Why you’ll love these dairy free olive oil brownies
A few weeks ago, I asked one of my dairy free recipe groups on Facebook what sort of recipe they’d like to see. One of the first comments was brownies, and I was surprised I hadn’t thought of it before. I mean, who doesn’t love a good brownie?
I found this recipe for old fashioned brownies on Pinterest, and I thought it would be a great starting point for my dairy free brownies. It used melted butter, which is easily substituted with oil, and cocoa powder rather than melted chocolate.
The only other change I made was to double the vanilla extract. It’s a trick I learned after my niece accidentally used tablespoons instead of teaspoons in her chocolate chip cookies, and they turned out amazing.
And, these brownies were no different. They turned out better than any brownie I’ve ever had in my whole life. Try them for yourself and let me know what you think.
More dairy free desserts: red velvet brownies / dairy free tiramisu / dairy free key lime pie / peanut butter and jelly cake
Ingredient notes:
- Olive oil – You can use any kind of oil in this recipe, but I love the flavor the olive oil adds to the brownies. Use what you have and if you don’t care for the flavor the olive adds, use a light olive oil which has a less pronounced flavor.
- Chocolate chips – Use the best dairy free chocolate chips you can find. I found a local brand that makes dairy free ones, but Enjoy Life makes allergy friendly chocolate chunks that would work great.
- Cocoa powder – This recipe calls for regular cocoa powder, but I have used the darker, Dutch-process cocoa powder with this recipe and it works just fine. It will create a darker, richer chocolate flavor though.
Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions listed are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.
Melissa’s tips & tricks
- Line your baking dish with parchment paper. Just fold the corners. It doesn’t have to be perfect because the batter will fill it out, but this makes taking the brownies out of the pan much easier.
- Take them out of the oven before you think you should. If you’re toothpick comes out with a tiny bit of batter on it, that’s okay. They’ll be nice and fudge-like.
Frequently asked questions
Normally, brownies don’t call for milk, but if you find a recipe that does, dairy free milk, or even water or cold coffee will be a great substitute.
Yes. If a recipe calls for melted butter, you can easily substitute oil in its place. For this recipe, I used olive oil, but any liquid oil, such as vegetable oil or melted coconut oil, would work.
No. Cocoa powdered doesn’t contain dairy. The ingredients in cocoa powder should be just cocoa powder and, in some cases, a alkalizing agent. If there is milk listed in the ingredients, it’s probably hot cocoa mix.
More dairy free chocolate recipes: microwave fudge / hot fudge sauce / dairy free hot chocolate / No bake chocolate peanut butter pretzel bites
Olive Oil Brownies
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
- 2/3 cup olive oil, divided
- 1/2 cup boiling water
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips*
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350˚F and line a 9×13 baking pan with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
- Whisk 1/3 cup olive oil and boiling water into cocoa powder mixture until smooth.
- Add sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and remaining 1/3 cup olive oil. Whisk until smooth.
- Slowly whisk in flour until smooth.
- Fold in chocolate chips with a rubber spatula.
- Pour batter into pan and top with extra chocolate chips (if desired). Bake for 35-40 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 30 minutes before slicing.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
I have made a lot of brownies and these were by far the best! We didn’t have any butter in the house so made these and they turned out amazing! So good we are baking them to sell at a bake sale!
I’m so happy to hear you liked them! I hope they’re a huge hit at the bake sale!
Could you sub applesauce for some of the oil?
You should be able to, but I haven’t tested it. If you try, I would love to know how they turn out!
Amazing! Crispy, chewy edges and gooey and delicious in the middle. Happy to have found this recipe!
Thank you! I’m so happy to hear that you loved it!
I made these last night at like 9pm for a birthday potluck today. They are sooo easy to make and turned out fantastic! I’ve never made brownies from scratch before, I feel like a baking whiz! Thank you!
Thanks for this yummy recipe! Question though: I followed the recipe exactly, but mine looks nothing like yours. It came out more like a cake. Yummy, but cake not brownie. What am I doing wrong?? I never seem to make brownies, they always come out like a cake. Could it be my oven, or do I just not have the brownie thumb? Any ideas?
It might just be that you’re baking them too long or your oven is too hot. You really want to take them out earlier than you *think* they’re ready. If that doesn’t work, try replacing half 1 cup brown sugar and 1 cup sugar (rather than 2 cups of sugar).
Tasted great. Followed step by step. It is definitely more like chocolate cake than brownies.
The taste is great on these! Unfortunately 35 minutes was way too long for mine – they were burning several minutes before my timer went off and they came out tasting more like a slightly burnt cake than brownies 🙁 Would recommend checking these 25 minutes in just to be sure, or maybe using a smaller pan would do the trick!
I also think 2 c of sugar would have been too much – I used only 1.5 and they still came out plenty sweet.
The sugar does more for the recipe than just sweetening. It actually gives the brownies their gooey texture. Since you changed the ingredients, you can’t expect the recipe to come out properly. Oven temperatures also vary quite a bit, so you should always keep an eye on what you’re baking and get to know your own oven. I’m glad they still turned out ok!
What can I substitute eggs with for any dairy free vegans?
I would do a flax egg or egg replacer product!
Absolutely excellent recipe and I work in the Congo with no suitable oven, and they still came out perfect!
The outside has the perfect amount of stretchy crispness and the inside is dense without being too heavy. This is a new favorite!
I’ve been dairy-free my whole life by necessity, and finding tasty desserts has always been a challenge! Loved this recipe, thank you so much! I will say that I substituted some applesauce in for some of the olive oil as another reviewer brought up that idea, and though the brownies have a wonderful texture, they are less chocolate-y tasting. I used unsweetened organic applesauce, and the brownies are almost a fruity-sweet taste, similar to carob-powder brownies. Since I prefer a VERY strong chocolate taste, I’ll probably add more cocoa powder but keep the applesauce in the future! (I can’t have caffeine, so sadly I couldn’t add coffee or espresso to enhance the chocolate as others have suggested!)
Thanks for sharing about the apple sauce, I was wondering if it changed the flavor! I’d suggest to be careful with the cocoa powder if you can’t have caffeine though, as a half cup has as much caffeine as a mug of coffee. I’m sensitive to caffeine too, so I use cocoa processed with alkali, also known as Dutch chocolate or Special Dark chocolate because of its darker color. It has half the caffeine of regular cocoa powder and is less bitter. Happy baking!
You really shouldn’t interchange regular and Dutch process cocoa powder. They react differently in baking recipes and can really make or a break the results.
Thanks for the tip! I researched a bit and found a great article on it. So Shannon, all you’d need to do to use Dutch chocolate would be to remove to baking soda. The brownies won’t rise at all though.
kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2020/07/15/dutch-process-vs-natural-cocoa
The top got really crunchy and feel into the uncooked middle. This recipe did not work for me at all. https://photos.app.goo.gl/RRfC1K5PnamknXex7
I’m really sorry that your brownies didn’t turn out. Did you follow the recipe exactly without making substitutions?