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WW Recipe of the Day: Low Fat 2-Ingredient Black Bean Brownies
Recipes for black bean brownies have been floating around for years, but I never got around to making them until yesterday. I guess, deep down I had a hard time believing that a dessert made from black beans could taste good.
But, yesterday, I was looking for a quick and easy low fat dessert to satisfy a chocolate craving, thought of the brownie mix sitting in the pantry, and decided to give them a whirl.
After some searching I decided to go with Gina from SkinnyTaste’s recipe for Black Bean Brownies, that she posted way back in 2008, and that I tweaked only slightly.
Many of the recipes I looked at call for using the black beans with their liquid; I liked that Gina used rinsed black beans and a little water instead.
Boy, was I pleasantly surprised! The brownies turned out rich and fudgy with no hint of black bean flavor or texture. And they are low fat, high in fiber and protein.
There are lots of different recipes for black bean brownies – both from scratch and using a mix – out there. I’ve included a collection of those I think look best at the end of this post.
Recipe Notes
I think one key is to puree the heck out of the brownies in a food processor (affiliate link) or blender (affiliate link) until they become a silky smooth puree. This is when my Vitamix (affiliate link) comes in handy.
I baked my black bean brownies in a 9-inch square pan at 325F for 45 minutes and they turned out perfectly.
These brownies need to be completely cool before eating. I think they improve greatly after sitting overnight.
How Many Calories and WW Points in Low-Fat 2-Ingredient Black Bean Brownies?
I calculated the nutrition and points information with a 20-ounce package of Ghirardelli Triple Chocolate Brownie Mix (affiliate link) and a 15-ounce can of Sprouts black beans and came up with 139 calories in each brownie.
To see your WW Points for this recipe, track it in the WW App!
(You must be logged into WW on a smartphone or tablet.)
6 SmartPoints (Green plan)
6 SmartPoints (Blue plan)
6 SmartPoints (Purple plan)
4 PointsPlus (Old plan)
If you like these 2-Ingredient Black Bean Brownies, be sure to check out some of my other Weight Watchers friendly dessert recipes including Crock Pot Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Blondies, Lightened Up Apple Brownies, Easy Ganache-Topped Brownies, Moist & Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Bars Recipe and Caramel Chocolate Oatmeal Mini Bars
If you’ve made these WW Black Bean Brownies, please give the recipe a star rating below and leave a comment letting me know how you liked it. And stay in touch on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for the latest updates.
Black Bean Brownies Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 can (15 ounces) black beans
- 1 box (about 20 ounces) chocolate brownie mix
- 1 heaping teaspoon instant coffee powder (optional)
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
Instructions
- Position an oven rack in the center and preheat your oven according to the instructions on the box of brownie mix. Spray your baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- Open the can of beans, drain and rinse well.
- Put beans back in the can and fill the can with water.
- Put beans, water, coffee and cinnamon (if using) in a blender (affiliate link) or food processor (affiliate link) and blend until smooth.
- In a large bowl, mix together the pureed beans and dry brownie mix.
- Spread the brownie mixture evenly into the prepared pan.
- Bake the pan of brownies according to package directions.
- Cool and cut into 20 brownies.
Notes
(Must be logged into WW on a smartphone or tablet.) 6 SmartPoints (Green plan) 6 SmartPoints (Blue plan) 6 SmartPoints (Purple plan) 4 PointsPlus (Old plan) I baked these in a 9-inch square pan at 325F for 45 minutes and they turned out perfectly. These brownies need to be completely cool before eating. They improve after sitting overnight.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
More Light Healthy Black Bean Brownie Recipes
Amazing Black Bean Brownies
These look delicious and may be great for those eating Gluten-free since they contain no flour, but with 1 cup of butter and 4 eggs in the recipe, these are far from fat free. Found at 101 Cookbooks.
Low Fat Vegan Black Bean Brownies
A super healthy variation I plan to try real soon made with black beans, bananas, cocoa powder and oats. Each brownie has just 85 calories and 2 Weight Watchers PointsPlus, 3 WW Freestyle SmartPoints from the Happy Herbivore.
Weight Watchers Black Bean Brownies
A from scratch variation with 7 WW Points found at Weight Watchers.
WW Chocolate Mint Cookie Bars
Seriously dense and chocolaty, black beans give these delicious sweet treats a rich dark color while providing a healthy dose of protein and fiber.
I just can’t figure out why these are so many points??? Another website has them at 0 points. And WW has a regular delicious brownie at 5 points! Why are the listed as 6?? Especially since you are getting 20 brownies out of a 9 x 9 pan?
Super easy !! my daughter love this alot. today i’m going to make this. thank you for posting. you can check my recipes as well , i hope you will find them interesting. please checkout at https://www.risaweiner.com/
Thank you
Risa
Super easy and satisfied my chocolate craving! My coworkers really liked them, too.
I make these all the time and surprise my friends when they find out they’re made with black beans! Try it with Cool Whip…awesome!
I love this recipe and am making brownies for Thanksgiving dessert!
Martha, I am a recent subscriber to your blog. I just love it and all the information and recipes that you work so hard to provide is with. Everything has been so helpful to me on what I know is going to be a long journey as I have quite a bit of weight to lose.
This black bean brownie recipe sounds wonderful. The recipe says it is 4 Weight Watcher Points. Is that Freestyle points or points for a prior recipe.
Again thank you for all your hard work to help all of us with our weight loss journeys.
Hi Bernice,
Thanks for your kind comments. 4WW Points Plus refers to a previous WW Program. According to my calculations these brownies would have 6 WW Freestyle SmartPoints each. Hope this helps!
Excellent! Made it for the Bunco group and didn’t let them know until later that evening what was in the brownies. Great recipe and so moist. I included the cinnamon and used espresso powder for the coffee.
I have a brownie mix that is 10.25 ounces for an 8×8 pan, should I use half a can of black beans instead of the whole can? And how many cups of water I should I use?
Thank you 🙂
Hi Lily,
I’ve only done this with the larger brownie mix and full can of beans so I’m not really sure. I’d say try half the can of black beans. Place them in the can and fill the can with water half way or about to the same level as the beans. I can’t guarantee that this will work. You may need to adjust the baking time to 🙂 Good Luck!!
The nutrition information is for 1 brownie, but many does a batch make–what is “1” equal to out of the whole batch?
Hi Kathleen,
If you look near the top of the recipe, you’ll see that it says, “Serves: 20” and the end of the instructions says cut into 20 brownies so 1 brownie is 1/20th of the pan.
I hope this helps.
Hi, we dont get black beans in the plce i live.. can I replace black beans with kidney beans or black eyes peas?
Thanks
I’m not sure. I’ve never tried anything other than black beans. I think that white beans such as cannellini might work, but haven’t tried it yet. If you try with kidney beans or black eye peas, I would love to hear how it turns out.