I can confidently say that this is the best brownie recipe I’ve ever made! These are easy to make, incredibly fudgy, and way better than boxed mixes.
I bet you have everything you need sitting in your kitchen to make these incredible brownies from scratch. Plus, you’ll make the batter right in the saucepan, so you won’t even have that many dirty dishes to clean when you are done.
Our readers repeatedly tell us that these are their favorite homemade brownies. They taste like rich dark chocolate, have fudgy middles, and have a gorgeous crinkly top. If you reach for darker chocolate over milk, these brownies are for you. For slightly sweeter brownies, that are thicker and chewier around the edges, see our easy brownie recipe.
Key Ingredients
- Cocoa Powder: Cocoa powder makes these easy, reliable, and ridiculously delicious. I’ve tried recipes with melted chocolate and always come back to this cocoa brownies recipe. For the richest, most classic chocolate flavor, use natural cocoa powder (like Hershey’s or Ghirardelli). For a more mellow chocolate flavor similar to Oreo cookies, use Dutch-processed cocoa. I’ve successfully used a variety of natural, Dutch-processed, and even raw cacao to make these brownies, so use what you have.
- Butter: We use 100% butter for this recipe. If you use salted butter, leave out the salt called for in our recipe below.
- Granulated Sugar: This helps with our shiny top and balances the bitterness of unsweetened cocoa powder. Brown sugar works, but you might lose the crinkly top.
- Eggs: These add richness and provide structure to brownies. I add them cold, so there is no need to take them out of the fridge in advance!
- Flour: You need a small amount of all-purpose flour for structure. We want extra fudgy brownies, so keeping the flour to a minimum helps. As a side note, many of our readers have had success with gluten-free flour blends like Bob’s Red Mill.
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Make the Best Homemade Brownies
Tip 1: Make your batter in a saucepan. Instead of dirtying an extra bowl, make your batter directly in the saucepan you used to melt the butter. The key is to mix the hot, melted butter with the sugar and cocoa powder.
The hot butter brings out a richer chocolate flavor from the cocoa and starts to dissolve the sugar, which is how you get that beautiful shiny top. I use the same trick when making my favorite chocolate cake recipe!
Tip 2: Vigorously mix in the flour. It’s okay to really stir the flour into this brownie batter. Use a wooden spoon and mix until the batter is thick and glossy. This helps emulsify the butter into the batter, which prevents it from separating and creating a greasy layer on top of your brownies. This tip also applies to blondies!
Tip 3: Don’t overbake. The biggest mistake you can make is baking your brownies for too long. For extra fudgy brownies, remove them from the oven when the edges are set but the center still looks slightly wet. The brownies will continue to set as they cool, so trust me that they will be perfect.
Tip 4: Read through reader comments. These brownies are a true family favorite, and based on the comments, they’ve become a favorite for many of our readers, too! We highly encourage you to read through the comments to see why so many people have fallen in love with this recipe.
More Brownie Recipes
For more brownie inspiration, check out our salted almond brownies (which use this recipe as a base) or our slightly sweeter, thicker one-bowl brownies. And if you need a quick treat for one or two, you have to try this quick brownie in a mug! Or, see all of our chocolate desserts on Inspired Taste!
The Best Fudgy Brownies
- PREP
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- TOTAL
Say hello to our favorite homemade brownie recipe! If you reach for darker chocolate over milk chocolate, these bittersweet brownies are for you. For slightly sweeter, thicker brownies, see our one bowl brownie recipe.
I bake my brownies until the edges look set and the middle slightly underdone. A toothpick helps tell when they are ready to come out of the oven. Look for a small amount of batter left on the toothpick. Brownies firm up as they cool, so even though they may look underdone, they will be perfect when cooled to room temperature (trust me).
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
10 tablespoons (142g) unsalted butter
1 ¼ cups (250g) granulated sugar
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (75g) unsweetened cocoa powder, spooned and leveled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 large cold eggs
1/2 cup (65g) all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
2/3 cup (80g) chopped walnuts, pecans, or chocolate chips, optional
Directions
1Preheat oven and prep pan: Position an oven rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 325°F (162°C). Line the bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil, leaving an overhang on opposite sides to help remove the baked brownies from the pan.
