Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: The perfect balance of chocolate sweetness.
Texture: CHEWY, of course 🙂
Ease: Super easy. One bowl, no electric mixer needed.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe: This Brownie Recipe is WAY better than a box mix and almost as easy. It’s my go-to recipe!
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These Chewy Brownies are my go-to recipe when I need a quick, easy, crowd-pleasing dessert. I’m not exaggerating when I say I’ve made it over 200 times. It’s truly the best!
There’s even a secret ingredient that helps to mimic that box-mix texture (but with way better flavor!).
The Kitchn tested this recipe, raving about how quick and easy it is! Even Bon Appétit used the recipe as part of their research in their quest to create a perfect chocolate brownie.
What Makes Cookies Chewy, Crisp, or Cakey?
My free guide reveals the ingredients and tweaks that matter.
As a trained chef, it surprises people to learn brownies are among my favorite things to bake at home. I don’t need something fancy, I need something satisfying and that chewy texture is where it’s at.
I have shared over 50 Brownie Recipes over the years. My Ultimate Brownies are rich, dense, and fudgy. My Brown Butter Brownies have the most stunning crackly crust. And my Toffee Brownies are have a unique crunch.
But these brownies are my everyday go-to reicpe. Check out just one of the 1,000+ 5-star reviews for these best homemade brownies:
Reader Love
I have been using this recipe for about a year now! It is the easiest recipe I have ever used, I get so many compliments on these brownies!! Thank you thank you thank you!!! ❤️
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Tessa’s Tip
Struggling with gummy, collapsed, underbaked, or dry-edged brownies? Ditch the glass pan and use a light-colored metal baking pan instead. Learn more about the differences between Glass vs. Metal Baking Pans here.
Sprinkle of Science
How to Make Chewy Brownies
The Cocoa Powder
I recommend using Dutch-processed cocoa powder for a deeper flavor and fudgier texture. Natural (aka unsweetened) cocoa will offer a milder chocolate flavor and a slightly drier but chewier texture. My favorite Dutch cocoa powder for brownies is Penzey’s or Guittard. Learn more about how Natural and Dutch-process cocoas affect your baking here.
The Chocolate Chips
I prefer semisweet chocolate chips, but you can use any kind you like–just keep in mind it will affect the sweetness of the brownies. You can also add 3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans in addition to the chocolate chips. Just don’t skip the chocolate chips entirely, as they’re key to achieving that shiny, crinkly crust on top of brownies. Learn my top FOUR methods for achieving a shiny thin brownie crust here.
The Fat
- Melted butter plus vegetable oil provides the best taste and texture.
- You can use avocado oil or any other neutral-flavored oil instead of vegetable oil.
- Make sure your oil is fresh to avoid any off flavors.
- Check out my side-by-side baking experiments with Butter vs Oil here.
The Sugar
Don’t reduce the sugar in this Brownie Recipe, as this will cause dry, crumbly brownies that will stale faster. Learn more about sugar’s functions in brownies here.
The Eggs
These Chewy Brownies use two whole eggs plus an additional egg yolk for EXTRA chewiness and richness. Using cold eggs prevents doming and increases moisture.
The Flour
A small amount of all-purpose flour is essential for creating Chewy Brownies – but avoid adding too much, as this can cause dry, cakey brownies. Use a digital kitchen scale to prevent accidental overmeasuring. If you don’t have a digital scale, use the spoon-and-level method described here.
Secret Ingredient: Cornstarch!
Cornstarch mimics the texture of box mix brownies, creating thicker, chewier brownies with a nice shiny crust. Don’t skip it if possible!
Avoid Leavening for Fudgy & Chewy Brownies
I prefer no baking soda or baking powder for rich, dense brownies that are not even remotely cakey. If you’re team cakey, don’t even bother with this recipe. It’ll be far too chewy and fudgy for you!
Can I Double this Chewy Brownies Recipe?
Yes! Double all ingredients and bake in a 9 by 13-inch light-colored metal baking pan (don’t use a glass pan!) and add a few minutes to the baking time.
Storing & Freezing Brownies
Store 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!
To freeze, wrap the cooled whole slab or individual slices of brownies in plastic wrap inside an airtight container. Freeze for up to three months. Thaw overnight in the fridge, or for a couple hours at room temperature, before serving.
Brownie Substitutions
This Chewy Brownie recipe is written to yield a perfect chewy brownie. Altering any ingredients will change the outcome. If you can’t use one of the ingredients listed, check out my extensive brownie recipe index for tons of other brownie options (including coconut oil brownies).
More Brownies Recipes You’ll Love:
- Malted Brownies – made with brown butter!
- Toffee Brownies
- Copycat Cosmic Brownies – ultimate nostalgia!
