The Best Brownie Recipe
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If you’ve been searching for the ultimate homemade brownie recipe, look no further. This is it!
The best brownie recipes start with real melted chocolate, which is why store-bought brownie mixes made from cocoa powder lack the rich, fudgy flavor of homemade brownies. My all-time favorite brownie recipe comes from pastry chef Nick Malgieri’s cookbook Chocolate: From Simple Cookies to Extravagant Showstoppers. Made with melted bittersweet chocolate bars, the brownies are fudgy in the center, cakey on the surface, and just plain out of this world. The recipe has been around for decades and praised by top cooking publications such as The New York Times, Saveur, and The Splendid Table, to name just a few, so you don’t have to take my word for it—try for yourself and see!
Table of Contents
“The name does not lie!! These are hands-down the BEST brownies I have made!!! My entire family devoured them.”
What You’ll Need To Make The Best Brownie Recipe
- All-Purpose Flour: The base of your brownies, providing structure. Be sure to measure it using the spoon and level method for accuracy.
- Sugar and Brown Sugar: White sugar adds sweetness and a light texture, while brown sugar contributes to moisture and a deeper flavor due to its molasses content.
- Eggs: Essential for binding the ingredients together. Eggs also add moisture and help create a rich texture in the brownies.
- Unsalted Butter: Adds richness and flavor. Using unsalted butter allows you to control the amount of salt in the recipe.
- Vanilla Extract: Complements the chocolate and adds depth of flavor.
- Salt: Balances the sweetness and enhances the overall flavors of the brownies.
- Semi-Sweet or Bittersweet Chocolate: The star of the show. It’s crucial to use good quality chocolate, like Ghirardelli or Guittard, because the chocolate flavor is prominent in brownies. Opt for real chocolate bars instead of chocolate chips. Chocolate chips contain stabilizers and are designed to retain their shape when baked, making them less suitable for recipes that require melted chocolate.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-by-Step Instructions
Begin by melting the butter in a microwave-safe bowl.
Add the chopped chocolate. (You can just break it apart with your hands; no need to dirty a cutting board.)
Whisk until the chocolate is melted. The heat of the butter should be enough to melt the chocolate completely, but if not, heat the mixture in the microwave for 20 seconds or so and whisk again.
Meanwhile, whisk the eggs in a large bowl.
Add the sugars, salt and vanilla.
And whisk to combine.
Whisk in the chocolate-butter mixture.
Then add the flour.
Whisk until just combined.
Line a 9×13-in baking pan with parchment paper, then either spray the paper with non-stick cooking spray or grease with butter. Be sure to leave an overhang; this makes it easy to lift brownies out of the pan before cutting. Pour the brownie batter into the prepared pan.
Bake for about 45 minutes, or until the top has formed a shiny crust and the batter is moderately firm.
Cool completely on a rack, then use the parchment overhang to transfer the un-cut brownies to a cutting board.
Use a sharp knife to trim the hard edges (those are for the cook!).
Cut the brownies into squares and enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
To keep brownies fresh, store them in an airtight container at room temperature. They typically keep well for up to 4 days. Brownies can also be frozen for up to 3 months. After they are completely cooled, cut them into squares, wrap tightly in foil, and then place them in an airtight container or sealable plastic bag. Thaw overnight on the countertop before serving.
Absolutely! You can customize your brownies by adding a variety of mix-ins. Popular choices include chopped nuts (like walnuts or pecans) or chocolate chips or chunks.
The main reason cocoa powder is often used in brownie recipes is due to its convenience and ease of use. Cocoa powder, being a dry ingredient, can be easily measured, and it eliminates the extra step of melting chocolate. However, in my opinion, brownies made with melted chocolate are far superior—fudgier, denser, and just much more delicious!
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Video Tutorial
The Best Brownie Recipe
If you’ve been searching for the ultimate homemade brownie recipe, look no further. This is it!
Ingredients
- 2 sticks (½ pound) unsalted butter
- 8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped (I use Ghirardelli bars)
- 4 large eggs
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled off with knife
Instructions
- Set the rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350°F. Line a 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan with parchment paper (bring parchment up sides of pan so there is a slight overhang) and grease with butter or nonstick cooking spray.
