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.
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.
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
made these brownies today to bring to a friends. OMG!!!!!! Best brownies ever!!!! I’ll never buy boxed again!!! Thank you for all your wonderful recipes. I’ve made quite a few so far!!
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite, Donna!
Hi Natasha,
Do you think using stevia instead of sugar would be okay? Hubby is diabetic and loves sweets and thought I could maybe try to make this for him to have in small portions. Thanks and love your recipes. :0-)
Hi Dana, I honestly haven’t tried using stevia or reducing the sugar in this recipe to advise. If you do an experiment, please share with us how you liked it.
Hi Natasha:
I’ve made many of your recipes and they turn out great. I love the videos as I’m a visual person. Keep them coming…….
Christine
From Georgetown ON Canada
Thank you for that wonderful compliment!
I baked these brownies exactly according to the recipe and they were delicious.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for the wonderful review!
I followed the recipe but mine definately didn’t turn out. I don’t know if I should use a larger pan. I felt like there was a lot of batter. It tasted good but definately was not cooking thru after 50 minutes.
Hi Michelle, we used a 9×9 sized pan! I recommend a pan of the same size. If using anything smaller, you would need to alter this recipe.
by the way Natasha you must be greek like me can you please make Greek loukoumades mmm yummy lol.
I haven’t tried that recipe yet but thank you for your suggestion.
I know this might sound very dumb to ask but can I use any kind of coffee like Mcdonald’s coffee or my favorite Greek coffee mmmmm yum.
Hi Tony, we used brewed coffee, but I suggest following the package instructions of whichever coffee you use. McDonalds coffee or greek coffee (yum- that sounds delicious) will work great!
Natasha, you have me very confused. The recipe calls for coffee granules. But in the comments you used brewed coffee. How can that be?
Hi Bonnie, both will work. I suggest following the package instructions of whichever coffee you use.
Hi Natasha
Can i substitute the semi sweet chocolate chips to regular dark chocolate bar i usually use for cakes ?
Hi Nada, we used and prefer semisweet chocolate chips. The dark chocolate may work, it will be a bit more bitter.
I’ve tried the recipe today, heated the oven to 175°C and I kept the pan in the oven for 55 minutes and it was still wet.
But the smell was amazing 🤩
i have a square pan measuring 20 x 20. How much mixture do i make for the pan? I am waiting for he reply as soon as possible please?
Hi Hajar, I haven’t tested in that size but here’s a good tutorial on adapting recipes to different size pans. Do you mean centimeters or inches? Also, when you click on the serving size in the recipe card, you can adjust the servings to help you scale the list of ingredients up or down (just the list of ingredients, but you’ll have to manually adjust measurements in the instructions)
Thank you very much. That was helpful. Just another quick QUESTION. The butter is measured 1/2 lb. When i convert it in cups because thats what i am using, its 1.13 cups. How do i measure .13?
Feel free to check out this Ingredient Weight Chart that I also use to help you with the measurements.
hi natasha
i have a problem too with the size pan (what i have is 8×8 in)
i will try to adjust the serving to 9 persons
what do you think?
Hi Nada, 8×8 Pan – this smaller pan will result in taller brownies that require a longer baking time (40-48 minutes) minutes)
My brownies keep rising up and overflowing like lava. I don’t know why this keeps happening. I used an 8×8 pan and followed the recipe to t every time. I even tried another person’s recipe and it still happened. Why does this happen?
Hi Shelly, It could be the size of your pan. I think a 9×9 works best for even baking for this recipe and if you use a smaller pan, you need one with tall walls.
Natasha, you blew this one out of the ballpark!! It is such a decadent, divine, chocolate brownie. This is by far my favorite brownie recipe. I combined, bittersweet, milk and espresso chips to the butter to melt together. I couldn’t stop eating it by the spoonfuls as it cooled. The end result is every chocolate livers dream brownie. Thank you, thank you for your recipe. Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Aww, thank you, Colleen! Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Thank you so much for this recipe Natasha! It is so so delicious!!! My whole family really loved it. I just decreased the sugar a little but still it did not affect the texture, it’s still super fudgy! Will keep this recipe, that’s for sure! 🥰
Great to hear that it still turned out great using less sugar. Thank you for your review, I’m happy to know that you enjoyed this recipe!
I’m not a semi sweet chocolate fan – would using milk chocolate chips be ok to use instead??
I’ve enjoyed your recipes and videos for a very long time and I look forward in waiting for new videos to come out..
Happy Holiday Season🎄🎄
Hello Germaine, that should be alrigt. Please share with us how it goes if you try this recipe!
Hello Natasha , can I make this recipe and freeze the dough ?
Hi Evelyn, are you referring to the brownies because you replied under this recipe? If yes, brownies can be frozen for up to 3 months. To keep brownies moister, do not cut brownies until you are ready to eat them.
My Great-Grand -Daughter (4yrs.) loves these fudgy brownies.
Yay that’s fantastic! Thanks for sharing, Adele.
I would like to add chopped walnuts to this it is amazing and have always loved them in brownies. How much would I be able to add if it is alright to add them?
I Lesley, I bet adding walnuts will work! I hope you love this recipe!
I was searching for a fudgy brownie recipe with the crackly top for a long time. This recipe is the best. The brownies were so fudgy and had the crackly top. It became my family favourite.
I’m so glad these were a hit! It sounds like you found a new family favorite!
Good but expensive to make. Did not taste the coffee flavor as much as I expected.
Hello Natasha,brownie has a good taste,but I check it at 37 mins and it still gooey,when I add 7 mins a take it out in sink in the middle
Hi Debbie, did you change anything in the recipe? Also did you make sure your oven was fully preheated before baking the brownies? Also, a different sized pan can affect how it bakes up in the pan.
Dear Natasha;
I have just made the brownies, but for some reason they turned out very cakie and not fudgy like yours. I did follow your receipe to a T.
Chris
Hi Chris, cakey brownies are usually an indication of over-baking. This recipe is intended to be more fudgy than cakey.