste. Brownies are no exception! These look absolutely incredible and I bet they taste even better!
Laurie
If I wanted to omit oil, how would you adjust recipe?
Richa
Chocolate chips have oil , so there is quite some oil in the recipe. You can omit the added oil and sub with 1 tbsp more nut butter
Laurie
Perfect. Great suggestion, thx!
jamie
loved this! I used garbanzos with a few lentils cooked in since that’s what I had already cooked and you were right, they worked just fine! I made them this morning and they’ll be a surprise dessert to celebrate with tonight. What a nice recipe!!! (PS, I made them in a parchment lined loaf pan as I only have a big rectangle pan and some rounds…they seemed to work really nicely in terms of batter amount).
Richa
Perfect!!
Soyoon
Thank you for the great recipe! This became my favorite brownie recipe and I baked them more than 3 times.
My question is your brownies in the picture seem thicker than mine. Mine is pretty flat and I’m wondering if there’s any way to make it thicker?
I’m using the same size of the pan
Richa
Double the batter for a thicker brownie.
Adrienne
I put a tablespoon of ground flax to simulate a more eggy texture and add even more fiber. Came out very well. Baking time was less.
I am thinking about subbing some flour for cocoa powder. I would like them to be darker. Great recipe! Love the lentils.
Richa
Awesome! yes you an mix in 1 tbsp cocoa powder while processing. It doesnt add much dry to the recipe so the batter wont change much.
Adri Ustick
Why did you stop putting the “Jump to Recipe” button? Also, this is a very creative recipe, and I like it 🙂
Richa
Thanks! these are super fudgy! The button doesnt work correctly on the main page, so i add it later to the posts. (which i obviously tend to forget :)). I should set up a monthly reminder to update the posts.