Best Ever Chewy Fudgy Gluten-free Brownies
Gluten-free brownies that are perfectly chewy and fudgy all at the same time. No cakey brownies here! These chewy gluten-free brownies are perfect for those intense chocolate cravings!
Brownies have always been one of my absolute favorite desserts. I love the simplicity of them and they are a perfect fix for a chocolate craving. These are, by far, the best gluten-free brownies I’ve had. If you like your brownies to be fudgy and chewy, not cakey, then these are for you.
America’s Test Kitchen developed the perfect gluten-full version of this recipe, and I easily adapted it to gluten-free my favorite gluten-free flour blends.
I’m a huge fan of America’s Test Kitchen and Cook’s Illustrated. They research and test a ton before coming up with the perfect version of a recipe. If you’ve never followed a recipe by America’s Test Kitchen, you might be surprised at the precise steps involved, but trust that every little detail has been tested.
In this recipe, you might be tempted to skip lining the pan with aluminum foil but don’t! I have tried this recipe without the foil, and the brownies did not turn out as well, and lacked the shiny crust that makes these so beautiful.
Notes on Ingredients and Substitutions for these gluten-free brownies:
- Cocoa: I’ve had success no matter what cocoa I use. My usual though is this Saco cocoa that is a blend of natural and Dutch process cocoa. I buy mine at Winco, but it’s also available from Amazon here.
- Unsweetened Chocolate: You need to chop and melt unsweetened chocolate squares. I use Baker’s unsweetened chocolate which I find at Target and Winco and most other stores. You’ll use just 2 ounces of it – read the package so you understand how much of the package that is. I suggest putting the rest in a ziploc bag and storing until the next time you make these brownies!
- Chocolate chips: I’m not a fan of milk chocolate, so I use semi-sweet chocolate in my recipe. If you love milk chocolate, feel free to use milk chocolate chips. Or use bittersweet or dark chocolate if you love either of those.
- Egg yolks: One of the main reasons these are chewy is that they have extra egg yolks. So you’ll be using two whole eggs plus two egg yolks. I really don’t think any egg substitutions would work well in this recipe. Sorry!
- Oil/Butter: This recipe uses both oil and butter for great texture and flavor. If you need to, you can use combine the amounts and use all of one or the other. I do recommend a flavorless oil like corn oil, canola oil, or a light tasting olive oil.
As always, I only recommend baking with a good quality all-purpose gluten-free flour blend. All flour blends are not created equal! I recommend avoiding flour blends that contain any bean flours or that are primarily rice flour, as you’ll get a more gritty result. I definitely recommend gfJules gluten-free flour which you can buy direct or from Amazon. Other good quality flour blends I recommend are: King Arthur Measure for Measure (from Amazon or Target), Cup4Cup (from Amazon or Target), Authentic Foods Multi-blend, and Pamela’s.
Can you make these gluten-free brownies dairy-free?
Yes! You can replace the butter with an equal amount of additional oil. You can replace the chocolate chips with dairy-free chocolate mini chips or chocolate chunks from Enjoy Life.
My favorite way to enjoy these gf brownies (besides plain, with a glass of cold milk) is to have gluten-free Brownie Sundaes with my homemade hot fudge! And if I make my homemade caramel sauce, or peanut butter ice cream topping also, even better – so good with all of these!
Looking for other gluten-free chocolate desserts? Try my gluten-free trifle recipe with brownies, candy, and whipped cream. Over the top good too! And you can’t go wrong with my gluten-free chocolate cupcakes either!
If you make these and love them, please come back and give this recipe a 5 star rating in the recipe card! Feel free to comment with tips or to share any successful substitutions you made.
Gluten-free Chewy Brownies Recipe:
Best Ever Chewy Fudgy Gluten-free Brownies
Notice that you need 4 eggs total for this recipe. You'll use 2 whole eggs + 2 extra egg yolks. I'm sure you can come up with another yummy use for the leftover whites!
