These vegan sweet potato brownies are fudgy, gooey, rich, chocolatey, and delicious! The recipe is plant-based, gluten-free, low in calories, healthy-ish, and easy to make. Enjoy with a low-fat chocolate spread!
Vegan Sweet Potato Brownies
Do you also love brownies? But do you fear they might be unhealthy, high in sugar and fat? Don’t worry, because I am going to present you these healthy gluten-free vegan sweet potato brownies. They are fudgy, moist, rich, gooey, chocolatey and delicious. Sounds interesting to you? If yes, continue reading.
These best vegan brownies are also….
- Dairy-free
- Egg-free
- Paleo-friendly
- Refined sugar-free
- Low in fat
- Plant-Based
- Gluten-free
- Nut-free
They are furthermore healthy as they contain sweet potatoes as the main ingredient! Yes sweet potatoes, Japanese (white) ones to be exact. If you can only find orange sweet potatoes where you live, you need to add a little bit more flour, otherwise, they will end up too moist, since the white sweet potatoes contain more starch. But don’t worry they will still taste amazing!
Vegan Brownies With Healthy Ingredients
You can use sunflower seeds or other seeds/ground nuts instead of hemp seeds. I love the flavor of hemp seeds though, furthermore, they are very healthy, rich in protein and omega 3 fatty acids.
Top these fudgy brownies with a chocolate sauce made from powdered peanut butter, cocoa powder, maple syrup and water and you end up with a heavenly chocolate spread. Find the exact recipe for the vegan chocolate sauce here or here.
I must admit that the brownie batter was a little bit sticky due to the sweet potatoes BUT I would still make this recipe over and over again since the result was extremely delicious.
Popular Sweet Potato Brownies
You might have seen these vegan sweet potato brownies before because I posted them already twice on my Instagram account @elavegan and people went totally crazy about them.
Huge accounts such as @beautifulcuisines @bestofvegan and @vegancommunity reposted my picture and I was tagged in numerous remakes. Everyone enjoyed my recipe, let me know if you also give it a try.
How To Make Vegan Sweet Potato Brownies?
This recipe is super easy to make in only a few simple steps.
- Cook sweet potatoes.
- Process all ingredients in a food processor.
- Pour the brownie batter into a baking pan.
- Bake in the oven.
- Let cool, cut into bars.
- Enjoy with a delicious chocolate spread.
Check the detailed recipe version below. Also, plase tag me on Instagram or Facebook with @elavegan and #elavegan if you make these vegan chocolate brownies with sweet potatoes.
If you love brownies, definitely also check out my other vegan brownie recipes:
- Flourless Brownies
- Healthy No-Bake Brownies
- Cheesecake Brownies
- Caramel Chocolate Brownies
- Best Vegan Brownies
Sweet Potato Brownies
Ingredients
- 2 medium (450 g) sweet potatoes cooked (see notes)
- 2 small (200 g) bananas (see notes)
- 2/3 cup (150 g) sugar of choice (see notes)
- 1 1/4 cup (130 g) oat flour gluten-free if needed (see notes)
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) plant-based milk
- 7-8 tbsp (50 g) cocoa powder I used Dutch-Process
- 5 tbsp (50 g) hemp seeds or ground almonds (see notes)
- 1 tbsp cinnamon (optional)
- 2 tsp baking powder
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius) and line a pan with parchment paper. My pan measures 8.5" x 4" (21.5 cm x 10 cm) but the recipe makes a lot of batter, so you can use a larger pan (like 8x8).
- Process the sugar in an electric coffee/spice grinder or blender until it becomes a fine powder. Repeat this step with the hemp seeds (or use ground almonds instead).
- Process all ingredients in a food processor until you have a smooth batter.
- Pour the batter into the pan. Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes, or until a toothpick (inserted in the center) comes out almost clean (it can still be crumbly, but shouldn't be wet). Depending on the size/height of your pan, it might be ready some minutes earlier or later.
