This recipe makes rich, dense, fudgy Homemade Brownies with crisp, crackly tops—every time! Plus, they’re super easy and come together with just a bowl and a whisk.
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The Best Fudgy Brownies from Scratch
I first started making these brownies back in my university days, when I found all my recipes on Allrecipes.com and had no knowledge of food blogging. On a whim, I decided to try this particular recipe. I mean, how else do you possibly choose a brownie recipe from the 371 options on one website alone?
Best decision ever.
Anyway. This is THE brownie recipe you need.
Unless you like cakey, fluffy, crumbly brownies. These are definitely not those.
These brownies are dense, fudgy, and rich. They are slightly chewy at the edges, crisp and crackly on top, and incredibly moist and fudgy underneath. How many times can I use ‘fudgy’ in a brownie description without it becoming redundant?
They are perfect on their own or as a base for this Brownie Sundae! You can also jazz them up with Easy Homemade Ice Cream, Whipped Cream and Strawberry Sauce.
What Makes These Brownies So Good?
One reason that these brownies are special is that they aren’t overly sweet. I use a whole cup of cocoa and only 2 ½ cups of sugar, which allows the rich chocolatey flavor from the cocoa powder to really shine. The original recipe called for 3 cups of sugar, which is a lot for one 9×13 pan, in my opinion. (If you like things extra sweet, feel free to add it back in, or you can reduce further to 2 cups).
I also often swap whole wheat flour for all-purpose flour, which is a healthy trade that also gives a deeper, fuller flavor—and in a brownie like this, I honestly don’t think you can tell any difference in the texture!
But again, if you don’t have any whole wheat flour (or just don’t want to use it), feel free to use all-purpose.
Finally, while a lot of great brownie recipes call for vegetable oil, this one uses melted butter! So indulgent!
Recipe Ingredients
Another great thing about these brownies is that the list of ingredients is very short. That cuts down on the measuring and prep time. If you make these often enough, you may end up memorizing this easy recipe! (For the full recipe card with amounts and nutrition facts, scroll down to the bottom of this post.)
- Butter: I use melted butter instead of oil, for extra richness.
- Sugar: You can use plain granulated sugar, or swap out raw sugar if you prefer.
- Vanilla: Pure vanilla extract gives the best flavor.
- Eggs: You’ll need four whole, large eggs.
- Flour: Use whole wheat flour or all-purpose, it’s up to you!
- Cocoa: Using cocoa powder gives these brownies an extra-deep chocolate flavor, compared to brownies made with melted chocolate.
- Salt: a bit of salt balances out the sweetness and adds incredible flavor
- Chocolate Chips: These are optional! Sprinkle them on top, mix them into the batter, or leave them out.
How to Make Homemade Brownies from Scratch
The method for making these brownies couldn’t be simpler. All you need is a bowl and a whisk.
- Get Ready to Bake. First things first! Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a 9×13 pan with foil or parchmet. Spray the lined pan with non-stick spray.
- Combine the Liquid Ingredients. In a large bowl, combine the melted butter, the sugar, and the vanilla; whisk until smooth. Then whisk in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Add the Dry Ingredients. Stir the flour, cocoa and salt into the wet ingredients, just until combined.
- Bake! Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan, and bake. You’ll know they’re done when a toothpick inserted into the baked brownies comes out with just a few moist crumbs. The great thing about brownies is that you can cook them more or less according to your tastes. Keep in mind that the brownies will continue to set after baking.
Tips and Variations
As with most of my recipes, this one is flexible and can easily be tailored to your needs. Here are a few easy ways to do just that.
- Butter Swap: Feel free to use vegetable oil, coconut oil, ghee, or applesauce instead of the butter. Each one will add its own unique flavor and nutrition profile to the recipe.
- Tweak the Bake Time: The brownies do not need to be totally set when you pull them out of the oven, as they will continue to cook in the pan—and if you like them gooey-er, you can just take them out on the earlier side. If you want them fully baked, wait until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Add Your Favorite Mix Ins: You can mix all kinds of goodies into this basic recipe! Here are a few great ideas to get you started:
- Chopped nuts
- Mini marshmallows
- Chocolate candies
- Toffee bits
- Chopped or quartered cherries
- Dried fruit
- A swirl of chocolate ganache
- White chocolate chips
Serving Suggestions
Aside from serving the brownies on their own (perfect snack!), you can also serve them as part of a larger dessert, like this:
- Brownies A La Mode: Top a warm brownie with a scoop of your favorite ice cream—No Churn Turtle Ice Cream, perhaps?
