Brownie Recipe

This is our favorite, ultra-fudgy, ridiculously chocolate-y, insanely rich Brownie Recipe! Plus, I’m sharing all the tips and tricks to prepare you to be the ultimate brownie maker — you’ll never want a boxed mix again!

If you prefer gluten-free recipes, try these gluten-free brownies instead, or for a more nutritious recipe, these healthy brownies are very popular and so tasty!

What to expect with this Brownie Recipe

After working on this recipe (off and on) for over a year, it’s finally here — our ultimate Brownie Recipe! These brownies are rich, sweet, and extremely fudgy with that perfect crinkly top we all know and love.

While I’d like to call this recipe the “best brownie recipe” ever, I’m under no illusion that we all like the same type of brownies. So let’s start by telling you exactly what you’ll get with this recipe. 

These bars are incredibly rich and very sweet. They are for a total chocoholic and sweets lover. This Brownie Recipe is also very fudge-y, a bit gooey, and fairly dense; they aren’t at all cakey. Each piece is speckled with chocolate chips — plenty in every bite.

If you like light, cake-like brownies, you’ll want to look for a recipe that uses cocoa powder instead of melted chocolate and a higher proportion of flour. If you prefer dense and fudgy, even slightly gooey brownies, the recipe will have more eggs, butter, and melted chocolate. And that is what you’ll get with this recipe — the maximum amount of melted chocolate, butter, and lots of eggs!

While these homemade brownies blow boxed brownies out of the water, there’s nothing like the ease of a boxed mix. So, while these aren’t *quite* as easy, they’re still pretty simple — they’re made in one bowl and require less than 10 ingredients. I wanted to optimize for making this recipe as easy as possible while not sacrificing flavor or texture.

Let’s chat ingredients

The difference between mediocre and incredible brownies comes down to the ingredients used — the better the ingredients, the better the brownies will taste! I recommend using good chocolate, pure vanilla extract, and always use real butter (not margarine).

• Eggs. We use four large eggs and one egg yolk in these brownies. The extra yolk adds a bit more richness and chewiness to the brownies. Use the leftover egg whites in this easy Egg Wrap.
• Unsalted butter. There is a lot of butter in this recipe! While boxed mixes use oil, we use butter in these homemade brownies for extra flavor! I recommend unsalted butter so we can perfectly control how much salt is in this recipe.
• Dark chocolate chips. One of the reasons these brownies are so fudgy and deeply chocolatey is the amount of actual chocolate in them. We’ve tested this recipe with dark chocolate and semi-sweet chips. Both are delicious, but dark chocolate was a bit more popular with taste testers. Semi-sweet chips result in a slightly richer brownie. When using dark chocolate, we don’t want a super dark/bitter chocolate, so I recommend using 53% cacao dark chocolate– which is actually still quite sweet. If you don’t love dark chocolate, use semi-sweet, but keep in mind, these brownies don’t taste bitter from the dark chocolate because of how much sugar is added in.
• Unsweetened cocoa powder. Regular unsweetened cocoa powder is what’s in these brownies. This recipe was tested with Dutch-process (also called “Special Dark”) cocoa powder and the two aren’t perfectly interchangeable. If you only have Dutch-process cocoa powder, you can use it, but you’ll need to add 1 teaspoon baking powder to the brownie batter. (Dutch-process cocoa powder has the acid stripped out, so the baking powder adds the needed acid back in.) 

Brownie Recipe Ingredients, Continued

• White sugar. This Brownie Recipe was tested with brown sugar, but we preferred regular white granulated sugar.
• Vanilla extract. This contributes flavor!
• Flour. There isn’t a lot of flour in this recipe which ensures fudgy (not cakey) brownies. If you press a measuring cup into a bag of flour and scoop, you will pack in way too much flour– which results in cakey brownies with less flavor. Avoid this by properly measuring the flour — see the “quick tip” below. 
• Fine sea salt. This may seem like a lot of salt, but it helps enhance flavors and balance sweetness. Keep in mind, not all salts are the same. I use fine sea salt in this recipe; if using table salt, you’ll want to use only 1/2 teaspoon salt.
• Milk chocolate chips. We’re obsessed with loads of chocolate chunks in every bite, and we love good milk chocolate. That said, any chocolate works here — dark, white, semi-sweet, even peanut butter chips for a fun variation! Use your favorite. If you prefer less brownie sweetness, use semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips here. You could even use coarsely chopped (dry roasted) walnuts, pecans, or pistachios!

