My homemade brownies from scratch are fudgy, decadent, so chocolatey and the batter can be made in just minutes! This has been a fan-favorite for over 8 years and will have you ditching the box-mixes for good. Recipe includes a how-to video and lots of tips for shiny, crackly brownie tops!
Brownies From Scratch
I first shared this homemade brownie recipe years ago and it’s remained one of my personal favorites ever since, a classic right up there with my chocolate chip cookies and easy apple pie. It’s served as the base of many of my other brownie recipes on my site (perhaps most deliciously, my cheesecake brownies) and is perfect for beginners and advanced bakers alike.
At its core, this is really a no-frills, easy brownie recipe that really needs little introduction, but if you’re like me and love nerding out about nitty gritty recipe details, please read on (otherwise, hit that big “Jump to Recipe” button overhead)!
Why You Should Try THIS Brownie Recipe:
- Intense chocolate flavor. Melted chocolate, cocoa powder, and added chocolate chips put these brownies over the top. Add a pinch of instant coffee or espresso powder to the batter for an even more decadent chocolate experience.
- Shiny, crackly tops. While it may seem like just aesthetics, shiny and crackly tops are something that I personally love about brownies and that I wanted my own version to have. I spent years cracking the code on this and am very happy to share what I’ve found with you (it’s all about mixing the eggs and sugar… more on this below!).
- Easy, for when you need a chocolate fix in a hurry! My homemade brownies come together in just 10 minutes. Minimal mess & no mixer needed.
- Perfected recipe (true brownie texture!). This recipe was carefully (and repeatedly) tested to yield brownies that are dense, fudgy, and super chocolatey with the aforementioned shiny, crackly tops. I must’ve baked 100 different batches before landing on this version.
Ingredients for Homemade Brownies
We won’t go over every ingredient in detail (who has the time when there are brownies to be made!), but I think you should know what it is that truly makes these the best brownie recipe. The ingredients are common enough, but there are a few extras mixed in, along with a bit of technique… (more on that later).
Let’s dig in.
- Sugar. A blend of granulated and brown sugar is the way to go in almost every recipe, honestly, but especially here. The subtle molasses-ness of the brown sugar rounds out the flavor of the chocolate and adds extra chew to our brownies!
- Eggs… plus an extra yolk! The egg whites play a critical role in giving you brownies with a shiny, crackly top. When coupled with the sugar and whipped, you’ll be able to achieve exactly that boxed-brownie look. An extra yolk enriches the batter and makes the brownies even more tender and fudgy.
- Chocolate. For intensely chocolatey homemade brownies we build the batter on a base of melted chocolate and butter and then toss in some cocoa powder while the mixture is still warm (to help bloom it, as we do in my chocolate cake). Chocolate chips work in a pinch, but baking bars are best. Use semisweet baking bars, or, if you like a darker chocolate, use 60% cacao instead! Then, at the end, I do recommend mixing in some chocolate chips for an extra punch of chocolate.
- Instant coffee. If you’re someone who prefers dark chocolate, you’ll want to add this. It adds depth and enhances the chocolate flavor, particularly the more bitter flavors that you’ll find in dark chocolate. You can make things even more intense by swapping this with espresso powder, or if you’re not a fan feel free to omit it.
Sam’s Tip: These brownies were specifically and carefully designed to be dense and fudgy, and not cakey. However, if you like a lighter brownie you can stir in a quarter teaspoon of baking powder with the flour.
How to Make Brownies from Scratch
Whisk the eggs and sugar
I’ll usually melt my chocolate and butter together first (do this in intervals, stirring in between, just like when melting chocolate in the microwave). Then set this aside and combine your eggs and sugar and stir vigorously. Whisking together the eggs and sugar almost as if you were making meringue is critical to creating those shiny, crackly tops that you’ll see at the end!
The vigorous whisking can be an arm workout, but can absolutely be done by hand (usually takes me 60 seconds or so). You could alternatively use an electric mixer for this step!
Once the eggs are well-mixed, stir in your vanilla extract and salt.
Add the melted chocolate
Stir the melted chocolate into the batter. Everything should be thoroughly combined, but you don’t have to worry about whisking aggressively or vigorously, like you did with the eggs and sugar.
Finish the brownie batter & bake
Add the flour, followed by the chocolate chips. Once again, the batter just needs to be uniformly combined, no need to go crazy with mixing here! Once everything is combined, scrape your brownie batter into a 9×9″ baking pan, smooth it into an even layer (add a few more chocolate chips on top if you’d like, for good measure!) and bake!
SAM’S TIP: I recommend baking your brownies in a metal pan, as glass pans can take longer.