- Caramel Nut Bars: A platter of homemade brownies alternating with these Caramel Nut Bars makes a festive and perfectly-paired dessert.
- Strawberry Topping: Homemade Strawberry Sauce makes a luscious topping for these amazing brownies.
How to Store Brownies
You can store brownies at room temperature, in the fridge, or in the freezer! Here’s how:
- Counter: Place brownies in an airtight container and store on the counter for up to 3 days.
- Fridge: Also store them in an airtight container, but place it in the fridge. The brownies will keep for up to a week this way!
- Freezer: Slice the brownies and wrap each brownie individually in plastic wrap. Store multiple brownies in zip-top bags. They will keep for up to 3 months. Thaw the brownies before serving.
- To heat them up: Pop them in the microwave for a few seconds at a time until warm. Watch out for hot and/or cold spots!
The Best Homemade Brownies
written by Ashley Fehr
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter melted
- 2 ½ cups granulated sugar 500g
- 1 tbsp vanilla
- 4 eggs
- 1 ½ cups flour (about 195g) whole wheat or all purpose
- 1 cup cocoa about 80g
- ½ tsp salt
- chocolate chips for sprinkling on top or to mix in, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, combine butter, sugar and vanilla with a whisk until smooth.
- Whisk in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Stir in flour, cocoa and salt until combined.
- Line a 9×13" pan with tin foil or parchment and spray with non-stick spray. Spread batter in prepared pan. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until the outer 3 inches are set. They do not need to be totally set as they will continue to cook in the pan — if you like them gooey-er, you just take them out on the earlier side. If you want them fully baked, wait until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs.
Nutrition Information
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Jeff says
Excellent recipe for perfectly fudgy brownies using only cocoa powder!
I did make two small changes for optimum fudginess and deep chocolate flavor:
(1) Instead of adding the cocoa powder with the flour, I bloomed the cocoa powder the butter by heating the butter until melted and hot, whisking in the cocoa powder until smooth and letting it sit 5 minutes, then proceeded per recipe instructions.
(2) I used 2 cups of white sugar and 1/2 cup of dark brown sugar for added depth of flavor and more moisture.
This recipe is a keeper and is now ranked as one of my two go-to brownie recipes. Thanks for sharing it!
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks for sharing!
Tracey says
Our favorite brownie recipe
Ashley Fehr says
Mine too! Thanks Tracey!
Jenna Pierce says
These are FABULOUS! I have found my forever brownie recipe. I added one cup of semi sweet chocolate chips to the batter, and sprinkled chopped walnuts over half the pan as my daughter doesn’t like them. I checked at 35 minutes and toothpick in center was wet. 5 more minutes did the trick. Let them cool for 40 minutes. A trick I’ve learned is to always use a plastic knife to cut them because it cuts clean lines, and no brownie will stick to the knife. Thank you so much for this amazing recipe!
Ashley Fehr says
Thank you Jenna! I’m SO happy you loved them!
Catherine says
I’ve made four recipes online, this is the best! Thanks!
The Recipe Rebel says
So happy to hear, thank you Catherine!
Les says
What would the cook time be for mini brownies??? Like the two bite brownies
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Les, I’d say 13-15 minutes. It would be very similar to how this brownie bites recipe is made: https://www.thereciperebel.com/snickers-brownie-bites/ Enjoy!
Brandi McWhorter says
Love this recipe! I’ve made it three times and everyone raves about the flavor and consistency. Only one question / observation….
The first time I made these, I forgot about the aluminum foil or parchment paper yet they came out perfect! The second time I made them, I used aluminum foil and the brownies became fused to the foil. I had sprayed the foil with non-stick spray, but I thought I might not have used enough. The third time, I used parchment paper, sprayed liberally with non-stick, and yet the bottom of the brownies fused themselves to the paper. I was able to delicately separate them with a sharp knife, but it was very laborious.
Do you have any suggestions or thoughts as to what I may have been doing incorrectly?
I followed the recipe exactly – didn’t change, add or omit anything at all. I used your metric measurements and weighed everything with a kitchen scale. I have a gas oven that is measured in Celcius, so I baked them at 180 C. Other than the paper sticking, everything else is perfect!
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Brandi, it doesn’t sound like you are doing anything wrong if it works better without the foil or paper, then by all means don’t use it. Glad you enjoyed them!
