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
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
I just made the fudge brownie. The sides came real high and the middle didn’t. What did I do wrong?
Hi Jennifer! Several things could cause this to happen. If your batter is not evenly spread in the pan, the type of pan/material and how it distributes heat, if the oven is not fully preheated before baking, opening the oven during the baking process causing a drastic change in temperature, taking the brownies out too early so they haven’t fully set in the middle and collapse. This can also happens if you’re over-mixing the batter, incorporating too much air, then it collapses in the oven.
I would encourage the use of an internal oven thermometer (Amazon affiliate link) to ensure your oven is heating correctly.
The same thing happened to me!!! Except mine overflowed onto oven floor!!! Culprit …… I used baking soda instead of baking powder!!!! Won’t make that mistake again lol
Fantastic- these were the best brownies I’ve ever made/eaten.
These were the best brownies I’ve ever eaten/made! I did have to cook them longer but it’s because I doubled the recipe. They were a big hit at the office and with my family.
I’m so glad they were enjoyed, Meredith!
I have a question about the servings, is there a specific number of brownies?
Hi Naomi! This recipe makes 12 slices. The nutrition facts listed are per slice.
Wow! This brownies are amazing. I Baked them for 37 mins. Very fudgy and delicious. I used very good light olive oil. My daughter gave this a 10 and my previous recipe was downgraded to a 7 1/2. Natasha doesn’t leave any secrets with her recipes.
Thank you!
I’m so glad to hear that you enjoying it. Thank you for the wonderful feedback.
Natasha you made the party once again! It makes it so stress free that I can rely on your recipes for a no fail cake! This is a chocolate lovers haven!
Hey Fanny, that’s wonderful! Thank you for your kind words, I’m so happy that you’re enjoying my recipes!
So this recipe is great! I made my brownies in a 13×9 and doubled the recipe for it. I had a whoops with the butter (I read it as cups not pounds). However, the brownies turned out wonderfully moist, with a great texture and a fantastic flavor. Thank you for a great recipe!
I’m so glad that it was a success!
Hi Natasha! I love this recipe! My family loves this recipe! I’m interested in making this into brownie bites for Easter using mini muffin tins. Any recommendations on baking powder, cook time, or fill ratio adjustments to make the perfect little bites?
Hi Alexandria! You should be able to do that. I haven’t tested it myself to provide those specific instructions. You’ll have to experiment with it and watch them in the oven so they don’t over-bake.
The perfect brownie!! Thank you tons, also I may have some advice for some who experienced sinking brownies. I was using baking “soda” instead of baking “powder”. After rechecking the recipe and following it proper it came out perfectly. Thanks again Natasha!!
Yes!!!! I did the same thing what a disaster !!! I have to try recipe again
Hi Natasha, Warm Greetings from Sunny Maldives! I have been following you since 5 years and have been making your recipes every now and then.. but don’t post anywhere to tag you 🙁 The best part is your recipes are 100% accurate and I trust you the most when it comes to recipes. Thank you for sharing and guiding and making cooking so much fun. It’s Ramadan and I want to make this brownie today. Can I use light brown sugar instead of white sugar? please do let me know 🙂 sending lots of love to your family >3
Hi Nadha! I’m so glad to hear you’re enjoying the recipes. Thank you for the wonderful Feedback. Using brown sugar can work but it will affect the taste/texture. They will have a caramel/molasses flavor and the texture can be more chewy and dense.
Shear, I bake these brownies using self rising flour. I don’t have the taste issue and they turn out perfect nor do I have “grainy” brownies.
I have made this recipe a couple of times. It turns out perfect every time. Unfortunately it only lasts about 4 or five days and then it has disappeared… and I’m the only one here. I wonder where it went?
These never last in our home either, Bob! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
I really did not enjoy these brownies. The texture was grainy. Practically inedible. I really wanted to like them. The smell was amazing.
Glad to hear that you enjoyed the Fudgy Brownies recipe!
Hello.ICan I skip baking powder in the brownie recipe.Will that affect the final result.As usually brownie recipes dont have baking powder in it.Thanks.I tried the recipe once it turned out good but the batter rose too high.
