The ultimate Fudgy Brownie Recipe! These homemade brownies are decadent and stay moist for days. Plus, there’s a secret ingredient that makes them super chocolatey without being overly sweet.
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Brownies Video Tutorial:
These brownies are unbelievably satisfying. Watch the video recipe and you’ll know why everyone loves this recipe!
The Only Brownie Recipe You’ll Need!
The inspiration for these brownies came from Ina Garten’s Outrageous Brownies in the Barefoot Contessa Cookbook. We made them fudgier and supremely chocolatey. Here’s why these are the best homemade brownies:
- Easy brownies – No fancy equipment or tools required. All you need is a saucepan, spatula, whisk, and a couple of bowls to make the batter.
- No Room Temperature Ingredients Needed – you don’t have to plan ahead and can start making brownies as soon as the craving strikes.
- Fudgiest Center – these literally stay moist and fudgy for days. I made the last batch on a Wednesday and ate the last piece on Sunday and it was still moist and satisfying.
- Rich Chocolate Flavor – adding the cocoa powder and chocolate chips make these intensely chocolatey without being overly sweet.
- Crackly Top – These brownies have that classic, irresistible crackly top.
The “Secret” Ingredient for Brownies:
Just like with our Chocolate Cake, adding coffee amps up the flavor of chocolate without tasting like coffee. We used Instant Coffee Granules. The rest of the ingredients are simple and will give you the perfect brownie texture.
How to Make the Best Brownies:
1. Melt Chocolate: In a saucepan over low heat, melt together 2 cups chocolate chips and butter. Set aside to cool 15 minutes.
2. Wet Ingredients: Whisk together eggs, sugar, instant coffee granules, oil, and vanilla extract. Whisk the cooled chocolate mixture into the egg mixture.
3. Dry Ingredients: Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt then fold these dry ingredients into the chocolate batter until no streaks remain.
5. Pour and Bake: Spread brownie batter into prepared pan, sprinkle the top with the reserved 1/2 cup chocolate chips, and bake at 350˚F for 35-40 minutes.
How Long to Bake Brownies:
Fudgy Brownies – Bake for 35-37 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center will come out fudgy.
Soft and Moist Brownies – Bake for 40 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out with moist crumbs attached.
How to Store Brownies:
- At Room Temperature – Brownies can be stored at room temperature in a low humidity environment. To keep them fresh and moist, cover with plastic wrap directly over the brownies and store in an airtight container for 4-5 days.
- Freezer – brownies can be frozen for up to 3 months. To keep brownies moister, do not cut brownies until you are ready to eat them.
How to Serve Brownies:
Our favorite way to serve brownies is to top with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream. You can also try a dollop of whipped cream drizzled with chocolate, or top with fresh raspberries.
For Frosted Brownies: cover them with Chocolate Ganache or Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting.
What Mix-Ins Can I Add to Brownies?
Once you have a great brownie base like this one, you can change them up and make them your own.
- Caramel – Drizzle the top of the brownies with Homemade Caramel and a sprinkle of kosher salt.
- Walnuts or Pecans – chop 1 cup of walnuts and fold them in at the end, sprinkling a few over the top for walnut brownies.
- Chocolate Chunks – fold in some chocolate chunks in addition to sprinkling them over the top.
- Zucchini – if you want to sneak in some veggies, try our Zucchini Brownies
Can I Bake these in a Different Pan?
For this brownie recipe, we used a 9×9 square pan. Using different sized baking pans will affect the bake times, and the recipe. These tips should help.
- Bread Loaf Pan – Cut the recipe in half and bake as directed for a small batch of brownies.
- 8×8 Pan – this smaller pan will result in taller brownies that require a longer baking time (40-48 minutes) minutes).
- 12×9 Pan – this larger pan works, but the brownies will be flatter and will require less baking time (30-35 minutes).
- 13×9 Pan – Make 1 1/2 times the recipe or the brownies will be pretty flat. Bake about 40 minutes, or to your desired doneness.
Love Chocolate? More Chocolate Desserts:
- Chocolate Cake – so moist with the best frosting
- Chocolate Lava Cakes – with a gooey surprise center
- Chocolate Chip Banana Bread – with melty morsels of chocolate
- Chocolate Chip Cookies – stay soft for days
- Chocolate Mousse – a classic, chef-approved recipe
Fudgy Brownie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb unsalted butter, (softened or cut into pieces if cold for faster melting)
- 16 oz semisweet chocolate chips, (2 1/2 cups by measuring cup), divided
- 4 eggs, large
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp instant coffee granules, (6.2 grams)
- 3 Tbsp light olive oil , or vegetable oil
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350˚F. Butter a 9x9 pan and line with parchment paper.
- In a medium saucepan over low heat, Melt together 2 cups chocolate chips and butter while whisking then set aside to cool 15 minutes.
- In a second large bowl, whisk together 4 eggs, 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar and 1 Tbsp coffee granules, 3 Tbsp oil and 1 Tbsp vanilla extract.
- Stir cooled chocolate mixture into the egg mixture.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together 2/3 cup flour, 1/2 cup cocoa, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt then use a spatula to fold mixture into the batter and fold just until combined. Do not over mix.
- Transfer batter to prepared pan and sprinkle all over with remaining 1/2 cup chocolate chips. Bake at 350 for 35-40 min depending on the desired doneness.* Cool until nearly at room temperature then cut into bars before serving.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
La torta de chocolate no lleva huevos
That’s right Patricia, our Chocolate Cake doesn’t have eggs.
