Vegan Blondies
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My vegan blondies are chewy, soft, and studded with gooey chocolate chips. They’re golden with perfect, crispy edges.
Why I love this vegan blondie recipe
Whenever my parents would take us to a bakery, blondies were ALWAYS my #1 choice.
Traditional blondies are made with eggs and butter, but I wanted to make a vegan-friendly version to share with some vegan friends. After weeks of recipe testing, I’ve done it! My vegan blondies are chewy and cakey, with golden edges and pools of half-melted chocolate chips. Here’s why I make them often (even as a non-vegan):
- Made with pantry staples. Unlike many vegan desserts, these have no niche or hard-to-find ingredients.
- The perfect texture. A little molasses is my secret ingredient for that soft, gooey center.
- Easy to customize. My local bakery added chocolate chips to their blondies, but of course, you can use different mix-ins to make them uniquely yours.
- Perfect for sharing. Anytime I’m hosting, I prefer to make bars. They’re easy to slice and transport, and because they’re vegan, everyone can enjoy them. They can also be made gluten-free.
★★★★★ REVIEW
“This was the best dessert I’ve made in a long time! I subbed out some of the chocolate for dried cherries; can’t stop thinking about how yummy it was! Thanks for a great recipe!” – A.Peelen
Table of Contents
Key Ingredients
Here’s what goes into vegan blondies, along with my kitchen notes. Full measurements are in the recipe card below.
- Brown sugar. Gives the blondies a robust, caramelized flavor. Don’t use dark brown sugar, as it’s overpowering.
- White sugar. Keeps the blondies light in color and gives them crisp edges.
- All-purpose flour. I used gluten-free flour to keep this recipe gluten-free. I like Bob’s Red Mill or King Arthur GF blends (with xanthan gum). If you use another blend and it doesn’t contain it, add 1/2 a teaspoon. Of course, regular AP is great.
- Baking soda. Helps them rise.
- Salt. Brings out the sweetness, especially if you sprinkle some on top.
- Vegan butter. Opt for a high-quality brand. Trust me, it makes all the difference. My go-to brands are Miyoko’s and Country Crock. These two bake consistently well and are what I use in all my vegan recipes.
- Molasses. Optional, but it gives an even more gooey texture.
- Chocolate chips. Use a combination of vegan chocolate chips and a chopped-up chocolate bar so every bite is loaded with pockets of chocolate.
- Vanilla extract. A must for flavor!
- Egg substitute. I used a flax egg (1 tablespoon ground flaxseed mixed with 3 tablespoons water), but I suspect a chia egg will work just as well. If you don’t follow a vegan diet, you can use 1 whole egg.
How to make vegan blondies
Step 1- Make the flax egg. Mix the flaxseed with water. While it gels, preheat the oven and line a square pan with parchment paper.
Step 2- Mix. Combine the dry ingredients in one bowl. Using a stand mixer, cream the sugar and butter until smooth. Fold the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, then stir in the vanilla, molasses, and flax egg. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Step 3- Bake. Pour the batter into the pan and bake until the edges are slightly brown. Let them cool completely before slicing.
Arman’s recipe tips and variations
- Avoid overmixing. Sometimes my blondies will sink in the middle if I overmix the batter. You only want to mix until you have a smooth batter with no lumps.
- Prefer cakey blondies? Bake them closer to 27-28 minutes.
- Don’t use different egg substitutes. I only tested flax eggs here, and they give the blondies the appropriate structure and chewy texture.
- Change up the mix-ins. Swap the chocolate chips for chopped nuts (like pecans or walnuts) or vegan white chocolate chips. My partner loves it with those.
Frequently asked questions
If the center is very wet, they likely need a few more minutes in the oven. The edges should look set, and a toothpick inserted into the center should come out with a few moist crumbs- not wet batter. That said, I intentionally underbake mine slightly because I love a gooey center.
Absolutely. In fact, I personally find them even better the next day once they’ve had time to firm up. Store them in an airtight container at room temperature or in the fridge if you prefer a fudgier texture.