Frequently Asked Questions
An extra egg yolk, a bit of brown sugar, real melted chocolate, a bit less flour than you might expect, and no baking powder or baking soda all contribute to the rich fudginess of these brownies. If your brownies turn out cakey after following my recipe, it may be that your flour was accidentally over-measured.
After years of making homemade brownies from scratch, I can tell you with confidence the secret is following a good recipe. Use one that recommends vigorously whisking the eggs and sugar, enriches the batter with melted chocolate, and for good measure adds a pinch of instant coffee or espresso. Obviously I’m biased, but my recipe really does crack the code for perfect brownies, and I’m excited for you to try it.
Unfortunately, a straight substitution of the chocolate called for with white chocolate yields results that are too sweet and a bit oily. However, I do have a white chocolate brownie recipe that I recommend you try instead, or for a chocolate-less version try my blondies!
More Chocolate Desserts
This is truly the easiest, ultimate, best homemade brownie recipe. And I really think you are going to love it.
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
Fudgy Homemade Brownies from Scratch
Ingredients
- 12 Tablespoons (170 g) unsalted butter cut into Tablespoon-sized pieces
- 4 oz (113 g) semisweet chocolate bar chopped into small pieces
- ½ cup (50 g) natural cocoa powder (unsweetened)
- ½ teaspoon instant coffee grounds optional
- ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- ¾ cup (150 g) light brown sugar firmly packed
- 2 large eggs + 1 large egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (125 g) all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup (127 g) semisweet chocolate chips
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line a 9×9 baking pan¹ with parchment paper²
- Combine butter and chopped chocolate in a large, microwave-safe bowl.12 Tablespoons (170 g) unsalted butter, 4 oz (113 g) semisweet chocolate bar
- Microwave in 25-second intervals, stirring well in between, until completely melted and smooth.
- Immediately add cocoa powder and instant coffee (if using), stir well.½ cup (50 g) natural cocoa powder (unsweetened), ½ teaspoon instant coffee grounds
- In a separate, medium-sized mixing bowl, combine sugars and eggs. Whisk vigorously, until well combined and lightened in color (at least 60 seconds of vigorous whisking, this ensures shiny, crackly tops! Feel free to use an electric mixer!).¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar, ¾ cup (150 g) light brown sugar, 2 large eggs + 1 large egg yolk
- Stir in vanilla extract and salt.1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ½ teaspoon salt
- Drizzle chocolate mixture into egg mixture and stir until completely combined.
- Add flour, stir until completely combined.1 cup (125 g) all-purpose flour
- Stir in chocolate chips.¾ cup (127 g) semisweet chocolate chips
- Spread into prepared 9×9 pan.
- Bake in center rack of 350F (175C) oven for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out slightly fudgy, but not wet with batter.
- Allow to cool before cutting and serving (they'll be messy and seem underdone otherwise).
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
I originally shared this brownie recipe on 02/01/2017. I’ve made small changes to the recipe to make the tops crackly (changed the step for beating the eggs well instead of mixing the batter well as a whole), and I’ve updated some of the photos and added a video and tried to make the post itself more informative.
Lola Rabern
Mine turned out yummy! I like the brown sugar. I added 2/3 cup coarsely chopped pecans. I bake all my Brownies or dense bars on 325 and no parchment paper.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed, Lola! Thank you so much for commenting!
Miriam Rose Blanar
Best brownies ever!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Miriam! 🙂
Amelia Lloyd
Hi Sam,
This recipe is amazing, always gooey and fudgey! I’m looking to make it for my friend who needs gluten free, would it work if I swap the ingredients for gluten free options?
Sam
Hi Amelia! Unfortunately I have not tried making it gluten free so I am not sure how it would turn out. If you try it I would love to know how it goes. 🙂
Thet Munoz
This was a hit with the whole family. With every bite they take, they couldn’t help but say it’s so delicious. Although I did some modifications like less sugar and used pure brown sugar plus less choco chips and added walnuts instead. This is super nom nom nom. You were right Sam! It is indeed the BEST brownie we have ever tasted!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Thet! 🙂
Thet Munoz
Thanks for sharing this with us! 😊💕
Mark
Super luscious and delicious! Amazingly rich and chocolatey!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Mark! 🙂
Sharon
Hi, Sam. How can I make these brownies more cake-like and less fudge?
Sam
Honestly this recipe was designed to be dense and fudgy. You could try adding more flour to it, but it may just end up drying them out a little too much.
Jeanne
I tried these brownies because my regular recipe hasn’t been turning out well recently. Not sure why. This recipe was easy and delicious. I had all the ingredients on hand. I didn’t use nuts but I usually chop them and sprinkle the on top and they toast deliciously. I would highly recommend this recipe, especially if you like soft, gooey chocolate brownies. Perfect with a good quality vanilla ice cream.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Jeanne! 🙂
Blair
Hi if i use a 9×13 pan, how thick will the brownies look like?
