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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! Be sure to scroll down to watch my recipe video!
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 pancakes and 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.
Watch the recipe video
of me making my beet brownies below!
Beet Brownies
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.
Sorry; Forgot to add to my comment, washed my beets thoroughly, then soaked them in water and splash of white vinegar for approximately 20 mins to remove any pesticides, bugs etc… that maybe lurking, rinsed with water. Peeled the beets before roasting.
The beet brownies were delicious. Couple things I did to add my own spin on the brownies. Substituted: Forty Creek Whiskey Cream(Canadian) (Similar to Bailey’s). One cup chunks of chocolate(milk, dark, semi sweet), you can never have to much chocolate. Peeled the beets before roasting.
Delicious!! I sun GF measure for measure and almond flour to make them gluten-free, and add a little espresso powder. They’re a hit with my teen!
These beet brownies were so delicious. We ate warm from oven with vanilla ice cream. My husband and I had two big pieces each and he said that I had better hide the rest. I boiled the beets, used milk/vinegar instead of buttermilk, chocolate chips instead of chunks, and regular parchment paper. Best brownies I have ever tasted. Thank you Krissy
I love them too. Thanks for the great comment!
This is a truly fantastic recipe! Extended bake time: I used a Wilton 8×8 metal bake pan, lined with parchment paper. It took about 40 minutes.
Can you substitute canned beets for fresh? I do NOT like beets but wd try this if canned wd work. TIA for the reply! 😃
I think so? I’ve never bought canned beets, but if they’re just pressure cooked and canned, that’s no different than me cooking them in my Instant pot and that’s what I do with fresh beets now as opposed to roasting/steaming them in the oven. If you have a costco or trader joe’s, I know you can also buy cooked beets in the refrigerated section that work well. Please let me know what you think of the brownies! I love to convert my non-beet-loving readers. 🙂
I’ve made this recipe many times, and we love it! Question: Do you think I could substitute the granulated sugar for maple syrup, to make them a little healthier? Or would that make them too liquidy?
I’d be hesitant to because of the consistency, but if you try it, I’d love to know how they turn out!
I’m very interested in trying with maple syrup too! Please post if you try it. Thank you!
This is the first time I have ever rated a recipe or left a comment. In one word…incredible. I haven’t ever eaten a more perfect brownie, nor have I ever baked anything with beets in it. This will be my go to recipe in the future. We ate them slightly warm from the oven with a tiny scoop of ice cream…absolute heaven. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe.
Dry moist and delicious! We are a gf house and works wonderfully with gf flour. It was a big hit with the kids, yum!
*very moist and delicious* not dry!