The entire family will enjoy this low-carb meatloaf. One of the few ways I have to convince my kids to eat vegetables is through this method!
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 30 mins |
| Additional Time: | 35 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 20 mins |
| Servings: | 9 |
| Yield: | 9 brownies |
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 1 ¼ cups white sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter an 8-inch square baking dish or pan, then line with parchment paper if desired to make getting the brownies out easier.
- Mix flour and salt together in a bowl; set aside.
- Place chopped chocolate and butter into a heatproof bowl and set over a saucepan with 1 inch of very gently simmering water. When the butter and almost all of the chocolate is melted, stir until smooth. Turn off the heat and set aside.
- Mix sugar and eggs in a mixing bowl with an electric hand mixer until very airy, thick, and creamy, about 5 minutes. Mix in vanilla extract, then slowly drizzle in the melted chocolate mixture, while mixing on high speed.
- Dump in the flour mixture and mix on low speed just until the flour disappears. Use a spatula to transfer the batter into the prepared baking dish and spread as evenly as possible.
- Bake in the center of the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out virtually clean, about 30 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Use a spatula to lightly press down the higher parts of the brownie around the edge of the dish. Let cool to room temperature, 20 to 30 minutes, before removing and cutting into 9 pieces.
- If you want to double this recipe and use a 9×13-inch baking dish, that will also work, although I believe they’ll be a little bit thicker and take a little bit longer to bake. Buttered foil will also work instead of parchment paper.
- You can use 1/4 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon fine salt instead of kosher.
- Make sure you use chocolate that is 99 to 100% pure cacao.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 296 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 38 g |
| Cholesterol | 68 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 4 g |
| Saturated Fat | 10 g |
| Sodium | 179 mg |
| Sugars | 28 g |
| Fat | 16 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
It is delicious. It was a hassle to convert ingredients to metric system, but absolutely worth it. Also I’ve tried to replace half of the butter with peanut butter, and it works great.
I love these brownies, they are just as described and very easy to make. Chewy, crackly, not too sweet. The right amount of chocolate. When I made them a second time, I used 1 cup granulated sugar and 1/3 cup brown sugar and loved the extra chew and sweetness. The first time, however, I used regular salt and did not change the amount from the recipe, which calls for less-salty kosher salt. Big mistake. The 2nd time I made it I used 1/2 tsp. iodized salt, which worked fine. One thing to note, you can get very fudgy almost wet brownies from this recipe or more of a chewy, crisped edge version just by increasing the baking time. Great recipe!
Just as advertised! Of course its Chef John’s recipe You need to do this one
I made this with my daughter for Saint Valentine Day, it is so good.
So very fast and easy recipe! Made it for National Brownie day! Excellent!
I followed the recipe and video to a T and the brownies look awesome! They taste pretty good too! My batter was slightly thicker than in the the video but didn’t seem to make a difference. I flattened the edges after the “required rest for EXACTLY 15 minutes” (bhahahahah) for uniform brownies. Next time I make them I’ll add nuts or coconut.
I followed the directions exactly, but when it came to the part where it said too add an inch of water to the pot, it was too much water. The mixture was a complete liquid after adding the chocolate and butter, so I added a bunch more flour and some more cocoa powder. I thought it was good so I put it in the oven for 30 minutes when the toothpick came out clean, but the brownies ended up tasting like chocolate cake. Not crispy on the outside, not fudgy in the inside. Just cake. Overall, these aren’t “The Best Brownies”.
I used 20% less sugar in my recipe, plus I added chopped walnuts.
These are truly the bomb. I made them as written except for adding a handful of chocolate chips. Basic but very good ingredients produce a wonderful brownie. I know no one can wait to taste them, but I promise you, they are sooo much better after fully cooling. Thank you, Chef John, these are worth breaking the Kitchenaid out. 🙂
Hahaha… Bite sip with edge dunking… I thought I was the only OCD brownie eater! Hey you guys… this IS the ONLY way, truly enjoy great brownies! (Take it from two chefs ;}) 1) I add some espresso to heighten the chocolate flavor. 2) Use salted butter (sometimes browned with the pecans), less in recipe, sprinkle fleur de sel atop 3) hand beat in flour I’m afraid, vewy afwaid to beat the flour. 4) I butter and either sugar or cocoa “flour” for ease of release. 5) Pecans… butter and salt toasted The rest is great!
