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 loved this! My favorite brownie recipe by far. I’ve made 3 batches since last night and I think my whole family is addicted. I would recommend these to ANYONE, dairy-free or not. My best friend Loves to bake so I will definitely share this with her. Thx for sharing.
Have you tried making these as brownie bites? Thinking of using a heart muffin pan for Valentine’s Day. If muffins, is cooking time half?
I haven’t tried it myself, but I would try baking them for about 20-22 minutes and checking them with a toothpick at about 20 to see how they’re doing. I would love to know how they turn out if you make them like this!
I haven’t tried it myself, but I would recommend baking them for about 20 – 22 minutes if you’re going to do a average sized cupcake tin. Let me know how they turn out if you do it!
Made this tonight..OMG! So good! So, I admit that I didn’t have any chocolate chips, so I had to get creative.
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp cocoa powder
3 Tbsp powdered sugar.
Whisk it up and it makes a delicious gloopy chocolate to drizzle over the top before you bake it. Then marble it in. SOooo good!
Hey! I tried these this past week and mine turned out more cake-like than brownie. I still loved the flavour but I’m wondering what I did wrong.
Thanks
You might just be baking them too long or your oven temperature might be slightly off. Try taking them out 2 minutes early next time to see if they’re more to your liking!
OMG thanks so much. I think I’ll try them again tomorrow.
Great recipe though. I’ve never really been good with brownies.
Thanks for all your help.
I hope this recipe can help me become a brownie expert someday. Lovely recipe.
BTW just wondering if you have posted any cookie recipes?
I made these using melted coconut oil instead of olive oil and they turned out fantastic!!! Super crumbly and hard to get out of the pan since I didn’t have parchment paper and just greased. Also I just mixed it all in one bowl at once because I was lazy and they still turned out great!
Hey guys! I love this recipe and my friends and family are in complete astonishment that these brownies are dairy free. As much as I love them, I am having difficulty cooking the center. If I leave them too long in the oven, the outer edge burns! 🙁 I followed the recipe exactly, but should I use a metal pan instead of glass?? Just trying to think of something I could have possibly done wrong!
SO GOOD! I did them in a glass pan without parchment paper (didn’t have a regular pan). Turned out so fudgy and good!
These are seriously THE best brownies on the planet. I used avocado oil since it was all I had. Freakin’ uh-mazing! Thank you so much for this recipe! My family destroyed the whole batch in one afteroon. Mostly me.
these are delicious! I made these in a slightly smaller pan, and made them gluten free using Bob’s 1:1 all purpose flour. Chewy on the outside, gooey in the middle. Thank you! Will make again!
My boyfriend has a dairy allergy so I tried these because he loves brownies. The whole family loves them! I’ll never make brownies with dairy again