Healthy Brownie Recipes

A double dose of lemon juice and zest brings fresh and tangy flavor to these easy brownies. They're the perfect dessert for any holiday or special occasion—or when you just need a little something to brighten your day.

You might want to keep a copy of this recipe in the pantry beside the cocoa for those moments when you crave a chocolaty treat. Cook this fudgy brownie in a mug in the microwave and it's ready in less than a minute!

This dark chocolate vegan mug cake is a brownie in a flash! It's moist and rich and made extra decadent with vegan chocolate chips melted on top.

These blondies, made with whole-wheat flour and the bright and refreshing combination of raspberries and lemon, provide an invigorating snack for any time of day.

The batter for this healthy one-bowl brownie recipe is stirred together right in the saucepan used to melt the butter and chocolate--no mixing bowl needed and less cleanup for you. Using shredded zucchini in this healthy dessert recipe creates a tender, moist brownie with about half the amount of butter and sugar found in a classic recipe--and it's virtually undetectable in the baked brownies.

People likely won't even notice that these delicately nutty, just a little chocolaty, blondies are gluten-free. They use quinoa flour, which you can find in well-stocked supermarkets and natural-foods stores, in place of all-purpose flour. To make your own quinoa flour, grind raw quinoa into a powder in a clean coffee grinder. (Adapted from Quinoa Revolution by Patricia Green and Carolyn Hemming.)

Applesauce is the secret ingredient that keeps these yummy chocolate brownies dense and chewy even without all the butter you would expect to find. We've used whole-wheat pastry flour for added fiber and nutrients and loaded the brownies with plenty of chocolate chips to keep them rich and satisfying. You won't even miss the 20 grams of fat we've lost in the makeover.

Cocoa powder and brown sugar make this easy drop cookie recipe taste like rich brownies.

We took two classic desserts—banana bread and brownies—and combined them into one sweet treat. Be sure to use very ripe bananas, which will be easier to mash and also add natural sweetness.

These not-too-sweet mini desserts combine the flavors of peanut butter cups and chocolate cake. Quinoa flour adds protein and makes these gluten-free, but feel free to substitute white whole-wheat flour instead.

These chickpea blondies are packed with peanuts and chocolate chips for a fudgy, fiber-packed treat.

Classic carrot cake flavors abound in these easy bars. They're rich like brownies, but their cake-like texture helps keep them light. A yogurt and cream cheese-based frosting topped with nutty walnuts completes this crowd-pleasing dessert. If you're avoiding gluten, look for gluten-free oat flour or make your own by processing gluten-free oats into powder in your high-speed blender.