Vegan Oat Flour Brownies
These small-batch vegan oat flour brownies are oil-free, gluten-free and are naturally sweetened with dates. Applesauce and tahini replace the oil, making these a delicious and allergen-free treat anyone can enjoy.
What You’ll Need
- Oat flour. Make your own oat flour by adding rolled oats to a blender. Quick and easy!
- Cocoa powder. You’ll need some cacao powder or regular cocoa powder to create that chocolate goodness.
- Dates. These brownies are sweetened naturally with dates. We’ll be soaking them in water first to ensure they help help create the perfect gooey brownie texture.
- Applesauce. Unsweetened applesauce replaces oil and helps add moisture to the brownies.
- Nut or seed butter. I used tahini to keep the recipe nut-free but any nut or seed butter.
- Chocolate chips. Without chocolate chips these are pretty plain, so I would definitely recommend adding them. I used Enjoy Life Dark Chocolate Chips.
Quick Note: These are definitely on the healthy side and are not super sweet or decadent but if you’re after a health-conscious treat, these definitely fit the bill. They are made with dairy-free chocolate chips, are nut-free and naturally gluten-free so everyone can enjoy them.
Step by Step Instructions
Step 1. Soak the Dates
To soften up the dates, you’ll want to soak them in hot water for 20 minutes or so. This will help add extra gooey and delicious texture to the brownies. To do this, placed pitted dates in a glass bowl, pour boiled water over them and let them soak.
After they’ve soaked, drain them using a colander and proceed with the recipe.
Step 2. Make the Oat flour
To make the oat flour for this recipe, measure out 1 cup, or 100 grams of rolled oats and then blend into a fine flour. I used my Vitamix for this but any blender or even an immersion blender will work.
Step 3. Mix up the brownie batter
Once you’ve soaked and drained the dates and made the oat flour, add everything except the chocolate chips to a food processor or high-speed blender and mix until you have a thick batter.
Once you’ve blended up the batter, add the chocolate chips and pulse a few times to combine.
Note: As you can see below, the tahini I used was quite drippy so make sure whatever nut or seed butter you use isn’t too dry.
Step 4. Spread in a loaf pan and bake
Once you’ve prepared the batter, spread it into a loaf pan, sprinkle a few extra chocolate chips on top and bake in the oven for 24 minutes.
Quick tip: prepare the loaf pan with a spritz of non-stick cooking spray, rub it with a little oil or line it with parchment paper for easy removal after baking.
Substitutions and Notes
- You can use any nut or seed butter in place of the tahini. Peanut butter, almond butter and sunflower seed butter all work.
- Make your own oat flour by blending 1 cup of rolled oats into a fine flour.
- Regular cocoa powder is fine but you can use cacao powder for extra nutrition. Cacao powder is rich in magnesium, iron and antioxidants.
- For a sweeter brownie, add a pinch of stevia or a few stevia drops.
Do these taste like dates?
These brownies definitely have a hint of date-flavour but I wouldn’t say it’s overpowering. In fact, I think it’s delicious! If you really don’t like dates, it might not be the recipe for you
Related Recipes
Loving these easy oat flour brownies? You might like these too:
- Chocolate Coconut Brownies
- Raw Hemp Seed Brownies
- Vegan Tahini Date Cookies
- Vegan Sweet Potato Brownies
- Healthy Vegan Black Bean Brownies
Did you try this recipe? I’d love to hear about it! Click here to leave a review.
PrintVegan Oat Flour Brownies
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Prep Time: 15 mins
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Cook Time: 20 mins
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Total Time: 35 minutes
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Yield: 8
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Category: Dessert
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Method: Baking
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Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
These small-batch oat flour brownies are easy to make with healthy, wholesome ingredients making them the perfect health-conscious sweet, chocolate treat.
Ingredients
- 1 cup rolled oats (100 g) blended into oat flour
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder (21 g)
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp vanilla (optional)
- 1 cup packed, pitted dates (225 g)
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (120 g)
- 1/4 cup tahini (60 g)
- 1/4 cup dairy-free chocolate chips plus a few more to sprinkle on top
Instructions
- Place the dates in a large bowl and cover in hot water. Soak for 20 minutes then drain well.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Measure out 1 cup of rolled oats then process them in a blender to form fine oat flour.
- Add the oat flour and everything except the chocolate chips to a food processor and process into a thick batter.
- Add the chocolate chips and pulse a few times to combine.
- Spray a loaf pan with a bit of non-stick cooking spray, or line with parchment paper, then scoop the batter into the pan and spread with a spatula until smooth. The batter will quite thick.
- Sprinkle a few more chocolate chips on top, if desired.
- Bake the brownies for 24 minutes then remove from the oven and let sit in the pan for 15 minutes before carefully slicing and lifting from the pan.
- Store in the fridge for up to 7 days or freezer for up to 2 months.
Notes
If you’d like the brownies to have a little bit of lift to them, add 1/2 tsp baking soda. I tested these every which way and they work fine with and without baking soda.
These are not super sweet brownies as they have no added sugar except for the chocolate chips. I don’t recommend leaving the chocolate chips out as they add a nice sweetness and decadence to the recipe. Feel free to increase them to 1/2 cup if you want!
