These healthy carrot brownies are a delicious way to enjoy the classic dessert, and they’re made with less sugar and fat than traditional recipes. The addition of grated carrot adds a little sweetness and a surprisingly tasty texture!
You read right, carrot brownies.
Brownies are by far my favorite treat, which is why I have so many different recipes!
The impetus for this recipe came about from my Carrot Cake Snack Bars. Something about that recipe and the texture made me wonder about the pairing of carrot and chocolate.
I really enjoy the sweetness that the carrot adds as well as the pop of texture. These are also lower in both sugar and fat, and the texture is a cross between fudgy and cakey.
Ingredients and substitutions
- Flour – I like a combination of oat and spelt flours. I’ve also used one cup total of each flour, separately. If you use solely oat flour, the brownies crumble more due to the lack of gluten and eggs. Letting them cool in the pan helps resolve this a bit.
- Cocoa powder
- Coconut sugar – Any granulated sugar will work.
- Baking soda
- Sea salt
- Milk – I typically use whole milk, but any milk you tolerate will work.
- Oil – Grapeseed, coconut, and olive oil all work.
- Applesauce
- Vanilla extract
- Grated carrot
- Chocolate chips
Recipe steps
Begin by mixing the dry ingredients in a large bowl and the wet ingredients in a smaller bowl.
Next, mix everything, along with the grated carrot, together to create a smooth batter.
Pour the batter into a well-oiled baking dish and bake until a knife comes out clean.
Don’t overbake your brownies or they will be dry!
Recipe notes
I recommend tasting your carrot to be sure it’s nice and sweet. I’ve had some real duds!
Note: These brownies are MODESTLY sweet! Please don’t expect these to be like brownies with one cup of sugar. If you want to bump up the sweetness without adding extra sugar, try adding in some monk fruit or stevia.
Carrot Brownies
Ingredients
- 1 cup oat or spelt flour or a combination of the two; see Ingredients and Substitutions above
- ⅓ cup cocoa powder
- 3 Tablespoons coconut sugar
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ¾ cup milk of your choice
- 3 Tablespoon oil coconut, grapeseed, and olive all work!
- ¼ cup applesauce
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup carrot finely grated
- ¼ cup chopped dark chocolate or chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350℉.
- In a large bowl, mix the flours, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, and salt together.
- In a smaller bowl, whisk the remaining ingredients (save the chocolate chips for the top).
- Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and stir everything until well combined. I add in a few drops of stevia at this time as well.
- Pour the batter into a well-oiled 8 x 8-inch baking dish.
- Sprinkle the top with the reserved chocolate.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. DON'T over-bake or they will become dry.
- Cool, cut, and serve!
Notes
Nutrition
If you have a chance to try this recipe, please leave a star rating and a comment below letting me know how you liked it!
Spelt contains gluten which I can’t have. Can I sub it?
Hi Nancy,
I’m not gluten-free, so I don’t test those options, but it seems an all-purpose GF blend might work!
Me and my kids love these! Thanks for the awesome recipe!
Looking amazing!
these are brilliant!! my box grater doesn’t do a fine shred and i did not have granulated sweetener, but neither detracted from the final product which is so delicious. my boyfriend is a fan too (and the brownies seem to have all disappeared!) …so i’m definitely gonna be making these regularly 😀 thank you again for your work.
Thanks Michelle, I’m so happy you like them!
Hi Lauren,
Roughly how big is a medium carrot? Like an estimate of how many cups a medium grated carrot yields might help. Carrots over here comes in many sizes, some are long and thick, long and thing, short and stubby… so…
Hi Sha,
Sorry for the late reply, the carrot should yield about 3/4 cup of (loosely packed) grated carrot. 🙂
Thanks Lauren and no need to apologize as the reply was pretty quick. I, on the other hand, need to say sorry for multiple typos on my ques above and clicking submit before checking haha. Can’t wait to try the recipe! Thanks for sharing 😊
Substitute for apple sauce?
You could try mashed banana, but it will add a banana flavor.
Im not sure why it was quite bitter and not much sweetness. Is it supposed to be this way? Thanks.
Hi there, yes, these are lower sugar brownies. Not sure if you’ve baked a regular brownie recipe before, but they tend to have upwards of 1/2 – 1 cup of sugar. To make these a bit sweeter, you can add some stevia, otherwise, I’d suggest looking for a regular brownie recipe.