Thick, chewy and super fudgy brownies made with just five healthy ingredients and designed specifically for breakfast! These healthy sweet potato breakfast brownies are completely paleo, vegan, gluten free, sugar free and packed with protein!
A serving of veggies, chocolate and dessert first thing in the morning? These breakfast brownies aren’t a joke and will be your new favorite meal, snack, or clean eating dessert to enjoy anytime!
Seriously, guys. The next time someone says ‘eat veggies for breakfast’, don’t think of spinach in an omelet, tomatoes in a bagel or mushrooms with your bacon- Think of sweet potatoes IN your brownies which are secretly hidden, you wouldn’t even be able to tell!
Today’s recipe is dedicated to a special someone named Julie. It might sound strange dedicating a recipe to someone you haven’t met, but c’est la vie. I connected with Julie through the blog’s Facebook page, in which Julie would share her recipe creations, her questions and even helps other readers with her tweaks on certain recipes. She’s championed the cookbook from its announcement and continued to be a support until its release, in which she was one of the first to purchase her copy! Julie has mentioned several times her favorite recipe is these brownies and these brownies, so it was time to create a special version combining the two- Sweet potatoes and breakfast!
The texture of these grain free sweet potato breakfast brownies is incredible. Soft, gooey and super fudgy brownies, loaded with good-for-you ingredients you can find in your pantry! Unlike traditional brownies, these contain no butter, no oil, no sugar and no grains, but you’d never be able to tell! The sweet potato flavor isn’t overpowering, but it lends that gooey texture, especially when baked with the other ingredients!
The brownie base uses four simple ingredients- mashed sweet potato, smooth nut butter, pure maple syrup and a good quality cocoa powder. These aren’t the overly sweet kind of brownies, but more dark and rich. You’ll get some sweetness from the maple syrup and with the added healthy frosting. However, if you DO want super sweet brownies, feel free to add either some liquid stevia or some granulated sweetener of choice.
You’ll notice I mentioned this recipe can be made completely sugar free, and it can be- I used a new to me sugar-free maple syrup, but not one made of chemicals and strange ingredients. This one uses my favorite granulated sweetener, monk fruit, and actually BAKES well; something which normal sugar free maple syrup tends to fail at (trust me when writing my cookbook, I confirmed this multiple times!). If you only have the standard sugar-free syrup, it won’t work for this recipe, and it will leave it in a unbaked mess.
Peanut butter probably has the best texture, but unfortunately, it’s extremely overpowering (which isn’t a bad thing, but in recipes NOT peanut butter specific, it can be!). As such, I recommend using either smooth almond butter or cashew butter. Alternatively, you can use a nut-free alternative, like sunflower seed butter or soy nut butter. For the cocoa powder, I love this good quality cocoa powder but consider using half or all of this cocoa powder for super dark and rich brownies.
The final element to these healthy breakfast brownies is the thick layer of frosting. However, before you negatively associate ‘frosting’ with a sugar bomb, think again! These sweet potato brownies have three frosting options- The protein-packed frosting (perfect for those who want extra protein, for added satiety), the simple ganache frosting (simply coconut cream with chocolate chips of choice) or a cream cheese/chocolate frosting hybrid (softened cream cheese with melted chocolate chips). Alternatively, you can simply add a thick layer of sugar-free homemade Nutella, which is my personal favorite!
Snack, dessert or a clean eating treat you can enjoy guilt-free, these 5 Ingredient grain free sweet potato breakfast brownies are your answer!
Healthy Sweet Potato Breakfast Brownies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups sweet potatoes pureed *
- 1 cup almond butter can substitute for any nut or seed butter of choice
- 1/4 cup sugar free maple syrup can sub for pure maple syrup
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips of choice optional
- 1 serving healthy frosting of choice **
Instructions
- Preheat the oven the 350 degrees fahrenheit and lightly grease a small loaf pan (thicker brownies) or 8 x 8 inch pan (perfect for thicker frosting) and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine all your ingredients and mix until fully incorporated. Pour into the greased pan and bake for 20-22 minutes, or until a skewer just comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool in the pan completely.
- While brownies are cooling, prep your frosting of choice- See above the recipe card for the options (protein packed, coconut cream ganache, a chocolate bar of choice or homemade Nutella). Once brownies are cooled, frost and cut into pieces.
Notes
Nutrition
More delicious recipes using sweet potatoes? Gotcha covered!
Healthy Blender Sweet Potato Muffins
3 Ingredient Flourless Brownies
Healthy Flourless Protein Brownie Muffins
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. I may earn a small commission for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this website.
As always, these look delicious! Super moist and I’m loving the addition of the sweet potato.
You always get me with brownies! Also, how do you get such perfect “bites” for your food photos – those chattering plastic teeth?! 😛
Hahaha! I think Arman keeps a set of dentures in his food props. 🙂
First off, cheers to Julie! Second, these brownies…yes, please! I didn’t like sweet potatoes as a kid because they always showed up mashed with marshmallows on top. Ick. But then I discovered sweet potato fries, and my world changed. Well, that might be a bit extreme, but yeah. Sweet potato fries. Now I need to try baking with those sweet taters as these brownies look so fluffy and delicious!
probably a dumb question, but do you bake the sweet potatoes first so they are softer to puree?
Hi Kay, yes ensure they are pre-cooked!
That sugar free syrup doesn’t happen to be Walden Farms, does it? lol!
Can you substitute unsweetened applesauce for the maple syrup?
I don’t think that would work, sorry- You’ll need to try and see for yourself. 🙂
Any possible subs for the maple syrup? Honey? Molasses?
Absolutely- those are perfect substitutions. I’d stick with honey over molasses, unless you enjoy the distinct, strong taste 🙂
Any subs for the maple syrup? Honey? Molasses?
I’d go the honey route or agave- Molasses is a little too overpowering! 🙂
what if i want to make it paleo how many and when can i add egg(s) ? thanks!
I haven’t tried it, let me know if you do!
What is the name if of the maple syrup you’ve mentioned? Thanks!
Hi! It’s a monk fruit sweetened maple syrup, the link is included in the post 🙂
Really want to hack this recipe for a nut or seed free version! Can you help me out with what other ingredient I could use there to keep it gluten free and paleo? Hmmm….
Hmm I haven’t tried it another way, but keen to hear if something works for you!
Do you have the nutrition or macros for this recipe as listed?
Of course! If you go to myfitnesspal and plug in the ingredients in there, it will provide a full breakdown for you 🙂
Can you use your sugar-free homemade Nutella as the nut butter in the recipe?
I don’t see why not 🙂
Hi Arman! I made these the other day and they are to die for! I gave up sugar for 30 days and then switched to non-refined sugars only, so these were perfect for me. My husband, who is gluten-free, also LOVES them, and all of the ladies at my work who are on the MAX challenge are begging me for more! Thanks for the amazing recipe! It will be made many more times…:)
This means so much- Thanks, guys!
Eek! How do I know when they are cooked! They haven’t gone hard like other brownies because of the lack of flour so they are a bit too mushy! But nonetheless ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS! ?
Sometimes they need to be chilled to firm up 🙂
Thanks Arman! I wondered if that was the case and sure enough they were perfect this morning! My boss and colleague enjoyed them too… this must be where the term “brownie points” comes from!