Sam
Hi Blair! In a 9 x 13 they would be pretty thin. You could always increase the recipe to keep a thicker brownie. If you do 1.5 times the batter they should keep roughly the same thickness. 🙂
Sarah
Hiya, I tried these brownies last week and they were amazing.
However when doing two batches yesterday they came out fine and then around 5 -10 minutes later I went to check and both batches had sunk quite bad in the middle, i read that i could be over mixing, however i noticed you said that you couldn’t over mix the batter.
Would you have any ideas what I had done wrong please, thanks sarah
Sam
Hi Sarah! You really can’t over-mix this batter. But it also doesn’t rise more than a very little bit, so I’m not sure why it might’ve sunk… did you substitute any ingredients? Or use self-rising flour by chance?
Debbie Cooper
I’ve been looking for a good brownie recipe for years. I’ve finally found it pure chocolate perfection, thanks for sharing. We I’ll be making this again soon!!
Sam
I am so happy to hear this! Thank you for commenting, Debbie! 🙂
Shakila
I had a hard time finding a good recipe for a chewy brownies all over the internet. And I am so glad I found this. Just did my first try, and it was really chewy and chocolatey!! I LOVE IT! I baked it for 35 mins. Turn out, I think I over baked it because the corner of the brownies was hard. Still edible though. Perhaps I should stick to 30 mins, right?
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you found my site and that you enjoyed the recipe, Shakila! I am sorry that your edges were burnt. Two things- you possibly over baked them or your oven is running too hot. If you have not tested your oven temperature for accuracy I reccomend doing so. I recently purchased a new oven and found that it was running 15 degrees hotter than what was indicated. I hope that helps. Regardless, I am glad that they tasted delicious. 🙂
Zaheera
Hi Sam. How do you test your oven temperature?? I think I need to do mine as I feel it runs below what it’s meant to.
Sam
Hi Zaheera! I have 2 pretty cheap oven thermometers I bought off of Amazon. I use 2 that way I know if one isn’t functioning properly and I can spread them out in the oven a little bit to see if I have hot/cold zones. 🙂
Anita
Hi Sam! I just tried this recipe and the chocolate-y smell and taste is divine. I wasn’t able to create a crinkly top, should I have baked them longer? I took them out at 30mins when the stick came out with a little fudge. I wanna try these again in a slimmer rectangular pan, such will need longer baking timing yes?Thank you!
Sam
Hi Anita! I would mix the batter (especially when you add the eggs) realllllly well and pop them in the fridge for a little more time and that should help with the crackly tops. I’m not sure what the dimensions are of the pan but if it is smaller then yes it will need to bake longer.
Victoria
Hello and thank you for your recipes! Your worst cookies are the best ever! I tried this recipe last night and followed it to the letter. I weighted my ingredients so I am not sure if that made any difference. I did add chopped walnuts and the added chocolate chips ( I used Guittard semisweet chocolate chunks) and added a few minutes to the bake time as the first check was wet and we found the brownies chewy but a bit oily. I used ordinary unsalted butter, I usually buy the Kirkland brand from Costco since we use a lot in our house. Could I bake them longer or add a bit more flour? We would like to use this recipe again but not have that oilieness. I did use a 9″ x 9″ drop bottom metal pan to bake as well.
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you loved the cookies, Victoria, and I am happy that you came back to my site to try another recipe! I am sorry that your experiencing issues with your brownies. It could be that a little more flour may need to be added. I have created a post on how to measure flour properly that can be used as a reference for next time. Another thing that comes to mind is that your butter and chocolate could have gotten too hot and sizzled? Either way, I am sorry that this happened. I hope that your next attempt comes out perfectly. Keep me posted.
Janet Norman
I would like to add carmel to these, do you mind telling me how would I do that?
Thank you so much for your recipes!
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Janet! You will drop dollops of caramel over the batter. Then you will use a butter knife to swirl over the surface. I hope that helps. 🙂
Gwendolyn
My past attempts with brownie bakes were always unsuccessful. Just tried this recipe and I’m so happy with how the brownies turns out! But I used 7×7 square pan and the top is slightly dry as I increased the baking time. May I know how long should I bake for 7×7 pan?
I also attempted your cookies recipes and they are all well received by my family and friends! Thank you for sharing your recipes 🙂
Sam
Hi Gwendolyn! I’m not sure what the bake time would be for a 7×7. I haven’t tried it but if yours was dry it may have needed a little less time.