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.
Would you mind sharing the size of the pan recommended to prepare this recipe? Thanks in advance!
Hi Beatriz! This recipe uses an 8×8-inch light-colored metal baking pan. Please see instruction #1 🙂 Excited to hear what you think of this recipe when you give it a try!
This is it! Brownies of my dreams! Chewy, chocolately, moist, crunchy top. Used 200-215 g of sugar and they were still amazing!
It’s good I didn’t have any Dutch process cocoa, so I use regular cocoa. All the the cocoa give it a dark chocolate taste.
This is the best brownie recipe I have ever tried! The texture and flavor of these are outstanding!! Great job! Thanks for sharing!! 10/10 would recommend trying.
Made it for church. I have made other recipes before and this one hands down the best brownies I have ever had in my life including those fancies one I ate outside, people from church said the same. They said I can sell them. I mistakenly added 10% more sugar and people didn’t find it too sweet (Hong Kong people eat things less sweet to start with).
The texture is heavenly. I used Hershey’s creamy milk chocolate and whole pecans.
I also baked it around 5 mins more because the chopstick came out a little wet. It resulted in a little crispy top people seem to enjoy, they said it’s crispy on top but chewy at the bottom
Literally the BEST brownies I’ve ever made. Made them gluten free, and none of my family could tell they were gf! Gone within a day! So delicious. Great flavor and consistency. To make the flavors more dynamic, I browned the butter, used flaked sea salt instead of regular salt, and added a little bit of vanilla bean paste on top of extract. SO YUMMY! I cooked the brownies for 5 minutes longer than recommended, due to being a little raw. Other than that, so spectacular!
So happy to hear your substitution worked and that they were such a hit! Your additions sound delish.
BEST BROWNIE RECEPIE EVER!!
These taste great but 325 for 30 minutes was nowhere near enough time for them to bake, only the top shell was barely formed and I have an oven thermometer too as I bake frequently so I know it was at temp. Overall they were okay, just adjust accordingly.
How long and what temp should it be at then?
Hi Allison! Thanks so much for trying the recipe and for your feedback. We recommend using a metal baking pan for these brownies, as it conducts heat more quickly and evenly. If you used a glass or ceramic pan, that could explain the longer bake time—those materials often require adjustments to both baking time and temperature. You can check out more details on that here. We hope you’ll give them another try!
Can I use powdered sugar instead of regular sugar?
Hi Ollie! For best taste and texture, we recommend sticking with granulated sugar in this recipe; however, you’re welcome to experiment! You can read more about using powdered sugar in brownies here.
Can I replace the vegetable oil with more butter? How much would I add to replace?
I love this recipe, but I only 325°. It took about 50 minutes to cook! I preheated my oven oven for about 40 minutes as well as I realized we were out of chocolate chips and had to run out to get them.
Hi, Nicole! I’m so glad you liked the recipe. A couple tips: I would strongly recommend investing in an oven thermometer to check the accuracy of your oven. It sounds like it may run a bit cold if it took that long to cook your brownies. Also, a glass or ceramic pan will take longer to bake than metal, which is why I recommend metal for this recipe. Hope that’s helpful!
I usually don’t leave comments but……… THIS RECIPE IS GOING IN MY PERSONAL RECIPE CATALOG💯 IT IS SUBLIME! THANK YOU!!!!