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There’s nothing like a warm brownie to really kick a sweets craving! Instead of blowing my healthy lifestyle out of the water, I know I can whip these healthy chocolate brownies up in a hurry thanks to the Instant Pot.

These Instant Pot brownies are super easy to make and so delicious. There’s no white or brown sugar, and no need to melt any chocolate in this easy Instant Pot brownie recipe. They’re my favorite healthier Instant Pot dessert!

Collage of Instant Pot brownies

Where’s the recipe?

In my recipe posts I like to give a lot of tips and detailed information so that anyone can make my recipes. If you’d like to skip over all of that, just scroll to the bottom of the page where you’ll find the easy printable Healthy Brownie recipe!

cut brownies on a white plate

Ingredients

  • Pureed Pumpkin or Carrots: Make sure to use 100% pure pumpkin and not the pumpkin pie filling.
  • Maple Syrup: Pure maple syrup has a lower glycemic index, far less processing, and significantly more minerals than refined sugar.
  • Eggs: If you’re egg free you can make a chia egg using directions in this post.
  • Coconut Oil: You can learn about healthy oils in this post.
  • Vanilla Extract: Be sure to use vanilla extract and not bakers vanilla or imitation vanilla.  These often have added sugar and artificial flavors.
  • Rice Flour: Rice flour can be substituted in equal amounts for whole wheat flour, or gluten free flour.
  • Cocoa Powder: There are so many benefits to using a good quality cocoa powder, such as improved mood (see chocolate does make you happy) and increases blood flow to your brain.
  • Baking Powder: Helps to give these chocolate brownies volume, or a fluffy texture.

How to make these Instant Pot Brownies:

  1. Prepare your pot
    Insert the trivet into the Instant Pot and add 2 cups of water to the bottom of your pot.
  2. Mix the wet ingredients
    Add pureed pumpkin, maple syrup, eggs, coconut oil and vanilla extract to a large bowl and mix well.
  3. Add the dry ingredients
    Mix in the rice flour, cocoa powder & baking powder to your wet ingredients and mix well.
  4. Prepare your pan
    Grease a 7 inch springform pan and fill it with the brownie batter, then cover with foil.
  5. Make a sling
    Ready to try something new? Fold a long piece of foil into thirds lengthwise to create a sling to place under the cake pan. Using the sling, carefully lower the springform pan into the Instant Pot. If you have a trivet with handles, you can use that instead.
  6. Pressure cook
    Close the lid on your pressure cooker and make sure to turn the pressure valve to sealing. Cook on high pressure using the Manual or Pressure Cook setting for 35 minutes.
  7. Quick release
    Do a quick release to release the pressure, which means when the timer stops, immediately move the valve to Venting. Steam will forefully come out for a few minutes as the pressure releases. Use the sling or trivet handles to carefully remove the pan from the Instant Pot. Let cool and then serve.
how to make instant pot brownies

Oven Directions

If you don’t have an electric pressure cooker, here’s how you can make these brownies in the oven:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, combine all wet ingredients (pumpkin puree, maple syrup, eggs, coconut oil and vanilla extract).
  3. Add rice flour, cocoa powder and baking powder to the bowl of wet ingredients and mix until combined.
  4. Grease or line with parchment paper a 7 inch springform pan and pour the brownie batter into it.
  5. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a knife inserted into the middle of the pan comes out clean.

Recipe Tips

  • If your brownies are not coming out quite right for you, don’t fret. You might just need to adjust the cook time for a different altitude. Check out this post on Instant Pot high altitude cooking time adjustments.
  • If your brownies are still a little gooey after they are done quick releasing, I’d keep them in the Instant Pot and add another couple of minutes of cooking time, then do another quick release and they should be good to go! If you’d rather, you can stick the brownies in the oven to finish them. I’d cook in a 350 degree preheated oven and check every 5 minutes.
  • These brownies are much easier to cut when they’re completely cooled. I always cut brownies with a plastic knife, as they don’t stick to the knife that way–it’s a game changing tip!
  • If you’re using a different pan, your cooking times might change a bit. Keep an eye on the brownies and you’ll know they’re done cooking when a metal butterknife or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Healthy Eating Plans

21 Day Fix: 1 yellow container of these 21 Day Fix brownies (I use the container to cut one) counts as a yellow container treat swap!