- Let cool for at least 20-30 minutes and cut into bars. Top these fudgy brownies with a vegan chocolate sauce. You can find the exact recipe here PS: The brownies are even better on day 2!
Notes
- Sweet Potatoes: I used 450 grams of cooked white Japanese sweet potatoes. White sweet potatoes work better than orange ones, as they are starchier. You can use orange sweet potatoes, however, you should increase the amount of oat flour (to 1 1/2 to 2 cups).
- Bananas: Applesauce might work as a substitute.
- Sugar: Use cane sugar, coconut sugar, or a keto sweetener like Erythritol (I used Xylitol).
- Oat flour: Process oats in an electric coffee/spice grinder or blender to make your own oat flour. One reader had success using almond flour instead of oat flour.
- Hemp seeds: You can use ground almonds or other ground nuts/seeds of choice instead of hemp seeds.
- The recipe makes at least 8 thick brownies as seen in the pictures (depends on the pan you use and how you cut them). Nutrition facts are for one thick brownie.
Nutrition information is an estimate and has been calculated automatically
Equipment
If you are using Pinterest, feel free to pin the following photo:
Hi. I have not made your brownies yet, but they look great. I bake quite a bit, and I’d suggest peach baby food or blended peaches as a replacement for the bananas. They have a much milder non-noticeable flavor in baked goods, unlike apple sauce, and they are lower in sugar which might be better since xylitol is sweeter than traditional sugar (to me at least).
Hi Saundra, thanks for sharing, very interesting! 🙂
Hi ELA,
I tried the recipe using the peach purée (peach baby food) to replace the bananas. It turned out really well. The batter was extremely thick which I imagine is intentional due to it being vegan. Since I am not vegan, I did add a few eggs, some chocolate chips and some walnuts. Yum! Thank you.
Thanks for your feedback, Saundra. 🙂
Hi Ela! Could you please give me an alternative to baking powder as I am not able to get a healthy one where I live?
Hello! You could use 3/4 teaspoon of baking soda and 1/2 tablespoon of vinegar (or lemon juice) instead.
I used white sugar and these weren’t very good at all… 2/5.
Sorry, you didn’t like them, Emily. I never made them with white sugar though, as these are quite healthy. 🙂
Hi Ela!
I made this with orange sweet potatoes and added a little more flour but my blender was not moving so I transferred to a bowl and used a hand mixer. They grew double in size and the consistency is very rubbery 🙁 do you think that happened because of the hand mixer?
Hi Pia, I am not sure, I prefer using a food processor. I made them many times, and they never turned out rubbery. 🙂
Hi Ela,
Tried this and absolutely loved it. Son not a big fan of bananas though so is there any substitute for that in the recipe?
Thank you!
Hi Ruchi! I am so glad you liked it. You could use applesauce instead of bananas, that should work fine. 🙂
I like to try the recipe. Could you please share the measurement in cups for boiled sweet potatoes and mashed banana if possible.
That would be about 2/3 cup of mashed banana and about 2 cups of mashed sweet potato.
LOVE THESE!! I used to have a sweet potato brownie recipe I loved, but it called for a lot of eggs. I don’t want to bake with eggs anymore, so I looked for a new sweet potato brownie recipe and found yours. Absolutely delicious!! And low-fat too!
So glad you love these brownies, Elizabeth. Thanks for your great feedback! 🙂
I would definitely recommend 2 cups of flour when you use orange sweet potatoes. I tried with both and with 1 1/2 cup it doesn’t work out. It’s too watery and doesn’t cook properly 🙂
Otherwise it’s great!
Hey, it depends. If you bake the orange sweet potatoes in the oven, you don’t need 2 cups. It always depends on how starchy the potatoes are. 🙂
Can these be frozen? How long do they last in the fridge?
Thank you!
