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!
So I ended up having to use a 8×8 glass pan for these and they cooked for about 45 minutes low and slow but they were AMAZING. I’m lactose intolerant and have had to avoid brownies for a while, but these are other worldly. Fifty, thick, and all things good 🙂
Mine turned into moist and overall very yummy cake! I accidentally skimped on the sugar due to some errors while converting.. I wrote down 200g for 1 cup but ended up thinking that 200g is for 2 cups and put in only 180g! Definitely not a brownie, but a great dark chocolate cake! Whipping up some vegan frosting cause some in the fam can’t deal with dark chocolate ><
Hi I made these tonight and they are terrific. For those wanting to reduce the sugar, I halved the sugar, halved the cooking time, and cooked them at 320 instead of 350 (150 instead of 180 Celcius). A big success and I don’t think they lose anything from having olive oil…I thought they might taste a bit savoury but I didn’t miss the butter at all.
Love this recipe it is a go to since I have been dairy free while nursing. We are also an egg free house. Last night I subbed applesauce for the eggs since we did not have ground flaxseed to make flax eggs and they still turned out great! Thanks for sharing this!
I followed a combination of suggestions from other reviewers and decreased the sugar to 1 cup, increased vanilla to 1 tablespoon, poured the batter into a square 8×8 pan and baked the brownies at 320° for 25 minutes. I cooled them for 10 minutes in the pan, then completely cooled them on a wire rack. I also left out the chocolate chips, but added 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts. They came out great – not too sweet, chewy and very satisfying.
We made this in our kindergarden. We had a moist gooey product, even though we made a double portion in one big baking tray. I think people complaining of having a dry brownie is that they are over baking it, because in the instructions you say to check that it is cooked by putting in a tooth pick and it should come out clean. Isn’t that wrong for a brownie recipe? There should be crumbs or goo on the pick.
Any how, the cake was great and the kids ate the lot and wanted more, something that doesn’t often happen! 😉
First, thank you for posting! I have a client who has many allergies and wanted brownies and these are perfect! High quality, mild EVOO, is key, as the last time I made them I used a medium global blend of EVOO and I can really taste it, but they’re still good! My family also likes these.n I transposed the recipe into grams so I can weigh my ingredients and get the same product each time. I use a a combo of regular cocoa powder and special dark (it’s my fav), like the Enjoy Life mini semi-sweets, and also sub 1/2 of a tsp of the vanilla extract with a homemade coffee extract from French beans, which is so tasty. Using homemade vanilla extract also amps the flavor. My only stick is the edges around the pan and the corners where the parchment “folds.” I use a dark, coated pan at 350F and my edges puff up pretty early, like cake, while the center stays nice and fudgey. I end up cutting off the crispy, uneven edges to make even brownies (and then I have brownie scraps, something Roslynn Bakery used to sell). I’ve never had an issue with the brownies being dry and I don’t change any quantities of sugar, soda, or anything, other than the 1/2 tsp coffee extract sub for 1/2 tsp of vanilla.
Well done and thank you for this recipe!
Can you substitute the olive oil for margarine
You can, but I cannot guarantee it will turn out as well. Let me know if you try it!
Good flavor! However, my brownies were not much of a fudge texture, It was more cake like? I don’t know if it’s because I used wheat flour instead of all purpose flour? I don’t think it should make too much of a difference in the texture, I just wanted to make a healthier version. ..
Using whole wheat flour will make a major difference in the texture of your brownies. Anytime you make changes to a baking recipe, it will most likely not turn out. Next time, I recommend trying the recipe as written before making changes.
Oh my goodness!! I just made these and they are absolutely delish! I used gluten free flour and my people cannot even tell that they are “healthy” 🙂 Thank you for the recipe. This one is a keeper!! I also like that it makes a little larger dish so it is PERFECT for when company comes.