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These Instant Pot Brownies might be my favorite brownie recipe to date. They require just one bowl and 10 minutes to stir together, and are made without flour for a rich and fudgy texture.
Baking in the Instant Pot
What I love about baking in my Instant Pot is that you can’t mess it up. If you get distracted and forget that you’re baking something, the Instant Pot will turn off automatically when the cooking cycle is over.
Even if you forget your brownies are in there for TWO HOURS, they won’t burn. (Yep, I’ve done that.)
Since these brownies are cooked with steam pressure, they also won’t dry out or brown around the edges. This means you don’t have to worry about acrylamide forming, like you might in the oven.
Flourless Almond Butter Brownies
This recipe comes from my book, The Fresh & Healthy Instant Pot Cookbook, and I wanted to share it here so you could have a visual of what the batter looks like. It’s not your average “runny” brownie batter!
Because the Instant Pot keeps baked goods so moist, your batter needs to be thicker, almost like play-doh. Instead of pouring it into a pan, you’ll need to use your hands to flatten it into the bottom of the pan and then gently press the dark chocolate chips on top, if you want a double-chocolate-style brownie. (I highly recommend this.)
How to Make Instant Pot Brownies
To “bake” these brownies, you’ll need to pour a cup of water into the bottom of your Instant Pot. This is the water that will boil and will bring your pot to pressure.
Place the trivet that comes with your electric pressure cooker over that water, then place the pan of brownies on top of that. I like to cover my pan to protect it from condensation that could drip on the brownies, so I do that with an upside down plate. (Just make sure it’s oven safe and the same diameter as your pan.) Alternatively, you could cover the brownies with another sheet of parchment paper or with foil.
These brownies only need to cook at high pressure for 15 minutes, but keep in mind that you’ll need to wait roughly 10 minutes for the pot to come to pressure before the cooking cycle begins.
You’ll also need to wait another 10 minutes after the cooking cycle is over before you can take off the lid, so plan on these brownies taking closer to 30 minutes total. But all of that time is totally hands-off, so you can do something else around the house.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup almond butter
- 3/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1 egg (or flax egg; see notes)
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips (optional)
Instructions
- Line a 7-inch round baking pan with parchment paper. In a large bowl, combine the almond butter, coconut sugar, cocoa powder, egg, salt, baking soda, and vanilla and stir well to create a thick batter.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and use your hands to press it evenly into the pan. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top and gently press them into the batter.
- Pour 1 cup of water into the Instant Pot and arrange the handled trivet on the bottom. Place the pan on top of the trivet and cover it with an upside-down plate or another piece of parchment to protect the brownies from condensation.
- Secure the lid and move the steam release valve to Sealing. Press the Manual or Pressure Cook button to cook on high pressure for 15 minutes. It will take the Instant Pot roughly 10 minutes to come to pressure before the cooking cycle begins.
- When the cooking cycle is complete, let the pressure naturally release for 10 minutes, then move the steam release valve to Venting to release any remaining pressure. When the floating valve drops, it's safe to open the lid.
- Use oven mitts to life the trivet and pan out of the pot. Let the brownies cool completely in the pan before cutting and serving, as they will be very fragile when warm. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 2 weeks.
Nutrition
Per brownie: Calories: 125, Fat: 7g, Carbohydrates: 11g, Fiber: 1g, Protein: 3g
Recipe Notes:
- You can make this recipe vegan by using a flax egg instead of a chicken egg, and adding 1 teaspoon of vinegar to help react with the baking soda. In this case, increase the pressure cooking time to 25 minutes and follow the rest of the instructions as given.
- Feel free to use cashew butter, sunflower seed butter, or peanut butter instead of almond butter, if you like. I have not tested these brownies with another sweetener, so experiment at your own risk, and please leave a comment below if you try something different. We can all benefit from your experience!
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Reader Feedback: Have you tried baking in your Instant Pot yet?