2Melt the butter: Add the butter to a medium saucepan. Place over medium-low heat and cook until the butter melts completely, then turn off the heat. Stay close, and do not let it brown.
3Stir in the sugar and cocoa: While the butter is hot, stir in the sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, and salt. Stir well until blended. Don’t worry if the batter looks gritty. Once you add the eggs later, the brownie batter will become smooth.
4Cool the mixture slightly: Set the saucepan aside to cool until the mixture is warm, not hot, 5 to 10 minutes. Test the temperature by touching the batter, it should still be quite warm, but not too hot that you need to pull away.
5Add the eggs: Add the cold eggs, one at a time, stirring vigorously after each egg.
6Beat in the flour: When the batter looks thick and well blended, add the flour. Use a spoon to beat the flour into the batter until it is very thick and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. I use a wooden spoon or spatula and beat for 40 to 50 strokes (see video for reference).
7Add optional mix-ins: If using, stir in nuts or chocolate chips (optional).
8Bake the brownies: Scrape the thick batter into your prepared pan and spread it evenly, pushing it into the corners. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the edges look set and the middle is slightly underbaked. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out with somewhat moist batter.
9Cool and slice: Let the brownies cool completely in the pan to ensure they set properly. To cut them, use a sharp chef’s knife, wiping the blade clean after each slice for perfect edges. For even cleaner edges, chill the brownies in the fridge for 1 to 2 hours before slicing.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Keep cooled brownies in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 to 3 days. Or store them in the fridge for 2 weeks. You can also freeze brownies for up to 3 months! I like wrapping them individually to take one or two out of the freezer when I want to.
- Baking pan: We use a metal 8-inch square pan. Ceramic and glass pans may affect bake time. Check on doneness 5 minutes early and every 5 minutes after that. Double the recipe for a 9-inch by 13-inch pan. The brownies will be slightly thicker.
- Cocoa powder: Try Dutch-process for a mellow, Oreo-like flavor or natural cocoa powder (like Ghiradelli or Guittard) for a rich, dark chocolate taste.
- Measuring flour and cocoa powder: Weigh them or use the “spoon and level” method. Fluff the flour/cocoa, spoon it into the measuring cup, then level off the top with a flat edge. You can see me do this in our video!
- Longer bake time: These take 20 to 25 minutes in our oven. Still, ovens vary, so use our tips in the recipe to tell when your brownies are done. Remember, brownies continue to cook and firm up as they cool, so don’t be afraid to take them out of the oven with the center still a little underdone.
- Double-boiler method: This brownie recipe originally used a double-boiler, but we’ve simplified the method to make it easier and quicker, using fewer dishes while maintaining the same results. If you prefer the original double-boiler method, place a heat-safe bowl with the butter, sugar, and cocoa powder over barely simmering water. Once melted, cool and continue as directed.
- Alice Medrich’s Cocoa Brownies inspired this brownie recipe. Medrich revolutionized brownie recipes years ago when she used cocoa powder instead of melted chocolate. This change allows for better control of ingredients, resulting in incredibly moist brownies with a perfectly fudgy center and a shiny, candy-like top.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
These brownies were sooo good! I added a few white chocolate chips and they were delicious! I’m going to add roasted pecans instead of the chips next time. I will be making these often.
I have NEVER been very successful at making a good brownie. Too hard, too soft, uneven. This is the easiest, best, most consistently great tasting brownie recipe I have ever used. It never fails. Thanks so much!!
Love these sooooo much. I was curious if I could make them with gluten free flour?
Other readers have used gluten-free flour with success. We recommend a 1:1 all-purpose blend like those from King Arthur or Bob’s Red Mill.
LITERALLY THE BEST BROWNIES I’VE EVER MADE!!!!!!!!!!!
OMGGG this is by far the best brownie recipe I’ve ever had, and I’ve made LOTS of brownie recipes. It is unbelievably fudgy and decadent. This will be my new go-to recipe!
Yay! We are thrilled that you love the recipe 🙂
Turned out more like fudge than a brownie. It was also kinda gritty. Still edible enough
Hi Trinity, Was your butter hot before adding the sugar. Also, did you use plain sugar / granulated sugar.