Weight Watchers: one serving of this recipe counts as 5 Points on the 2023 Plan | 11 Blue Plan Points | 11 Green Plan Points | 11 Purple Plan Points

More Instant Pot dessert recipes

cut brownies on a white plate
4.89 from 17 ratings
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Instant Pot Brownies | Healthy Brownies

Created by: Becca Ludlum
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Approximate Serving Size: 1 brownie
Servings 8 people
These Instant Pot brownies are super easy and so delicious. These are my favorite healthier Instant Pot dessert! These are a 21 Day Fix treat swap, enjoy! 

Equipment

  • Instant Pot 6 qt
  • Instant Pot Trivet
  • Springform Pan

Ingredients 

  • 1 cup Pureed Pumpkin or Carrots
  • 1 cup Pure Maple Syrup
  • 2 Eggs
  • ¼ cup Coconut Oil
  • 1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
  • ½ cups Rice Flour or whole wheat flour
  • cup Cocoa Powder
  • ½ tsp Baking Powder

Instructions

  • Insert the trivet into the Instant Pot and add 2 cups of water.
  • Add pureed pumpkin, maple syrup, eggs, coconut oil and vanilla extract to a large bowl and mix well. 1 cup Pureed Pumpkin or Carrots, 1 cup Pure Maple Syrup, 2 Eggs, ¼ cup Coconut Oil, 1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
  • Mix in the rice flour, cocoa powder & baking powder to your wet ingredients and mix well. ½ cups Rice Flour, ⅓ cup Cocoa Powder, ½ tsp Baking Powder
  • Grease a 7 inch springform pan and fill it with the batter, then cover with foil.
  • Fold a long piece of foil into thirds lengthwise to create a sling to place under the springform pan. Using the sling, carefully lower the springform pan into the Instant Pot.
  • Close the lid on your pressure cooker and make sure to turn the pressure valve to sealing. Cook on high pressure using the manual setting for 35 minutes.
  • Do a quick release to release the pressure, then use the sling to remove the pan from the Instant Pot. Let cook and then serve.

Video

Notes

21 Day Fix: 1 yellow container of these brownies (I use the container to cut one) counts as a yellow container treat swap!
Weight Watchers | 1 Serving (recipe makes 8): 5 Points on the 2023 Plan |  11 Points on Blue, Green & Purple Plans
 
Oven directions: Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until a knife inserted into the middle of the pan comes out clean. 

Nutrition

Calories: 233kcal | Carbohydrates: 38.1g | Protein: 2.9g | Fat: 8.6g | Saturated Fat: 6.6g | Cholesterol: 41mg | Sodium: 21mg | Potassium: 226mg | Fiber: 1.7g | Sugar: 24.3g | Vitamin A: 3925IU | Vitamin C: 1.25mg | Calcium: 56mg | Iron: 1mg

Make This Recipe?

Make sure to follow on Pinterest @bludlum and on Instagram @beccaludlum

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33 Comments

  1. can you did this in a slow cooker?

    1. I haven’t tried it in a slow cooker, I’m sorry.

  2. Hi. I’ve been looking through your IP recipes and keep on seein rice flour. Can you substitute whole wheat flour ornis there a specific reason that we need to stick with that particular product? I’m asking because it’s a baked good and I know that there’s less flexibility in baking.

    Thanks and looking forward to adding these to my rotations.

