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Beet Brownies are a decadent brown butter brownie recipe with a smooth buttermilk roasted beet puree mixed into the batter.
The result is a lusciously soft brownie with an intense dark chocolate flavor. You’ll enjoy the added health benefits of cooking with beets and will be pleasantly surprised with the flavor!
If you love interesting brownies and bars, you’ll probably love my banana bread brownies, pumpkin swirl brownies, and my brown butter brownies.
Why this recipe works:
Beet Brownies are so much better than regular brownies.
Hate beets? These might not be for you. Love beets? Or even like beets? These will blow your mind.
I’ve been using this beet puree in all sorts of things like beet pancakes and red velvet cookies and now brownies.
I’ll never forget the first time I ate beets (I was a very late-in-life beet person) and asked a friend what the heck I do with a beet and he said “throw it in the garbage – they taste like dirt”. He’s a smart guy, but I’m so happy I didn’t listen to him.
My entire family loves beets.
From fresh citrus beet salad to beet soup, we can’t get enough of this dark red super food.
How to cook beets in the oven:
All you do is wrap the whole trimmed beet, or a bunch of trimmed beets, in aluminum foil and cook them in a 400 degree F oven for at least an hour until they’re soft.
Let them cool enough to handle so you can remove the peel and and chop.
How to cook beets in the Instant Pot or electric pressure cooker:
Set the trimmed beets on the steamer basket. Add about a cup of water to the cooking pot.
Set the timer to 15 minutes and cook on high pressure. Quick release the pressure when they’re done. Again, once they’re cool enough to handle, you can peel and chop them.
Making the puree couldn’t be easier. To make the beet puree, blend them up with some buttermilk until they are velvety smooth. That’s all, folks!
Why are beet brownies so good?
You can see by that gorgeous color that roasted beets have been added to my recipe. The first time I photographed these beet brownies, I actually put 50% more beet puree in. My family loved the way it tasted, but they really didn’t look like a brownie. I ended up photographing them again when I made the recipe video.
One of the magical things about adding beet puree is how velvety smooth the final brownie ends up being. Its so freaking good.
I love adding chocolate chunks to this recipe. Yes, you can add chocolate chips, but there’s just something different about a chocolate chunk that I love. Perhaps its the random sizes of the chunks that keeps me guessing. Who knows – I’m weird like that. As for the beets though, don’t just take my word for it – you must try it yourself. You will love it!
Bears beets Battlestar Galactica.
Yes. I said it.
If you don’t understand my joke, just leave me a comment and I’ll explain. If you do get it, you’re my kind of person.
I couldn’t make beet brownies without saying that bears beets Battlestar Galactica.
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Video
Ingredients
Beet puree:
- 1 large red beet or two small beets
- 1/4 cup buttermilk amount may vary
Beet Brownies:
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1¼ cups granulated sugar
- ¾ cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup beet puree You can reduce this amount if you’re worried about putting that much beet into your brownies
- 3/4 cup unbleached flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chunks
Instructions
To make beet puree:
- In oven: Wrap whole beets (stems removed) in aluminum foil and roast in 400 degree F oven for at least an hour until soft to the touch. Alternatively, In Instant Pot: Set beets on rack and add 1 cup water. Cook on high pressure for 15 minutes. Instant release pressure.Allow beets to cool enough to handle and peel away skin.
- Puree beets in blender or food processor with just enough buttermilk to allow puree to achieve a very smooth consistency. Note: only 1 cup of beet puree will be used for this recipe. If you end up with extra puree, you can use extra puree in pancake batter, soups, etc.
To make beet brownies:
- Preheat oven to 325F. Grease or line a 8x8x2 metal pan with parchment foil paper.
- Using a medium to large saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir frequently as it continues to bubble. When there are small brown specs, and it smells like nutty caramel, remove pan from heat.
- Add sugar, cocoa powder and salt to combine.
- In separate bowl, beat eggs. After butter mixture has cooled in pot 4-5 minutes, slowly pour eggs into pot with sugar/butter/cocoa powder, stirring constantly until well combined.
- Add vanilla and 1 cup beet puree, stir to combine.
- Add flour and baking powder, stir to combine.
- Add chocolate chunks, stir to combine.
- Bake 25-35 minutes in preheated oven or until top no longer looks wet. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi Krissy. I am about to roast a large beet from my garden for this recipe but don’t have a metal pan. Can I use a ceramic or glass 8×8 inch pan instead?
Yep! Also, if you have an instant pot, that’s now my favorite way to cook them. I just cut them in half, set them on a rack with a bit of water underneath, and cook them on high pressure like 15 min. The peel comes right off after they’re cooked.
Could I make these with oil instead of butter? Someone gave me a whole bottle of almond oil and I am trying to think of what to do withy it!
I’ve never cooked with almond oil! I often replace butter with oil in baking recipes, but I just don’t know how the almond oil will do.
haven’t made these yet, but i have plans too! I too love beets in any form.
do i have to used unbleached flour? why?
sorry, had to look up bears, beets, Battlescar Galactic. 😉 thanks for this recipe.
i think most cooks shy away from beets completely.
Apologies for the late reply! Summer has had me away from the computer for a bit… Unbleached flour is just my preference. I see no need to eat anything that has been bleached!
Made this with my veggie hating 4yo and he loved the “secret ingredient”! I substituted 1/4 c with whole wheat flour but otherwise stuck to the recipe. Turned out great. More on the cakey side with no classic crackle on top but so moist and rich fudgey flavor. Will be making again.
Glad you liked them. Now try feeding him my beet pancakes. I bet he’ll love them!
Could you substitute the beetroot with beet root powder?
I’ve only ever made them with the beet puree. I would think you could throw beet powder into any basic brownie recipe and it would taste good, but I just don’t know how the substitution would effect this recipe since the beet puree adds a lot of the moisture.
Oh my gosh this is the best brownie I’ve ever had!!!
Yay!!! Just a little different, but oh-so-good, right?
These are in the oven right now. I was about 1/4c short of white sugar, so I sub’d a little bit of maple syrup. I also used a pint of home canned beets, minus the liquid. The batter has a deep chocolaty flavor and the color is very nice as well. Thanks!
If I choose larger size batch, what size pan do I bake them in please?
A 9×13 would work well
Why buttermilk for the purée? Just wondering what I can use to substitute it with. I have oat milk in the fridge, wondering what I could add to it if anything to have the same effect as buttermilk?
You can use regular milk. I always have buttermilk on hand because my kids love homemade pancakes, and I love baking with it. But regular milk will work just fine, especially whole milk.
Have you ever added nuts?
You know, I’ve never put nuts in this particular brownie recipe, but I think chopped raw walnuts would be great!