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.
literally have never reviewed a recipe before but these brownies are genuinely the best things ever, so i just needed too.
i like to add the tiniest bit of dissolved instant coffee and chop my chocolate just to elevate it a little and it is magnificent.
these brownies are a blessing to the world fr 10000000/10
Hey!
I love the recipe and I do them often and add different toppings, it’s yummy! My question is how many calories would you estimate one big or small piece has?
Also gotta say I’ve been following you for a while because there isn’t a lot of Tessas in my country and it’s always amazing to see somebody making amazing things with my name <3
Hi Tessa! So glad to hear that you’re enjoying our Tessa’s recipes and recipes! We don’t have nutritional information for our recipes, as we believe that dessert should be an indulgence – but you should be able to find a nutritional calculator online to assist with this, if you wish! Happy baking 🙂
Very Good, but the batter was very.. Doughy, like it was more of a dough then a batter, i added a bit of milk to try and thing it out (around 1 tsp or so) and it still seemed very doughy, perhaps i used too much cocoa or flour, any insights?
Hi Ayesha! It sounds like your guess is correct – too much flour and/or cocoa powder is most likely the culprit here. How do you measure your ingredients? By volume (using cups), or by weight (using a digital kitchen scale)? When measuring by volume, it’s so easy to mis-measure ingredients (particularly flour and cocoa) and throw off the entire chemistry of a recipe – resulting in a thicker batter and differently-textured brownies. Learn more about that in Tessa’s article here, where she talks about how to best measure ingredients to ensure accuracy every time. I hope that helps, and I hope you’ll give these brownies another try – they really are incredible! 🙂
Well, I usually use cups but recently switched to grams, tho my measuring scale is quite old and therefore not the most reliant. I’m also only a minor so i have a limited decision as to what the quality of my ingredients may be, but none-the-less the brownies we’re great my family and classmates love them!
Hiii, how much of baking time would i need to cut back on, if i’m planning to make this only in small batches (say maybe half of 8″), THANK YOU 😀
Hi Su! I’m sorry, but we haven’t tried that, so I can’t say for sure! I would recommend starting at half the listed time and increase from there, watching closely for the sensory indicators mentioned in the recipe (i.e. bake until “brownies are set and a cake tester inserted into the center has moist crumbs attached”). I hope that helps! Let us know how it goes 🙂
My go to brownie recipe! I’ve made these multiple times — they are so easy and taste delicious! My husband requests them all the time.
if I use a microwave how much time should I bake it for?
We haven’t tried that! We recommend using an oven to bake these brownies for best results.
Made these for my family for new years and they absolutely loved it. I don’t bake much at all but i’ve made a few brownie recipes over the years and this is the only one that had a proper glossy top which is what i was mostly looking forward to. So chewy and they taste even better the day after.
First time making cookies and I got great reviews from the family! They weren’t as pretty as I’d hoped because i didn’t have the scoop, but they tasted super good! I also didn’t chill them, but hope to try that next time! Great recipe!
Hi, i have two questions. First, in the instagram video you added the sugar after the butter is melted in the microwave, but in the written instruction you wrote that the butter and the sugar are to be microwaved together? Which one should i do?
And second, do i have to wait until the butter&sugar mixture reach room temperature before i add the eggs and the vanilla? Or is it okay to add them while the butter is still warm? Thank you
Hi Al! Either way is fine with the butter – you’re just trying to get the butter melted and fairly hot, so it begins to melt the sugar (though it won’t fully melt it). If you butter/sugar are extremely hot, you can wait a little before proceeding, but because we’re using cold eggs (for the reasons explained above the recipe) we don’t need to wait until the mixture is room temp, like with some recipes, as the cold eggs will help that temp come down. I hope that helps! Let us know what you think of these brownies once you have given them a try 🙂
Hi, i’ve tried making it 3 times and they were absolutely delicious! I used dutch processed cocoa because it’s the only one i can find at the store but it still turned out great for me (i used high quality dark chocolate couverture for the chocolate chips though and i think it really helped). 249 gram of sugar seemed a bit too sweet for me but i didn’t want to reduce the sugar just in case it affected the texture of the brownie, so i stick with the recipe and used a 70% dark chocolate couverture instead to make it less sweet.It was amazing!
That’s a perfect solution for if you don’t prefer your sweets too sweet, Al! Glad to hear these were such a hit for you 🙂
Easiest brownie recipe ever! The best thing for me is that the brownies didn’t sink in the middle and had the shiny crusty top. I doubled the recipe to bake in a 9 x 13 pan. However, despite the brownies having cooled off completely, it didn’t slice cleanly. I used hot water and wiped off the chef knife each time I sliced but the brownies broke a bit. Since it was a 9 x 13 pan, I baked them for 35 minutes; should I have added a couple more minutes or can I refrigerate the brownies be fore cutting them.
god damn.. i honestly forgot how good brownies are, it was so quick and easy to make AND HOLY SHIT WAS IT AMAZING!!! these were like the best brownies i’ve ever had omgggg
i would highly recommend making these!
My came out not very sweet. I doubled accurately. Did anyone else have this experience? Not sure how to correct. They were fudgy and rich, jut a little too bitter (and we like dark/semi-sweet chocolate). Thoughts?
My family liked them, but I prefer them sweeter as well. I even added extra chips and a few pb chips. I will add more sugar next time