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
YUM!
THis might be my fave brownie recipe ever! Sooooo rich. I”m glad I made the small batch (bread pan), I only need a small little brownie because these are just so rich. Wow, thanks for the recipe
You’re very welcome, Julia! So glad you loved it.
9×9 is too small, normally brownies don’t have baking powder, it made it rise and now it’s all over the bottom of my oven, skip the baking powder it’s not a brownie ingredient what a waste of chocolate and butter and what a mess I have to deal with in my oven now. Come on…
HI Vince, that sounds like a bummer for sure. 9×9 is accurate for this recipe and based on your feedback – I suspect maybe you used baking soda instead of baking powder. Soda is 4x more powerful than baking powder and could possibly make it overflow in a 9×9 (I haven’t tested this with soda but it could happen). Double check that you are using baking powder and also that you are measuring in teaspoons and not Tablespoons. I hope that helps!
If I were to omit the instant coffee entirely, how would it affect this recipe? Do you think the brownies would still turn out okay? Thanks and love your recipes!!!!
Hi Chelsea. The coffee elevates and brings out the chocolate flavor without tasting like coffee but it would be fine without too.
Just made these today and it was a hit. I followed the directions and I must say they are the best that I’ve made so far. Definitely will keep this recipe around.
I’m so glad to hear that, Kizzie! Thank you for sharing.
Hello Nastasha. This is my second try to make your fudge brownies. I follow your recipes but mine ended up ugly. The center always collapsed. What did I do wrong?
Hi Geraldyn, did you possibly you a different pan size? It could be due to using a different sized pan. I found that the 9×9 always gives the vest results.
If I have 1 stick of unsalted and 1 stick of salted, can I just omit the salt?
Hi Heidi, if using salted butter yes, you will need to either omit or adjust the salt.
Hi Natasha I baked these brownies and they were the best it was a fudgy and the top was crinkly and I love that, I also put big chocolate chunks in the batter and added chocolate chips on top, it was so fudgy!
thank you for such an amazing recipe
You’re so very welcome, Sophia! Thank you for testing the recipe!
Awesome brownies! Incredibly fudgy, but best after being in the fridge!
Any chance I could sub coconut oil for butter?
Hi Crystal, thanks for the review! I have not used coconut oil to advise. If you do an experiment, we’d love to know how it goes!
can you replace expresso powder for the instant coffee and if so how much? Love your recipes
Hi Arleen! Yes, I think that would be fine. I haven’t tested it myself but from my knowledge, espresso is more concentrated so you may try to use less.
I love watching your video and always cook what you have shown. Delicious many thanks
Linda
Hi Linda! I’m so glad to hear that. Thank you for the feedback.
The best brownies I have ever had! A great dessert for chocolate lovers. Have you tried baking with raspberries or strawberries on top?
That’s so heartwarming, thank you! I haven’t tried that but I bet that will be a great experiment!
So delicious… I tried this recipe out last month. I didn’t put chocolate chips on top, but I added toasted walnuts to the batter. Definitely going to make again when the weather cools down in the fall. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Brittany! Thank you for sharing.
I tried this recipe, for some reason I and my family was disappointed with the taste, the bitterness was a bit too much for our liking. I tried this seeing the reviews but it turned out to a little disappointing compared to the ones I usually bake. It was not as fudgy but more to the cake like (I used the correct amount of baking powder). The top came out perfect on the plus side. A little bit more sugar may do it.
Hi Ann, they shouldn’t be bitter – did you possibly use a different type of cocoa powder or too much cocoa powder? Also, over-baking can make brownies more cake like. I remove them before they seem fully done (see recipe for tips on when they are done baking). Also, make sure to use a conventional oven and not convection which would require a modification in bake time or temperature.
Very experienced baker here! Followed this recipe exactly and did not get fudge brownies. Moist but crumbly. Flavor was okay but a bit much. Everyone in my house is very disappointed. But not as much as me. Waste of ingredients and effort!
Hi Sheena! I’m sorry to hear that. We love these brownies and have great results with the recipe. I have a tutorial on how to measure ingredients here. Overbaking, underbaking, cutting the brownies too quickly before having a chance to cool down can all cause that.
I have tried and love many recipes.
I tried the brownie recipe and after baking it seems abit oily.
Can you explain why this happened
Hi Vanessa! Did you change anything in the process or make any substitutions? Letting them cool a bit may help but generally, if they are oily after baking it could be due to the way the ingredients were mixed, the quality of the butter or chocolate used, or possibly even baking them at too high of a temperate if your oven runs hot. I love using my internal oven thermometer to check the temperature of my oven when I bake. I hope that helps!
My family loves this recipe. I’ve been using this for a couple of years now. I also use this as gifts to my family and friends. Thank you for sharing!
That’s a wonderful idea! So glad you love the recipe. Thank you for the feedback.
Hi! My son is requesting brownies for his graduation party- I need 200! I’m wondering if I can freeze these as I make them in batches. Thank you!
P.S. We love your recipes and videos!
Hi Kelly, I imagine that will work. We’d love to know how it goes if you try that out.
These are actually pretty good. The inside gets a little too soft, but they are great!
These are still in the oven. Smell delicious!!!! The recipe says 1/2lb (32tbs) of butter but the video only mentioned 16tbs to melt. We’re the other 16tbs for the pan?
Hi JV. It’s 1/2 pound of butter which is 1 cup or 223g, so in total it us 16 Tbsp.
I searched up a hack on YouTube on how to make a 9×13 pan smaller (9″) using tin foil. It worked! These brownies are so rich and decadent, definitely for chocoholics out there!
I’m so glad it all worked out and you loved this recipe, Eline!