A healthier option for a sweet treat. These 4 ingredient sweet potato brownies are made with (you guessed it) only 4 ingredients. They are gluten free, vegan and less refined than most brownie recipes, yet still taste rich, sweet and delicious. Also a perfect treat for kids.
Brownies With Sweet Potatoes
You might be unsure of the idea of brownies made with sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes actually work really well as a base for these brownies. They have a natural sweetness and a soft texture when cooked. You won’t taste the sweet potatoes with the other added ingredients.
Sweet potatoes are also nutritious and healthy and a great source of carotenoids.
How to Make 4 Ingredient Sweet Potato Brownies:
These brownies are easy to make. First you need to cook the sweet potatoes. Firstly you peel the sweet potatoes and then cut into cubes. Then you can either boil or steam the sweet potatoes until they are soft all the way through.
This takes around 20 minutes, and you can test if they are cooked by piercing with a knife. If the knife goes all the way through, without meeting resistance towards the middle, they are ready.
Then you drain the sweet potatoes and add them to a food processor. Blitz in the food processor until you reach a smooth texture, scraping down the sides if needed. You can also use a potato masher instead for this step, adding the sweet potatoes to a bowl and mashing until smooth.
Then add the rest of the ingredients to the food processor and blitz until everything is mixed well. Again, if you don’t have a processor you can mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl.
Next you need to add the mixture to a baking tray for cooking. For this you can use an 8 x 8 inch (20cm x 20cm) baking tray or smaller. 8 x 8 was the size I used for quite a flat brownie. For a thicker brownie, use a slightly smaller baking tray.
You can add the mixture directly to a silicone baking tray or line a regular baking paper with some parchment paper and then add the mixture.
Add the baking tray to a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees Celsius (355 Fahrenheit).
Cook for around 25 minutes. At this point you can check if the brownies are cooked by piercing with a toothpick. If the tooth pick comes out relatively clean, then the brownies should be ready.
Leave to cook for a few minutes before cutting into squares.
Ingredients for Sweet Potato Brownies
As per the name, you only need for ingredients to make these brownies:
- Sweet potatoes – boiled or steamed
- Cocoa powder – with just cocoa powder and without any added sweeteners or other ingredients
- Maple syrup – for some sweetness. You could also try agave syrup or another liquid sweetener
- Peanut butter – I use a 100% smooth peanut butter without added oils or fats (some brands contain added palm oil)
Extra Added Ingredients:
If you wish to make these into 5 ingredient brownies, they do taste extra delicious with some added dark chocolate chips.
You can also add some finely chopped nuts such as walnuts or pecans for a bit of a crunchy texture and flavour variation.
4 Ingredient Sweet Potato Brownies – Vegan and GF
Equipment
Ingredients
- 380 g sweet potato
- 125 g peanut butter
- 50 g cocoa powder
- 4 tbsp maple syrup
Instructions
- Peel the sweet potato and cut into cubes. Add the sweet potatoes to a pot and cover with boiling water. Boil for 15-20 minutes until the sweet potatoes are soft throughout. You can also steam the sweet potatoes.
- Add the sweet potatoes to a food processor and blitz until smooth in texture. You can also add the sweet potatoes to a bowl and mash with a potato masher until smooth.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and blitz until everything is mixed well.
- Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (355 Fahrenheit). Add the brownie mixture to an 8 x 8 inch (20 x 20 cm) baking tray or to a regular baking tray lined with parchment paper.
- Use a spatula to spread the mixture evenly in the baking tray.
- Bake for 25 minutes. To check if the brownies are cooked you can pierce with a toothpick and if the toothpick comes out without any wet brownie mixture sticking to it, then the brownies should be good to go.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool before cutting into slices.
Some Other Sweet Treat Options
If you like a sweet treat then I recommend some other options for you to try out.
- These orange energy balls are definitely worth a try
- If you want a quick snack on the go, which you can also make without any added sugar you can try these oat banana bites, or a similar recipe to these is my low calorie flapjacks.
- If you want another recipe for a sweet treat you often see beside brownies in coffee shops, you can also try these vegan caramel slices
