The BEST Vegan Pumpkin Brownies (Gluten Free!)
Ultra rich healthy vegan pumpkin brownies swirled with a vegan pumpkin cheesecake for the ultimate pumpkin dessert! You’ll never know this pumpkin vegan brownie recipe is eggless, dairy free, easily gluten free, and lower in sugar! Easy to make and the perfect fall dessert!
If you haven’t noticed, I’ve had a thing for all things pumpkin lately. Just check that Pinterest feed.
Well, sticking with the theme of all delicious and healthy pumpkin desserts, I decided to try something a little bit more decadent today: ultra fudgy and rich vegan pumpkin brownies.
These healthy pumpkin brownies are packed with chocolatey goodness, fudgy chewiness, and that favorite pumpkin flavor you’ve come to know and love during this time of year. It’s elegantly swirled with a vegan pumpkin cheesecake and baked to perfection.
These pumpkin cheesecake swirl brownies did not last long, so you’ve been warned 😉 They’ll spookily disappear right before your eyes!
How to make healthy pumpkin brownies from scratch (overview)
For the full written instructions and ingredient measurements, see the bottom of this post in the recipe card. You can also hit the “jump to recipe” button at the top of this post! Here, we’ll go over a brief overview of the steps, along with providing visuals for a better understanding of the recipe.
I know it sometimes feels super intimidating to make brownies from scratch (let’s talk about developing this recipe too, because there were multiple times during the first batch of these that I freaked haha!).
But making them from scratch is honestly just as easy as a box mix, but they taste way. better. I’m talking I will never use a box mix again. I mean, I haven’t in years, but these brownies pretty much sealed the deal 😉
Ingredients for healthy pumpkin brownies:
- Vegan butter: I recommend Miyoko’s or Flora Plant Butter for the best vegan butter. You can also use coconut oil.
- Chocolate Chips
- Cacao Powder
- All purpose Flour: To make these gluten free pumpkin brownies, simply swap in gluten free 1:1 baking flour, such as Bob’s Red Mill.
- Coconut Sugar (or regular sugar)
- Applesauce & Aquafaba: The combination of these two will help not only bind the brownies together but also to give them that crinkle top!
- Pumpkin Puree: You can use canned pumpkin or homemade pumpkin puree. Just make sure that your pumpkin puree is blended in a food processor to make sure it’s not stringy!
- Vegan Cream Cheese: I like Violife vegan cream cheese for this, and there aren’t any nuts either!
- Pumpkin Spice: This is a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves.
Now that the ingredients are covered, let’s do a quick walk through of these decadent and fudgy flourless brownies!
Here’s an overview of how to make these easy vegan pumpkin swirl brownies:
- Make the brownie batter:
In a large bowl, you’ll cream together the vegan butter, sugar, applesauce, and aquafaba just until combined. Add in the flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder, and either stir the flour in or use your hand mixer again on medium low speed. Fold in the chocolate chips, then spread your brownie batter into your prepared baking pan and set aside.
- Next, make the pumpkin cheesecake swirl:
In a medium bowl, cream together the vegan cream cheese, pumpkin puree, pumpkin spice, and maple syrup. Add a few dollops of the pumpkin batter onto the brownie batter and swirl around. Remember that less is more!
- Bake the vegan pumpkin brownies!
Place your brownie pan into the oven, and bake! Then use a clean and long kitchen knife to slice and serve the brownies for the perfect edge. I leave the brownies in the pan for about 20 minutes after baking to make sure everything sets.
Then you just bake the pumpkin brownies until they’re done!
Tips and Tricks for making the BEST Healthy Pumpkin Brownies:
- Use 100% dark chocolate for ultra rich pumpkin cheesecake brownies. I personally go for Pascha’s 100% baking chocolate chips and find that despite them being 0 grams of sugar, these flourless brownies are still ultra rich. However, you can definitely add in your favorite chocolate chips! I also adore Lily’s Sweets chocolate chips for a good low sugar brand, and of course, Enjoy Life Sweets! They make fantastic allergy friendly chocolate chips!
- Less swirl is always more: be careful not to over-swirl the pumpkin part. Just a few strokes and you’ll get the perfect pumpkin swirl!
- Add some extra crunch: throw in a few extra for some added chocolate decadence, or add in some nuts or seeds for extra crunch!
- Swap in your favorite flour. If you don’t have access to cassava flour easily, not a problem. While it’s a fantastic grain free flour, you can also swap in all-purpose flour if you don’t need it to be grain free and gluten free, or a gluten free 1-to-1 baking flour, such as Bob’s Red Mill.
- Make your own Pumpkin Pie Spice Blend: If you don’t have pumpkin spice on hand (I mean, I’ll admit I have 4 jars in my kitchen currently, so I can share), just swap in 2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ginger, 1/2 tsp cardamom, and 1/2 tsp allspice.
I hope you love these easy and decadent pumpkin brownies as much as I do 🙂
They’re seriously one of my favorite fall treats and just so easy to make again…and again…and again haha!
If you happen to give them a go as well, let me know in the comments below! Be sure to tag me on Instagram and Pinterest if you share your beautiful creations there 🙂 I love to see and re-share them on The Banana Diaries Instagram!