Vegan Blondies
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour use gluten-free, if needed * See notes, 125g
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 flax egg ** See notes
- 6 tablespoons vegan butter softened, can use standard butter, if not vegan, 85g
- 1/4 cup white sugar 50g
- 6 tablespoon brown sugar 75g
- 1 tablespoon molasses Optional *** See notes, 15g
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup vegan chocolate chips I used a mix of chopped chocolate and chips, 170g
Instructions
- Prepare your flax egg by combining 1 tablespoon of flaxseed with 3 tablespoons of water. Let sit for 10 minutes, for a gel to form.
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F and line an 8 x 8-inch square pan with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, add your flour, baking soda, and salt, and mix well. Set aside. In a separate bowl, add your sugars with the softened vegan butter. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, cream together until combined.
- Add your creamed butter/sugar to the dry mixture. Add your vanilla extract, molasses (if using it) and flax egg and mix together, until just combined. Fold through chocolate chips, reserving a handful to top the blondies with.
- Transfer the batter into the lined pan and top with extra chocolate chips. Bake for 17-25 minutes, until the edges are just starting to brown. Do not bake longer than 25 minutes unless you want cakey blondies. If so, bake for 28 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan completely, before slicing.
Missing information in steps. The butter needs to be melted which in not what you do when creaming butter and sugar. It’s too sweet and in no world does this recipe fill and
8×8 pan. I tripled it and barely filled one pan.
Hi Anna! In testing, melted butter actually resulted in the batter being a little greasy around the sides. Softened butter creams beautifully and it worked well. If the batter wasn’t enough, I wonder if you added too many chocolate chips?
Terrible! Tried the first batch with 1T of PB (suggested in the recipe)—came out oily and flat. Tried again without the PB and reduced the plant based butter a little. Still so greasy and flat, I laid the pieces on paper towel to soak up the oil.
Hi Sarah- thanks for the feedback. Are you sure it is this recipe? I don’t recommend peanut butter in it, as I haven’t tested it, so can’t vouch for it. I do have a dedicated peanut butter blondie recipe, but it does contain eggs.
Just made these and my biggest disappointment is that I didn’t make more! So good, thank you! 🥰
Haha oh no! You’ll have to make another batch then. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave some feedback. So glad you liked the blondies 🙂
I made these for a family gathering today and they were big hit. Everyone wanted to split up leftovers to bring them home. Great recipe regardless of people are vegan or not.
very good, but 17 minutes is way too little time.
Thanks for the feedback Paul! Can I ask what size your baking dish was? This may have impacted the cooking time.
These are delicious! People rave about them! Did bake for 20 minutes, 17 minutes was not long enough.
Is 1 cup of flour 120grams?
Hi Lucy, yep! About 120-125 grams 🙂
The recipe was very tasty but I think the ratios are off or something. It did not make enough dough to really spread adequately in the pan. It made it really thin and the chocolate ratio was off. I think it would benefit from changing the recipe to grams. Much more precise.
Hi Meghan- the dough is thin, but it does rise as it bakes. Based on reader feedback, I have retested them to include metric measurements, so I hope you do try them again! 🙂
I made this recipe and I ended up burning it just a little bit and it also turned out brown. im also not the best baker, but do you have any tips?
Overall I did like it
Hi Jayden- Hmm, if they burned a little, I wonder if your oven is quite top heavy, which browns the tops quicker than other ovens- does this happen to other baking recipes for you? If it does, it’s quite a simple tweak- I’d loosely tent the pan with tin foil from the 15 minute mark 🙂
So delicious and gooey!
so good i made these twice in a week, used half chickpea flour for some extra protein and they turned out great
Thanks for the feedback and suggestion, Em!
These were the best blondies ever 🙂
I cooked them for 17 mins and they were still utterly raw in the centre had to put back in for 10 mins, but apart from that they were delicious!
Thanks Andy- it really is dependent on the oven, but I’ve updated the recipe times after retesting it in a few different ovens to provide more accuracy. I’m glad you enjoyed them!
Okay, these blondies were out of this world delicious!!
Made these yesterday for a Thanksgiving Dinner dessert option. My inlaws were fighting over the left overs to take home!
Got a craving while working from home and decided to whip these up between Teams meetings. I used half the sugar that the recipe calls for and they turned out SO GOOD. I love that the yield was smaller than a lot of recipes – perfect for one person to nibble on over a few days.
Thanks, Rebecca- what a great teams meeting treat to make 🙂 I’m glad you’re sharing that about the sugar- that is super helpful for others thinking of reducing the sugar 🙂