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These Chickpea Blondies are going to be your new favorite dessert! If you weren’t the one making them, you’d never guess they were made with beans. Each bar contains only 144 calories and 6 grams of protein.
Not only are these healthy blondies low-calorie and packed with protein and fiber, but each one also contains 10% of your daily iron needs. If you’re iron-deficient, these healthy dessert bars will help add more iron to your diet in a fun and delicious way.
They have a gooey center, crisp edges, and are full of rich peanut butter flavor. These blondies are truly the perfect dessert, full of balanced nutrition.
If you like healthy peanut butter dessert recipes, you will love my Low-Carb Peanut Butter Cookies and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- You Can’t Taste the Beans: Between the peanut butter, maple syrup, and vanilla extract in this recipe, you can’t even taste the chickpeas. I promise there is no beanie flavor!
- Packed with Protein and Iron: Not only are chickpeas a great source of protein, but they also contain a lot of iron. That makes this recipe great for those who may be a little iron-deficient.
- Gluten-Free and Vegan Dessert: This healthy blondie recipe doesn’t use any flour, so it’s naturally gluten-free. It also doesn’t use any eggs or butter, so it’s also completely vegan.
Table of Contents
Ingredients
- Chickpeas: Drain and rinse a can of chickpeas (also called garbanzo beans) to blend into the batter.
- Peanut Butter: Creamy peanut butter adds some extra protein and flavor, and helps cover the flavor of the chickpeas. Slightly heat the peanut butter so it’s a little runny and easier to blend.
- Vanilla Extract: A bit of vanilla extract enriches the flavor of the blondies and adds a touch of sweetness.
- Maple Syrup: Using maple syrup as a natural sweetener keeps this dessert moist without adding a lot of extra calories. You could use honey, but then the recipe would no longer be vegan.
- Chocolate Chips: Use dairy-free chocolate chips to keep the recipe dairy-free and vegan.
See the recipe card below for exact ingredient amounts, nutritional information, and detailed instructions.
Variations & Dietary Modifications
- Make Them Nut-Free: If you have a nut allergy, you can use sunflower butter instead of peanut butter. Just keep in mind that the baking soda and baking powder will turn the sunflower butter green. Green blondies could be fun, especially for kids!
- Use a Different Bean: You can use any white bean in this recipe, including cannellini beans or Great Northern beans. Chickpeas are my favorite, though.
- Add Cocoa Powder: Turn these blondies into brownies by adding cocoa powder to the batter, like in my double chocolate chickpea brownies.
How to Make Chickpea Blondies
These healthy chickpea blondies are the perfect lower-calorie, high-protein, and iron-rich dessert. They come together quickly and taste delicious! Preheat your oven to 350°F and prepare a baking pan with nonstick cooking spray and line it with parchment paper.
Step 1: Blend Ingredients. Add the chickpeas, peanut butter, vanilla extract, maple syrup, baking soda, baking powder, and salt to a blender or food processor. Blend the ingredients until they are creamy and smooth.
Step 2: Fold in Chocolate Chips. Use a spatula to fold in the chocolate chips by hand.
Step 3: Add Batter to the Pan. Spread the batter into a smooth, even layer in your prepared baking pan. Bake at 350°F for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick can be inserted and removed cleanly from the center of the pan.
Step 4: Slice and Top the Blondies. Remove the blondies from the oven and let them cool in the pan for 30 minutes. Then remove the blondies and slice them into 16 equally sized bars. Drizzle melted chocolate and peanut butter over the tops of the bars.
Expert Tips
- Drain and Dry Chickpeas: Keep the chickpeas from adding excess moisture to the batter by draining them, rinsing them, and patting them completely dry before blending them.
- Use a Hot Knife for Cutting: Run your knife under hot water and wipe it clean after each cut to keep the cuts clean and easy.
- Make Them Extra Fudgey: Ensure your blondies have a rich, fudge-like consistency by refrigerating them for an hour after they cool.
- Storing: Store leftover blondies in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a week. You can also slice them and wrap them individually in plastic wrap and freeze them for a month. Thaw frozen blondies in the refrigerator for 24 hours before eating them.
Serving Suggestions
This chickpea blondies recipe is the perfect dessert or afternoon snack! They are low-calorie, vegan, full of protein, and provide 10% of your daily iron. These are great for dessert parties, packing in your lunch, or enjoying as a little treat. No one will even know they are made with beans!
- These make a great dessert to enjoy after a delicious dinner, like my Greek chicken bowls with zucchini noodles.
- Make an apple pie smoothie to go with your blondies for an extra boost of protein and some added fiber.
- If you’re looking for more iron-rich recipes, try making my butternut squash hash as well.
Chickpea Blondies Recipe FAQs
No, I do not recommend using garbanzo flour for this recipe because it has a much stronger bean-like flavor than the beans themselves.
If your blondies are mushy, then they probably aren’t done cooking. Add a few additional minutes to the baking time until you can insert and remove a toothpick cleanly from the center.
