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Looking for a chocolatey, delicious, coconut brownie recipe? These healthy coconut brownies have a rich chocolate flavor that complements the nutty flavor of the toasted coconut topping.
These healthy brownies are to some of the best I’ve ever had. They’re moist, full of chocolate and coconut, and rich enough that one brownie is a satisfying serving.
Incredibly, they also have no flour and no added sugar. Weird as it might sound, the flour and sugar have been replaced with black beans, gluten free oats, and stevia. These brownies have the perfect texture — I think you’ll love them!
Where’s the Recipe?
I love to provide you with all kinds of tips and tricks for my recipes to make sure you get the best results possible, especially if this is your first time making this recipe.
But I know many of you are experienced bakers and might not need the recipe tips and nutritional information. If so, simply scroll to the bottom and you’ll find the recipe card for fudgy black bean brownies with all the details you need.
Ingredients in Healthy Coconut Brownies
- Black beans: The secret ingredient in these brownies! Unexpected, I know, but they will transform these into super rich, moist, and fudgy brownies with the perfect brownie texture. And don’t worry, these healthy black bean brownies won’t have a black bean flavor even though they are a main ingredient.
- Cocoa powder: I love keeping cocoa powder on hand because I can drop it into so many different recipes when I need a chocolate fix.
- Oats: Looking to avoid gluten? Pure oats are gluten free, but can sometimes become contaminated with gluten during the processing stage. If you need absolutely gluten free oats, make sure to double-check the packaging.
- Honey: A great way to avoid refined sugar is to use honey, which is a natural sweetener. Just a little will go a long way! You can also use pure maple syrup if needed, but remember that will change the counts.
- Stevia (coconut flavored): Stevia is a great sweetener substitute and Sweetleaf Stevia is the brand I prefer. Sweetleaf has so many different flavors of their liquid sweetener, you can find the perfect one for your recipes. I love the coconut one for this black bean brownies recipe.
- Coconut (unsweetened, shredded): Make sure to use unsweetened coconut, as sweetened coconut will change the counts for this recipe.
- Coconut oil: Coconut oil in place of butter makes these brownies so aromatic!
- Vanilla: Vanilla is one of the places I don’t skimp. Imitation vanilla will work in a pinch, but it is often less aromatic and has a much less potent flavor. Go for pure vanilla extract if you can.
- Almond extract: Almond extract gives these brownies a warm, nutty flavor that would otherwise be missing since these brownies contain no nuts.
- Baking powder: A cupboard staple — this is great to keep on hand so you can whip up baked goods whenever you want.
- Dark chocolate chips: I prefer the richer flavor of dark chocolate chips in this recipe to really complement the cocoa powder and black beans.
How to Make Healthy Coconut Brownies
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Blend your black beans in a food processor until very smooth. If you don’t have a food processor, you can also use a high speed blender! I used my Vitamix and blended them as much as I could on high, then put them in a bowl and used a fork to mash the rest.
- Add the rest of your ingredients (except the chocolate chips) into the bowl.
- Blend until smooth.
- Stir in chocolate chips.
- Grease an 8×8 square pan or baking dish.
- Pour the brownie batter into the pan and sprinkle coconut on top of the batter if you’d like.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean (except for the melted chocolate chips).
- Cool until room temperature, then refrigerate.
- Cut your brownies into 16 servings and then store in an airtight container.
Recipe Tips
- Want to avoid greasing the pan or don’t have anything on hand? Try parchment paper instead! Line your baking pan with parchment paper and once the brownies have cooled you can lift them right out of the pan.
- Looking to make these dairy free? Substitute dairy-free chocolate chips! Just make sure that you’re also using raw cacao powder instead of cocoa powder (which sometimes has dairy added to it). Remember, any substitutions will change the counts.
- Some people prefer these brownies cold, but I love them warm so I can really enjoy the fudgy texture. They are great out of the oven or the next day. These are one of my favorite desserts. I can’t wait to hear what you think!
- Whipped cream makes a delicious topping to these chocolate brownies. It’s optional, so the nutritional values and healthy eating plan counts do not include it.
Healthy Eating Plans
This decadent chocolate treat is a surprisingly great option for people following healthy eating plans. You can find the complete nutritional information (calories, carbs, etc) at the bottom of the printable recipe below, but here’s the serving and points information for different healthy eating plans.
Servings: 16 (entire pan cut into 16 servings)
Serving size: 1 brownie
21 Day Fix
1 yellow container of this healthy brownie (I use the container to cut one) counts as a yellow container treat swap!
Weight Watchers
12 Points on the 2023 Plan | 10 Blue Plan Points | 11 Green Plan Points | 10 Purple Plan
More Delicious Healthy Dessert Recipes
Love this great recipe and looking for more healthy sweet treats or chocolatey treats?
- Tahini Protein Balls: These high protein energy bites are sweet, delicious, and use simple ingredients.
- Healthy Buckeyes: No shortening, powdered sugar, or oils — just four ingredients in this amazing recipe to make these peanut butter treats.
- 21 Day Fix Brownies: Looking for another brownie recipe? Check out this 21 Day Fix option. So easy to make in the Instant Pot, too!
- No Bake Mocha Coconut Bars
- Instant Pot Peanut Butter Lave Cakes
This post is sponsored by SweetLeaf Natural Stevia Sweetener. SweetLeaf is a 0 calorie, 0 carb, 0 glycemic response sweetener with no artificial ingredients. It’s the only stevia sweetener I trust for my family. Find more recipes on the SweetLeaf website.
