Flourless Sweet Potato Brownies
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These Flourless Sweet Potato Brownies are made with just 4 ingredients and are a healthy dessert that everyone will enjoy! They’re super moist and you can’t even taste the sweet potato. Plus, they just so happen to be vegan, gluten free and refined sugar- free.
Why you’ll love these brownies:
Minimal ingredients: They’re made with only 4 ingredients, which can’t be said for very many recipes.
Actually healthy: The main ingredients are sweet potato and almond butter, so they’re basically a health food.
No refined sugar: These brownies are sweetened with maple syrup and chocolate chips and that’s it! They also happen to be vegan, gluten free and Paleo-friendly. If you’re looking for a lower-sugar dessert, these are it!
Recipe highlights:
- Ready from start to finish in about an hour
- Serves: 9 or 16, depending on how you slice them
- Cook method: Oven
- Tools: N/A, just a rubber spatula
- Difficulty: Easy
Table of Contents
For those days when you’re craving chocolate but still want to keep it healthy, make these sweet potato brownies.
See, I love sneaking health foods into brownies, like in my cottage cheese brownies, avocado brownies and my black bean brownies, all of which have gotten rave reviews.
Flourless desserts are also quite popular, especially my flourless chocolate chip cookies and flourless pumpkin bars. They’re an easy way to guarantee a dessert is gluten free!
These flourless sweet potato brownies are even easier because they’re made with only four ingredients. Plus, you only need a whisk and a rubber spatula to make them.
- Looking for another gluten-free, dairy-free brownie recipe? Try these easy paleo brownies.
Made these last week, and we loved them so much I’m already making another batch. This is going to be our go-to dessert recipe!
– susie
Ingredients for Flourless Brownies
Sweet potatoes: 2 medium or 1 large. If you end up with less than 1 cup of sweet potato, add a little pumpkin puree to the mix.
Cocoa powder: High-quality cocoa powder, or unsweetened 100% cacao. Since these brownies are only lightly sweetened, I highly recommend using high-quality cocoa powder. I used Whole Foods 365 brand and thought it was good.
Almond butter: Go for the most inexpensive creamy almond butter, like Kirkland brand from Costco, or Trader Joe’s almond butter.
Maple syrup: I know it’s more expensive, but real maple syrup is going to make these taste even better (by “real” maple syrup, I mean syrup with no additives).
Chopped chocolate: This is optional, but I HIGHLY recommend adding it, as it makes these taste more like traditional brownies. Opt for your favorite chocolate bar or chocolate chips, but if you want to keep these Paleo and/or vegan, choose dairy free chocolate.
See the recipe card below for full ingredient list and quantities.
How to Make Sweet Potato Brownies
Step 1: Cook the sweet potatoes. Use a fork to pierce several holes into the sweet potatoes, then place them on a microwave-safe dish and microwave for 6-7 minutes.
Step 2: Mash sweet potatoes. Slice the sweet potatoes down the middle and wait a few minutes for them to cool. Then, scoop out the flesh and discarding the skins. Use a potato masher to mash the sweet potatoes until they’re no longer lumpy then transfer to a 1 cup measuring cup.
Step 3: Whisk ingredients. Start by whisking the maple syrup and almond butter together in a large bowl. Then, add the cocoa powder, mashed sweet potato and chocolate chips and stir with a rubber spatula.
Step 4: Bake. Scoop the batter into an 8×8 baking dish that’s lined with parchment paper and use a rubber spatula to smooth it out. Sprinkle extra chocolate on top, then bake the brownies at 350°F for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let the brownies cool completely in the pan. Then, pull on the parchment to remove, slice and enjoy!
Erin’s Expert Tips
- Not a fan of the microwave? No problem! Instead of microwaving the sweet potatoes, you can peel them, dice them, then add them to a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then boil until they can easily be pierced with a fork. Then, drain and mash them!
- Make sure to line the baking pan with parchment paper and leave a 1-inch overhang for easy removal.
- For the chocolate peanut butter lover in your life, try using peanut butter instead of almond butter. But, just know that these won’t be paleo-friendly if you do this.
- Storage: Store brownies in a sealed container at room temperature for up to 4 days. Or, you can refrigerate for up to a week or place them in a freezer-safe bag for up to 2 months.
My Pro Tip
Recipe Tip
If you want brownies to be even tastier, add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract in with the wet ingredients.
