Flourless Vegan Chickpea Brownies

The easiest healthy flourless vegan chickpea brownies made from only 5 main pantry staple ingredients! Naturally gluten free and nut free, these fudgy flourless brownies are pure decadence!

What happens when you blend chickpeas and cacao powder together? You get the ultimate fudgy flourless vegan brownies that are pure decadence in each bite!

I’ve been on a mission to make more flourless desserts (like my flourless vegan peanut butter cookies and my flourless vegan chocolate cake), so naturally I also had to try my hand at flourless vegan brownies.

Except, I truly wanted them to be flourless. As you’ll see, many “flourless” brownies still contain some sort of alternative flour, like almond or coconut. I wanted these chickpea brownies to be completely flour-free, so there was no confusion between what is flourless and what isn’t.

Plus, it just makes them easier!

With only 5 main pantry ingredients (plus 2 leavening agents), these flourless vegan brownies are the ultimate easy and healthy dessert!

Is it possible to make brownies from scratch without flour?

Absolutely! I truly believe anything can be created so it is more than possible to make brownies from scratch without flour.

Typically, even some chickpea brownies around the web contain some sort of alternative “flour,” meaning it might not be all purpose flour, but it’s almond flour or oat flour.

I wanted these chickpea brownies to be truly flourless, so that’s what we made! For these vegan chickpea brownies, of the 8 ingredients you need, none of them are in any way shape or form flour.

Ingredients for chickpea brownies

As I mentioned earlier, you only need 8 ingredients for these flourless chickpea brownies, and 3 of them are already just leavening agents or flavor enhancers (like vanilla extract).

For these vegan brownies, you’ll need:

• 1 can of chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
• Coconut oil
• Cacao powder
• Unsweetened applesauce
• Coconut sugar
• Baking soda and powder
• Vanilla extract

That’s it! How wildly simple are these flourless chickpea brownies?! They’re literally made from ingredients you can find in your pantry.

Now, if you don’t have some of these ingredients, not to worry. I go over some swaps that you can make in the section down below (but the chickpeas as necessary!). For now, let’s go over how to make these brownies!

How to make flourless vegan chickpea brownies

Now for the fun part. These flourless chickpea brownies are so incredibly easy, it’s almost dangerous (lol).

For these brownies, you’ll need a food processor and a 6×9 baking dish. If you don’t have a food processor, you can also use a high speed blender, but you won’t be able to make these successfully if you just mix them by hand (it will take a lot of work making those chickpeas like a puree!).

First, we’ll start by pureeing the chickpeas and coconut oil until smooth. You want to basically get it to be as smooth as hummus. But if you have a few chunks of chickpea left, no worries!

Then add in the remaining ingredients and pulse everything together until it’s smooth and creamy.

Then pour or spoon the brownie batter into a baking dish lined with parchment paper and bake!

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Now for the toughest part: allowing the brownies to rest. These chickpea brownies need 15 minutes to set after baking since there is no flour. This allows them to firm up so that you can easily slice them without it being a complete mess!

A little patience and you’ll have the fudgiest flourless chickpea brownies that are well worth the wait!

Substitutions for ingredients

Now, if you don’t have some of the ingredients on hand, not to worry! Here are some swaps you can make:

• Swap out the unsweetened applesauce for flaxseed or chia seed “eggs!” To do this, simply use 3 tablespoons of ground flaxseed or chia seed with 1/2 cup water. Let the mixture sit for 5-7 minutes until thick, and then add it into the food processor where you would add in the applesauce.
• If you don’t have coconut sugar, you can use cane sugar or another granulate sugar (like a Keto friendly granulated sugar if you want to keep these lower in sugar). I do not recommend swapping in maple syrup here because they’re already so fudgy, and that would make them mush.
• The vanilla extract is optional- if you don’t have it on hand, not to worry! I recommend adding it in if you have it, but you’ll still have amazingly delicious flourless brownies regardless!
• If you don’t have coconut oil, don’t worry! While these are nut free, you you can also swap in a nut butter if needed (and you can consume nuts). Additionally, you can also use tahini or sunflower seed butter. You definitely need some sort of fat in here though because the chickpeas need to be ground smooth.
• If you’re allergic to cacao or cocoa powder, you can also swap in carob powder here.

Variations for flourless brownies

Now that we’ve gone over the basics for how to make vegan chickpea brownies, let’s go over some variations!

• Add in 2/3 cup of vegan chocolate chips for extra chocolatey flavor.
• Swirl in 3 tablespoons of peanut butter for peanut butter swirl chickpea brownies!
• Add in 1 teaspoon of peppermint extract for fudgy mint brownies.
• Top with some vegan salted caramel sauce for a twist on a toffee brownie!
• Add in some nuts, like walnuts or pecans, or even top with seeds for an extra crunch!

Of course, brownies are always good a la mode; I absolutely love serving these chickpea brownies with a scoop of Paleo vegan ice cream or even a little coconut whipped cream.

I hope you love these vegan chickpea brownies as much as I do! If you give them a go, let me know down below in the comments section.

As always, be sure to tag me on Instagram and Pinterest so that I can see!

Happy flourless brownie baking!

More healthy vegan desserts

Paleo Vegan Fudgy Brownies

Simple vegan chocolate chip cookies

Paleo vegan chocolate mousse

Flourless vegan peanut butter chocolate chip cookies

Vegan double chocolate chip cookies

Paleo vegan molten lava cakes

Vegan flourless chocolate cake

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