Healthy Vegan Sweet Potato Brownies (that keep their shape!)
Craving rich, fudgy brownies without the guilt? These healthy, vegan, oil-free sweet potato brownies are perfectly moist yet hold their shape—giving you that indulgent chocolate bite without the overly gooey texture.
“New family favorite! My kids don’t like sweet potato, and can usually “detect” it in everything, but they LOVED these brownies! I did the slow cooker method for cooking the potato and that was a game changer. This recipe is a keeper!”–Miranda
I’ve tried a lot of brownie recipes in my time, and I’ve created quite a few recipes myself. I love my Double Chocolate Pumpkin Brownies for when I have some extra pumpkin to use up, or Peppermint Black Bean Brownies for a very healthy yet festive treat. We love making Zucchini Brownies when we have zucchini from our garden that’s begging to be eaten via brownie and not another sheet pan meal. My favorite no-bake treat ever is Brownie Bites and boy are they wholesome yet indulgent! And if you’ve ever wanted to make a cute brownie mix in a jar, this Brownie Mix in a Jar post is for you–and the end result is an incredible brownie with frosting that’s kind of similar to the one I’m sharing today.
Not sure if I’ll ever go looking for a better brownie after this sweet potato one, though, to be honest! I’m so hooked!
I’ve been interested in healthy brownies since as long as I can remember. The idea of indulging in chocolate without damaging your health is just very appealing to me I guess.
Healthy Brownies Gone Wrong Embarrassing Story…
Once, on a trip in Mexico with my sister and her friends, I brought along the ingredients for a new recipe I’d seen on Pinterest. This was my first opportunity to make it and I wasn’t going to wait until after the trip. Get this: the recipe I was dying to try was quinoa sweet potato brownies! My sister told her friends what I was up to, and they thought it was a joke. “Quinoa sweet potato brownies, yeah right, good one!” they said. But Hope explained she was serious–her sister really made things like that. 🫣😅
After cooking the quinoa and getting the batter all ready, I realized the house we were staying in didn’t have an oven! So I tried microwaving the brownies and they were horrible. The whole house smelled bad. It gave healthy brownies a very bad rap.
This recipe redeems myself and healthy brownies. I dare you to try them!
How to Make Healthy Vegan Sweet Potato Brownies that Hold Together Beautifully!
I made a few versions of sweet potato brownies in testing for this recipe. It’s a hard job, but somebody has to do it!
Most of the time, the brownies were so gooey and loose you had to eat them with a fork straight from the pan, basically. We served a test batch to friends who were over for Sunday dinner, and they were extremely messy but also amazingly delicious that no one seemed to mind. But I do kind of mind the mess. I want to hand someone a proper square brownie, not a spoonful of chocolate pudding that tastes like a brownie.
The trick I learned is to just add a bit of cornstarch to firm them up. I love this non-GMO cornstarch. If you don’t have cornstarch, I think arrowroot powder or even gluten-free flour or oat flour might work just as well.
Ingredients in Sweet Potato Brownies
Baked sweet potato–The quickest method is to microwave a large sweet potato for about 8 minutes, until soft. Slice it open and scoop out the potato. IMPORTANT: The best way to cook the sweet potatoes for these brownies is to put whole sweet potatoes in a crock pot (no need to add anything else) and cook on high for 2-3 hours, until very fragrant and they are seeping with sweet syrup. This slow method makes them the sweetest and very easy to mash.
Almond butter–Runny almond butter is ideal here, using roasted almonds. You can use peanut butter or other nut/seed butter, but flavor will vary. This is the natural fat that makes them rich.
Coconut sugar or brown sugar–I find that a dry, granulated sugar is best here. However, you can use maple syrup if their less-firm texture is not super important to you. They will be delicious. Any sweetener can be used, but the sweetness and texture will vary.
Cornstarch–The magic to help them firm up without losing fudginess. I buy this NON-GMO cornstarch. I think gluten-free flour, oat flour, or arrowroot powder would also work.
Salt–Just a pinch makes a big difference.
Vanilla extract or paste-This adds sweet depth of flavor.
Baking soda--Adds to the flavor and rise.
Cocoa–You can use cocoa or cacao powder.
Chocolate chips–For added sweetness and richness, just a few tablespoons of mini chocolate chips really adds. You can skip them to avoid the added sugar, however.
Dip your cooled brownies in a cup of cold almond milk or soy milk. Heaven!
If you make these, please come back and leave a rating and comment! Thank you so much!
Healthy Vegan Sweet Potato Brownies
Ingredients
- 1 cup mashed baked sweet potato (see post or instructions below for cooking ideas)
- 1/2 cup drippy almond butter or peanut butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar or coconut sugar can use any other sweetener such as maple syrup, date paste, but flavor and texture will vary
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch or arrowroot powder sub oat flour or GF flour blend if needed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla paste
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons chocolate chips I love the mini ones
Instructions
- If you haven't baked your sweet potato(es), my preferred method is to put them in a crock pot for 2-3 hours on high. No need to add anything else, just whole, dry sweet potatoes. The long cook time makes them caremlized and sweeter. Remove when a fork easily pierces to the center. Alternatively, you can microwave a large sweet potato for 5-8 minutes, until soft.
- Preheat oven to 350 and prepare a 9x9 inch square baking pan by either greasing it or lining it with parchment paper. For doubling the recipe, use a 9x13 inch pan.
- Remove skins of the cooked sweet potato. Measure out the amount you need (1 cup per batch) and mash it in a medium sized mixing bowl. Add the almond butter and sugar and mix well until totally smooth.
- Stir in the cocoa, cornstarch, vanilla, baking soda, salt, and 2 of the 3 tablespoons of chocolate chips. Reserve the final tablespoon of chocolate chips for sprinkling on top.
- Pour the batter into the pan, and spread evenly. Sprinkle the extra chocolate chips on top. You could also add chopped walnuts or pecans here.
- Bake for 35 minutes, until the edges are pulling away from the sides of the pan. They will firm up as they cool. Let cool at least one hour before cutting. I like to prepare these the morning before an evening treat so they can cool all day.
Notes
Nutrition
Would you like to save this?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Delicious and a new family favorite! I used date sugar and it worked really well.
Delicious and a new favorite in this house! I used date sugar, worked very well.
New family favorite! My kids don’t like sweet potato, and can usually “detect” it in everything, but they LOVaeD these brownies! I did the slow cooker method for cooking the potato and that was a game changer. This recipe is a keeper!