Hi Natasha! I love your recipes and have used many of them! Always a hit!!! Please clarify, for brownies. In the video I think I heard you say 16 tbsp butter, and in the recipe it reads 1/2 lb which is 8 tbsp. Which one is correct? Thank you so very much!
Hi Lorraine, thank you for always trying out my recipes. I recommend following the written recipe as we can update that but the video can no longer be updated in case there are some corrections. Please share with us how it goes!
So sweet of you to respond so soon! They’re in the oven now! They look amazing! Thank you so much!
1/2 lb is 16 tablespoons….1/2 cup is 8 tablespoons 😊
Hands down the best brownies !
Actually I read the recipe wrong and instead of 1/2 lb of butter i used 1/2 cup …. They still came out amazing – maybe a little less fudgy but that’s what my family likes anyway. I also cut down sugar to 1 cup and added 1 cup of walnuts.
Natasha all of your recipes are amazing ! Thank you for another keeper. 🙂
That’s awesome! I’m glad the result was still great and you all loved it. Thank you for sharing that with us.
The best of the best. This is the 4th time I made this and they were delish as always. My family loves it and will die for it. I topped it with chocolate slabs since I didn’t have chocolate chips but they were wonderful
I’m happy to know that you loved the brownies! Thanks for your wonderful review.
Really good fudge brownie love them
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Is it 1/2 lb of butter or 1/2 cup of butter?
Hi Michelle, it is 1/2 lb or 226.8 g unsalted butter (softened or cut into pieces if cold for faster melting)
Brilliantly re-defining what the brownie can be.
Best wishes to you and your family from ours. Your recipes have brought us many smiles!
Hi Brian!! I’m so glad you’re enjoying my recipes!
Decadent is indeed a word for this moist brownies! We loved it!!!
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your great review!!
The best brownies! Tried this so many times. Question is, can I replace the butter and put vegetable oil instead? I don’t have stock butter as of now. Thank you!
Hi Maria, I haven’t tested that with vegetable oil so I’m not sure how that would turn out or if it would blend with the chocolate properly. I just haven’t tested it to recommend it.
This is my go to brownie recipe I love the taste and texture. However, I just can’t seem to get a crust on mine. Any idea on what could be the problem?
Hi Andrea, I wonder if it could be due to using a different oven setting? Also, does your oven tend to run cool? Lastly, make sure to test the first time in the same sized pan and put the brownies in the oven only after the oven is fully preheated.
Hi there, should I try with the thermal fan off maybe?
I don’t have experience with that but if you think it would work, give it a try. I hope it works out ok!
My brownies ended up caving in, what would have caused that?
Hi Rachel, they will naturally have a little border at the edge but pronounced caving in could be due to the size of the pan.
Hi! Big fan! First, every recipe of yours that I’ve tried is fabulous! (Favorites are your chocolate cake and lasagna) Second, I’ll be making these brownies today. Question: Can I use Bakers 4oz bars instead of chocolate chips? Thank you!
Hi Vicki, I haven’t tested that, but I bet that could work!
Hi Natasha!
We have to use dark chocolate chips for this recipe right?
Hi Anusha, we used semisweet chocolate chips.
Hello Natasha! I don’t have that many chocolate chips right now, so is it okay if I replace the half cup for sprinkling over the top with half a cup of chopped walnuts?
Thank you.
Hi Anusha, I imagine that should work. If you give that a try, please share with us how it goes.
Okay, I will. Also, just out of curiosity, it it possible to replace the dark chocolate chips with white chocolate ones?
I haven’t tested that yet but I think that would work. If you do an experiment, please share with us how it goes.
Excellent recipe. Thank you .
I only had an 8×8 pan, so I followed the cook times she listed for that (40-48 mins). It was nowhere near done! Ended up doing 56 mins and even then it still seemed way too wet in the middle, but the sides were getting too crisp. After taking it out of the oven, the whole middle sank while cooling. It still tasted good, but honestly didn’t taste much different than box brownies.
Hi Shirl, it sounds like it may have ended up being overbaked. It should seem like it’s not quite done but that is important for a fudgy brownie, otherwise the texture will seem more like boxed brownies. This recipe works best and rises best in the larger pan if you were up for giving it another whirl.
I am a cakey brownie lover. Is there a way to adapt the recipe so it’s less fudgy and more cakey?
Hi Deb, cakey brownies are usually an indication of over-baking. This recipe is intended to be more fudgy than cakey.
These are the best brownies I’ve ever had or made. They are perfectly fudgy and moist with that perfect crackle top. I didn’t have chocolate chips for the top so I sprinkled it with maldon salt and they were excellent. Our friends loved them too, and this is definitely a repeater recipe. Thank you Natasha!!!
That sounds perfect, Michelle. Great to hear that these brownies were a hit! Thank you for your wonderful comments and review.
can leftover brewed coffee be used instead of the instant granules ? how much ?
Hi Cathy, we used brewed coffee but I suggest following the package instructions which will usually give you a fairly strong coffee.
Hi there,
Can you please tell me how would the measurements change if I’m using 8×8 pan? My son is a brownie lover. Unfortunately I don’t have 9×9.
Thanks
Hi, please see the section above titled: “Can I Bake these in a Different Pan?” which mentions the 8×8. I hope you and your son love the brownies!