- Peanut Butter Stuffed Brownies
Best Ever Chewy Brownies
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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 (74 grams) neutral oil (like vegetable or avocado)
- 3/4 cup (75 grams) cocoa powder*
- 1/2 cup (63 grams) all-purpose flour, measured correctly
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea 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 and egg yolk, whisking vigorously for 1 minute. Whisk in the vanilla, then stir in the oil and cocoa powder.
- With a rubber spatula, stir in the flour, 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
The Ultimate Cookie Handbook
Learn the sweet SCIENCE of cookie baking in a fun, visual way to customize your own recipes frustration-free. Plus, my best 50+ homemade cookies!
This recipe was originally published in 2017 and has been updated with additional baking tips and new photos. Recipe photos by Joanie Simon and Baking Science photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
The VERY BEST fudgy brownies I have tasted and made. Always a hit whenever I bring them to share. I did add an extra bit of flour as suggested (I added 1 tablespoon) which indeed cut down on the greasy/oily feel. I also placed it in the center of my oven and did not bake a second batch at the same time – took it out right at 30 minutes and it cooked more from residual heat; cooled it and the consistency turned out perfect. THANK YOU for this wonderufl recipe!
These were the best brownies ever!! I’ve gotten rid of all my other brownie recipes. Perfect chewiness, perfect shine, perfect taste! Next time I may try adding chocolate chips with more cocoa so less sweetness since I read that I shouldn’t reduce the sugar amount.
I doubled the recipe and added 10 minutes total to the baking time. They were perfect!
If I add walnuts, would I have to reduce the amount of chocolate chips?
Hi Felicia! Yay, we’re so happy to hear that you love these brownies! It’s totally up to you how many walnuts you add, but just reduce the chocolate chips by the same amount, so you end up with the same total volume of mix-ins; eg. if you add 1/4 cup walnuts, only add 1/2 cup chocolate chips, so there is still a total of 3/4 cup mix-ins. I hope that helps! Happy baking 🙂
I followed the recipe but had to make substitutions. Brown sugar and powdered sugar, I know, who runs out of sugar. No butter, instead all oil as I was using infused oil to make them cosmic. The chips and pecans, I have HIGH hopes.
Made it last night and chilled it overnight….came out perfect!!! This is now my go to brownie recipe! The perfect chewiness! Followed the recipe exactly. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
I used 3/4 cups of sugar, unsweetened cocoa and salted butter and the brownies were prefect. This is now my go to brownie recipe.
Love the Chewy Brownies.
So easy to make and Delicious, will surely help any chocolate lovers feelings. Helped mine in this Hot July heat.
I made this with a splash of espresso in it. So good!
classic brownie never gets old! gonna make this for the upcoming birthday party!
hey! so i have a question
the only type of chocolate that is available for me is milk chocolate and i was worried if adding milk chocolate would sweeten the brownies too much, so do you have any advice on how to reduce the sweetness cause on the internet it say to reduce the amount of sugar you are adding but since you said that reducing the sugar will not give me that shiny top so I’m confused now.. what should i do??
Hi Hani! As you mentioned seeing in Tessa’s notes about this recipe, reducing the sugar will have much more of an impact on these brownies beyond just sweetness; less sugar impacts the shiny top and the overall texture and mositness of these delicious brownies – so we definitely don’t recommend reducing the sugar. If you can’t get a semisweet or dark chocolate anywhere (online, perhaps?), I recommend just trying it as written, using your milk chocoalte. Personally, I don’t think milk chocolate makes these brownies too sweet, but it’s entirely personal preference. Let us know what you think of these brownies once you’ve given them a try! 🙂
This is the first time I made brownies. It was super easy and super sweet. Thank you very much!
Can these brownies be frozen? There are only 2 of us, so we can’t eat them all at one time. They tasted great.
I followed the recipe as written and the flavor and texture was good, but it was just way way too sweet for me. I read all the comments asking about reducing the sugar and the author suggested to avoid reducing the sugar and instead using unsweetened (or higher cacao/darker chocolate) chips, which I will be doing next time for sure and perhaps sprinkling some medium-coarse Celtic salt on top before baking.
Hi Geeh! We definitely think you’ll enjoy these brownies more with the unsweetened/bittersweet chocolate as you noted, so we hope you give them a try with that swap next time. Adding a little salt on top is also a great idea! Let us know how it goes next time 🙂
hi any tips once mybrownies cooled down fully they had sunk quite a lot in the middle, is there anything can do to make that not happen?
Hi Jessica! I’m sorry to hear that your brownies sunk significantly. Were they baked all the way through? Some ovens run cool – do you have an oven thermometer to check that? Check out Tessa’s article about ovens here. Also, did you bake these in a metal pan? Glass pans aren’t recommended for baking brownies – learn more about that here. Lastly, how did you measure your ingredients? Measuring by volume (using cups) can accidentally add too much or too little of an ingredient, which can throw off the chemistry of the recipe – learn more about that here. I hope that helps 🙂