Hi Leticia, they can be frozen! They can be stored in the fridge for up to 6 days. 🙂
I tweaked the recipe a little because I don’t have coconut sugar so I used natural maple syrup… I love this recipe especially because you just use bananas for the binder and no flax egg and anything difficult! Thanks so much
I am glad you loved the recipe, Victoria. 🙂
Would love to see a video of this recipe. Batter is coming out like paste as if there are too many dry ingredients…
Hi Angel, I don’t have a video yet (I plan to make it though). The batter is indeed similar to a paste and a little sticky due to the sweet potatoes. If you believe it needs a little liquid, simply add more plant-based milk. 🙂
Love this! Can I sub canned pumpkin for sweet potatoes?
Hello! Yes, that should work. I would suggest adding a little less plant-based milk though, as the mixture might end up too runny.
Thank you for responding. I will try the recipe again. With how mine turned out – they are not a brownie. BUT, if I think of them as a chocolate gummy bear, they are awesome!!!
Good to hear you will try them again. Haha gummy bear, that’s so funny. 😀
What did I do wrong? The brownies did not rise at all. They kind of shrank down, became very dense and rather rubbery. The taste was great, but it was hard to get past the texture. Help! Could it have been something with boiling the potatoes?
Brownies aren’t actually supposed to rise. It’s weird that they were very dense and rubbery though. I assume you used orange sweet potatoes? Were they rather watery or starchy? I prefer using white (Japanese) sweet potatoes which are more starchy. Maybe you could try cooking the sweet potatoes in the oven next time instead of boiling them.
I did use the white sweet potatoes (never knew there was such a potato!) and boiled them until I could cut easily with a knife. I used a scale to measure all the ingredients to be sure I had that right. I did use coconut milk instead of almond milk because my daughter is allergic to nuts and used regular sugar because I couldn’t find coconut sugar. Could the coconut milk be the culprit? Thank you!
Interesting. I don’t think the coconut milk could be the culprit though because I also use it quite often. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you what went wrong. It could be the size of the baking dish (if it’s rather small and deep the brownies will turn out more fudgy).
hi Ela is there something i can sub the xylitol with, some dates maybe?? Would love to know what you think! Have a nice day
You can use any granulated sweetener of choice (date sugar, cane sugar, brown sugar, white sugar, coconut sugar, Erythrit, etc). I never tried dates. 🙂
Can’t wait to try these. Every one of your recipes I have tried have been delicious! Would carob powder work instead of cocoa powder? Thanks Ela
Thanks! Yes, carob should totally work. 🙂
These were delicious! My boyfriend and I devoured them!
So happy you liked them, Lex! 🙂 Would you mind leaving a rating for the recipe? Thanks! 🙂
How would it taste without any sugar?
Probably not good because of the cocoa powder which is bitter.
Just made these and they are Delius, thank you. Do you know if you can freeze them/ how long they last unfrozen?
Yes, you can freeze them but you can also store them in the fridge for up to 5 days. 🙂
Great recepì!
Are you sure though about the size is the mold?
I followed the instruction with all the quantity of the ingredients and I got a ton of batter (which is good)!
I had to use 21 x 21 (cm) square mold and it was just about the right size.
Anyway my brownie is still in the oven and can’t wait to taste it!
Hey Emilia, sorry for my late reply. Unfortunately, your comment landed in the spam folder so I saw it only now. Yes, the recipe makes a good amount of batter. It did fit my silicone mold but maybe I should mention in the recipe notes that it’s better to use a bigger mold. I hope your brownies turned out delicious. 🙂
These were delicious, but with the following caveats:
1. They are chocolate banana bread — same consistency and taste
2. The blender (I have a Blendtec) didn’t blend — had to mash by hand.
3. They definitely didn’t need that much sugar. I added 3 tablespoons and it was delicious. And more than enough!
Thanks for your feedback, Elina. 🙂
The brownies are very VERY delicious! I used the orange sweet potatoes and I added a bit more of oat flour. I used the coconut sugar but next time I will make them with the brown one.
