Healthy Brownies Recipe with Sweet Potatoes
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The Best Sweet Potato Brownies! Fudgy, chocolatey, and delicious – these healthy brownies are easy to make and so yummy!
These Sweet Potato Brownies are one of my favorite ways to indulge mindfully because they are loaded with nutrients while still being moist and delicious!
I am absolutely a chocoholic and while I do love to eat healthily most of the time, I also love to enjoy sweets.
Mashed sweet potatoes give these brownies a moist, sweet, yummy texture and flavor and you won’t even be able to tell they are gluten and dairy free!
Why you’ll love this Healthy Brownies Recipe:
There is SO much to love about this healthy, easy brownie recipe. It’s one of our favorite healthy desserts because it’s:
- Full of nutrients: Sweet potatoes not only make these brownies taste delicious, but they add so much fiber, vitamins, and minerals to your diet.
- Happiness in every bite: It’s no secret that brownies are one of the most popular comfort foods. These sweet potato brownies let you indulge without sacrificing your diet.
- Gluten and dairy free: These brownies don’t have any gluten or dairy products in them, and you would never know!
Ingredients for healthy sweet potato brownies:
Here’s what you’ll need to make sweet potato brownies:
- mashed sweet potato
- coconut oil
- eggs
- maple syrup
- oat flour
- vanilla extract
- cocoa powder
- baking soda
- baking powder
- chocolate chips
You can find substitutions for all of these ingredients below in the green shaded box.
How to Make Healthy Brownies with sweet potatoes:
For the sweet potatoes:
- Pierce your potatoes with a fork and microwave for 5-7 minutes on high.
- Once cooked, scoop out the center of the sweet potatoes with a spoon. Discard the skins.
For the brownies:
- Combine wet ingredients until smooth. Mix in dry ingredients until combined. Fold in chocolate chips with a spatula.
- Pour the batter into a parchment lined pan and spread it into an even layer.
- Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes.
- Let the brownies cool for 10 minutes then slice and serve.
Sweet Potato Brownie Substitutions and Variations:
Sweet Potatoes: Yams or butternut squash would work in place of sweet potatoes in this recipe. If you’re looking for an alternative – try these Avocado Brownies!
Coconut Oil: You can substitute avocado oil or olive oil
Eggs: We haven’t tried substituting the eggs in this recipe and wouldn’t recommend it!
Oat Flour: We don’t recommend substituting the oat flour. If you don’t have oat flour you can easily make it at home! Follow this tutorial for Make Your Own Oat Flour! If you are gluten free, make sure to use certified gluten free oat flour. Almond Flour and Coconut Flour will NOT work in this recipe. The sweet potatoes are too moist, and these flours will not absorb the liquid in the batter. You will be left with a mushy mess! We have a Flourless Almond Butter Brownie Recipe or you can check out these Flourless Sweet Potato Brownies
Vanilla Extract (optional): Helps to add flavor, we don’t recommend substituting.
Cocoa Powder: Cocoa powder, cacao powder and hot chocolate are all different. Make sure you’re using unsweetened cocoa powder!
Baking Soda: Baking soda is essential for this recipe. Do not substitute with baking powder.
Baking Powder: Baking powder is essential for this recipe. Do NOT substitute with baking soda.
Maple Syrup: Agave syrup or honey would work great in this recipe instead of maple syrup.
Chocolate Chips: Use dark chocolate chips to balance the sweetness.
How to serve Sweet Potato Brownies
These healthy brownies are great on their own, but if you are looking to turn this recipe into a more decadent dessert, feel free to add high protein ice cream or fresh whipped cream.
Healthy Brownie Recipe Tips and Tricks
- Use canned sweet potato puree – If fresh sweet potatoes aren’t available, you can swap them with canned sweet potato puree instead. One pound of canned sweet potato puree is equal to 2 cups of fresh sweet potatoes.
- Add Peanut Butter – I’ve tried a variation of this with Peanut butter swirls and it was just as amazing. Peanut butter adds a nutty and rich flavor. We also love our Almond Butter Brownies!
- Roast the sweet potatoes – You can bake the sweet potatoes in the oven instead of microwaving them.
How to Store & Serve Sweet Potato Brownies
Storing: These brownies will last in the refrigerator for up to 4 days in an airtight container
Freezing: You can freeze these brownies for up to 3 months, these brownies freeze really well! Thaw completely before enjoying.
Serving: On their own, these brownies are unmatched. We love them as much as we love our Almond Butter Brownies! If you are looking to turn this recipe into a dessert, feel free to add vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream.
Sweet Potato Brownie Recipe FAQs
Brownies aren’t a “healthy” food but can be totally part of a healthy diet in moderation and this brownie recipe has less sugar and added nutrients from the sweet potato.
Yes! This recipe uses maple syrup instead of refined sugar.
Brownies can be high in sugar and calories. However, weight loss is due to having a caloric deficit, so you could lose weight even if you enjoy an occasional brownie if you are in a caloric deficit.
This recipe doesn’t require refined sugar, but I wouldn’t recommend reducing the maple syrup as it adds sweetness to these brownies.
They are not. This recipe contains eggs.