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons boiling water
- 2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped (I use Baker's squares)
- 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons oil (corn, canola, vegetable, or coconut)
- 2 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups sugar
- 1¾ cups good quality gluten-free flour blend*
- 1/2 tsp. xanthan gum (*see note)
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chunks or chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Make a foil sling: Cut 18" length foil and fold lengthwise to 8" width. Fit foil into length of 13x9" baking pan (I recommend using a metal one), pushing into corners and up the sides of pan; allow excess to overhang pan edges. Cut 14" length foil and fit into width of pan in the same manner, perpendicular to the first sheet. Spray foil with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a large microwave safe bowl, whisk cocoa and boiling water together until smooth. Add unsweetened chocolate and whisk until the chocolate is melted. If you need to, place the bowl in the microwave in 30 second increments to help melt the chocolate.
- Whisk in the melted butter and oil. Mixture may look curdled at this point and that's okay! Add eggs, yolks, and vanilla extract, and continue to whisk until smooth and homogenous.
- Whisk in sugar until fully incorporated.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the gluten-free flour blend, xanthan gum (if needed), and salt.
- Stir the flour mixture into wet ingredients and mix with a rubber spatula until combined.
- Fold in the bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate pieces.
- Scrape batter into prepared pan and bake until toothpick inserted halfway between edge and center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack and cool 1 1/2 hours.
- When cool, cut and serve! The foil sling makes it easy to pull them out and place on cutting board for easy cutting. These cut very nicely with a plastic bladed cutter.
- If you use a glass baking dish, cool the brownies 10 minutes, then remove them promptly from the pan so they don't overbake in the hot pan.
- Store leftovers at room temperature.
Notes
*If using a gluten-free flour blend that already includes xanthan or guar gum, then omit the xanthan called for in the recipe. (gfJules includes xanthan, Cup4Cup includes xanthan, King Arthur includes xanthan, Pamela's includes guar, Gluten-free Mama doesn't use any gums so you add the gum separately as called for in recipe.)
*Dairy-free adaptation: Use non-dairy alternative for butter, and use a non-dairy chocolate.
If you’re looking for more gluten-free brownie recipes, head over to my gluten-free brownies Pinterest board!
Recipe originally published Dec. 2012, updated June 2015.
Pin this gluten-free brownie recipe to your gluten-free desserts Pinterest board:
Old photos from 2012 – this was one of the first recipes ever posted to my website:
My daughter and I made these today. They turned out super oily. I have a few of them back in the oven, separated by a few millimeters, to see if I can get them to cook up a bit more. We like fudgy brownies but these were a bit off.
We did leave out 1/2c sugar as 1.5 cups seemed like so very much sugar. I wonder if perhaps we didn’t have enough dry ingredients to soak up the equivalent of 3/4 cup of oil.
These are the best brownies I’ve ever had! I cannot believe they are gluten free. I am making my 2nd batch right now. Hahahaha
Anyone had any success with egg substitutes? I can’t have egg yolks, but I can have egg whites.
I followed the recipe exactly except I substituted regular sugar For coconut sugar I was disappointed with the results they were very cake likeI was wanting a chewy Fudgy brownie
So I made these and they were amazing, but I made them for a friend who can only have GF food items . I was wondering, if I just wanted to make a regular non gluten version could I omit the xanthum gum and use the same amount of normal flour? Or are there another factors that would change the taste? I have been looking for a good regular brownie recipe, but this one was so good, I just want to adapt it for my everyday needs
Hi Summer! Yes in this particular recipe, all I had to do was swap the flour for gf flour + xanthan gum. That isn’t always the case, but with brownies, that’s usually all that’s needed. So you could definitely make them as you described! So glad you and your friend enjoyed them! Thanks so much for your comment!
Thanks so much, I guess my quest for the perfect brownie recipe ended before it started, which is a nice change because when it comes to bake goods sometimes you have to try three or four bad recipes until you get to a good one so for that I thank you .
Let me tell you off the bat that these are absolutely delicious! They are like the brownies you buy in wee artisan cafes and have no idea how they made them so gooey and moist. This was my first try at a gluten-free recipe and it worked out fantastically, looking just like the photo. The brownies themselves are a bit greasy so I’s recommend not using oil but butter to grease the baking pan and I also couldn’t find xanthan gum so substituted it for agar agar ( you use twice as much agar agar as gum). The happily lasted 4 days out of the fridge under the chilly window ledge. I made this recipe as a present and all of the 9 people (this recipe makes loads) who tried them loved them and I would recommend this to people who are not gluten free also – on that note does anyone know if they’d work out the same using plain flour that has gluten in it? Thanks!
