Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: Just the right amount of chocolate and sweetness.
Texture: CHEWY, of course 🙂
Ease: Super easy. One bowl, no melting chocolate, and no electric mixer.
Appearance: You can just see how gooey and moist these are!
Pros: Better than boxed and almost as easy.
Cons: None.
I make this again? Absolutely.
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I have shared a whole lot of brownie recipes over the years. Almost 40 to be exact!
Between all that brownie baking and completing my Ultimate Brownie Guide I’m pretty much your go-to brownie expert for the best brownie recipe. Really, I should put that on my business card.
But what I realized in looking at all those brownie recipes is that I’ve never shared a CHEWY brownie recipe. Sure, my Ultimate Brownies have a good level of chewiness. But they’re also very rich and fudgy. So these Chewy Brownies have been a long time coming. If you love box mix brownies, you’ll love these both for their chewiness and for how easy they are. Much quicker and easier than my Ultimate Brownies!
I think if you read some of the comments for these best homemade brownies below you’ll want to make this recipe ASAP. Just see what Susan said:
“These are the BEST brownies ever! My husband says that in the 31 years we’ve been married and I’ve been baking these absolutely his favorite of all time.”
The Kitchn recently tested this Chewy Brownie recipe, with author Grace Elkus raving about how quick and easy this recipe is! She says the brownies “form a shiny, crackly top as promised. Each square is thick and decadent, with melty chocolate chips studded throughout.” Thanks so much to Grace Elkus and The Kitchn team for trying this recipe.
Bon Appétit also recently used this Chewy Brownie recipe as part of their research in their quest to create a perfect brownie. Thanks so much to Chris Morocco and the Bon Appétit team for including us!
How to Make Chewy Brownies
Let me explain exactly what makes these brownies so chewy and easy. You can skip this if you don’t care WHY these brownies are the way they are and you just want the printable recipe asap.
Chocolate & Cocoa Powder
Unlike my Ultimate Fudgy Brownies, which utilize two types of melted chocolate, these brownies get their main chocolate flavor from cocoa powder with semi-sweet chocolate chips stirred into the batter. Cocoa powder definitely yields a chewier brownie and has a flavor reminiscent of boxed brownies.
The photos on this post show what the brownies look like if you use regular unsweetened cocoa powder. In the recipe video, I used Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder. It gave the brownies an ultra dark chocolaty appearance with a little less sweetness.
Since creating this video, however, Hershey’s has changed the formula of that specific cocoa powder to a Dutched cocoa powder. I recommend sticking with a natural cocoa powder, such as Ghirardelli Cocoa Powder or Penzey’s Natural Cocoa Powder, for best results. Learn more about the differences between Dutch-process cocoa powder and natural cocoa powder here.
Feel free to fold in any kind of chocolate chips you want from dark chocolate or milk chocolate, but semisweet is my favorite. Whatever you do, don’t skip the chocolate chips! They help to develop that shiny crust on top of brownies.
Fat
With any cocoa powder-based brownie recipe, we need quite a bit of fat to prevent the cocoa powder from drying the brownies out and making them crumbly. In looking at what makes box mix brownies so chewy, it appears that the combination of saturated (solid) fats and unsaturated (liquid) fats is the winning answer. According to Cooks’ Illustrated, boxed brownies have the saturated fat component covered which is why you add oil (unsaturated) to the mix. I opted for a combination of melted butter and vegetable oil for the best marriage of taste and texture.
Make sure your vegetable oil is fresh to avoid any off flavors and use unsalted butter so you can fully control the level of saltiness. I haven’t tested these brownies with canola oil.
For a full breakdown on these two types of fats and how they affect flavor, tenderness, and texture, check out my Butter vs. Oil in Baking article. There are lots more side-by-side comparisons like this one (and not just with brownies!):
Sugar
I stuck with granulated sugar here because although I love the taste of brown sugar, I didn’t want to add any more moisture (brown sugar contributes more moisture due to the molasses that’s added in) to these already very moist and rich brownies. Too much moisture creates brownies that have lots of holes on top instead of that shiny tissue thin crust.
Eggs
2 large eggs is pretty standard for an 8 by 8-inch brownie recipe, but I just had to add in an egg yolk for the extra dose of chewiness and richness it gives. The protein and the fat in the egg yolk helps achieve those textures. We use cold eggs, instead of room temperature, to prevent the brownies from doming and to increase moisture with a tighter crumb texture.
Flour
All-purpose flour is the way to go here, cake flour makes these brownies way too tender and light. We can achieve enough chewiness without having to use bread flour, which can prevent an extra trip to the store for a lot of people. To make chewy AND fudgy brownies, we only need to use a little bit of flour. Any more flour will create drier or cakier brownies. If you want to be super accurate and weigh your flour, 1/2 cup equals 63 grams or 2.25 ounces. Check out my How to Measure Flour article for step-by-step instructions for weighing dry ingredients using a digital scale.
If you live in a very humid environment, or really dislike any kind of “greasiness,” you may want to add an extra 2 tablespoons of flour to your brownie batter mixture.
Leavener
With my brownie recipes, I usually prefer a very small amount or no chemical leavener (baking soda or baking powder). The reason is because I like brownies to be very rich and on the denser side, not even remotely cakey. Since they lift and give a lighter airier texture to baked goods, we’re only using 1/8 teaspoon baking soda here for just enough leavening to get a nice thick texture.
Cornstarch
This little secret ingredient really helps to improve the texture of these brownies so they’re that much closer to the box mix kind. 1 tablespoon of cornstarch makes the brownies thicker and improves that crust on top.
Make sure to measure correctly, and don’t skip this ingredient! When shooting the photos for my article on how to make brownies with a shiny, thin crust, my food photographer captured the shocking differences between a batch made with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch vs brownies made with an accidental amount of 1 teaspoon cornstarch. The bottom brownies also had no chocolate chips. Take a look:
Can I Add Nuts to Brownies?