Oh my brownie heaven! I had no idea this recipe was going to turn out so well! I viewed this last week on your IG stories. I had to modify a bit from the ingredients I had on hand, so I don’t know what the original recipe taste like. I used crunchy peanut butter and chocolate vegan protein powder. Wow the crunchy peanut butter added yummy texture and the protein chocolate worked well. I also used a 7 inch spring pan. After the brownies cooled, made it so easy to un-mold. I used parchment paper to help with condensation. Great tip as there was definitely water on top of the paper. I did have to add 1 1/2 cups of water to the insta pot as the burn notice came on-after that adjustment it was an amazing journey!
Wow! Thank you so much for this amazing recipe. I’m not sure how I lived without it all these years.
I have recently gone keto so I tweaked this recipe, slightly, to fit my new lifestyle. I get eight nice-sized brownies with just 2g net carbs. Here are my tweaks:
Instead of coconut sugar, I use the same amount of allulose. You can find allulose in the baking aisle of most supermarkets. I swapped out the chocolate chips for 1 ounce roasted walnut halves and pieces. I roast the raw walnuts in the microwave for about a minute and a half, stirring every 30 seconds.
Because the batter is so thick and user-friendly, I mix the ingredients (except the walnuts) with clean hands. In order to get a more uniform size/shape, I invert the edge portion of the springform pan onto a baking mat or other flat surface covered with a flat piece of parchment or foil. I put the batter inside the inverted pan and use the bottom part of the springform pan to push the batter into an even round inside the pan. Then I flip the pan back over and buckle the bottom in place. I remove the foil or parchment from the top of the brownie and press the walnuts on top. I then cover it with foil to prevent water seepage.
I baked this in my Instant Pot as directed and got wonderful, moist brownies. Fudgy and decadent. Because my husband likes a cakier brownie, I tried it a different way and cooked it for 20 minutes before allowing the pressure to drop. These were equally as good but I much prefer the original bake time.
I use Carb Manager to track my macros and when I put this version of the recipe in Carb Manager, I get 18g Total Carbs with just 2g net carbs, 5g fiber, 7g protein, 16g fat, and 181 calories per serving.
I’m going to try them with sunflower seed butter next time. Thank you, again, for this awesome recipe. The only drawback is I am trying to rid my diet of sweets but these brownies won’t allow it. Oh well. My one guilty pleasure!
I have an instant pot mini 5” diameter pan. How do I adjust this recipe?
Since they will be thicker in a smaller pan, you might want to add an extra minute of cooking time. Hope you’ll enjoy them!
Too too sweet and, for some reason, too salty even with only 1/4 tsp salt in recipe. And I eat a piece of dark chocolate every day!
My goodness, you are truly a magician! I cannot believe how delicious these brownies are with such wholesome ingredients and so simple a recipe. I love many of the recipes from your Instant Pot cookbook, and a couple of them are in my family’s regular rotation now, but this recipe is the crown jewel of the cookbook! Amazing!
These are amazing! I used monk fruit sweetener instead of coconut sugar. Turned out great!
Do you use 12 tbsp to regular butter if not using the almond?
No, regular butter doesn’t have the fiber that almond butter contains, so I don’t think it will act as a flour substitute in these. Peanut butter, cashew butter, sunflower butter, and maybe even coconut butter would be better options.
This is the 3rd time making this recipe. Truly divine! I mixed all the dry ingredients first, then added the almond butter and beaten egg. It was a bit easier to mix this way. I poured it into my Pyrex bowl that could fit into my 6 qt Instant Pot and used the Pyrex lid that came with the bowl. Turned out incredibly moist with perfect sweetness. Topped it a slice of brownie off with some vanilla ice-cream/yoghurt and you’re in heaven.
It is good but, not really done. I used flax egg and the only thing I changed out was the sugar. I used maple syrup instead of the coconut sugar. Also, I used natural peanut butter instead of almond butter.It was fudgy but doesn’t hold it’s shape so I feel like it should have cooked longer.
I have made this recipe THREE times in the last three days!
When my oven broke, I thought, “Oh no, how am I going to bake until it’s fixed?”
I searched the internet and found this recipe. Because I didn’t have a 7 inch springform pan to fit my Instant Pot, I used two mini loaf pans.
This recipe is a HUGE success. Thank you. And my non-vegan friends said, “Best brownies ever.”
My oven is now fixed but I’m going to continue to bake brownies in the Instant Pot.
Thank you!