One more question – is there a way to download the recipe sheet rather than print it? Definitely want to share this!
You should be able to print as a .pdf file and save it to your hard drive. That is what I do.
Does anyone know how log the brownies last before they don’t taste as nice? I want to save them for 3 days, in the fridge?
Thanks
Made these with my 13 yo granddaughter who was recently diagnosed with celiac disease. They are amazing! Taste was great, very moist and fudgy. She was so happy to find a delicious brownie recipe that fits her dietary restrictions. She shared her brownies to unsuspecting cousins and they kept asking for more.
Wow! A truly fudgy brownie! I used cup4cup and omitted the xantham gum as already contained. I also added a teaspoon of espresso powder and used canola oil with no butter. I will never use another recipe! I’m going to try to cut the sugar to 2 c they were slightly sweet. I used Valhrona cocoa and 68% chocolate chips. Just delicious ! I’m a profession chef and so glad I could not find my recipe at work today and had to troll google. Thx!
Hi could I ask would the recipe work without xanthan gum?
I was just thinking the same thing! Thank you, Priscilla! I am curious what significance the zantham gum plays, also.
You can use arrowroot powder instead of xanthan gum.
Hi, I am excited to make these brownies but feel, for the lack of a better word, stupid, for not understanding how to do the foil sling. Can you post a few pictures of how to do it, please? I don’t want to ruin the whole recipe because I baked them wrong!
Hi Amber – do not worry about that! Just line your pan with foil any old way that you’d like. It will be fine. The sling idea just makes it easier so you can lift the brownies right out on the foil and your foil isn’t bunched up in the corners. No worries though! Brownies shouldn’t be stressful – bake and enjoy them!!
I just made these for a party and they are delicious! I too am a Cooks Illustrated/America’s Test Kitchen fan!
Making these for the second time in a week! My gluten eating family loved these rich and chewy brownies. They were wonderful paired with peppermint ice cream. Tonight we are going to use cubes as dippers for fondue. Made mine with Cup4Cup and they came out amazing!!
Getting ready to make my third batch in two weeks. This time to use in a Christmas Day triffle. Last time I subbed out the unsweetened chocolate one ounce for 2 T. coco powder and added a full stick of butter in place of the 1/4 C. They were amazing and no, special chocolate needed!!
Wow Michelle — these look fantastic! I can’t get over how fudgy and moist they are ♥
I made these for my 8-year old niece who has Celiac’s and a dairy allergy. We used her butter substitute. They were outstanding. Her mom is going to freeze them individually for her so that when others have birthday cake or whatever, Leah will have a yummy REAL dessert too! Great job on this! Couldn’t find Jules, so used Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free flour and the xanthan gum. Chewy, moist, chocolaty, delicious!
The notes at the top of this recipe say that it’s a one-bowl recipe, but the instructions say to use two bowls.
Also, I used a glass 9″x13″ pan & had to add 15 min. to the baking time. I left it in the pan (despite the warning not to) & they were still gooey in the middle. I used parchment paper (instead of foil) to line the pan & they came out easily. (Next time, I might try it without the cooking spray).
I substituted 6 Tbs. cocoa + 2 Tbs. butter for the 2 oz. unsweetened chocolate.
These brownies were very good!
I agree about using parchment paper…really don’t like to bake or cook with foil. Also use a double boiler for melting chocolate…call me a purist. I’m making these brownies today. I can hardly wait, given all the wonderful reviews. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi there! I just want to let you know that I made this recipe using a mix of superfine brown rice flour, sweet rice flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, and cornstarch (250 grams combined) in place of the GF blend; and it turned out really well! It was slightly too fudgy for me, so I think I may bake it slightly longer next time but really great flavor and texture overall. I have no sensitivity to gluten, but I’ve been trying to compile some go-to GF recipes for my friends and blog readers who do have to eat gluten-free. I shared these with some non-GF coworkers today, and they all loved them!
Wow, these look so fudgy and delicious!! Great, now I’m craving brownies!
I’m totally for fudgy and chewy – the only way to have a brownie!
I agree!! We don’t like those cakey ones around here!
I love America’s Test Kitchen too! I bet these are delicious!
They are!! Thanks for commenting Rachel!