I haven’t experimented on that to advise.
My oven was properly preheated. I baked for 40 minutes. It sunk in the middle, was not cooked nearly enough in the middle or even on the bottom half of the edge pieces. I think they would have been better off in a 9×12 pan. I’m baking all the cut edges and the middle for 10 minutes now. Probably won’t be serving these to guests. Disappointed because I LOVE your zucchini brownies…but I also learned to bake them for 60 minutes or more. I ldont mind fudgy but these were way to wet for me.
The recipe was quite good and I enjoyed the chocolatey flavor. The only issue I had was mine tasted a bit grainy in texture and crumbled a lot when trying to eat. I noticed mine also rose quite high which I’ve never seen when I tried other brownie recipes so my new baking powder may have been overactive. I also baked for 35 minutes so maybe I’ll try a few minutes less next time so I can accomplish Natasha’s fudgy center 🙂 lastly, it was a tad too sweet for me so I’d probably reduce the sugar to 1 cup, but that’s just my personal preference. Hope this helps x
Hi Lisa! Thanks for sharing your experience with the recipe. Let us know how it turns out next time with the modifications.
Hi,
Is 1/2 lb butter equivalent to 2 sticks? I’ve only seen recipes call for cups (ex. 1/2 cup = 2 sticks) so I wasn’t sure how many sticks were needed in your recipe. Google gave me different answers – someone said 2 sticks and another said 4 so I wanted to confirm with you before testing this out. Thanks in advance!
Hi Lisa! I used 2 sticks in this recipe. Each stick is 1/2 cup so total it was 1 cup. It’s important to verify the label on your butter just to be sure since it can differ based on the brand or country that you’re located in.
The recipe itself is super tasty and lays out the techniques and ingredients well. The flavor was super chocolatey without being overtly sweet but they were still very rich. However, like other comments mentioned my brownies too sunk in the middle. Not a whole lot but still enough to hinder the presentation 🙁 yet I’m a bit confused why. I actually bought a 9×9 pan to reduce variability but they still sunk. Was my oven not preheated long enough or was the oven too hot? Some comments below mention both of these things. I also googled the issue and apparently technique when mixing the eggs/sugar can incorporate too much air which will cause the batter to inflate but then deflate as it cools.
Also, I used some specialty instant coffee – a Single Origin Brazilian for these. That’s becoming a new trend with Specialty Coffee roasters, they’ll take their high quality beans, brew coffee with them and dehydrate for much better and vibrant instant than the cheap stuff at the grocery. The nutty coffee notes added a very nice contrast to the coffee without being overtly ‘coffee’ flavored. I’d recommend that. I only used 5 grams as that was the weight of the individualized packet it came in.
Thanks for sharing. Pre-heating your oven is of utmost important. If not, they can sink because they needed to bake longer. I highly encourage investing in an Internal oven thermometer . My oven will beep when it’s preheated but when I check the internal thermometer it still shows it needs to heat up about another 25 degrees. Also, the type of pan used can affect how the heat is distributed. I hope that helps.
Hi Natasha! This is a great recipe. I did have a question though. I’ve made these brownies four times. And two out of the four times, there are these little chewy bits in the brownies. It’s like a weird stringy bit of brownie that’s almost elastic in texture. I know nothing got in the batter, I’m wondering if that can happen due to overmixing? It’s only on the bottom of the brownies and only here and there.
HI Tamara, I haven’t had that happen so I had to do some research and this is what I found that might cause that: overmixing which develops more gluten, using too much flour, using ingredients like cake flour or bread flour or cake flour instead of all purpose. Also make sure to cool them before cutting. I hope that is helpful to you.
Okay, thank you! I’m also thinking that maybe I needed to let the chocolate mixture cool more before adding it. It may have cooked the egg slightly. Either way, I’ll just be extra cautious. Thank you for the help!
I don’t have instant coffee. Can I substitute regular? Also am using an 8×8 pan
What adjustments should i make
Hi Marci! Instant coffee works best because it melts into the batter leaving behind flavor without effecting the texture. If you use ground coffee beans, it can have a grainy texture.