Healthy Sweet Potato Brownies made grain-free, refined sugar-free, dairy-free and flourless! This moist and rich fudge brownie recipe is made with wholesome ingredients for everyday eating and special events alike!
You’re looking at magical Disappearing Brownies!
Disappearing because these luscious lumps last approximately 15.32 seconds in any household.
Which is about the exact amount of time it takes to consume a batch of brownies without looking like you’re in a food competition.
Well…I suppose that’s debatable.
Truly, my partner and I consume treats like this with much gusto. We’re both wholeheartedly obsessed with both chocolate and sweet potatoes.
And let me just tell you. These healthy sweet potato brownies are simply sensational.
We both had to pry ourselves away from the brownie pan. And even still, our resistance was futile because neither of us couldn’t stop at one.
I enjoy these more than regular brownies made with gluten free all purpose flour!
Recipe Highlights:
Entirely flourless, grain-free, refined sugar-free, dairy-free, paleo and so easy to make, these fudgy brownies are an absolute win all the way around.
This is one of those recipes you can safely serve at any gathering and feel assured there won’t be someone raising their hand to ask if it fits their laundry list of dietary restrictions.
The simple ingredients are wholesome, easy to find at any grocery store, and have folks with food allergies in mind.
I jest, but I’m typically that inquiring party who wants to know the ingredient details.
The main ingredient in this sweet potato brownie recipe is mashed sweet potato, which means they’re made with a vegetable, so basically we’re talking about health food here.
In all seriousness, the health benefits of sweet potatoes spread far and wide.
Sweet potatoes contain more potassium than bananas (fun fact!), They are also a great source of complex carbohydrates, fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, Manganese, and more!
Not to mention, sweet potatoes are remarkably satiating. When pairing the sweet potatoes and almond butter in these brownies, you’re left with a remarkably filling dessert or treat.
Let’s do a deep dive into the ingredients for healthy sweet potato brownies!
Ingredients for Healthy Sweet Potato Brownies:
Sweet Potatoes: The star of these brownies! Sweet potato puree adds moisture and bulk to a brownie, which helps take the place of oil (or butter) and also flour. Cook your sweet potato up to 5 days ahead of time.
Almond Butter: Used as the healthy fat source in the brownies, unsweetened almond butter plays a crucial role in bringing richness and gooey texture to these dairy-free brownies. You can replace it with any nut or seed butter you like.
For nut-free sweet potato brownies, make my Paleo Sweet Potato Brownies, which are made with coconut oil and coconut flour.
Pure Maple Syrup: Keeping these healthy brownies refined sugar-free, we use pure maple syrup as the sweetener.
Eggs: A couple large room temperature eggs help fluff up the brownies and ensure they hold together when sliced. I haven’t tested a vegan sweet potato brownies recipe yet, but I imagine you could replace the chicken eggs with flax eggs to make super gooey vegan brownies.
Vanilla Extract: Adding warmth and subtle nuance to the brownies, a little vanilla extract provides a beautiful flavor. Skip it if you don’t have it on hand.
Cocoa Powder: The rich dark chocolate portion of this recipe comes from cocoa powder. I use raw cacao powder, which has a creamier (less bitter) flavor than regular cocoa powder, but stick with whatever powder you like. Dutch process cocoa powder works great too.
Baking Soda: A tiny amount of baking soda acts as the leavening agent for these brownies. We don’t use too much to avoid a cake-like texture. Just enough to give a little crispy edge to the brownie.
Ground Cinnamon (optional): Do you love cinnamon and chocolate together? I do! If you’re like me and enjoy a dash of cinnamon in a baked treat, toss some in. If not, skip it!
Sea Salt: Salt is that supporting ingredient that lifts up every other ingredient where it belongs. Essentially, it brings powerful flavor to the brownies. Don’t skip it for the best results!
Chocolate Chips: Adding even more chocolatey goodness and also fudgy texture to the brownies, one cup chocolate chips provide amazing pockets of joy. I use semi-sweet chocolate chips but you can also use dark chocolate chips, sugar-free chocolate chips, paleo friendly chocolate chunks, you name it.
Now that we’re experts on this healthy brownie recipe, let’s bake it!
How to Make Healthy Sweet Potato Brownies:
Cook the sweet potato according to your preferred method. I chop mine into large chunks and boil it in water for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the chunks of potato are very tender. Allow the potato to cool (I transfer it to a sealable container and refrigerate it). Once cool, remove and discard the peel.