A week ago there were so many reviews and they have all disappeared except for the pictures! What gives? These are great brownies and the comments were useful! Doubled recipe on 4th try. Cut back butter and sugar. Added espresso powder. Yum!
Seriously the best brownies! They have consistently become my favorite. I didn’t have bakers chocolate. So I used 1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp cocoa powder and 3 tbsp butter. This beats ANY pre-made mix.
I’m actually making this again this morning (albeit modified) because I enjoyed how these came out the first time. I have read a couple reviews that these were too sweet, but I was originally worried the cacao would be overbearing for my elementary schooler. In reality, the awesome tones of the cacao are in there, along with chewy goodness and sweetness – this is a good recipe. I’m holding out on five stars because my review is coming a few weeks after attempt #1, and I’m not ready to commit my old man brains to a five star yet. I’ll update my rating when I realize the error of my ways. And for those wondering, review based on following recipe as is. Today I’m doing something doomed for failure with coffee, and hopefully chef John’s base recipe will save my experiments from total catastrophe
Absolutely delicious not only on the first day but on all the days that it lasted ! Great recipe I did reduce a little the sugar to my taste Thank you Chef John my daughter and I will be doing it again
Best Brownie So Far For several years I have been looking for and trying recipes for brownies. Ever since Lady Lee brownies disappeared from Lucky’s Supermarket, I’ve been unhappy with all brownies. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me before to try Chef John’s recipe. I love almost everything I try of his. Well, he didn’t disappoint. They aren’t Lady Lee, but they are as close as I’ve been so far. We loved them. They were crisp on the outside, chewy on the edges, and gooey on the inside. We loved them. Thanks, Chef John.
I used half white and half brown sugar because that’s all I had. I added some 66% and 72% bars that were gifts. I was afraid of the excess sugar and forgot to use less, or add more cocoa powder to offset the extra sugar and fat in the bars. They still came out like Chef John said they would- crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. I doubled the recipe and needed an hour plus of baking time using a big toaster oven. I used a deeper 8×13 glass dish. There weren’t any excess sugar crystals. Whipping the batter to get the air inside made the difference. I would try it with some mint chocolate and nuts in them next time and offset some of the sugar.
I’m so sorry Chef John, but these brownies are not good! The texture is exactly as he describes, chewy edges, soft center, but they taste entirely of sugar. There’s also not a lot of chocolate flavor, which is really disappointing. The after taste is the worst part — It makes me feel like I just downed a tablespoon of pure sugar. He suggests a glass of milk, which I think would help a lot, but I also think they should be edible on their own! I’ve tried to give them to 2 different people and they both say they’re just too sweet. I’d be curious to see how these come out with half the sugar and way more chocolate, so maybe give that a go if you try this recipe out. I love Chef John’s videos, though! And I can’t deny that they look really pretty when they’re plated up.
Amount tip: Bakers chocolate bar comes in a 4 ounce size so I increased the recipe amounts to use the whole bar. It still fit in the square glass Pyrex dish. Second: I put the bar of chocolate box and all into a quart freezer bag and smashed with a hammer on the concrete patio. This is way easier than cutting with a knife.
I added 1/2 cup of walnut pieces and these turned out very good. I had undissolved granules of sugar and kosher salt, but I didn’t mind that too much. I had a junior helper who didn’t have patience for whipping the egg and sugar mixture long enough; next time I’ll manage that process myself so the sugar dissolves and we get a bit more lift. The kid and I enjoyed the brownies immensely so no harm done
The best brownies indeed! I couldn’t have access to a unsweetened 100% cacao chocolate but my 85% bar worked amazing, if you don’t want to do math to get it right and subtracting the last 1/4 cup of sugar or even less would do the trick. I totally sold with this recipe, great flavour, great texture and super easy to make. If you haven’t found a brownie that meets your expectations give this one a try.
I’m making these for the second time right now because they are SO GOOD. They really are the best brownies–vouch. Honestly, there’s no recipe by Chef John that isn’t the best.