These Fudgy Dark Chocolate Brownies are extremely decadent, chewy, and rich with dark chocolate flavor. Both dark cocoa powder and a bittersweet chocolate bar are used to create these perfect brownies!
This recipe was originally published in May of 2020, but was updated on January 4, 2023 with newer content and fresh pictures.
These homemade brownies have the perfect fudgy texture and are overloaded with chocolate flavor.
The moist crumbs in these thicker brownies make them so much better than any boxed brownie mix you could buy!
Looking for more chocolate recipes? Then check out these double chocolate crinkle cookies, triple chocolate cupcakes, and chocolate muffins.
Why You'll Love These Brownies
- A whole dark chocolate bar is melted into them.
- Each bite is ooey gooey with so much chocolate.
- They're extremely fudgy and not cakey.
- You can make them using just one bowl; no electric mixer needed!
Any chocolate lovers will absolutely love these fudgy brownies.
They're perfectly fudgy, moist, and decadent; just like the best brownies should be!
And whether you love crispy edges or fudgy middles, these brownies have both.
Expert Baking Tips
- Baking Pan: Line your 8x8-inch baking pan with parchment paper, creating "handles" that hang over the sides. Then grease your pan with non-stick spray. This makes extracting the brownies once they have cooled extremely easy.
- Measuring Flour: To help ensure you don’t add extra flour, follow these three simple steps: 1) Fluff up the flour using a fork. 2) Spoon the flour into your measuring cup. 3) Scrape a knife across the top of the measuring cup to level out the flour.
- Folding: This means we carefully combine our ingredients without stirring or beating. We do this with a silicone spatula until the ingredients are just combined with each other, “folding” everything together.
- Bake Time: The brownies will take anywhere from 30-35 minutes to bake. When using a toothpick to test the center, it should come out with a few moist crumbs. If super wet, then they need more time to bake.
- Cooling: To easily cut and serve the brownies, allow them to cool for at least one hour. I like to use a dough scraper to get smooth and even cuts.
Ingredients Needed
Here are some notes on the ingredients we'll be using. For the full ingredients list, look at the recipe card below.
- Chocolate: I used a bittersweet chocolate bar (Ghirardelli and Scharffen Berger are my favorite) but you could also use semi-sweet or milk chocolate.
- Eggs: A combination of two large eggs and one egg yolk at room temperature are needed. That extra yolk helps to make the brownies chewy and thick.
- Oil: Just a little bit of vegetable oil added to the batter will help to intensify the chocolate flavor, along with adding extra fudginess.
- Flour: I used all purpose flour. Be sure to properly measure your flour (check out "Expert Baking Tips" above). Do not directly scoop the flour out with a measuing cup.
- Cocoa Powder: I used Hershey's dark chocolate cocoa powder, but you could also substitute it with regular cocoa powder.
Instructions
Here are the step by step instructions on how to make this dark chocolate brownie recipe.
Step 1: Melt the chocolate. In a medium or small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and chocolate, mixing occasionally, until completely melted and smooth. Set aside.
Step 2: Wet ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the white sugar, eggs, and egg yolk for 3 minutes. Then whisk in the oil, vanilla extract, and melted chocolate mixture, just until combined.
Step 3: Dry ingredients: Gently fold in the flour, sifted cocoa powder, and salt using a silicone spatula. Pour batter into the prepared square pan.
Step 4: Bake. Bake the brownies for 30-35 minutes, or just until the edges are set and the middle of the brownies no longer jiggle.
Storing Tips
Keep any leftover brownies in an airtight container on the counter for up to 5 days.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you want even more chocolate inside of these brownies, then you can add a 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips to the batter before baking.
For me, the best brownie recipe is made with dark chocolate. The flavor is richer and more intense. But, you can certainly use a milk chocolate bar if that's what you prefer.
Yes you can. Just double the recipe. I've done this several times!
If you made this recipe, please leave a comment and star rating below. I love hearing from you! Also, please tag me on Instagram and check out my Pinterest for even more recipe ideas.
It brings me so much joy to see you make my recipes. 🙂
Happy Baking!
More Brownie Recipes
Fudgy Dark Chocolate Brownies
Equipment
- 8x8 inch baking pan
- Mixing Bowl
- Whisk
- Sauce Pan
Ingredients:
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- 1 ¼ cups sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 egg yolk, room temperature
- ¼ cup vegetable oil (or canola)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅔ cup all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup dark cocoa powder, sifted
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line an 8x8-inch baking pan with parchment paper, creating "handles" that hang over the sides. Then spray with non-stick spray.
- In a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and chocolate, mixing occasionally, until completely melted and smooth. Set aside and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, and egg yolk for 3 minutes (this step is crucial). Whisk in the vegetable oil, vanilla extract, and melted chocolate, just until combined.
- Gently fold in the flour, sifted cocoa powder, and salt using a silicone spatula.
- Spread the brownie mixture into the prepared pan. Use your silicone spatula to spread out the batter evenly. Bake for 30-35 minutes, just until the edges are set and the middle of the brownies doesn't jiggle. You can also use a toothpick to check the center (the toothpick should come out clean with just a few crumbs).
- Allow the brownies to completely cool (about 1 hour) before slicing them into bars. Keep any leftover brownies in an airtight container on the counter for up to 5 days.
Notes:
These look and sound delicious! Can’t wait to try them myself. Thanks for sharing.
Can you u substitute butter for the oil?
Yes you can! Just substitute the 1/4 cup of oil for a 1/4 cup of butter. So in total, you'll use 3/4 cup of melted butter for the recipe.
These look so yummy and I love dark chocolate, can't wait to try!
Omg, these look divine! Those tops! I love a good brownie too. Adding these to my list to try! Thanks for sharing!
Oh why did I read it now! It's late evening and I want brownies 🙂
These look so yummy and simple! Gonna try them this week! Thanks for sharing 🙂
looks delicious huh.. thanks for sharing, i will try this one.
Thank you, Jaz!
These rich brownies look incredible! I’m dreaming of using them in a brownie sundae as we speak!
That would be delicious 🙂
The baking time so WRONG! Brownies shoud NEVER bake for so long! It seemed a little weird to me when i read 25-28 min so i baked them for 20 and they STILL turned out dry and fully baked. 15 min TOPS!! Change it!! Very disappointed.
Hi Lizzy, I'm so sorry your brownies did not turn out right. I have made this recipe numerous times and it's one of my most popular recipes. Do you have an oven thermometer for your oven? Often ovens can be off by 15F in either direction. That's a common reason baked good don't turn out right.
The size of the pan makes a difference in the cook time as well. I wrote this recipe for an 8"x8" cooking pan. Many recipes that use bigger pans such as a 9"x9" recommend a shorter cook time to compensate for the thinner layer of batter.
When reading up on other common brownie recipes (such as Hersheyland and Allrecipes, in addition to other first-page results) the cook time for many recipes is matching my time here or is even longer.
All this said, I hope these brownies can come out well for you in the future if you try them again, and I'll look at updating the recipe to add some FAQ's for the good of the common baker. Thank you and again, I'm sorry for the bad experience with the recipe.
hi there! for the cocoa powder, do you use hershey’s special dark or the regular unsweetened? :))
I used the Hershey's special dark cocoa powder for these brownies, but you could certainly use the non-dark chocolate one. 🙂
I made these brownies today and they were delicious! Thanks for the recipe!!
Thank you for trying my recipe, Kara! I'm so glad you enjoyed them!
These look amazing! I love dark chocolate, can’t wait to try this using a flax egg substitute!
You'll have to let me know how that works for you!