- Place the butter in a medium microwave-safe bowl and melt in the microwave until bubbling. Add the chocolate and whisk until the chocolate is completely melted. The heat from the butter should be enough to melt the chocolate completely, but if not, place the chocolate-butter mixture in the microwave and heat for 20 seconds or so, then whisk again. (Alternatively, combine the butter and chocolate in a heat proof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water. Stir occasionally until melted.)
- Whisk the eggs in a large bowl. Add the salt, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla; whisk until smooth (be sure no lumps of brown sugar remain). Whisk in the chocolate-butter mixture, then add the flour and whisk until the batter is uniform.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake for about 45 minutes, until the top has formed a shiny crust and the batter is moderately firm. Cool completely in the pan on a rack. If not serving right away, store them at room temperature, for 3 to 4 days. To extend their shelf life for a day or two, you can refrigerate them.
- To cut brownies, first lift them out of the pan using the parchment overhang and transfer them to a cutting board. Separate the parchment from the edges. Using a sharp knife, trim away the edges and cut the brownies into 2-in squares.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The brownies can be frozen for up to 3 months. After they are completely cooled, cut them into squares, wrap tightly in foil, and then place them in an airtight container or sealable plastic bag. Thaw overnight on the countertop before serving.
Nutrition Information
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- Serving size: 1 brownie
- Calories: 212
- Fat: 11g
- Saturated fat: 7g
- Carbohydrates: 27g
- Sugar: 22g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 2g
- Sodium: 66mg
- Cholesterol: 51mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Hi Jenn!
I am a super fan of yours!
will try this recipe with my kids. can we add nuts? pecan or walnut? if so, at what stage should I mix it?
Awww… thanks Elly! 💗
Yes, you can definitely add nuts of your choosing to these. (I’d coarsely chop them and add them to the batter right before you pour it into the baking pan. Hope you enjoy!
Easily the best brownies we’ve ever had – I’m embarrassed to say how quickly the pan was finished! 😁
Hi Jenn, I am totally out of butter, would I be able to substitute oil in your recipes. If so how much? Once again thank you for a great recipe.
Hi Barbara, This recipe has a lot of butter, so I’m not really sure how substituting oil would impact it. Do you happen to have margarine on hand? If so, I’d use that before using oil.
Hi Jenn,
Please don’t recommend using margarine. The stuff is toxic and very bad for our health. It would be better for the person asking to try olive oil in equal measure and come up with something edible but not quite the recipe than to purchase or use margarine. If anyone has margarine in their home they should throw it away. Margarine has trans fats that are poison for us. This isn’t an exaggeration. It is unhealthy for other reasons, low in good fats, hydrogenated, high heat processed and carcinogenic. Even so called “conservative” health advocates recognize that margarine is very bad.
I otherwise love your blog and will be making these brownies (with butter 🙂 later today.
I was just wondering if it would be okay to use salted butter instead of unsalted? Would I have to lower the amount of butter used or should I be okay?
Hi Angelina, While it varies by brand, most salted butter has approximately 1/4 tsp. salt per stick, so you can use the salted butter and reduce the salt in the recipe as needed. Hope that helps and that you enjoy the brownies!
These are wonderful. I can’t keep my husband away from them. My oven must run hot because I checked after 33 minutes and they were done.
Hi Jenn,
I only have a 9×9 pan. Kind of dumb, but will the batter hold if I bake one pan at a time?
Thanks!
Not dumb! While it’s not optimal for rising for the batter to sit for a while after it’s made, it should work. Hope you enjoy!
Fabulousness
Hello Jenn. I’m a fan of your recipes and have tried some of them with success. I’m thinking to give this one a try but I only have light brown sugar at hand, will it give similar results? How much light born sugar should I use if I will follow the rest of the ingredients list as in your full recipe? If I would like to reduce the light brown sugar volume, by how much can I do so without disturbing much of the final product quality?
Hope you can advise soon. Thank you in advance.
Hi Agatha, light brown sugar will work here with no other modifications necessary. If you want to cut the brown sugar by a bit, you could cut about 1/4 cup and still get good results. Hope that helps!
Oh my goodness are these brownies the bomb! I was a bit nervous to make these based off other people’s reviews but honestly I don’t know what the heck those people are used to except it’s probably found in a gas station.
I followed Jen’s recommendation to add an extra 1/4 cup flour to make them more cakey which worked wonderfully. I also added 1 cup of chopped walnuts. Amazing!!!