Can I use heart silicone mold to bake the brownies?
Yes, that would be so cute!
This is the same recipe as smitten kitchen’s I’ve been using for years except with a little more vanilla. You really should credit her for inspiring your recipe.
Hi Jen, Both this recipe and Deb’s are inspired by Alice Medrich (mentioned in the recipe on both Smitten Kitchen’s blog and ours).
These look absolutely delicious. I will be makimg these soon! Thank you!
Absolutely delicious…and so easy to make. I was wondering if I could make these gluten free using an substitute for the flour? Also, thanks for sharing…it’s on repeat in my house.
Hi Marji, You should be fine with a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend like King Arthur Flour’s or Bob’s Red Mill.
Hi thank you so much for the recipe. If I want to bake with half recipe and 20×10 cm pan, how long should I bake it for? I baked for 18 minutes but the inside somehow feels a little too dense. Also, if the batter still look too thick can I add more egg? maybe the eggs I used weren’t big enough.
Hi Gab, If your eggs are on the smaller side, you could add a bit more to see if that helps things. As far as the bake time for the smaller pan, you will need to check doneness based on our suggestions in the recipe. I’ve not baked these in this sized pan.
Hi thank you so much for the recipe. If I want to bake with half recipe and 20×10 cm pan, how long should I bake it for? Also, if the batter still look too thick can I add more egg? maybe the eggs I used werent big enough.
Baking time may be slightly less (just keep an eye on them and judge based on our doneness tips in the recipe). You can add a bit more egg, especially if you have small eggs (maybe crack an extra one, beat it a little with a fork, and add half of it).
I’ve made these a few times (including since before the cooking method was changed to no longer require a double boiler) and these were the BEST fudgey brownies. For some reason I made them this morning and the batter was thicker than usual, as thick as a cookie dough, and a little greasy. In the oven, the butter seemed to separate and bubble up around the brownies, and they came out sort of underdone with the sugar not fully incorporated. I’m not sure what went wrong, since I’ve used this recipe a few times before, once as recently as last week! I checked all the ingredients and I’m positive I had the right amounts of everything. I’ll confess, I usually cheat and heat the butter in the microwave to avoid dirtying another pan, but that’s always been fine before (though maybe not as good as it would be if I followed the original instructions!). Online it said maybe it was a temperature issue, or maybe I didn’t mix enough or overmixed? Any tips?
Hi Allison, As long as your butter was hot when mixing in the sugar, the microwave method should have been fine. It sounds like your batter needed a bit more mixing (did you beat the batter with a spoon after adding the flour?).
These were in fact super fudgey and delicious! I’m definitely saving this recipe to make again later.
These brownires ended up amazing and they’re really easy to bake! Unlike most other brownie recipes, this one actually ended up with the perfect sweetness. 10/10 Recipe, definitly making again!
Wonderful! 🙂
I don’t know what I’m doing wrong but I have made these brownies 3 times and each time they come out cakey. I’m not sure if maybe I need to use more egg for added moisture? I use big eggs so I would have thought that was enough but I’m not sure. They taste good, regardless, so I’m not too upset, just more discouraged with myself. They don’t come out fudgy and moist, more like a dense cake, maybe even a little on the dry side. And they don’t get to the point of the sides looking “set” or anything – the whole pan remains entirely uniform.
Still giving a 5 star rating because others have had good success so I know it’s a me issue, not a recipe issue.
Hi Anna, Sorry you are having trouble. Are you spooning and leveling your measuring cups when measuring the flour and cocoa? That helps to make sure there is not too much added to the batter.
I have always found that using more eggs tend to make things come out cakier… maybe your eggs are actually too big? I’d try using less. Also, using anything other than real “average” butter would affect consistency. Hope this helps.
These are amazing brownies. Our favorite box mix brownies are Ghirardelli, but we wanted to keep ingredients clean and start making them at home instead. The whole family agreed these are better than Ghirardelli! Fudgey with chewy edges and very decadent. I added about half a cup of white chocolate chips and they were perfect. This is my new go to recipe for brownies!