Dana says
I tried this recipe for the first time and it actually came out realllyyyy great and tasty. First time making it. Added cheesecake batter and make them swirls. I used a 9×13 pan and cut into 15 squares pretty good size. Loved it!!! Thanks for sharing. I want to try red velvet Brownies next time
Brenda G says
Delicious! I was short a few ingrediants and even with my substitutions they still came out perfect! Super easy to make! Thank you Ashley.
Kerri says
These sound fantastic!! I love DARK chocolate brownies. Have you ever tried Dutch-process cocoa powder in place of the regular cocoa powder? Would I need to then change anything else for the recipe?
Hollie says
I’ve made this brownie recipe many times My family loves it I tried it making it with chocolate chip butterscotch chips peanut butter chips and shredded sweetened coconut and they absolutely love it My grandchildren call it my gorilla brownies I don’t buy a box brownies anymore maybe even that some points have substituted the powdered cocoa for melted chocolate chips and it has come out awesome
The Recipe Rebel says
Yay! Thank you!
Carolyn Northcote says
These are so good!!!
The Recipe Rebel says
Thank you!
JoeBKS says
They were tasty but not the best. I made them exactly as directed except for a slight reduction in all that sugar and baked as directed as well. I took them out of the oven before the toothpick came out clean at 3” from the edge and they were still more cakey than gooey. They also didn’t rise well. They barely achieved an inch in height. Otherwise they do taste great. I saved the recipe and may try them again with a bit of baking powder and earlier removal from the oven. Thanks for putting this out there!
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Joe! I’m sorry to hear you had trouble. If anything was reduced then it wasn’t made exactly which could result in the brownies coming out more cakey than gooey, but it’s hard for me to know for sure what went wrong.
Jenna says
I have used this recipe several times now and they always come out perfect. No more boxed brownie mix for me!
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Jenna! So glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for this kind review!
BadMedisin says
Yes! Thank you! I think I’ve finally found my forever brownie recipe 🙂
They’re absolutely perfectly squidgy, which is a really difficult thing to get right, in my experience. It took 45 minutes to cook but that’s either my oven or my pan or both.
Bonus points for any recipe that uses a ton of melted butter, obviously.
I don’t like chocolate chips in my brownies cos there’s no flavour contrast and I’m not keen on the texture of cooked chocolate so I usually add toasted pecans for some crunch, but tragically I have a cracked tooth at the moment that prevents me from eating nuts. Grrr. So I came up with the idea of adding little cubes of marzipan instead. It turns out I’m a genius! Marzipan actually works really well as a flavour combination and there’s not a huge difference in texture to detract from the sheer squidgy perfection of these brownies.
Thank you so much for the recipe!
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
R says
Chewy and perfect. Exactly what I was looking for. Thank you!
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi R! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
Kristin says
This has been my brownie stand-by for years now. I make them for pot lucks, friends with new babies or having surgeries, or just my kids for the weekend. It’s perfect as is, but once out is necessity I subbed 1/2 cup flour for 1/2 cup of the cocoa powder and they were still excellent! My favorite add-in is dried cherries but my mother is particularly partial to pecans. 😋
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Kristin! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
Eva says
Hi Ashley, have you tried this recipe in an 8 x 8 pan? Would I just cut the ingredients in half? Also how about bake time? The recipe and all the rave reviews sound very promising. Thank you!
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Eva! I don’t know if I would try making them in a smaller pan since I find them pretty thick already! If you decide to experiment, I’d love to know how it goes!
Eva says
I made the brownies, using half of all the ingredients. But just 1 cup of sugar, part white, part brown. 1/4 cup each of neutral tasting olive oil and unsweetened applesauce, because I was out of butter. Added a healthy sprinkle of cinnamon and instant coffee powder. Baked for 25. Love them! 🤎 Will definitely make them again!
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Eva! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
Terry says
I make these brownies all the time in an 8×8 pan and they work out perfectly. I use a slightly different ratio: less flour (1/2 cup), less sugar (1 cup), but the rest is the same: 2 eggs, 1/2 cup butter, 1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla, and 1/4 tsp salt. I also use a USA pan for the sharp edges. Works every time. Perfection.
Eva says
Yesss! Halving the recipe worked out great for me as well. Was happily surprised how flavorful they are, since usually I don’t even bother with brownie recipes that only use cocoa and no melted chocolate.
The Recipe Rebel says
Glad it has worked out for you Terry!
Amy says
Super easy and delicious. I threw a handful of chocolate chips in at the end and these were absolutely the best.
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Amy! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for the kind review!
Erica says
I’m perplexed as to why anyone who followed the incredibly easy recipe would have any issues. Explained and detailed perfectly and my result was delicious!
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Erica! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!