Sweet Potato Brownies FAQs
Yes! They’re vegan because there’s no eggs in them, and they’re gluten free AND paleo because there’s no flour or refined sugar.
With that said, these brownies are going to be LESS sweet than traditional brownies because they only use maple syrup as the sweetener, so if you want them to be sweeter you can add 2 tablespoons of coconut sugar OR simply add more chopped chocolate to the batter.
Sure can! Instead of almond butter, try using sunflower butter or tahini instead.
Reader favorite chocolate recipes:
- Fudgy Vegan Brownies
- Almond Flour Chocolate Cookies
- Chocolate Coconut Cake
- No Bake Chocolate Pie
- Chocolate Avocado Cake
More vegan and gluten free dessert recipes:
Flourless Sweet Potato Brownies
Video
Ingredients
- 2 medium sweet potatoes, (1 cup, mashed)
- 1 1/3 cup almond butter
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/3 cup chopped chocolate or chocolate chips, or more to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° and line an 8×8 baking dish with parchment paper, leaving a 1-inch overhang.
- Use a fork to poke holes into the sweet potatoes, then place them on a microwave-safe dish and microwave for 6-7 minutes until soft. Then, slice them down the center and wait a few minutes for them to cool off before scooping out the sweet potato flesh and discarding the skin.
- Use a potato masher to mash the cooked sweet potato, then transfer to a 1-cup measuring cup.
- In a large bowl, whisk almond butter and syrup together. Then, add the cocoa powder, mashed sweet potato and chopped chocolate and fold everything together with a rubber spatula.
- Scoop the batter into the prepared dish, then sprinkle extra chocolate on top. Bake brownies for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let the brownies cool completely in the pan, then slice and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
This recipe was originally published in October 2019. It was updated with new text and photos in October 2025.
If I dont have a microwave should I bake them and for how long? Or cook them?
You can either roast them in the oven or, I like to peel the sweet potato then boil them with water over the stove, like you’re making mashed potatoes.
Just did this recipe with my friends and we LOVED it! So delicious! We drizzled some melted dark chocolate at the end and topped with sea salt Yum!!!
That sounds AMAZING — glad you liked it and thanks for the comment!
Have made these! They are sooooooo good! Have shared with others and have them to guess the ingredients! They are so surprised! Have a question: since the sweet potato is baked, why is it necessary to bake this mixture! Could it be served as a pudding? Thank you!
Hi! Baking it altogether just helps to hold everything together, but yes, it could definitely be served as pudding! So glad you like the recipe 🙂
Made these today, turned out pretty good ! Will make again …. They do help with occasional sweet cravings. Curious if anyone tried adding nuts and if they turned out ok. Thank you for the recipe
I made today and added walnuts. The brownies are good.
I love these brownies, you’ve created something very special by adding my favorite ingredient, sweet potatoes! Who needs zucchini when you can add sweet potatoes, thank you!
So, I have to stay away from certain foods that can cause bladder stones and almonds are one of them.
If I substitute peanut butter, which I can eat, would this recipe still work?
I hope so as they look delicious and seems so easy to make.
Thanks!!
Hi — yes! Technically any nut butter should work in these 🙂 They may have a little more of a peanut butter-y flavor, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with chocolate-peanut butter.
Could I use canned pumpkin instead of sweet potatoes? Would I need more sweetener?
Yes pumpkin should work, but you may need to add a little more cocoa powder since pumpkin is a little thinner in texture than sweet potato. These brownies aren’t super sweet on their own, so if you want to add more sweetener you could add 1-2 tbsp cane sugar.
What could I substitute for the almond butter? We have a number of family members with nut allergies.
You could use sunflower seed butter or I bet tahini would work great too!
Hi.I live the newest quick.easy.low sugar idea. However. I read the recipe for Nutella 3 times.I can’t find the amount of unsweetened chocolate to put in the recipe.Maybe, it’s there? I just woke up.I didn’t see it at the start or end of the recipe? Only hazelnuts and midday thru.Not being nasty, I am interested for once.Im trying to bake more.Im food retail industry for almost 30 years.not a hater.Thank you
Hi — are you referring to my homemade Nutella recipe? Because the recipe calls for 1/2 cup chocolate chips, not cocoa powder.
These look delicious! Bit could you please give a measurement, in cups, as to how much mashed sweet potato there should be? 2 medium sweet potatoes could be very different to different people.
Thanks!
Great question! It should be around 1 cup.