Yes! You can add 3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans. You can add them either in addition to the chocolate chips or in place of the chocolate chips. Just note if you remove the chocolate chips your crust on top may not be as shiny. For best flavor, try toasting the nuts on a lined tray in a 350°F oven for about 6 to 8 minutes, stirring once.
How Long to Bake Brownies:
Bake these brownies in a 325°F oven for about 30 minutes to avoid overbaking. There will absolutely be moist crumbs attached to a tester by the end of the baking time. That’s what we want. Even after 30 minutes if the middle still seems too moist, just remove the brownies from the oven. Carry-over cooking, the residual heat of the oven and pan, will continue to cook the brownies.
Some readers have said their brownies were really undercooked after 30 minutes. I’m guessing they used a glass baking pan, which I DON’T recommend for this recipe. I recommend a metal baking pan like this one lined with foil or parchment paper. Learn more about the differences between Glass vs. Metal Baking Pans here.
Also, you might want to check your oven temperature with an oven thermometer as many home ovens run cold (especially when they say they’ve just preheated).
For best results, allow the brownies to cool completely before slicing and serving.
How to Store Brownies:
The brownies definitely taste best the day they are baked, but can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature or up to 5 days in the fridge. They are even more fudgy when they’re chilled.
Brownies Substitutions:
This brownie recipe is written exactly the way it is for very specific reasons, as noted in the explanations above. If you can’t use one of the ingredients listed, take a look at my extensive brownie index for other options (including coconut oil brownies). If you try to reduce the sugar, use a sugar substitute, use a butter substitute, or make this recipe vegan the results will NOT be the same. Feel free to add in nuts, chips, toffee bits, or anything else to the batter (1/2 cup to 1 cup, depending on how much you’d like).
Tessa’s Favorite Tools for This Recipe
- A metal baking pan (not glass) to avoid under-baking
- Digital kitchen scale to ensure your brownies don’t end up dry, dense, or cakey
- An oven thermometer is a game-changer as many non-commercial ovens run colder than the gauge displays
More Brownies Recipes:
Best Ever Chewy Brownies
Ingredients
- 5 tablespoons (71 grams) unsalted butter
- 1 1/4 cups (249 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk, cold
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 3/4 cup (75 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup (63 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (128 grams) semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line an 8 by 8-inch light-colored metal pan with foil or parchment paper and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a microwave safe bowl, add the butter and sugar. Microwave for about 1 minute, or until the butter is melted. Whisk in the eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla. Stir in the oil and cocoa powder.
- With a rubber spatula, stir in the flour, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Spread the brownie batter evenly into the prepared pan. Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until the brownies are set and a cake tester inserted into the center has moist crumbs attached. Do not overcook. Let cool completely to solidify before cutting and serving.
- Brownies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Brownies will be gooey when served warm, chewy when served at room temperature, and fudgy when served chilled.
Recipe Notes
This recipe was originally published in 2017 and updated in 2021 with more tips and new photos. Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
May 2021 Baking Challenge
This recipe was the May 2021 pick for our monthly baking challenge! Every month you can join the challenge by baking the recipe and snapping a photo for a chance to win prizes! Learn more about my monthly baking challenges here. Check out everyone’s brownies:
Hi! Can I use dutch-processed cocoa instead of the unsweetened one? Thanks.
Hi Daryl! Tessa used natural cocoa powder in the recipe because there is a very small amount of baking soda to give these brownies some lift. If we switch to dutch processed there will be nothing to activate the baking soda Learn more about the differences between cocoa powders here. Of course feel free to experiment and let us know how it goes!
absolutely the best brownies I’ve ever had.
May I ask, to get that “shiny, crackly top”, should I do some specific amount of extra whisking at some point? Maybe after the addition of the eggs and vanilla? And if so, is 1 minute enough? 2? All afternoon? (If it will make my brownies taste as good as yours look, I’ll do whatever it takes….) Thanks for this great sounding recipe!
Hi John! There are several ways to achieve a shiny top on your brownies. In this recipe, using hot butter when combining it with your sugar should give you the shiny top you’re looking for. The eggs can be whisked in for around 30-60 seconds by hand. Additionally, adding the chocolate chips not only enhances the top crust but also improves the thickness of the brownies. For more information and other methods to achieve a shiny crust, check out Tessa’s Science of Baking article How to Make Brownies with a Shiny Crust here. Hope this helps and happy baking!
Thanks so much. I made them in the morning (with the addition of some instant espresso powder.) Distributed them among several neighbors after they’d cooled in the afternoon. The last of the 4 thank-you emails I received this evening said, “Wherever these recipes are coming from, take good care of them – and keep baking! These brownies are off the hook!”
Thank you once again, Tessa!
solid recipe
Loved this recipe. I doubled it and was out of veg oil so I substituted with mayo 1:1 evenly. They are delicious. Was craving chocolate and did not disappoint.
MAYO?
I’d love to put some espresso powder in these. 1 tsp, 1 tbsp…. Any idea how much?
Hi Bella! Your idea sounds delicious! In our Brown Butter Brownie recipe here, we include ½ tsp of instant espresso powder. This might be a good starting point for you, but feel free to experiment and find what works best for your taste preferences. Let us know how it goes! 🙂
Fabulous! Even though I did not have an extra egg for the extra yolk, I absolutely loved how this recipe turned out. It is superbly balanced. I have been searching for the perfect brownie recipe for the last 35 years. I will Google brownie recipes no more!
Excellent recipe’ I double it my first time &thwy came out perfect! Thank You!
Haven’t tried them yet but I expect them to be great!❤️