Best Easy Brownies

How to Make the BEST Easy Brownie Recipe

Easy Brownie Recipe Ingredients

• Butter – use unsalted butter to control the amount of salt in your brownies.
• Semisweet chocolate – I fold in chopped chocolate baking bars for this perfect brownie recipe. You could also use semisweet chocolate chips instead, they just won’t melt down as easily.
• Granulated sugar – white sugar sweetens and moistens the brownies.
• Eggs – 2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk provides the perfect chewy texture.
• Vanilla extract – rounds out the flavor perfectly.
• All-purpose flour – measured accurately. It’s crucial to weigh your dry ingredients with a digital scale to make sure you don’t end up with crumbly or dry brownies.
• Cocoa powder – I used unsweetened natural cocoa powder for these brownies. Again, make sure to measure accurately! Find out the differences between Natural vs. Dutch Process Cocoa Powder here.
• Fine salt – just 1/4 teaspoon salt is enough to balance out the sweetness.
• Semisweet chocolate chips – you can’t forget the chocolate chips in the best easy brownie recipe! I used semi-sweet chocolate chips, but milk chocolate chips or chocolate chunks would also likely work.

Oil vs. Butter in Brownies: Which is Better?

This recipe calls for butter instead of oil for the best flavor and fudgy, melt-in-your-mouth texture. The melted butter also helps to provide that beautiful crinkly crust for perfect brownies (more on how to achieve that below).

For more side-by-side baking experiments of Oil Vs. Butter in Baking, check out this article.

How to Make Brownies with Shiny, Thin, Crinkly Crust

You know that tissue-thin shiny crust on top of brownies that we all love and want? It’s easier to achieve than you might think. I show you how to do this in detail in the video above.

But the basic idea is to beat the eggs and sugar in the batter extremely well to create a sort of foam. I discovered that I can short cut my way to that shiny crust by whisking the the wet ingredients extremely well, until the batter itself is ultra smooth and shiny. I’ve actually got an entire article dedicated to achieving crinkly crusts in brownies – check it out here!

What Is the Secret to Chewy + Fudgy Brownies?

Although my goal for this recipe was to make EASY homemade brownies, I still wanted them to be chewy. For the first batches I made, I found the brownies to be delicious, but lacking a bit of that chewiness I wanted. So I added an extra egg yolk to the recipe, and it was the perfect simple way to achieve that extra chewy texture. Why the yolk? The fat and protein in the yolk helps to create a rich and chewy texture.

If you don’t want that chewiness, or don’t want to deal with adding an extra yolk, feel free to skip it.

For fudgy brownies, it’s important that the batter is very moist and rich. That’s why we use a relatively small amount of flour and cocoa powder. Enough flour to provide structure and chew, but not too much that the brownies are dense or cakey. Enough cocoa to provide that rich chocolate flavor, but not so much that the brownies are dry.

Baking Tip: Measure Your Ingredients Accurately!

To ensure you don’t accidentally add too much flour or cocoa (which is very easy to accidentally do), I would recommend using a digital kitchen scale. At the very least, be sure to lightly spoon your flour and cocoa into your measuring cup so you don’t unintentionally compact too much into the measurement.

The Best Brownie Baking Pan

For the best brownie recipe, I highly recommend using a metal baking pan. I like this baking pan, or any quality metal baking pan that isn’t too dark in color. The darker the color, the more likely you are to burn the edges or have dry edges.

Glass or ceramic baking pans will take LONGER to bake these brownies, and the texture may become more dense.

I like to line my pan with parchment or foil, leaving an overhang so I can easily lift out the entire pan of brownies to cut and serve.

Can I Double this Easy Brownie Recipe?

You can easily double this recipe and bake in a 9 by 13-inch metal baking pan for about 35 to 40 minutes.

How Do You Cut Brownies Cleanly for Perfect Brownie Slices?

1. Allow the brownies to cool completely.
2. Run a very sharp knife under hot water for 5-10 seconds. Carefully dry the knife with a towel.
3. Carefully press the knife through the brownies in one firm slice.
4. Repeat with the remaining brownies, continuing to run the knife under water and drying in between each slice.

How Long to Bake Brownies:

Do NOT overbake brownies. There should absolutely be moist crumbs attached to a cake tester or toothpick by the end of the baking time. I find that 25-30 minutes results in perfectly baked brownies for me with my oven. Err on the side of under-baking here.

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 2 days at room temperature or up to 4 days in the fridge. They are even more fudgy when they’re chilled. You can microwave them for a bit to serve them warm too. It’s up to you!

Baking Magic

If you’re still curious about how baking ingredients and techniques work, and how I create my recipes using the science of baking, then I have a little invitation for you. Come join me in my online baking class The Magic of Baking. Everything in the class is already there, waiting for you to go through at your own time at your convenience. I go in depth on how baking works so you can have complete confidence every time you enter the kitchen. Learn more about The Magic of Baking here.