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
CLICK TO PLAY RECIPE VIDEO
Ingredients
Beet puree:
- 1 large red beet (or two small beets)
- ¼ 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)
- ¾ cup unbleached flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ 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!
Mari
What the weight of beet? It’s so relative -1pc. It’s can totally change a consistency of cake in the end.
Krissy
The size of the beet doesn't really matter because you turn it into a puree by adding just enough buttermilk and then you measure out 1 cup of the puree to add to the brownies.
Margaret
I think it would be helpful to list that we only need to add one cup of puree to the instructions. I had the same question as Mari. I altered my printed instructions to add one cup. Thank you.
Krissy
I added something to the instructions to indicate using only 1 cup of the puree. Thank you so much for the suggestion!
PandaEats!
I can't get the Video Up
Krissy
You should be able to click to play the video in the recipe card
Josee Sigouin
These brownies taste awesome and feel moist and rich! I had never cooked beets before but it's EASY! The only aspect I didn't like was to have the oven on for a whole hour. Next time I might use already cooked beets sold in shrink wrap or perhaps frozen beet slices. I used 1 cup of granulated sugar and would use even less next time, either 3/4 cup or even 1/2 cup. Mixing all the ingredients in a pan was also a first for me. Smart! Also, I didn't have parchment foil paper, only parchment paper. To line the square dish, I started by crumpling it to make it more malleable. It made it so easy to remove the brownies from the baking dish. Thank you!
Jill
I love beets. For those who have made this recipe, did your NON beet loving family like the brownies? I have made brownies with spinach before and they ate them, but said it was more like cake than brownies. Just curious what feedback you can give. Thanks
cyndi
Where is the video?
Krissy
It should pop up in a video player that automatically plays when you open the link.
Nancy Wilder
My grandchildren don’t eat vegetables so this is a wonderful way to hide them. The brownies are delicious and decadent. They are definitely a share recipe and dessert. Thank you for sharing.
Christine
Would these work with walnuts? Could I add in a cup or do you think that might throw off the flavor?
Krissy
I always love walnuts in my brownies. They would be a fantastic addition to this recipe.
Christine
I forgot to come back in here to say thank you so much for getting back to me as quickly as you did and I did make these with the walnuts (I only added half a cup but it was perfect). They were amazing! I can never make these again because they are way too DELICIOUS and dangerous. I ate them all by myself. 🤭 I highly recommend these! Thank you Krissy for the recipe.
Krissy
Ah, I'm so glad you liked them! I haven't made them in awhile but I really should. I used to eat beets like it was no one's business... but for some reason radishes are my new odd addiction. But not in brownies.
Linda Murphy
Hi,
Do these freeze well ?
Ann
Hello- you think adding marshmallows would work?
Krissy
In place of what? If you just mean to mix in mini marshmallows, I do think it would work but I don't think they would compliment the flavors.
Maria
Made these non dairy by subbing in coconut oil for butter. Used part Splenda & part sugar. Used part sugar free chocolate chips & dark chocolate chips. Sprinkled powdered sugar on top & they are delicious!
Samantha
I got a bunch of white beets in a CSA box this week, any idea if those might work instead of typical red beets? I've never had white beets so I'm not sure if the flavor is similar! These look so tasty!
Thanks!
Krissy
I bet it would work perfect! I think the white beets would also offer a more "tame" beet flavor.
Melanie Sullivan
Was searching Pinterest for ideas for my teenage son's Office-themed birthday party and came across your pin! I'm going to surprise him with this - I think he's going to LOVE it! Thanks so much!
Krissy
I love this so much. My husband has seen the entire season at least 4x. Target has some fantastic t-shirts for The Office in the men's clothing department that you might want to check out!
JANET KIM
These taste great! I used oat milk instead of buttermilk because it’s what I had. Question - what are the beets replacing from a traditional brownie recipe?
Krissy
Not replacing anything, just addition. They make the brownies super soft and moist as opposed to chewy.
Karen
Forgot to rate these amazing brownies....my comments above.
Karen
OMG....AMAZING! I made these today, making 1 1/2 times the recipe in a 9 x 13 pan, using semi-sweet chips, as that's what was in my pantry. For the extra half of the recipe, I used extra light olive oil instead of butter and was heavy-handed with the chocolate chips. You've ruined my love of regular brownies. They will never compare to these beet brownies! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe. I need to bring some to work tomorrow so I don't devour the whole batch myself.
Annmarie
These brownies were amazing. They were dense, moist, chocolatey, and delicious. The whole family enjoyed them! Thank you for the recipe
Laura
Didn't have all the ingredients on hand so used sour cream + water to sub buttermilk and granulated sugar + brown sugar. The brownies Just took a little bit longer to bake, but they were delicious! Thanks for a wonderful recipe!
Cody Doll
Curious if this could be made vegan.
Krissy
I'm sure they could! You could replace the buttermilk with coconut milk for the beet puree. The butter could be replaced with earth balance. You can use a vegan egg replacer as well. I bet it would work!
Gregory Ciurczak
I discovered your recipe over the weekend and make them yesterday, these beet brownies are scrumptious; very dark, rich, dense, chocolaty and delicious. I used 1/2c milk chocolate morsels which worked just fine. In the baking pan, I topped batter with walnut halves and after baking and cutting up, sprinkled with powdered sugar. They look & taste terrific; definitely a keeper, thank you!
Meredith
These brownies are so good! I stumbled on this recipe looking for a way to use up beets we received from our CSA. We have tried beets a handful of ways and aren't big fans of the flavor. I suggested we ask for a substitution for beets this last pick-up and my husband said no, make those brownies again! Thanks for an awesome recipe!
Barbara
Can I use oat milk?
Krissy
I bet that would work! Or coconut milk.