These simple vegan blondies are made with chickpeas, almond flour, and dairy-free chocolate chips. They are super gooey, soft, fudgy, moist, rich, and yummy! This blondie recipe is gluten-free, grain-free, protein-rich, dairy-free, egg-free, healthy, and can be made nut-free!
Gooey vegan Blondies (blonde Brownies)
Oh my, oh my… these chocolate chip blondies turned out better than expected. I always thought brownies are my weakness, but now I am not sure anymore! After making lots of brownie recipes like flourless brownies, simple no-bake brownies, sweet potato brownies, or healthy vegan brownies with peas (!), I thought it was time to create a healthy recipe for blondies. And I am glad I did!
What is a Blondie?
Blondies are actually the cocoa-less “blonde” version of brownies, however, they are even gooier and not cakey at all! They have a wonderful vanilla flavor, a tender texture, and a rich taste. As you can tell from my photos, I even underbaked them a bit, because that’s how I love them – super moist, gooey, fudgy, and delicious!
As I mentioned before, these vegan blondies happen to also be gluten-free, and grain-free. Even better, they contain healthy ingredients like chickpeas and almond flour. No eggs, no dairy, or regular wheat flour. Win, win!
The Ingredients
Wet ingredients:
- Chickpeas: I used a can of chickpeas, rinsed, and drain. You can also cook chickpeas from dry if you prefer.
- Plant-based milk: Any dairy-free milk is fine, like almond milk, cashew milk, or coconut milk.
- Apple cider vinegar: Or use regular vinegar or lemon juice for these vegan blondies.
- Nut butter or seed butter of choice: I used cashew butter, however, feel free to use almond butter or even peanut butter.
- Vanilla extract: Use real vanilla or vanilla powder for the best flavor.
Dry ingredients:
- Granulated sugar: I used Xylitol, however, you can also use coconut sugar, organic cane sugar, or a keto sweetener like Erythritol.
- Almond flour: Any finely ground nuts will work too.
- Ground flax seeds: Or use ground chia seeds.
- Baking powder & baking soda: They will provide a little lift during baking.
- Sea salt: Just a little is needed to enhance the flavor of these gluten-free blondies.
- Dairy-free chocolate chips: Or use your favorite bar of chocolate and chop it with a knife!
Please read the recipe card below for the full ingredients list, measurements, complete recipe method, and nutritional information.
How To Make Vegan Chickpea Blondies?
Watch the video to see how easy it is to make these chickpea blondies.
- First, preheat the oven to 360 degrees F (180 degrees C) and line a baking pan (my pan measures 9″x6″ / 23 x 15 cm) with parchment paper.
- Process all wet ingredients in a food processor or blender until smooth and lump-free.
- Add all dry ingredients (except the chocolate chips) and mix again (don’t overmix though).
- Now add the chocolate chips (or chopped chocolate of choice) and stir with a spoon.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared baking pan and top it with more chocolate chips.
- Bake in the oven for about 25-35 minutes (it can take some minutes more or less, depending on your oven and the size of your baking dish). I have a gas oven and baked the vegan blondies for about 27 minutes, and they were still a bit underbaked (which I love though!).
- Let them cool, then cut them into bars. They will be quite soft after baking, but firm up more once cooled down. Enjoy!
How To Store
You can store leftovers (if there are any) covered at room temperature for a day or so, or in the fridge for up to 4-5 days.
Can I freeze blondies? Yes, you can freeze these vegan blondies for up to 3 months. Let them thaw in the refrigerator overnight. You can reheat them in the oven for a couple of minutes.
Recipe Notes & FAQ’s
Can I use a different flour instead of almond flour? As mentioned before, you can use any ground nuts of choice instead of almond flour (almond flour = 100% ground almonds). Some people had success making the recipe with oat flour, however, since almonds contain over 50% fat and oats don’t, the blondies won’t turn out as rich, gooey, and moist.
Can I make these vegan blondies nut-free? To make the recipe nut-free, I would recommend using ground unsweetened shredded coconut. Please do not use coconut flour because it contains less fat and absorbs a lot of liquid. The dessert would turn into a nightmare. Also, use coconut butter instead of cashew butter. I wouldn’t recommend sunflower seed butter as it will turn the blondies green unless you leave out the baking powder and baking soda (yes, this already happened to me, haha).