If your blondies are still a bit gritty, then you need to blend the batter for a longer amount of time. To avoid, I suggest testing the batter before baking. That way if it still feels grainy you can blend for more time.
More Delicious Healthy Dessert Recipes
Desserts
High Protein Cheesecake
Gluten Free
Healthy Strawberry Shortcake
Desserts
Greek Yogurt Cake
Gluten Free
Raspberry Crumb Bars
If you tried this chickpea blondies recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you go in the 📝 comments below.
Chickpea Blondies
Ingredients
- 15 ounce Garbanzo Beans, from a can, rinsed & drained well*
- ½ cup Peanut butter , or any nut butter
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- ⅓ cup Maple Syrup
- ¼ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ teaspoon Baking Powder
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ¼ cup Mini Chocolate Chips, or dairy free chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven 350° F. Prepare an 8×8 baking pan by spraying it with nonstick cooking spray.
- To a blender or food processor, add all ingredients except chocolate chips. Process on high until creamy and smooth. Fold chocolate chips into the batter by hand.
- Bake at 350° F 20-25 minutes until a toothpick can be inserted clean. Cool in the pan 30 minutes prior to slicing into 16 bars.
- Optionally drizzle the tops of he bars with melted chocolate and extra nut butter.
Notes
- Drain, rinse, and pat the chickpeas dry to avoid adding excess moisture to the chickpea blondie batter.
- Run a knife under hot water and wipe it clean after every cut to make the cuts clean.
- Place cooled blondies in the refrigerator for an hour to give them a more fudgy texture.
- If you replace peanut butter with sunflower butter, be aware it will turn the blondies green due to the chemical reaction with baking soda.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to one week.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I need these brownies! Megan, they looks delicious. I have a bazillion bake with beans recipes pinned on pinterest but I’ve never actually tried one. You’ve inspired me!
Have a fantastic brownie lovin’ weekend!
Hi Jill! You must get around to trying one. I actually like baking more with beans than flour.
Look yummy! The recipe says to use a muffin tin then cut them into squares. Can you explain that part? Excited to try these!!
It’s corrected now. I obviously meant a baking pan. I’m not surprised I wrote muffin tin because I make a lot of muffins!
Just wanted to make sure that I got the pan size correct! I made these yesterday — they are SO good and were kid-approved by my three daughters. Of course, I didn’t disclose the “secret” ingredient. 😉 These are going to go into the lunchbox rotation this school year. Nice to have a little treat that gives them protein and iron during the school day. Great recipe.
Yeah!!! So glad you and your girls loved them. They’re perfect take-a-long snack! Thanks for letting me know too. That made my day!
Chick peas are my favorite bean (pea?) hands down! These look delicious and I would certainly rather get my iron by eating these!
Me too! I love roasting them as a snack, but they are addicting!
Yummy! I’ve only made black bean brownies before, but these sound absolutely delicious!
These taste just like chocolate chip cookies. You will love them!
Yum! I think I might have to make these today 🙂
You will love them!
it’s too hot to turn on oven too, ya know? rest up, our time will come.. BRING ON FALL! and i will make these. YUM!
Haha…I made them in the crockpot KIDDING! I made these in June in the early morning.
Mmmmm because beans and chocolate are NEVER something to be skeptical about 😉 Delish!
Thanks lovely!
Hey Megan! I have been reading (and enjoying) your blog for a while. My heart goes out to you with your recent health struggles. After years of being iron deficient, amennorheic, and being able to stay very thin despite eating gobs of candy/sugar daily, I found out at age 32 (six years ago) that I have Celiac disease. Your comment in this post about iron deficiency struck me. Also, low bone density and low estrogen can be very common with Celiac. Have you been tested? Of course, you have to be eating gluten when you are tested for the results to be accurate.
I have really struggled with body image these past few years as I have gained 30-35 pounds since going gluten free. I know I am more muscular and have stronger bones, but I also have more body fat than I would like. I eat gluten free and dairy free, weight train and train for triathlons, so the weight is hard! After being so thin for most of my life, I would like to find a happy medium. I ramble….
The brownies look great! Will make them this weekend!
Take care,
Carrie
Hi Carrie, I am so glad you commented and thank you for being a loyal reader! Five years ago I was tested for Celiac when I became iron deficient and it came back negative. I will email you further details as new things have happened which I have not discussed yet on the blog.
YES PLEASE
That is all.
Come on over!
Yup the food pictures are out of control in my phone! Going through them is ridiculous but at least most of them are easily deleted. Last three pictures are my breakfast, another picture of my breakfast, and a picture of scallions growing on my windowsill!
The brownies look yummy!
The pics are easy to delete, but mine replicate on my MAC because I have iCloud sharing. If I delete from the phone, they do not automatically delete from my computer and then they come back on my phone. It’s really annoying! You have breakfast pictures on your phone? Never! I swear breakfast is what you’re known for!