I did spend extra time getting air bubbles in the batter by stirring it extra. Jen was right – that’s what gets the cracks on the top of the cooked brownies.
I freezed the leftovers and they were just as good once thawed. Jen killed it with this one.
Hi,
I’ve tried this recipe and it’s fantastic.i was wondering if we could give it some icing/ frosting??
Can you please help me with that.
Thank you in advance.
Warm regards,
Deepti.
Glad you like these! Because they’re so rich, I don’t think you really need frosting for these, but the chocolate ganache from this recipe would work nicely. I’d love to hear how they turn out if you try it with this!
Omg these were the best tasting brownies I’ve had in years thanks. for the recipe.
Not even close to the best brownies I’ve ever made. They came out perfectly—but I found the flavor to be Just so so, and I used very good—Scharffen Berger) chocolate. I’ll stick to Cook’s Baking book for brownies going foreard!
Pam I’m curious as to whether you have a better recipe? I’d love to try both yours and Jens to do a side-by-side side comparison.
Made them, loved them! Thanks a lot👍🏻👍🏻
LOVE this recipe.
I want to try and make them in muffin tins so I have a perfect elegant round brownie to serve at a dinner party.
How would I adapt the baking time and temperature?
Thanks!
So glad you like these! I’ve never tried them in a muffin tin so I’m really not certain how long they’d take — I’d start checking them at about 25 minutes but keep an eye on them! (And I’d keep the oven temp the same.) Please LMK how they turn out!
Michelle, I have only made the Ghirardelli Brownie mix and only have made them in my silicone muffin pan. I cook them for exactly 28 min. They come out perfectly. When cooled I freeze them. When we want one, I microwave each one for 30 sec. When you cut into it, it is like a lava cake with oozing chocolate. Then we put vanilla ice cream on top.
Wondering if this would work with Jenn’s recipe.
These are amazing! I’ve used this recipe multiple times and have always had good results! Since they are so rich in butter it can seem that they aren’t fully cooked but just be patient, they’re just really fudgy!
OMG . . . These brownies are amazing!! Slightly crispy top with soft, chewy insides . . . What more could a girl ask for!! And easy to make! Another home run Jenn!!!
I have made many different brownie recipes over 40 years. These are the very best tasting brownies I have ever made. Thank you for a great recipe!
Made these over the weekend for a party and they were a hit! Everyone loved them, they tasted amazing and could not have been easier to make! They truly are a combination of fudgy and cakey and definitely appeal to the fudgy brownie lover in me 🙂 Jenn, as always, thank you for your delicious recipes (and step by step instructions)!
Delicious!!! Used 4oz each of Bittersweet and Semi-sweet chocolate. Added 1/4 cup flour, per your suggestion, so it would not be as gooey. Very moist with both a “fudge” and a “cake” texture in each piece. The cut off margins are fabulous! Thank you so much for sharing another great recipe!
These are now my go to brownies! I have made them at least 6-7 times and they have been perfect each time! I watched them carefully at the end so the sides would not get overdone and
fabulous each time! Thank you Jen for all your delicious recipes.
My go to brownie recipe. Everyone loves them <3
Good morning Jenn, loved the brownie recipe, just what
I was hoping for & quick & easy. None of the edge pieces
went to waste.
I made these incredible brownies for a friend for his birthday. He and my husband could not stop eating them! They both said they have never had a better brownie. I caught my husband eating one the next morning! I am not a huge chocolate fan but I ate the crusty edges and actually, that was the best part! They are super easy to make , and you don’t need a mixer. The timing is about right also. We live in Denver but no need to alter for altitude-they were perfect! Glossy and crispy top and soft rich inside. Served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and they were absolutely perfect. This is now my “go to” brownie recipe. Note: use a good chocolate like Ghiradelli’s-makes a difference.
My Hubby is a brownie brat, never good enough…. except these, they were perfect and he wants no other recipe! I only had dark chocolate on hand, however they still turned out well! Thanks Jenn…👍🏼
Super easy and the best brownies I’ve ever made.
Wow, so many 5 star reviews, but for me they turned out totally cakey and not fudgy at all. My kids did not like them 🙁 I wonder if it has to do with technique as my usual “go to” recipe from smitten kitchen (https://smittenkitchen.com/2012/08/my-favorite-brownies/) works like a charm and it’s super close to this one with slight variation of chocolate-to-sugar ratio.
