These gooey vegan peanut butter brownies are a swirly and fudgy dream! So easy to make with just one bowl, you will love these gluten free and dairy free peanut butter swirl brownies!

Best Ever Vegan Peanut Butter Brownies (Gluten Free!)

Reasons why you’ll love these vegan peanut butter brownies

I’m about to completely upgrade your brownie eating experience: introducing, the best peanut butter swirl brownies that are undetectably vegan, gluten free, grain free, dairy free, and refined sugar free!

All of that, and you still get decadent, rich, fudgy, and irresistible peanut butter brownies?

You bet. I have a few tricks up my sleeves for some culinary magic, and I’m about to show you!

sliced peanut butter swirl brownies

These fudgy healthy peanut butter brownies are easy to make (literally just one bowl), craving-satisfying, and all the the things that a peanut butter swirl brownie should be.

And yet, these vegan peanut butter swirl brownies are also gluten free and dairy free!

stacked vegan peanut butter brownies

Ingredients for vegan peanut butter swirl brownies

For these one bowl peanut butter swirl brownies, you’ll need:

  • Flour: I used gluten-free 1:1 baking flour, but you can also use oat flour or all purpose if you don’t need them to be gluten free.
  • Coconut sugar
  • Vegan butter: you can use coconut oil, but I prefer vegan butter here. You’ll get a better brownie!
  • Applesauce: this replaces the eggs found in traditional peanut butter brownie recipes.
  • Cacao powder
  • Baking powder
  • Chocolate chips: honestly the best brownies contain chocolate chips in the batter. They make the brownies super fudgy!
  • Peanut butter: I used smooth and creamy peanut butter.
sliced vegan brownies

How to make vegan peanut butter brownies from scratch

As with all of my recipes, the full brownie recipe is written in the recipe card down below. However, we’ll go over the basics here!

For these peanut butter swirl brownies, we’ll first start by making the brownie base.

Combine the melted vegan butter and coconut sugar until the coconut sugar begins to dissolve. Then add in the applesauce, dairy free milk, vanilla extract, mixing until combined.

Sift in the flour, cacao powder, and baking powder, and stir until there are just no more dry streaks.

brownie batter
vegan rbownie batter

Fold in the chocolate chips, then pour the batter into your prepared brownie pan. Now we’ll make the peanut butter swirl!

How to make the peanut butter swirl

Now, the peanut butter swirl is even easier than the brownies. I actually use the same bowl that I made the brownies in to make the peanut butter swirl.

I will say that I’ve tested this peanut butter brownies recipe with just straight up peanut butter and with the peanut butter recipe below. Both work wonderfully! You can easily just swirl your favorite peanut butter right on top of these brownies!

But if you’d like to make the peanut butter swirl recipe, then follow along! Add peanut butter, softened vegan butter, vanilla extract, and maple syrup to a large bowl.

peanut butter swirl whipped up

Using a hand mixer, beat the ingredients together until it forms a nice and thick peanut butter cream.

Then add a few dollops to the brownie batter and swirl lightly with a knife. Make sure not to swirl too much, or else it will just look like a muddy mess. Still will taste good, but may not be as swirly ha!

dollops of peanut butter on brownie batter
swirled peanut butter into brownie batter

Then place your peanut butter swirl brownies into the oven and bake!

Tips & Substitutions

  • Less sugar: you can use a sweetener, such as Allulose, to reduce the sugar count in these brownies
  • Don’t want to use peanut butter? Use your favorite nut butter or seed butter instead. I recommend almond butter or coconut butter!
  • Don’t need gluten free? Swap in all purpose flour if you don’t need these to be gluten free brownies!
  • Stick with applesauce: this will yield the best texture for these brownies!
stack of peanut butter swirl brownies

If you make these peanut butter swirl brownies, be sure to leave a comment down below, as well as a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ so that others may find these vegan brownies!

I hope you love these brownies as much as I do! Cannot wait to see your recreations of them on Instagram and Pinterest 🙂 Until next time, happy baking and swirling!

More vegan brownie recipes

Ultimate Classic Vegan Brownies

Vegan Brownie Cookie Nutella Bars

S’mores Stuffed Vegan Brownies

Gooey Vegan Blondies

Hocus Pocus Spell Book Brownies

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stacked vegan peanut butter brownies

Vegan Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies

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  • Author: thebananadiaries
  • Prep Time: 15
  • Cook Time: 30
  • Total Time: 45 minutes
  • Yield: 16 1x
  • Category: Dessert
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: American
  • Diet: Vegan
Print Recipe

Description

These gooey vegan peanut butter brownies are a swirly and fudgy dream! So easy to make with just one bowl, you will love these gluten free and low sugar peanut butter swirl brownies!

Ingredients

Scale

Vegan Brownies

  • 1/2 cup vegan butter or coconut oil, melted
  • 1 cup coconut sugar
  • 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 1/4 cup dairy free milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup oat flour, all purpose flour or gluten free 1:1 baking flour
  • 1 cup cacao powder
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Peanut Butter Swirl

  • 3/4 cup creamy smooth peanut butter
  • 4 ounces vegan butter, room temperature
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup

Instructions

Vegan Brownies:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350F and line an 8×8″ pan with parchment paper.
  2. In a large bowl, add in the melted vegan butter or coconut oil and coconut sugar. Stir with a spoon until the mixture is completely combined.
  3. Add in the applesauce, dairy free milk, and vanilla, stirring again until combined.
  4. Sift in the flour, cacao powder, and baking powder, and use a rubber spatula to gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Be sure not to over-mix- the batter should be just mixed. 
  5. Fold in the chocolate chips until evenly distributed (being careful not to over-mix).
  6. Pour the batter into the pan and spread the brownie batter to touch the edges of the pan.

Peanut Butter Swirl

  1. In a large bowl, add in all of the peanut butter swirl ingredients.
  2. Using a hand mixer, beat the ingredients together until it’s a thick peanut butter cream.
  3. Pour a few dollops of peanut butter swirl on top of your brownies. Using a knife, carefully swirl the peanut butter cream into the brownies. Don’t over mix, as this will not be swirled then. Less is more.
  4. You may have extra peanut butter cream left over. If so, you can store this in the fridge for a week, and add as an additional topping onto the brownies or over paleo vegan ice cream!
  5. 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.
  6. Remove from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes in the pan to cool. 
  7. 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.