Happy pumpkin brownie baking! 🙂
Check out these recipes for more healthy pumpkin desserts and fall treats!
Healthy Vegan Pumpkin Bread with Cinnamon Streusel
Healthy Pumpkin Cupcakes with Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting
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If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below. This helps others to find the recipes! As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there as well!
Print
The BEST Vegan Pumpkin Brownies (Gluten Free!)
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 23
- Total Time: 38 minutes
- Yield: 16 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Ultra rich healthy vegan pumpkin brownies swirled with a vegan pumpkin cheesecake for the ultimate pumpkin dessert! You’ll never know this pumpkin vegan brownie recipe is eggless, dairy free, easily gluten free, and lower in sugar! Easy to make and the perfect fall dessert!
Ingredients
- 100 grams all-purpose flour or gluten free 1:1 baking flour
- 60 grams cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 113 grams vegan butter or coconut oil, melted
- 160 grams granulated sugar or coconut sugar
- 85 grams unsweetened applesauce, room temperature or 2 tbsp ground flaxseed with 1/3 cup water
- 60 grams aquafaba from UNSALTED chickpeas
- 170 grams vegan chocolate chips
Pumpkin Swirl:
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup vegan cream cheese, softened
- 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice, or cinnamon
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 350F and line an 8×8″ pan with parchment paper.
- Make the brownie batter: In a large bowl, add in the melted vegan butter or coconut oil, sugar, applesauce, and aquafaba. Use a hand mixer to cream together on medium speed until combined. Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder, and use a rubber spatula to gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients OR use your hand mixer again to mix on low speed. Be sure not to over-mix- the batter should be just mixed. Use a rubber spatula to fold in the chocolate chips until evenly distributed (being careful not to over-mix). Pour the batter into the pan and spread the brownie batter to touch the edges of the pan. Set aside.
- Make the pumpkin swirl: In a medium bowl, use a hand mixer to beat together the pumpkin puree, vegan cream cheese, spices, and remaining 2 tbsp cassava flour (and additional maple syrup if desired) until smooth.
- Swirl the pumpkin cheesecake topping: Drop dollops of pumpkin cheesecake batter onto the brownie batter and swirl it together. Be careful not to over swirl, as then you won’t be able to discern the pumpkin cheesecake parts.
- Bake: Place the pan into the oven and bake for 20-22 minutes, or until the toothpick comes out clean. If you bake these brownies longer, they will be more cake-y than fudgy. Remove from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes in the pan to cool.
- Enjoy! Slice and serve! Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Notes
Paleo baking powder: combine 1 tsp baking soda with 2 tsp vinegar and let it sit until it starts to activate by bubbling. Pour into the batter in place of the baking powder.
Gluten free: Use gluten free 1:1 baking flour, such as Bob’s Red Mill in the blue bag.
Aquafaba: Make sure your aquafaba is from a can of UNSALTED chickpeas. OR you can make your own aquafaba!
You are a pumpkin connoisseur and a baking genius! I’m right there with you on the whole turning orange 🙂 but totally worth it!
Aw thank you so much!! I hope you enjoy!! 🙂
What kind of vegan cream cheese do you use? I don’t live in the US, so I will need to look for something similar in my own country. I eat vegan, but regularly eat biological fruits and veg and not all the chemical produced stuff like ‘vegan’ cheese…
Hi there! So I use Miyoko’s, which is a very unprocessed vegan cream cheese (cashews, water, coconut cream, and cultures). However, I know there are a few great recipes around the web on how to make your own vegan cream cheese! I wonder if that could be used instead? I haven’t personally tried this one: https://lovingitvegan.com/vegan-cream-cheese/ but I love Alison and think she’s a great recipe developer!
Hey, can I substitute semisweet chocolate chips for the 100% chocolate chips? If so, should I make some adjustments on the oil and the sugar?
Hi Laras! You absolutely can! No need to adjust anything else- the 100% chocolate chips make them very rich, so they’ll just be slightly sweeter with semisweet!
Just made this and it’s now cooling in the kitchen! I asked you on IG for a cakey brownie recipe and you gave me this and suggested to just omit the pumpkin and I did!! This recipe gives me THICCC brownies! It puffs up in the oven then deflate to about a little over 1.5 inch tall. I guess I can safely bake this in a 9×9 square pan or even larger. This seems like a lot of batter and it took me about 1 hour for the brownie to cook through, the top is also cracked a little bit but I’m not complaining.
I believe you missed out about adding the baking powder in the direction so I almost forgot to put it then remembered just before I put it in the oven (phew!)
I also made this with a few modifications; 1) I used half milk chocolate half bittersweet chocolate and reduce the sugar by a little over 1/4 cup, 2) I used vegetable oil instead of coconut oil, and 3) Used cashew milk instead of coconut milk
I know I said the brownie is still cooling but I just can’t help myself but to cut me a little slice and devour the warm brownie and it’s SO GOOD!! I think I’m going to make a pecan pie brownie using this recipe as the brownie base! Thank you!!!♡