Chocolate Chip Blondies
I used mini chocolate chips for these easy-to-make blondie bars. They are dairy-free and not as sweet. If you prefer a keto sweetener, you could try out sugar-free chocolate chips for these blondies.
Other Vegan Bars & Brownie Recipes
- Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars
- Lemon Cheesecake Bars
- Vegan Black Bean Brownies
- Easy Cheesecake Brownies
- Vegan Zucchini Brownies
Should you give this delicious vegan blondie recipe a try, please leave a comment and rating below, and don’t forget to tag me in your Instagram or Facebook post with @elavegan and #elavegan because I love to see your recreations.
Vegan Chickpea Blondies
Ingredients
Wet ingredients:
- 1 (15 oz) can (265 g) chickpeas rinsed and drained
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) plant-based milk
- 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/3 cup (80 g) nut butter or seed butter of choice (I used cashew butter)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Dry ingredients:
- 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar of choice (see notes)
- 3/4 cup (90 g) almond flour (see notes)
- 4 tbsp (28 g) ground flax seeds
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/3 cup (60 g) dairy-free chocolate chips + more for the top
Instructions
- I recommend using a kitchen scale for this recipe. Check the video in the blog post for easy visual instructions.Preheat the oven to 360 degrees F (180 degrees C) and line a baking pan (my pan measures 9"x6" / 23 x 15 cm) with parchment paper.
- Process all wet ingredients in a food processor or blender until smooth.
- Add all dry ingredients (except the chocolate chips) and mix again (don't overmix though).
- Now add the chocolate chips and stir with a spoon.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared baking pan. Top with more chocolate chips or chocolate chunks.
- Bake in the oven for about 25-35 minutes (it can take some minutes more or less, depending on your oven and the size of your baking dish). I have a gas oven and baked them for about 27 minutes, and they were still a bit underbaked (which I love though!).
- Let cool and cut into bars. They will be still soft at first, but firm up more once cooled down. Enjoy!
Notes
- Almond flour: You can use any ground nuts instead of ground almonds/almond flour. For a nut-free version, try ground hemp seeds or ground shredded unsweetened coconut. I wouldn't recommend coconut flour since it contains less fat than almond flour and furthermore absorbs a lot of liquid.
- Any nut butter like peanut butter, cashew butter works fine. For a nut-free version, use coconut butter. I wouldn't recommend sunflower seed butter as it will turn the blondies green unless you leave out the baking powder and baking soda.
- Sugar: Any granulated sugar like organic cane sugar, coconut sugar, etc. will work. I used Xylitol, but you can probably also use Erythritol.
- The nutrition facts are for 100 grams.
Nutrition information is an estimate and has been calculated automatically
Ildi Bokor
That dessert is to die for. Absolute favourite
Ela
Yay, I am glad you loved it! 🙂
Hannah
Hey Ella ???? do you think I could use white beans instead of chickpeas?
Ela
Hi Hannah! I think that should be fine. 🙂
Kind regards, Ela
Stéphanie
Hi Ela I am wondering if the apple cider vinegar is necessary to the recipe or I can make it without it ?
Thank you 🙂
Ela
Hi, Stéphanie! The vinegar reacts with the baking soda and carbon dioxide gas is produced. It helps baked goods rise. You can use lemon juice or lime juice instead. 🙂
Natalie
Delicious! Although the batter was not as smooth as in the video (probably due to an old food processor!) the texture came out perfect and they were fantastic!
Ela
Very happy they turned out fantastic! Thanks for your feedback, Natalie. 🙂
Alastair
I just made these and they are so amazing! I used coconut sugar and they turned out lovely! Amazing recipe! Thank you:)
Ela
That’s wonderful! Thanks so much for your kind feedback. 🙂
Meena
Recipe looks great! How long does these brownies keep for? Ans what’s the best way to store them?
Ela
You can store them covered in the fridge for up to 6 days! 🙂
Ayse
Hi ela, do you have a keto recipe of these blondies??? I‘d like to make them but chickpeas are not allowed at keto… thsnks for answering ? grüsse aus der ??
Ela
Hi, never tried it but you could increase the amount of almond flour (ground almonds) considerably to make the recipe keto. As I said, I never tried it, so you would need to experiment. 🙂
Lia
Wow! Thank you for such a tasty recipe! These were so good and hard to stop eating!! Will be making these again and again!!
