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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It’s taking MUCH longer than the listed time to bake and not be pure batter in the middle.
Hi Amee, How long did you end up baking the brownies for? Do you live at a high elevation? And did you make any changes to the recipe?
Let me know, and I can troubleshoot from there.
Dyslexia got the better of me this recipe. I added straight butter instead of almond butter…that being said. These brownies are still pretty good! The definetly don’t have the consistency of brownies due to user error. But still a 5/5!
LOL I love that they still worked out with regular butter! That sounds delicious, actually. I’ll have to try the same thing!
I’ve made these exquisite brownies several times and it’s now my go to recipe. I have been doubling the recipe and it turns out perfectly every time. Thanks so much for the best of the best in the healthy brownie wars!!
Amazing! I’m happy to hear the recipe works just as well when it’s doubled. Thanks so much for sharing, Francine! xo
I just made these and they turned out great! Even our 16 yr old son who loathes sweet potato grabbed one without asking the ingredients and said it was so delicious! Thank you for the great recipe!
Great success! I love hearing that, Angela! Thanks for sharing! xo
These are delicious but I had to put them bake in the oven for an extra 30 minutes or so! Has anyone else had this issue?
When I took them out after 25 minutes, they were literally liquid batter still.
Hi Adriana! Thanks a bunch for sharing! Baking times can vary depending on altitude and the oven, although 30 minutes longer is definitely a big change. A couple of questions may help me troubleshoot what happened. Did you measure out the sweet potato? Have you calibrated your oven recently? With brownies, it’s fine to take them out when they look slightly underdone because this helps with the fudgy texture but to your point, they shouldn’t be super runny. Let me know if you made any changes to the recipe and I can help troubleshoot from there. xo
I eat it like a cake and I love it!
Amazing! Thanks for sharing, Anne Marie!
Not sure what happened, but they are not sweet- more bitter but good texture. What do you think happened?
Hi Stefany! What brand of cocoa powder did you use, and did you make any changes to the recipe?
These are so good! Very fudgy, great texture. I used 60% Ghirardelli chips and added 1/2 t of espresso powder to deepen the chocolate flavor.
Ooh, I love the addition of espresso powder. Thanks for sharing, Vika! xo
Best brownie recipe ever !! Thanks u🙏 Super tasty, perfectly sweet with good consistency.
Aww I love hearing that, Naho! I love the flavor and texture too 🙂 Thanks so much for the sweet note! xo
I wasn’t sure what to expect with these but OH.MY.GOSH….they’re delicious!! You really don’t taste the sweet potato! We have dairy and soy allergies in our house, so I’m always on the hunt for healthy yummy food! Especially desserts.
Thanks so much for sharing this feedback, Jenna! I’m often asked if you can taste the sweet potato, so it’s super helpful to have others report back that they can’t taste it. I appreciate the sweet note!! xoxox
I made these and used my powder cooking chocolate but I think it was dark. I would not reccomend. They were very bitter. I will try cocoa next time.
My kids have a nut and seed allergy. Do you think I could replace nut butter with regular butter for them?
Hi Cindy! I haven’t tested the recipe using regular butter so I’m not sure how it would turn out. Off the cuff, I’m betting you’d need to make some changes to the recipe. For instance, I would start with 1/2 cup of butter instead of 1 cup and see what the consistency of the brownie batter is like. I’m betting they would turn out very dense, but if you’re okay with that, I say it’s worth a try. I’m also wondering if you’d end up needing to add some sort of flour like GF AP flour or almond flour. If you want to play it safe, I would google a different recipe. Otherwise, with some experimentation, it could work 🙂 xo
Thank you for the recipe. I made these yesterday and they are simply amazing. I substituted the almond butter with almond flour, added 1/2 cup fat free milk (not sure it was needed) and also used dark chocolate chips instead. It is such a delicious treat. Thank you!
I’m thrilled you enjoy them, maria! Thanks so much for sharing! xo
I switched the almond butter for PB2 with Hemp Seed Oil to get the balance of healthy fats, and it is still amazing with half the calories and more protein! Delicious!
Ooh, amazing! What a brilliant idea 🙂 I’ll have to try that myself – always game for more protein and less calories! xoxo
I can’t say enough about your website!! I love the recipes. Current situation….Brownies in the oven and next will be the Cranberry Pistachio Vegan Shortbread Cookies!!! Thank you for sharing…
Thank you, Denise! Your kind words are so encouraging and they mean a lot to me. I hope you enjoy the brownies and the shortbread! xo
Came out very gooey indeed! With a glass baking pan, I probably should have baked longer …
Thanks so much for sharing 🙂 I haven’t tested the recipe using a glass pan yet so I’m not sure what the time difference would be. If you end up trying it again, feel free to update us with the bake time xo