Note: you can cook the potato and refrigerate it up to 5 days in advance.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper.
Mash the sweet potato into a bowl or measuring cup and measure out 1 cup of mashed potato.
Add the mashed sweet potato to a large mixing bowl along with the almond butter, eggs, pure maple syrup and vanilla extract and stir well until everything is well-combined (wet ingredients).
Note: you can use a food processor to make this brownie batter if you prefer doing so over a mixing bowl!
Stir in the cocoa powder, baking soda, sea salt, and ground cinnamon until a thick creamy batter forms (no need for a separate bowl here).
Add in the chocolate chips and stir until they are well-incorporated into the batter.
Pour the brownie batter into the prepared baking pan and spread it into an even layer.
If desired, sprinkle with extra chocolate chips.
Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 23 to 28 minutes, or until the brownies reach desired level of doneness. For fudgy, gooey brownies, bake for 23 minutes.
Allow the brownies to cool completely (at least one hour) before slicing and serving. You can slice the brownies before they have finished cooling if you’d like, but the slices won’t hold together quite as well. If you’re fine with that, proceed!
Serve with a scoop of ice cream for an even more decadent dessert.
Store any leftover brownies in an airtight container (or a zip lock bag) in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. These brownies also freeze very well! Freeze them in a zip lock bag for up to 3 months.
And so here we are with a decadent treat that’s suitable for any occasion. School lunches, daily dessert for your sweet tooth, a lovely sharable treat at holiday gatherings…breakfast (wink wink) and more.
So the next time you find yourself deep in a chocolate craving, whip up a batch of these flourless sweet potato brownies!
If you love brownies, check out these delicious gems from the brownie archives! They are all tried and true reader favorites, each with its own list of fabulous characteristics.
More Healthy Brownie Recipes:
- 4-Ingredient Flourless Healthy Brownies
- Almond Flour Brownies
- Gluten-Free Rolled Oat Pumpkin Brownies
- Coconut Flour Brownies
- Grain-Free Vegan Peanut Butter Brownies
- Espresso Keto Brownies
- Flourless Avocado Brownies
Enjoy this ooey gooey sweet potato fudge brownie experience!
Healthy Sweet Potato Brownies
Ingredients
- 1 cup mashed sweet potato
- 1 cup unsweetened almond butter
- 2 large eggs
- ⅔ cup pure maple syrup
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ⅔ cup cocoa powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon optional
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Cook the sweet potato according to your preferred method. I chop mine into large chunks and boil it in water for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the chunks of potato are very tender. Allow the potato to cool (I transfer it to a sealable container and refrigerate it). Once cool, remove and discard the peel. Note: you can cook the potato and refrigerate it up to 5 days in advance.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper.
- Mash the sweet potato into a bowl or measuring cup and measure out 1 cup of mashed potato.
- Add the mashed sweet potato to a large mixing bowl along with the almond butter, eggs, pure maple syrup and vanilla extract and stir well until everything is well-combined (wet ingredients).
- Stir in the cocoa powder, baking soda, sea salt, and ground cinnamon until a thick creamy batter forms (no need for a separate bowl here).
- Add in the chocolate chips and stir until they are well-incorporated into the batter.
- Pour the brownie batter into the prepared baking pan and spread it into an even layer. If desired, sprinkle with extra chocolate chips.
- Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 23 to 28 minutes, or until the brownies reach desired level of doneness. For fudgy, gooey brownies, bake for 23 minutes. Brownies are best when baked to an internal temperature of 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Insert a digital thermometer into the center of the brownies and wait until the numbers stop moving to get an accurate read on their temperature.
- Allow the brownies to cool completely (at least one hour) before slicing and serving. You can slice the brownies before they have finished cooling if you’d like, but the slices won’t hold together quite as well. If you’re fine with that, proceed!
- Serve with a scoop of ice cream for an even more decadent dessert.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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These are soooooo delicious! They’re so gooey and the perfect sweetness.
That’s how I feel about them too! Thanks for sharing, Emily! xo
Absolutely delicious!
Happy you enjoy them, Rayanne! xo
Question- can these be frozen? Making them for the first time and I much prefer matching and freezing so my littles have lots of frozen snacks. Appreciate the feedback
You can absolutely freeze them! Slice up the whole batch before putting the brownies in a large zip lock bag to freeze. When you want to reheat a brownie, simply snag one from the bag and microwave it for 25-30 seconds or until it’s nice and warm. happy baking!
