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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.

homemade brownie recipe with beets
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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!

beet brownie recipe

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.

brownies with beets

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Beet Brownies

Prep20 minutes
Cook30 minutes
time to roast beets1 hour
Servings 16 servings
Beet Brownies are made with my decadent brown butter brownie recipe and have a buttermilk beet puree mixed in to yield a lusciously soft red velvet brownie.

Video

Ingredients 

Beet puree:

  • 1 large red beet or two small beets
  • 1/4 cup buttermilk amount may vary

Beet Brownies:

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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

Calories: 190kcal, Carbohydrates: 27g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 8g, Saturated Fat: 5g, Cholesterol: 35mg, Sodium: 105mg, Potassium: 183mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 19g, Vitamin A: 215IU, Vitamin C: 0.8mg, Calcium: 40mg, Iron: 0.9mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Did you make this? Leave me a comment below

Hi! I’m Krissy.

I love to create the BEST versions of your favorite recipes. If you love to cook, love to eat, or just have a deep appreciation for good food, you're in the right place! Stick around... I have hundreds of recipes for you to make.

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98 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Made these last night after I got a TON of beets from friends participating in the local CSA program and a taste for chocolate. I didn’t have buttermilk so I used some Greek yogurt and milk to help the beets blend and omitted the chocolate chunks. I also used half whole wheat and half all purpose flour. They turned out absolutely delicious – moist, dense, chocolatey and just the right amount of sweetness! Thanks to the beets and natural cocoa powder they also look dark red. I will note that they took much longer than 35 minutes to bake- after 35 minutes the edges were pretty close to done, so I turned my oven down to 300 and checked on them every 5 minutes until the middle looked solidified. All in all, this may be my new favorite brownie recipe!

    1. Hi Verlina, It should still work, although I haven’t tried it myself. Let me know if you try this method! Krissy

      1. 5 stars
        Just made these today using canned beets. Pureed a 15 oz can of whole beets with my immersion blender, adding just a bit of the liquid. It worked perfectly and they tasted wonderful.

  2. 5 stars
    Hi Krissy, Thanks for sharing this recipe. These are delicious – light yet very moist somehow. I love the idea of using the buttermilk and beet puree – Amazing!

      1. You don’t have to add the chocolate chunks. It’s just for an added boost of chocolate flavor and to break up the texture of the brownie.

      1. 4 stars
        The flavour was good but the brownies were a bit gooey!
        They were fully cooked but I suspect my beet was too large.
        I would prefer to have a proper measurement for the soft beets (before adding the buttermilk).

        1. Great suggestion! I’ll try making them again and will be more exact with the measurement. It’s been quite awhile since I first developed this recipe.

  3. Wow! These are delicious! The earthy beet flavor really compliments the chocolate. Still a treat, but definitely healthier. I used the full amount of beets. I didn’t have buttermilk so I used some yogurt thinned with water.

  4. you say that the amount of beet puree can be reduced but you don’t say how to compensate for that change.
    Do you need to add more liquid or anything else?

  5. 5 stars
    I’ve been making brownies for years but I’ve never thought about adding beet puree. Genius!! And OMG these brownies are way too delicious for their own good. No one believes that they’re healthy-ish 🙂 too!

  6. 4 stars
    I love this recipe, do you know how i would make beet purree? i cant seem to find where to buy it, thank you!

    1. To make beet puree, wrap whole beets in foil and cook at 400F until very soft. Remove skins. Puree in blender with buttermilk.

    2. The instructions for beet puree are in the recipe. Also, in comments. I have made these brownies before and they are fabulous! Try them. You will not be disappointed.