Flourless Beet Brownies

By Jerrelle Guy

Published Feb. 10, 2021

Flourless Beet Brownies
Con Poulos for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Jerrie-Joy Redman-Lloyd.
Total Time
40 minutes
Rating
4(602)
Comments
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Despite being flourless, these beet brownies bridge the gap between fudgy and cakey, offering the best of both worlds. Raw beets make the brownies dense and moist, helping them stay luscious and soft long after they’ve finished baking. Though the beets bring their own natural sweetness, pulsing the chopped raw beets in a food processor with some additional granulated sugar breaks down the hard root into a vibrant red base. In fact, the food processor does most of the work in this recipe. Baked until just cooked through, the resulting brownies are rich, subtly sweet and deeply chocolatey. If you prefer your brownies a little sweeter, sub the bittersweet chocolate baking chips for semi-sweet baking chips. You can top them with a little flaky sea salt out of the oven. Serve them warm with ice cream for dessert or at room temperature with a cup of coffee in the morning.

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Ingredients

Yield:9 brownies
  • 2tablespoons olive oil, plus more for greasing
  • 1cup/70 grams unsweetened regular or Dutch-process cocoa powder
  • 1teaspoon baking soda
  • 1medium red beet (about ¼ pound), peeled and cut into ½-inch pieces
  • ½cup/100 grams granulated sugar
  • 2teaspoons vanilla extract (optional)
  • 1cup plus 3 tablespoons/7 ounces bittersweet or dark (60 percent cacao) baking chocolate chips
  • 2large eggs
  • Flaky sea salt, for garnish
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (9 servings)

345 calories; 16 grams fat; 8 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 49 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams dietary fiber; 41 grams sugars; 5 grams protein; 219 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease an 8-by-8-inch baking pan with olive oil and set aside.

  2. Step 2

    In a small bowl, whisk the cocoa powder and baking soda together. Set aside.

  3. Step 3

    Add the chopped beets, sugar and vanilla, if using, to the bowl of a food processor, and pulse until the beets are just puréed but before they begin to liquefy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

  4. Step 4

    In a small microwave-safe bowl, add 1 cup/6 ounces chocolate chips and the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil. Heat in the microwave in 15-second intervals, stirring between each round, until the chocolate is almost completely melted, up to 75 seconds total. Remove the chocolate from the microwave, stir until completely smooth, then immediately add it to the food processor. Blend it with the beets on high until smooth. Add the eggs, blend to incorporate, then add the dry ingredients and blend until just combined, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

  5. Step 5

    Remove the blade, and using a rubber spatula, scrape the brownie batter into the prepared pan, then smooth it into an even layer. Sprinkle the remaining 3 tablespoons/1 ounce chocolate chips on top and bake until the brownies have puffed and set on top but are still a little fudgy when a toothpick is inserted inside, about 25 to 30 minutes.

  6. Step 6

    Remove the brownies from the oven and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting into squares and topping with flaky sea salt.

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Ratings

4 out of 5
602 user ratings
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Comments

Hadley

These brownies taste like full-on beets. My roommates and I were disappointed. Skip this recipe and make a normal actually delicious brownie recipe instead! Even for gluten free, these are not good.

emily

May I ask: Why?

Gab

Texture is good and it cooked nicely (very easy), but definitely has a beet flavor—which I don’t mind but it’s not subtle. I think it would be great with some vanilla ice cream. Overall, decent.

Cervantes

I roasted the beet first (because I didn’t reread the recipe) and did the rest as written. No trace of beet in the finished product. Very rich and fudgy. I eat them more like cake, with a fork, than by hand like a brownie. I might try two roasted beets next time, upping the hidden veggie quotient.

AinRVA

I used other's suggestions from the comments to amend the recipe and it was SO good! Served to my husband and MIL who didn't even realize there were beets in the batter even though I doubled the beets. Changes made per commenter suggestions: roasted the beets (I think this is KEY) and added 3/4 a mashed ripe banana. Texture improved over night and kept well generally. To me they taste more like a moist flourless torte than brownies which is fine with me. Will totally be making these again.

Marie Moore

Would it be good to roast the beet first?

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