Awesome! Thanks so much for your amazing feedback, Zoi! 🙂
Hey
I just found your recipe and it sounds so delicious ???? the only problem is: I’m allergic to bananas… is there an alternative?
Hey! Yes, applesauce should be a good substitute. 🙂
Oh, forgot to ask; do I need to keep them in the fridge?
Yes, it’s best to keep them in the fridge. 🙂
OMG! These are amazing! So delicious! Thank you for the recipe! I made them for my daughter’s bring your food party at school.
So happy you liked these brownies, Tugce! Thanks for your feedback 🙂
How thick should be the batter? Im trying to make this now ☺
Hey Nina, the batter is quite thick and sticky. Hope they turned out yummy. 🙂
those brownies are amazing! i must have stopped myself from eating the whole batter so sweet and chocolatey. i used orange potato, almond flour and combined xylitol and coconut sugar. these are definitely one of the best brownies i ate ❤️
Thanks so much for your amazing feedback! I am super happy you liked my recipe.
Hi Ela 🙂
I am going to try this recipe. Looks delicious!!
I was wondering if i could substitue the Xyitol for brown rice syrup? I just dont want to change the texture of the brownie. I am already using orange sweet potatoes
Hi Tasha, I made this recipe with Xylitol and coconut sugar only so I am not sure if brown rice syrup will change the texture. Please get back to me if you try it out. 🙂
WILL TRY THIS TONIGHT
I hope you will like it 🙂
Hi Ela! Do you put the sweet potatoes raw like the bananas in the mix?
Hello! No, they need to be cooked. I actually mentioned “boiled” sweet potatoes in the recipe but I changed the word to “cooked” now. You can cook the sweet potatoes in the oven. The weight (450 grams) is the weight of the cooked sweet potatoes. Hope this helps. 🙂
Hi Ela!
I cannot wait to try this recipe!! I’m so happy I found it :).
I have a question :). Is the 450g boiled sweet potato without skin? Aren’t boiled potatoes a little too wet?
Thank you!
Hello Safa, yes without the skin. The Japanese (white) sweet potatoes are more starchy than orange sweet potatoes and not wet at all, even after boiling. If you only have orange sweet potatoes you could also cook them in the oven until they are tender and then use the flesh in the recipe. Let me know how it turns out. 🙂
Hey Ela, this dessert sounds absolutely delicious, but I don’t have any xylitol or coconut sugar, can I use maple syrup instead, how much do you reckon I will need? Another options will be to use dates…
You can use a mixture of dates and maple syrup. If you only use maple syrup the batter might end up not thick enough. So I would simply blend dates with maple syrup (maybe 100-150g grams dates and 1/4 cup maple syrup). Or use less/more to taste. Let me know how it turned out. 🙂
ELa! Brownies with sweet potatoes, they could be dinner! My dream, dessert for dinner. Your creativity is endless my friend, thank you for sharing it with us! Dee xx
Thank you so much, Dee! You are such a sweetheart 🙂
Hi… I tried this amazing recipes today stil baking.
Insdead of bananas I put 1tbsp of linen and putt mor way milk this in recipes, otherwise the mass was really thick. It is my first time ever to cook brownies so I have no idea about how it should look . So my mass went out REALL thick the spoon could stay in it))))
Will be amazing if you add some pictures more for unprofi) not all of specs but thickness and some more important details.
Thank you Ela for this amazing inspiration so even me baking
Thanks for trying out my recipe, I hope you will like the taste 🙂
Vielen Dank für das Rezept, das ist das leckerste Brownees alle Zeiten!!! super super lecker…<3
Hallo Cris, das freut mich sehr!! Vielen Dank für dein super Feedback 🙂
very nice recipe
So glad you like it! Thanks for your comment 🙂
Such a healthy and delicious dessert! I highly recommend trying this recipe! Ela, thank you for sharing this recipe with us.