Other healthy chocolate recipes we know you will love:
If you are looking for more healthy recipes, check out these 50+ Healthy Dessert Recipes or:
Healthy Brownies Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup cooked mashed sweet potatoes about 2 sweet potatoes
- ¼ cup melted coconut oil
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 cup oat flour
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
- ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
For the sweet potatoes:
- Pierce your potatoes with a fork and microwave for 5-7 minutes on high.
- Once cooked, scoop out the center of the sweet potatoes with a spoon. Discard the skins.
For the brownies:
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Line an 8×8 baking dish with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a mixer or large mixing bowl, combine mashed sweet potato, coconut oil, eggs and maple syrup until smooth.
- Stir in oat flour, vanilla extract, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder. Mix until combined.
- Fold in chocolate chips with a spatula.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread into an even layer.
- Bake until the top is set and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out almost clean, 25-30 minutes.
- Let the brownies cool for 10 minutes then slice and serve.
I love these, they are easy and delicious, will make again.
Made these brownies and they were absolutely delicious! Will definitely make them again.
Easy to make, fudgy, moist, and much healthier than regular brownies, this is a recipe worth making and sharing!!
These are really good! We love them.
These are amazing!! I used coconut flour.
Loving all the recipes so far
My 4 and 6 year old gave this recipe an A+. I told them they were sweet potato brownies, they said ewwwwww yuck, but they are so good!!! Pleasantly surprised. I taste the coconut and chocolate. Will definitely make again!
I prefer to use cacao instead of cocoa. Why does the recipe hints tell me not to do so?
Because they’re not the same ingredient and you won’t have the same results!
Am curious if you tried this recipe using cacao powder instead of cocoa powder? If so, how did they turn out?
This recipe is perfect and delicious!
I blended the wet ingredients to avoid any potato chunks and it worked quite well. My whole family loves these 👍🏼
These brownies are amazing! They are so moist and the perfect balance of sweetness. I love that they are made with simple ingredients too. They were a hit with the family!
Absolutely outstanding!!! I LOVE this recipe❤️
I used almond flour instead of oat on a 1:1 ratio and they worked well!
These were pretty good to not have sugar or vegetable oil! I mean, there’s sugar in the maple syrup, of course, but no added sugars. Next time I’d do a little less maple syrup (I thought them to be too sweet) but they had a good taste. They’re better for you than Duncan Hines, they taste good, and they have a moist and soft texture. I will be making them again!!
Can we sub oat flour for almond flour?
Please read the green substitutions section in the post 🙂 we covered this there! We don’t recommend substituting the oat flour. If you don’t have oat flour you can easily make it at home! Follow this tutorial for Make Your Own Oat Flour! If you are gluten free, make sure to use certified gluten free oat flour. Almond Flour and Coconut Flour will NOT work in this recipe. The sweet potatoes are too moist, and these flours will not absorb the liquid in the batter. You will be left with a mushy mess! We have a Flourless Almond Butter Brownie Recipe
Easy to make. The family enjoyed them. Delicious 😋
Excellent recipe 5 star rating.
i stumbled upon this recipe o fb and immediately intrigued, and tried it right away. thank you for posting it
So GOOD!
This isn’t bad. I made a batch exact to the recipe first. It’s good. I mean, it’s no real brownie, but it definitely is good enough to satisfy a craving while eating clean. I made a second batch with this recipe, but used flax seed egg for my vegan friends. I did not notice a difference at all. It came out exactly the same. So while it says not to sub the egg, if you are vegan – flax eggs worked just fine. 1tbs flax seed meal to 2.5tbs water makes 1 egg. Mix and let sit about 5 min. You need 2 “eggs” for this recipe so do 2tbs flax to 5tbs water.
Thank you for letting us know about how the flax egg replacement went as I am allergic to eggs and have been looking for a vegan sweet potato brownie with no nut butters either. I will have to try this!
thank you for allowing this recipe to be printable. Looks delicious!
Can you substitute pumpkin for the sweet potatoes?
I’m sorry but I haven’t tried it so I don’t know!
Can you replace the oil with applesauce?
I haven’t tried that, but I wouldn’t recommend it. There isn’t much fat in the brownies to begin with so I’d stick with oil! If you try it let me know how it comes out 🙂
Thanks for the info, I will let you know if I try to use applesauce.
This is my new favorite recipe for brownies. Quick, easy, and not too sweet. Nice texture and satisfies my craving.
Can you substitute honey for the maple syrup?
Never mind, I just saw your substitute suggestions!
glad you found it! that substitutions box is in every blog post if you ever need it 🙂
These are really moist and have good flavor. I have made them twice now. The first time I thought they were missing something and realized there is no salt in the recipe.. definitely needs salt. Today I added salt and it rounded out the flavor really nicely.
Wow!!! Never expected these to taste this good. Wanted a little treat today for Super Bowl and that’s exactly what we got. So light and not heavy with the true brownie flavor! We will definitely be making these again! Thank you for creating this recipe!!!
I made these tonight! They were so delicious! I chose to use fresh sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed. Thank you for the link on making my own oat flour. That was very helpful. I only made one change to the recipe, and added 1/2 tsp of salt. For me, anything chocolate needs a little salt. Thank you so much for the great whole grain, natural sugar recipes!