Keywords: oat flour brownies, flourless brownies, tahini brownies
I just made these and they are amazing!! I added some finely milled desiccated coconut and topped it with blueberries- and of course the chocolate chips 💕
★★★★★
Amazing! So glad you enjoyed them!
These are delish! I make them every week!
★★★★★
I’m so glad to hear that! They are so yummy, aren’t they? Thanks for the review.
I loooove this recipe! It’s hard to truly find sugar-free desserts since most of them have some sort of syrup in it, so I appreciate anything with dates 💜 my family loved this and I already made it a couple of times!
★★★★★
I’m so glad to hear that you found a dessert that works for you! Glad the family enjoyed them and thanks so much for the review!
I am a HUGE fan of Deryn and her recipes….LOVE most of them. This was a miss for me. My family said it tasted like a regular chocolate protein bar. Was not awful, but didn’t care for the flavor and dense, heavy texture. The dates were too much I think. I wouldn’t repeat this one.
★★
Perfect sweetness and very moist-delicious! I followed recipe exactly as written and prefer lightly sweet baked goods.
★★★★★
So glad you enjoyed them, Luci!! I love the sweetness of these too..just perfect.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this recipe but it was definitely worth the try! I might honestly like these better than normal brownies. I did make a few changes to the recipe. I went ahead and added 1/4 of a cup of almond butter instead of tahini but still added 1 tbsp of tahini. I also added a splash of maple syrup to add a touch of sweetness. This recipe is a keeper! 🙂
★★★★★
These are my favorite vegan brownies to date! I love dates and tahini, so these are right up my alley. The dates give them such a nice texture, and I love that they are oil free and refined sugar free as well. Awesome recipe!
★★★★★
Thanks, Amelia. Glad you enjoyed them!
I haven’t tried the recipe but was wondering if anyone tried replacing some of the dates with banana? I just think 1 cup of dates is a lot of dates.
I do appreciate the vegan recipes as I am allergic to dairy and eggs and must limit my intake if refined sugar.
I haven’t tried it. It might work but it might also add too much moisture. I’m not sure. I have other brownies made without dates if you want to take a look at those ones! Thanks.
I didn’t like these at all on tasting the first one. To me they just tasted like their ingredients I.e. cold chocolate porridge with dates. I put them in the fridge & forgot about them. However! On rediscovering them a few days later I have changed my mind. Much much nicer, chocolatey and fudgy. I did add chopped pecans, they help.
I tried these and they’re pretty good, but definitely need doctoring. Brownies need vanilla and salt, IMO. And I used peanut butter instead of tahini. Also, I didn’t use chocolate chips since I don’t use refined sugar and I’m guessing those are essential to the recipe. With my changes and adding some chocolate date frosting, this took them to the next level and I would recommend!
★★★★
Ya, the chocolate chips do help sweeten the recipe and add that extra oomph. I don’t recommend leaving them out. They sound amazing with chocolate date frosting though! Glad you enjoyed them.
Wow these are awesome. We made them yesterday and they’re pretty much gone..haha. Time for another batch! Thank you!
★★★★★
You’re welcome. Glad you enjoyed them!
OMG! These are the BEST brownies I’ve EVER made! Better than all the non-vegan ones i’ve tried. I didn’t have the applesauce so I just blended up some fresh pineapple I had on hand instead, I also added some vanilla and walnuts. These brownies were so moist and tasty!! Thank you so much for your recipe! Perfection.
★★★★★
Oh wow, they sound amazing with pineapple!! And walnuts are always a good addition. So glad you enjoyed them. Thanks for the review!
Hi! This looks like an incredibly interesting recipe. I just wanted to ask what could I substitute the applesauce with?
Hi, I haven’t tested it but you can try ripe banana or pumpkin. I can’t guarantee it though as they do have a bit different properties than applesauce! Let me know if you try it.
I regularly sub coconut oil with applesauce (and vice versa) in baking with no issues! Hope this helps 🙂
My whole family LOVED this recipe, and we have tried quite a few brownie recipes. I used the baking soda per your notes, and added 1.5 tsp organic alcohol free vanilla flavoring and ½ cup chopped walnuts to the batter. I subbed an equal amount (1/4 cup) unsweetened, unsalted almond butter for the tahini because it is what I had on hand. Moist and delicious and healthy! Thank you!
★★★★★
Wonderful! I’m so glad you enjoyed them. They’re delish with almond butter too, I know! Love the walnut addition, YUM. Thanks for letting me know!
These were amazing I used peanut butter and doubled the batch
★★★★★
Hi! I have a question. How many raisins would I use to substitute in this recipe?
Use the same amount as the dates…1 cup or about 225 grams. I suggest soaking them first, and keep in mind they have a stronger flavour than dates so the brownies will taste a bit like raisins. Thanks!
Absolutely awesome!
★★★★★
Glad you enjoyed them, Lee!
Deryn: Made your recipe with Almond Butter. It was incredible. Came out perfect on my first try. (Surprised my skeptical wife.) 🙂
★★★★★
Haha, that’s awesome. So glad you guys enjoyed them!!
Is There anything I can substitute for the tahini oil?
It’s just plain tahini, not oil. But you can sub another nut or seed butter as long as it’s not too dry.
Omg, these brownies look amazing. What a great way to enjoy a treat in a smarter way!