Thanks so much for your great feedback, Daiana! I am very happy you liked my sweet potato brownies 🙂
How can I replace de “xylitol” if I don’t have coconut sugar either
You could just add regular sugar 🙂
What are your thoughts on making without sugar? Or is it pretty pointless to do so? And I don’t want to sub with maple syrup, honey, etc.
Honestly, I wouldn’t make it. Today I tried a new recipe, a banana bread without a sweetener (no sugar, no Xylitol, not even maple syrup or Stevia), just sweetened by bananas. I haven’t tried it yet, it’s still too warm. It will basically taste like bread with a banana flavor, but not sweet. I am really curious to try it tomorrow and I think it will be good. However, brownies without a sweetener like sugar, xylitol or maple syrup etc probably won’t taste good because the cacao/cocoa is just too bitter. Every time I make a recipe with cacao/cocoa powder I have to use more sweetener, otherwise, it will taste bland. Hope this helps but if you still want to try it out, then please report back. 🙂
Ela, How about dates? Do you you think that using them instead of Xylitol will work? And what amount would you recommend? Thank you for your work!
Yes, I think it could work, I never tried it though. I guess I would add about 1 cup of chopped dates (approximately 175 grams) but you might need more. You can taste the batter after mixing and then decide if you need to add more dates. Try it out and please report back 🙂
Could you use canned pumpkin in place of sweet potato ? If so how much would you use ? I can’t wait to try these they look amazing
Hey Laura, yes I believe it could work. I never tried it but I would use around 1 to 1 1/4 cups of pumpkin puree. Please try it out and let me know how it turned out. 🙂
Could you sub Cassava Flour? I can’t do grains or nuts
I never tried Cassava flour, so I really have no idea how it will turn out. If you try it out, please report back! Are you allowed to eat coconut flour? This might work too (I wouldn’t use more than 1 cup though).
Hello! It looks amazing.
If you put aside the baking powder, you do not need to cook. I will try without cooking because all the ingredients can be consumed like they are, except potato, but it is boiled already. Did you tried?
I like your blog. Congrats for your good work you do!
Peace, Love and Prosperity!
Hello Georgiana, I often eat too much of the batter. 😀 But if you don’t cook them, it will basically be just a chocolate banana batter. Thanks so much for your kind compliments on my blog! 🙂
Thanks Ela for your speedy reply. I ended up using a square tin I found which I lined with oiled paper. Unfotunately i think it burnt a bit; my fan forced oven seems a bit quick. But when I try it on the weekend I’ll let you know how it went. If i get time I’m thinking of making a chocolate frosting with chocolate chips, coconut oil & vanilla. I can’t make yours as I’m allergic to peanuts and the workshop site I’m going to is nut free.
That chocolate chips vanilla frosting sounds very delicious! I also love to combine sunflower seed butter mixed with cacao powder and maple syrup. So yummy 🙂
About to prepare & realise I don’t have a square silicon pan. How would a muffin tray do? Thanks
This will work as well! Might be done in less time though, so watch closely. Please report back about the result 🙂
Hello
Is it 450g of sweet potato before or after cooking please?
450 g of boiled white sweet potatoes, so after cooking 🙂
Thank you, Ela, that was very helpful! I will look for oat or one of the other flours you mentioned.
I am glad it was helpful. Have fun baking 🙂
These sound amazing, and I definitely want to try them! I was planning on substituting tapioca for the oats and noticed you recommend against this. Can you please elaborate on the concern of substituting starches? Will it affect the consistency, taste, or is it just because it will have more starch vs protein than the original recipe?
Hi Nora, I think it’s ok to sub tapioca for other starches but I wouldn’t recommend to sub tapioca for oat flour or any other flour as it might affect the consistency. You probably could sub oats with buckwheat or sorghum flour, also almond flour might work (I never tried it though). You can try out different versions however I always recommend to follow the recipe as this is what I did many times and the result was good. Hope this helps.
