4 Ingredient Peanut Butter Brownies (No Flour, Butter or Oil)
These chocolate peanut butter brownies are fudgy and chewy. They are just 4 ingredients and you don’t need any flour, butter or oil. They are easy to make and store well. You can have homemade brownies in less than 30 minutes.
These peanut butter brownies are a quick and easy recipe. It takes about five minutes to prepare the batter and then the brownies are ready to be baked. They are chewy, fudgy and have a shiny crinkly surface.
Ingredients
- Cocoa Powder
- Peanut Butter
- Egg Whites
- Powdered Sugar
Cocoa Powder: This recipe uses unsweetened cocoa powder to provide the chocolate flavor. I used dutch process cocoa powder but I think natural should also work.
Peanut butter: I used natural peanut butter. This is peanut butter that does not contain any oils.
Egg whites: Egg whites help the brownies rise, provide structure, and help give the brownies their chewy texture. I have only tested this recipe using fresh egg whites.
Powdered sugar: Powdered sugar is used to provide sweetness. In addition, when combined with the egg whites, it creates the chewy brownie texture and the shiny surface.
How to Make Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies
The peanut butter and egg whites are first whisked together. The cocoa powder is then combined with the powdered sugar and added into the batter. The batter is then ready to be poured into a baking loaf pan and go into the oven. The brownies need about 20 minutes in the oven.
Texture and Sweetness
These brownies are chewy and fudgy. They are not super sweet. They have a dark chocolate level of sweetness. You can reduce the cocoa powder by half if you want the brownies to be sweeter though they won’t have as much chocolate flavor.
More Brownie Recipes
4 Ingredient Peanut Butter Brownies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (128 g) unsweetened natural creamy peanut butter
- 2 large egg whites
- 2 tbsp (13 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup (110 g) powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line an 8 x 4 inch baking pan with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, add peanut butter and egg whites. Use a whisk to mix until egg whites are fully incorporated into the peanut butter.
- In a medium bowl, add cocoa powder and powdered sugar. Whisk until evenly mixed. Add mixture to the peanut butter batter. Stir with a spatula until all the powdered sugar and cocoa are fully incorporated and the batter is uniform in color. The batter will initially turn thicker but will become more runny once all of the powdered sugar is added. Once the batter is runnier, you can switch to a whisk to mix to make sure your batter is smooth and uniform.
- Pour batter into your prepared pan. Make sure to use a spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl to get all of the batter out of the bowl and into your pan. Use your spatula to spread the batter evenly across the pan. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the toothpick inserted comes out with only a few crumbs clinging. Let brownies fully cool before cutting and serving.
Notes
- Use a good brand for your powdered sugar. I used C&H. Some cheaper brands add a lot of cornstarch to the powdered sugar, which can leave an aftertaste and could affect the brownies from baking correctly.
- If your powdered sugar is clumpy, make sure to break up any clumps with a whisk before measuring it.
- Make sure to line the baking pan with parchment paper because the brownies are very fudgy and will stick to the bottom of the pan if you don't use parchment paper.
- I have only tested this with natural unsweetened peanut butter. This is peanut butter that has no added oils.
- The brownies are sweet but not super sweet. If you want them sweeter, you can reduce the cocoa to 1 tbsp but your brownies won't have as much chocolate flavor.
Can honey be used as a sweetner
Instead of powdered sugar? We’re not sure that will work well.
I really love your very easy, simple and tasty recipes, gonna try this one too very soon ?. However I have a doubt, in Italy, where I live, powdered sugar contains starch(mais or wheat), it’s the same thing? Or you just mean ground sugar ?
Yes you want to use powdered sugar that contains cornstarch
Can uou ise powdered sugar substitute? So it will be good for diabetics. Or is the powdered sugar essential to the recipe?
The powdered sugar is essential to the texture for the brownies
Can I add protein powder to to recipe? May substitute it for 1/2 of the sugar?
Sorry, but we haven’t tried that so can’t say how it will work.
What happens if you use the whole egg and not just whites? Seems the extra protein would hold it together better.
It completely changes the texture.
What is the substitution for egg whites if you’re a Vegan?
We don’t have a sub for this recipe, but you might like our Peanut Butter Brownies with No Eggs.
Can I make these with ALLULOSE??
Sorry, but we’re not sure. You could try out Peanut Butter Brownies with no refined sugar instead.
Can this recipe be doubled and baked in an 8X8 pan?
We haven’t tried doubling the recipe and without testing it we can’t say how it will work. Let us know if you try it and how it works for you.
Just wondering if this can be made with powdered Swerve or some other non-sugar???
We’ve only tested it with powdered sugar so we can’t say what might be a good alternative. If it’s a 1:1 sugar substitute for powdered sugar, that might be your best bet – let us know if you try it.