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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 1 large red beet (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 (usually around 1/4 cup 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, 8 tablespoons unsalted 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 1¼ cups granulated sugar, ¾ cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder and ½ teaspoon kosher salt to combine.
- In separate bowl, beat 2 large 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 2 teaspoons vanilla extract and 1 cup beet puree, stir to combine.
- Add 3/4 cup unbleached flour and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, stir to combine.
- Add 1/2 cup dark 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.
Can I use regular white sugar and same amount 1 and 1/4cups?
Yes, that’s what I meant by pure cane sugar. I’ll update to make it less confusing. Thanks!
I just made them and they are delicious, thank you for the recipe. I used regular milk instead of buttermilk and it still turned out fine. Very good recipe.
Would this work with milk chocolate?
Yep! I just prefer dark. Enjoy! -Krissy
Ok, I’ll bite. Bears beets battlestar galactica?? 🤔
These look wonderful. I hope to make them next week!
Haha. I love this post most because of The Office reference! Enjoy! Krissy
I don’t like beets…but, these are the best brownies! I’ll make these again and again and again.
I messed up a little by adding about 1/2 cup more beet puree because I had more than 1 cup frozen after purchasing organic beets and prepping them ahead just for this “experiment” However, they turned out OK , but I had to cook them longer, about 45 mins.This is a lengthy prep, but worth the time. I suggest having the beets prepped ahead like I did to cut down on time for the process. Good recipe Thanks .
Oh my! Us beet lovers had to try this!, I didn’t bother with any milk as the beets whipped up fine in a food processor….after melting the butter and mixing it with the cacao and dark brown sugar, I tossed everything in the processor …creamy! Poured the batter into a pie plate lined with parchment , baked for 25 minutes and it was perfect! The precooked batter tasted kind of beety which I hoped wouldn’t overpower the chocolate …and it didn’t! We’re tickled at also having a large triangle per serving too!
Thnak you!
I just pureed 2 large beets. About how many cups, or what portion of cups, do you use for this?
Since I typically use either one large or two small beets, I would use about half of your puree in the brownie recipe. I’ve made it with varying amounts and it always turns out, but the more beet you add, the squishier and more red the brownies will be.
just made these and they came out great, i was worried but they’re good! a little more red than yours in the photos, they look like a dark red velvet brownie. haha. thanks!
can I use oil instead of butter?
You can. I’m a huge fan of butter, but vegetable oil should work.