Hi Jenn,
I love your recipes. I just have one question. Why doesn’t my brownies crackle on the top like yours? What did I do wrong? Help.
Lucy
Hi Lucy, that happens when air bubbles are created when you are stirring the batter. The air bubbles expand in the oven and, when the brownies cool, they shrink and make the top crack a bit when sliced. I would be careful not to overmix them, but if you want a bit of that cracking, try mixing them a tiny bit more.
Hi Jenn – Thanks for an amazing brownie recipe!
I am thinking of warming my brownie squares before I serve them to my guests with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. What should the duration and oven temperature should be please?
Best.
Glad you like the brownies! You could just microwave individual brownies for about 15 seconds or, if you want to warm the whole batch, I’d wrap them in foil, and put them in a 300-degree oven for about 10 minutes. Hope that helps!
Hi Jenn. I’ve sure had fun looking through some of your stuff as you share. Very good.
Regarding these brownies they are about a simple a recipe and if folks will follow your directions I really don’t see how they can miss.
I made these the other day and shared them at work. This will definitely be my go to brownie.
Totally outstanding. Thank you for sharing.
Perhaps my oven runs hotter than others but these turned out dry and did not have the crispy, crackly surface as pictured.
Hi, Need a little help. The oven that I use is a fan forced oven and the temperature can only be increased in increments of 10, so getting 175ºC is impossible. Any suggestions as to what temperature I should bake so that I don’t burn the brownies? Also can I reduce the amount of sugar, either dark or granulated?
Hi Teesha, if you’re using a fan-forced oven, the rule of thumb is to reduce the oven temperature by 25° so that will get you to an even 150°C. And regarding the sugar, you could cut about a quarter cup from either the brown or granulated. Hope that helps and that you enjoy the brownies!
Hi Jenn!
I made these today and they were delicious! The only thing I didn’t do was use parchment paper because I was out, so I just heavily greased the pan- which worked just fine because they did not stick. My family really liked these with some homemade ice cream I made. I would definitely recommend these and be making them again!
I made these thinking that I probably wouldn’t really care for them but I was SO WRONG! They were AWESOME!!! My family went crazy over them. This will be my go to recipe for brownies from now on but I will add walnuts from now on because we prefer them in brownies. Outstanding recipe. Thanks Jenn!
Best. Brownies. Ever.
Good, but not my favorite…I have so many brownie recipes, but my go to everyday one is similar and I think better:
4 ou unsweetened chocolate and 1 stick unsalted butter
…melt over low heat in large saucepan. remove from heat and stir in
2 cps granulated sugar
4 eggs, add one at a time, stirring well after each addition
1 tsp vanilla, stir in
1 cp flour and 1/4 tsp salt, stir in
1 bag of chocolate chips and 3/4 cp coarsely chp walnuts, stir in
325 for 30 minutes…come out perfectly every time
1 pot, 1 wooden spoon, fast and delicious…we love to eat them straight from the freezer
Can I use pastry flour in place of AP flour?
I don’t recommend it, Judy. Sorry!
Hi jenn, Love your recipes and your cookbook thank you. I was wondering if I could make these brownies in a mini brownie silicone pan? Do you think the timing should be the same? Thanks so much
Hi Kirre, I do think these would work in a silicone pan, but timing depends on the size of the pan. What are the dimensions?
9 x13 inches thanks Jenn
Ahhh, now I understand what you’re referring to. I’ve never used one of these before but I suspect they should take about 12 to 15 minutes to bake. That’s a guesstimate though, so I’d start checking them at about 10. Hope that helps!
Hi Jenn,
Made these for the first time today. Turned out awesome. Except I’d like to make it with half sugar, ie 1 cup only for health reason. Any other adjustments to recommend as I understand less sugar would probably make it drier. Thanks a lot!
Glad you liked them! I think you could get away with cutting the sugar back by 1/2 cup, but as you said, anymore than that would impact the texture.
I have made these brownies several times using your recipe and they always come out superb. They are absolutely the best brownies of all time. I recently made them at my wife’s request so she could take them to her office for her birthday. She had to ration them so everybody got one!
I appreciate your pro tips and of course have your cookbook. Please keep the recipes coming.
😊
Hey Jen!