I absolutely love these brownies. I ate 3 last night….. so adictive. I made one change (only because I am allergic). I substituted apples for the bananas. Thanks for posting these on IG Ela!
That’s amazing, I am glad you enjoyed my vegan sweet potato brownies. So happy to hear that apples work fine as well 🙂
Hi! Can I use something other than oats such as tapioca.or arrowroot flour? If so do you have a recommended amount? Thank you!!!!!
Hi Lisa, I wouldn’t sub oats with tapioca or arrowroot as both are starches. I would rather recommend buckwheat flour. That should work fine. Hope this helps. 🙂
Hi this recipe sounds delicious. I just wanted to know if you had to use cacao powder or can I just use dark cocoa power.
Yes sure, you can also use cocoa powder 🙂
These look amazing!!! Could you use a different type
of seed? I have an allergy to sunflower and don’t have any hemp. Chia or flax or anything else?
Hello Tia, you could use ground sesame seeds or ground chia / flax seeds. I hope this helps 🙂
Hi Ela, can you taste the bananas in the finished brownies? I really strongly dislike the taste of bananas (rare for a vegan I know????) 🙂
Hey Daisy, I didn’t taste the the bananas in the sweet potato brownies at all, I love bananas though ;). But I guess you could also use 3/4 cup of apple sauce instead of the 2 small bananas. Hope this helps and please report back if you try out my recipe with the apple sauce 🙂
Hi Ela I wnat to try thus recipy but I want to know if i can replace the white sweet potatoe for a regular sweet orange potatoe (I only found that type )
Hello! Yes you can, as mentioned in the text: “If you can only find orange sweet potatoes where you live, you need to add a little bit more flour, otherwise they will end up too moist, since the white sweet potatoes are more starchy. But don’t worry they will still taste amazing!” Hope this helps 🙂
How much more flour??
It depends, the dough shouldn’t be too thin but also not too thick. I would say maybe 1/4 to 1/3 cup more flour. Please try it out and report back.
Adding 1/3 more flour resulted in a really heavy brownie.????
Well I assume the brownie batter was too thick with 1/3 cup more flour, 1/4 cup would have been probably better. I made the recipe numerous times with the white Japanese sweet poptatoes and it always turned out great. Any modifications to my original recipe will of course alter the result. Once I get my hands on orange sweet potatoes I will make it again with 1/4 cup more flour and update the recipe notes.
This recipe is the best! Highly recommend to try it! Very easy, I make them quite often and they make such a healthy dessert!! Thank you for this recipe, Ela!
Thanks for your kind feedback Gunta, I am so glad you like my vegan sweet potato brownies. 🙂
Loved this recipe! The flavour is nice, it’s more complex than just chocolate as they also use banana and cinnamon and you can taste them in. I used organic cane sugar instead of coconut sugar because that’s what I had at home. They were indeed even better on day 2! The flavour keeps developing over time. And they smelled really good while baking, the house smelled of cinnamon, it reminded me of the holidays. 😀
Thank you so much for your wonderful feedback James!! I am so glad you liked my sweet potato brownies. 🙂
These look amazing, definetly want to try making a batch this weekend. What is the icing drizzle made up of please?
Hi Beela, thank you! I hope you will like my recipe. 🙂 I linked to the chocolate sauce in the blog post. You can find the recipe HERE (just adjust the quantity) or you could also check out the frosting of my BEST VEGAN BROWNIES
How’d you make the chocolate syrup that’s on top???
Hi Amber, I linked to the chocolate sauce in the blog post. 🙂 You can find the recipe HERE (just adjust the quantity) or you could also check out the frosting of my BEST VEGAN BROWNIES
Most amazing brownie recipe ever! Also great treat to have in between meals
Thank you so much Dominique! I am so glad you enjoyed my brownie recipe ❤️❤️❤️