Let’s Chat Brownie Pans and Baking

There are so many variables to consider when baking these brownies– like the type of pan, the actual temperature of your oven, altitude, humidity, etc. So I recommend checking the brownies at least 5 minutes before the recommended time on the recipe. Better safe than sorry!

• Type of pan. The pan you used for this Brownie Recipe is very important to the end texture of brownies. Brownies baked in a metal pan cook faster than in a glass dish. Even the color of the pan can make a difference due to heat being reflected or absorbed (darker metal pans bake quicker).
  • Here are the exact pans I use (and highly recommend) for this Brownie Recipe. I don’t recommend using a glass pan; light-colored pans will produce the best results because they conduct heat the most evenly. With dark-colored pans, the edges tend to over-bake or even burn before the center is finished.
• Oven temperature. A lot of ovens can get off temperature-wise. Even 25 degrees can make a difference, so make sure your oven is correctly calibrated. Wait for the oven to fully preheat before adding the brownies to the oven and place the pan in the center of the oven. I’ve also learned from experience that baking 2 trays at the same time is not a good idea; brownies need to be baked in the middle of the oven to cook through evenly.
• Lined pan. Lining the pan with parchment paper ensures even baking as well as easy removal and quick clean-up. I recommend lining the brownie pan with parchment paper (and leave an overhang) before adding in the batter. Don’t use wax paper or tin foil — it will negatively affect the baking.

How To Know When Brownies Are Done Baking

• Visual cues for doneness: The edges of the brownies should look baked through and the center should look set with a shiny, slightly crackling top. The center should not jiggle at all when moved.
• Physical cue for doneness: A toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies should come out with a few moist crumbs. The crumbs on the toothpick should be moist, but not wet. If it’s at all wet, the brownies need a bit more time.

Brownie Recipe Tips

• Microwave the chocolate chips and butter in large, sturdy, heat–safe bowls instead of using plastic or melamine. 
• To avoid burned chocolate and butter, microwave for 30 seconds at a time, and stir them for at least 20-25 seconds between each microwave burst. The chocolate is still melting even after it has been removed from the microwave. 
• Add in the cocoa powder quickly. Once the chocolate and butter have melted, the mixture will still be warm and this is the perfect time to get the cocoa powder in. The heat helps to “bloom” cocoa powder; that will get this brownie recipe a richer taste.

Brownie Recipe Tips, Continued

• Don’t overmix. If the flour is mixed in too aggressively, it will over-develop the gluten and cause the brownies to be less chewy and soft. Mix until no streaks of flour remain and then stop.
• Wait for the brownies to thoroughly cool before removing them from the pan and cutting. Run the knife under warm water, dry on a kitchen towel, and repeat for each cut.
• Serve slightly warm brownies with a big scoop of vanilla bean ice cream and some hot fudge sauce or this tasty caramel sauce — I’m not sure it gets much better than that! 

Brownie Recipe Storage

This Brownie Recipe is best enjoyed several hours after they’ve been baked. I know, they smell and look AMAZING right out of the oven, but they do need time to cool.

The texture (and flavor) of the brownies are best when they’ve cooled. They also cut out much nicer!

These brownies are best eaten within 3-4 days of being baked. Store any leftover (completely cooled) brownies in an airtight container at room temperature. Or, if you’d like them to be even fudgier, store them in the fridge!

Leftover brownies can be frozen, but they do lose flavor and texture upon being cooled.

More popular dessert recipes

• Carmelitas oatmeal-chocolate-caramel bars
• Chocolate Cake Recipe with chocolate frosting
• Magic Bars with a graham cracker crust
• Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies with a “secret” ingredient
• Brownie Oreo Ice Cream Bars with a chocolate fudge layer