Black Bean Brownies with Coconut
Equipment
- Food processor
- Baking Dish
- Vitamix Blender
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 15 ounce black beans rinsed and drained
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- ½ cup oats gluten free if needed
- ½ cup honey
- 1 tsp Stevia Sweetleaf Coconut flavored
- 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut unsweetened shredded
- ¼ cup coconut oil
- 1 tbsp vanilla
- 1 tsp almond extract
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 10 oz dark chocolate chips
Instructions
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Blend beans in a food processor until very smooth. I used my Vitamix and blended them as much as I could on high, then put them in a bowl and used a fork to mash the rest.
- Add the rest of your ingredients (except for the chocolate chips) in the bowl
- Blend until smooth
- Stir in chocolate chips
- Pour batter into a greased 8×8 pan and sprinkle coconut on top if you’d like
- Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean (except for the melted chocolate chips)
- Cool until room temperature, then refrigerate.
- Cut your brownies into 16 servings and then store in an airtight container.
Notes
Nutrition
Make This Recipe?
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These look wonderful. I love making brownies out of ‘secret’ ingredients and not telling my husband. I’d swap out the dark chocolate chips though for carob chips just to make it even more healthier.
I love the flavor of coconut. yes, they seem to be really delicious and to die for
Here it is late at night and now I am craving brownies. Do you deliver?
This is such a different recipe – I have got to give this a try
I could always use a healthy brownie recipe- yum!
I have to make these. They look so tasty.
Now that’s what I’m talking about. I’ve been eating a lot healthier these days and this receipe might just fit the mold. YUMMY!!
These brownies look awesome. I want to make some with black beans very soon!
My husband would love this recipe, he loves chocolate and is always looking for a low calorie version!
This recipe looks incredible. But I do think it’s misleading to say it has no sugar in it. The bag of chocolate chips has a considerable amount of sugar that add the majority of sweetness and overall deliciousness. Unfortunately for those of us who can’t have sugar, that makes the recipe unusable :-( I’ve been looking for a sugarless recipe for the last year or so since removing sugar from my diet … the search continues.
Recipe does look tempting, but I have to agree with Jessica, misleading indeed. There is a lot of sugar in this recipe: 1/2 c honey (although natural its still sugar) and chocolate chips
I’m so sorry, Kristi and Jessica – that wasn’t my intention. Of course, chocolate chips add sugar. If there was truly 0 sugar they wouldn’t be a dessert. How would you recommend I word future recipes to explain that there is no added white sugar?
you could say just that, no added white sugar
I have to agree. While this is definitely a very healthy version of a typical brownie recipe, I expect “no sugar” recipes to contain no sugar. There are plenty of recipes that actually contain no sugar that are delicious. I agree on advertising this as “no added sugar” or “low sugar”. I’m still going to bake these for my cheat days!! Thanks for posting!
You had me at brownie and to find out its good for me – bonus points. Can’t wait to give this baby a try. So creative, I love it.
SO yummy Kira!
Brownies are my downfall!!! These look so yummy and I want to try but can’t find the coconut flavored stevia. Any suggestions? Thanks.
I found this recipe under desserts when looking at the 21 Day Fix recipes. I was wondering if you can let us know which container it goes into and about what size (3×3, 2×2) would fit to prevent us from having to stuff a brownie into that container…I’m hoping the 21 day fix eventually will release measurements to those who purchase in the form of ounces not just fitting into a container to make it easier to eat out etc.
Hi Cara,
I take the yellow container, turn it upside down, and press it into the pan of brownies. I use that as one yellow and count it as one of my weekly treat swaps. :)
Thank you, Beca, for this recipe….looks yummy in the picture! I have not tried them yet. I was wondering if you have ever made them with banana….maybe substitute banana for the honey in the same amount? Banana is a good sweetener and it’s consistency might be similar enough to the honey to work in the recipe. What do you think?
By the way, I love love love SweetLeaf Stevia Drops Original….I use it in my hot tea, coffee, oatmeal, etc. It has definitely helped me to cut down on other kinds of sweeteners, even the more nutritious ones like honey and molasses…. Thanks for promoting it and I encourage anyone out there who has not tried it, to do so. The Original SweetLeaf Stevia Drops have no flavors or colors for those who must be careful of what they consume. I purchase SweetLeaf at Kroger in the Natural/Organic section.
Gonna make these right now. Can you tell me what kind of oats you used please? Thanks!
Can I omit the honey completely or substitute it with a n non sugar item?
I made them yesterday as a treat for the 21 day fix diet! My taste buds may be biased because they haven’t had anything sugary in a couple of weeks but I thought they were DELICIOUS!! I didn’t have flavored stevia so I used regular and I didn’t have almond extract, but they are still so good. I topped mine with some walnuts and slices of strawberries and counted it as a treat yellow container, an orange and a purple! AWESOME. Thanks a bunch!
Do you mean almond extract? Never heard of almond abstract
Hey can I substitute the coconut sweetener for regular sugar? If so, how much?
The coconut Stevia just gives a little bit of coconut flavor. With only 1tsp, I don’t think you’ll be missing out if you omit it completely.
Made these and loved them! I was nice and brought some to work and everyone that tried them loved them too! Thanks for sharing!