I loved these brownies the first go around but I wondered if you knew any adjustments that would
Make them slightly less fudgey in the middle? Any suggestions are appreciated! Love your site
Hi Francis, I’d increase the flour by 1/4 – 1/3 cup.
Thank you! Will try it
Made with 1/4 flour and they came out perfect!! Thanks so muchhhh
can you use milk chocolate?
I wouldn’t recommend it for these, Steve — sorry!
Would definitely make again. Very rich and flavorful brownie. Brownie is very fudgey in the middle as described so if that is not your preference just heads up. I loved them very much!
I am a very good cook! Not a recipe reader. After measuring all the ingredients I proceeded to assemble. I realized after the fact, I used regular brown sugar not dark, which I put in the chocolate butter mixture, did put the white sugar in the egg mixture! Well, in spite of ASSEMBLING incorrectly and using the wrong sugar they came out fabulously delicious. I WILL NEVER USE ANY OTHER RECIPE. THANK YOU.
I made these this weekend for my friends birthday, and they turned out incredible!!!! I followed the recipe exact. The only thing I did different was I chose to use Lindtt chocolate instead. The brownies had the perfect slight crunch on the outside and gooey inside. These are going to be my new go to desserts!
Hi Jenn! I am really looking forward to making these brownies for a party tomorrow. As I only have white castor sugar and salted butter, I want to know how much I have to adjust all the ingredients by? I’m worried that it might now work as well. Thank you so much!
Hi Aaliyah, I hope I’m not too late answering your question! I would omit the salt but keep the sugar the same (so you’d need 2 cups caster sugar).
Jenn, how do you think dark brown sugar would work in this recipe? Sometimes I use dark brown sugar in cookie recipes and think it tastes better. I’m making these for my grandson who loves brownies. Thank you so much!
It will work perfectly fine, Carolyn – I’ve used it many times in this recipe.
Dear Jenn, I want to ask, how can I adjust the other ingredients if I use 52% or 55% dark chocolate? and if I don’t use dark brown sugar, will it taste so different?
Thank you
Hi Jeng, you shouldn’t need to make any adjustments with 52 or 55% chocolate. You mentioned not using dark brown sugar — would you be using light brown sugar instead?
Thank you for replying Jenn. How about using 62% or 75% dark chocolate? should i add sugar? No, i mean if i use granulated sugar, not light brown sugar.
Hi Jeng, any of those percentages should work; they will just be a little more or less sweet depending on which one you go with. And yes, you can use granulated sugar here if necessary.
Have made these twice now.. the last time I made them my toddler turned the oven right down and I had to guess how long to cook them once the oven was back up… they still worked out well 😂 love the recipe
For the brownies do I bake at the same temp if lining a glass pan with the parchment paper?
Hi Margie, I’d reduce the oven temp by 25°F.
These brownies are aahh-mazing! I’m not a big brownie lover, but I made them for my husband, who is. I could not stay away from them. They’re slightly crunchy/crusty on the top and fudgy in the middle. Just wonderful!
I have a recipe for cooked chocolate frosting for on top of the brownies. Would that be to much rich chocolate on these brownies?
Hi Pat, These brownies are rich and fudgy alone but I don’t think adding a frosting would hurt. 🙂
These were just “okay”. I followed the recipe exactly and lined my pan with parchment. I did add chopped walnuts because we like them in brownies. I took them out at 42 minutes and felt they were still overdone. A little disappointed in the final result.
Hi,
Thanks for the recipe. Not sure what I did wrong but they came out cakey and not fudgy. I reduced the white sugar a bit and used a ceramic casserole dish. Could those things have been the issue? I also wonder if stirring too much was a problem once I added the chocolate to the flour.
Thanks.
CC
Hi CC, Did they seem overdone? Were they burnt around the edges?
Yes, dry/over done – the kiss of death for a brownie – but not burned. I baked them for less than 40 minutes as my oven runs hot.
Hi CC, Dryness can be caused by measuring the flour incorrectly. Did you use the spoon and level method to measure the flour? Even a few extra ounces can make a big difference. This article/video explains it nicely.
Thank you so much for the article/video on measuring flour! Hugely helpful!!! I will try the recipe again.
This is the same recipe my mother made in the 1940s. She baked them at 300 degrees for about an hour. I’ve been making it ever since I was old enough to bake. And yes it is the best!
🙂