Ela
Yay, that’s awesome, Lia! Thanks for your great feedback. 🙂
Flore
It was the first time I used chickpeas to make desert and I loved it ! The cake was so soft and tasty.
Ela
Wonderful! So happy it turned out delicious! 🙂
Nika
I tried the recipe today and instead of chocolate chips I topped every piece with different topping and I think I found my fave dessert♥️
Ela
Sounds interesting, Nika! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Anca
So tasty and healthy! I use to make this together with banana bread. My family loves it, and it ends quickly.
Ela
Very happy you loved these chocolate chip blondies, Anca! 🙂
Susanne
These look amazing. Do you know the nutritional information on these?
Thanks
Tiffany’
Mine took to long to bake did I do something wrong?
Ela
I don’t know, unfortunately. Did you use all ingredients as indicated in the recipe?
Ferlie
OMG!!! I made these on two occasions and my friends and family Loved loved loved them. They are so moist and delicious.
Ela
Yay, that’s amazing! Thank’s for your feedback, Ferlie. 🙂
Amélie
Bonjour ! Ces blondies ont l’air délicieux ! Je voulais savoir si je peux obtenir un résultat similaire avec de la farine tout usage de blé ? Cela ne me gêne pas si ce n’est pas sans gluten. De plus, la farine d’amande est assez onéreuse… J’attends ta réponse avant d’essayer cette recette très appétissante !
Ela
Hey, I don’t think the result would be as good because almond flour contains 55% fat and regular wheat flour contains zero fat. The recipe is oil-free, the only fat comes from the almond flour. So if you replace it with regular flour, the blondies will turn out rather dry and not moist. I wouldn’t recommend it.
Jamie
Always been terrified of gluten free and vegan baking because things never quite turn out, but this recipe was SOOOOOO easy and super delicious. By far the best gluten free and vegan dessert I’ve ever made. 100% recommend. ❤️
Ela
That’s awesome, Jamie! I am so glad that you loved these vegan blondies! Thanks a lot for your great feedback! 🙂
Ingrid
This recipe is really amazing ! Just tried it tonight and OMG OMG it is delicious ! Even my husband that is not vegan loved it ! So good to see that being cruelty free is so tasty ! I shall do it to my family in law and my family to show them how delicious life can be when you’re vegan. Thank you so much for your recipe : I look forward to try the next one. 🙂 Ingrid
Ela
Makes me so happy! Thank you for your wonderful feedback, Ingrid! 🙂
Jenna
Made these for Valentines day for my coworkers (one is lactose intolerant, and another is celiac & I am *mostly* vegan haha). They were DELICIOUS! I did sub ground chia seeds for ground flax as my stash of ground flax had gone bad … oops lol I also dyed them pink with some pink food dye which looked GORGEOUS. Oh and I used 1/4 cup golden sugar and 1/4 cup cut stevia. Highly recommend this recipe, very adaptable and easy. Thanks Ela!
Ela
Yay sounds amazing! Thanks for your feedback, Jenna! 🙂
Danielle
These turned out so good, couldn’t stop myself from eating them!
Substituted almond flour with 3/4 cup of unsweetened coconut shreds and hemp seed mix that I blended up in my bullet until it was “flour.”
Worked wonderfully.
Ela
Sounds awesome! Thanks so much for your great feedback, Danielle! 🙂
Meagan Jayne
I love this recipe! I ate it all in one day (with a little help). Love the use of chickpeas for protein. I used monk fruit seeetener instead of xylitol and they came out so good! They def firm up once cooled. They were so good I ate the first third before they cooled and it was yummy that way too.
Ela
That’s amazing, Meagan! I know what you mean, haha. I often do the same (I sometimes even eat the raw batter lol). Thanks so much for your great feedback! 🙂
Claire huggins
Can i use a different size pan like 9×11 or something a little different from pan mentioned ? If so would that effect the cooking tims?
Ela
Hi Claire, sure, you can use a bigger pan which will reduce the cooking time. You can make a toothpick test after 22-25 minutes.
Clarissa Huggins
Will tooth pick come out clean when done?
Ela
Yes! It can have some crumbs but shouldn’t be wet. 🙂