Can I use honey instead of maple syrup?
Hi there! If you like the way honey tastes in baked goods, you can definitely make the swap! I’m not a huge fan of the flavor of honey with chocolate baked goods, but that’s just my own preference. 😉
These were delicious and guilt free. I used peanut butter instead of almond butter and dark chocolate hazelnut finely chopped to replace chocolate chips. i had none in my pantry. It was perfect. I will try with almond butter next time.
oooh, your version sounds amazing, Elyse! Thanks for sharing!
I really like these brownies. They are moist and chocolatey. I added 1 tsp of espresso powder
and instead of 2 tsp of vanilla extract, I used only 1 of vanilla and 1 tsp of chocolate extract. I’m wondering, has anyone tried using date syrup instead of maple syrup? I know it’s healthier, but I have not baked with it yet. Any ideas?
Hi Carol! I love the idea of adding espresso powder – sounds amazing! I haven’t tested the recipe using date syrup, but I suspect it would turn out great! Let me know if you try it 🙂
Yep, in fact I used 5 medjool dates, just mashed them up after warming them slightly in the microwave. I mixed them in with yams rather than sweet potatoes.
I cannot eat chocolate, could I make these like a blond brownie, and put your yummy peanut butter topping on top of the brownie, when it cool down.
Hi Ann! You can certainly dry that! You may need to replace the cocoa powder with some sort of flour (gluten-free all-purpose flour or regular all-purpose flour would do the trick) if the batter seems too wet. Happy baking!
I love zucchini. But we have a nut and soy allergy in our family. What can I substitute for the Almond Butter?
Hi Susan! I’d recommend following a different recipe, as the almond butter is crucial to the structure and flavor of this recipe. You can make my rolled oat pumpkin brownies using oats (https://www.theroastedroot.net/flourless-rolled-oat-pumpkin-brownies/) gluten-free brownies using GF all-purpose flour (https://www.theroastedroot.net/the-best-gluten-free-brownies/), or my Coconut Flour Brownies (https://www.theroastedroot.net/coconut-flour-brownies/)!
For those who don’t eat eggs, I substitutes the eggs with unsweetened apple sauce. I doubled the recipe which called for 4 eggs. I used 1/4 cup of unsweetened applesauce.
Thanks so much for sharing, Salena! This is super helpful to others who want to try the recipe with an egg replacement. I appreciate your feedback and help! xo
Really really yummy
Subbed date sugar for maple syrup and used 1/2 tahini and 1/2 pumpkin seed butter
no chips either (didn’t have and they were so delicious anyway)
Thank you!
Love that! I must start trying other sweeteners like date sugar – sounds divine!
Just cooked these tonight! My kitchen smells so amazing right now!
To eliminate sugar, I replaced the maple syrup with 1/2 c unsweetened applesauce. I also used Lilly’s milk chicolate chips, which are sugar free!
Turned out great! Very rich, dense and cake like! Super filling too.
Ooh, your changes sound amazing, Veronica! I’ll have to try that, myself 🙂 Thanks for sharing xo
I rarely review or comment on recipes, but these were so good. I used a mix of vegan chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, and milk chocolate chips because that’s what I had. At first I found it a bit bitter but then they really grew on me. I craved them all day at work the next day! These were even teenager approved! Keeper for sure.
Thanks so much for sharing, Vero! I appreciate you taking the time to provide your feedback. Also great news that the brownies tasted better to you over time – I’ve found brownies improve with age 😉
Hi Julia
I am a health coach in Michigan and have made these SO many times. I would like to link to this recipe on my recipe website page. Can you give me permission or let me know if that is ok with you. I will give you credit and link direct to this page. http://www.changeyourlifewithfood.com.
Thank You
Denise Lovat
Hi Denise! I’m thrilled you enjoy my brownie recipe! You’re welcome to share a link on your site, but the full recipe (ingredients and instructions) needs to remain on my site 🙂 I appreciate you asking first! xoxo
Made these and subbed half the amount of almond butter for one small banana mashed (as I didn’t have enough almond butter) and they are soooooo good! Feel like it’s one of those recipes that you really can’t go wrong with!
Ooh, what a genius idea using a mashed banana as a substitute for some of the almond butter! I’ll have to try this myself! Thanks for the inspiration and for sharing your feedback 🙂