    1. Hey there! You should be able to sub these pretty easily. Whole wheat might give you a little trouble, so just plan on tweaking a little :)

      1. Kristen Kemp says:

        Thank you for the reply. I was just about to ask the same question as I don’t have rice flour. I do have A/P so will give these as a try as my first “bake” in my IP!!

  3. Brenna Webster says:

    Is anyone else going to admit do doing a double take after reading “pot brownies”?? LOL I saw the title and I was like wait a second!!! All of your delicious looking recipes are making me want to purchase an instant pot!

    1. Seriously, right?! I titled it and then after I published it and realized what I did, there was no going back!

      And let me tell you, I love that Instant Pot!! ;)

  4. Hugely enjoyed this article :), keep up the greatt writing and I’ll keep reading.
    Will be sharing this with my instagram followers and I’m sure they’ll love it as
    well!

  5. Hi Becca! I enjoy every recipe of yours I’ve tried since starting 21DFX last Dec. These brownies look amazing! One sub questiom, would raw local honey be okay in place of the pure maple syrup? I have all of the ingredients but that in my house.

    1. Hi Jessica, thank you!!

      I think subbing honey for syrup would be fine!!

    2. 5 stars
      I’m so sorry I missed this question! Raw honey is a great replacement for syrup :)

  6. Is there any way to substitute the rice flour for coconut or almond flour?

  7. Lou Fortier says:

    Becca could you swap the pumpkin for sweet potatato?

    1. Hey Lou! I haven’t done it, so I hesitate to say yes. I can’t imagine why you couldn’t, but I’m not sure about cooking times and such. :)

      1. Lou Fortier says:

        sweet potato puree is pretty much like pumpkin puree don’t you think? I made some brownie bites with sweet potatoes some time ago using Daphne Oz ‘s recipe . I think her bake time was off so I increased the time, but they were quite good. Check it out.

      2. Yes, I totally agree! I can’t recommend something here that I haven’t physically tried myself though! ;)

  8. I just made these and followed the directions and the brownie wasn’t all the way cooked. I went ahead and put in a 350 oven for thrifty minutes.

    Why do you think mine didn’t cook all the way?

    1. Hi Terri, I’m sorry these didn’t cook all the way through for you! A few reasons…were any of your ingredients cold, or did you substitute any ingredients?

      1. I didn’t substitute any ingredients and they were room temperature.

      2. Terri,

        The only things I can think of are that it’s an elevation issue and would need more time next time you make them, or maybe your seal wasn’t set? Did the pot come to pressure?

  9. Have you tried baking it? If so, how long should I bake it at what temperature? TIA!

    1. Hi there! I haven’t baked these yet but it’s on my to do list for this week!

      1. Have you baked these in the regular oven before?

      2. I haven’t! It was on my to do list for this week but I didn’t get to it—rescheduling for this weekend!

  10. If using coconut flour, do I need to increase any of the liquids? Can’t wait to give these a try!

    1. No, it should cook pretty much the same.

      1. Kathy Pilolla says:

        Thank you. Will give it a go!

  11. Debora Cadene says:

    I’m for sure going to make these but am also wondering about Bake time..Did you get around to baking them in an oven Yet? My sister in law would love these, but doesn’dt have an instant pot.

  12. Sue Roberts says:

    5 stars
    Hi, wow I saw this and did a double take like, “Wow, hey wait a minute!”
    I really want to try this. I am having just one problem though. Pressure cooking is very new to me. And I am having trouble with a lot of these recipes b/c I have the Power Pressure Cooker XL. I have no idea what buttons to press. I mean I can kinda guess, but every time I go to I get nervous and decide to make it some other time, and some other time never happens. Do you have directions for this recipe with the Pressure Cooker XL?

    BTW! You are amazing and I love your recipes! Thank you for sharing! :)

  13. Liz Cundari says:

    Can a bake them and what temp? Thanks

    1. Hi Liz, I’ve baked these before for 60 minutes at 375. Depending on your oven they might need more time, just test them before you pull them out.

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