If you’re craving the ultimate chewy, fudgy brownies with that signature shiny, crackly top, you’re in the right place. This easy homemade brownie recipe using pantry ingredients is rich, chocolatey, and endlessly customizable. You can make them plain and simple (my favorite!) or frost them for extra decadence, or fold in extra chocolate chips for gooey chocolate pockets in every bite. Whether you love your brownies straight from the pan or dressed up with silky chocolate frosting, or topped with ice cream, these will quickly become your go-to, better-than-boxed brownies every single time.
Ingredients Needed
- Butter
- Sugar
- Chocolate Chips – this recipe was designed with semi-sweet, dark, or even bittersweet chocolate chips in mind. If you choose to use milk, they might be a little too sweet!
- Eggs
- Vanilla
- Salt
- Cocoa powder – I use regular, natural cocoa powder, like Hershey’s
- Flour
- Baking Powder
- Cream (if making frosting)
How to Make the Best Fudgy Brownies
This is simply a quick walkthrough so you can see the process. Find the printable full recipe below!
Note: The method is important here! There’s some baking science involved which creates the crackly tops so make sure to follow the directions and method as written for the best results.
- Start by melting butter, sugar, and chocolate together. This process of partially dissolving the sugar in the warm butter and chocolate allows it to rise to the top during baking and create that coveted papery shiny top.
- Once this chocolate mixture is fully melted and glossy, add in eggs one at a time, vanilla, and sugar.
- Add the dry ingredients last of all. I prefer to shake them through a sieve to get rid of any lumps! Gently stir the dry ingredients in until just combined. Overmixing will reduce the fudgy-ness of your finished brownie!
- Once baked and cooled, you can eat them as-is or frost.
Brownie Cutting Tip
Go plastic! A simple plastic knife will slice through brownies with ease. If you don’t have a plastic knife, run a sharp metal knife under hot water and then dry before cutting.
Big Batch Brownies
To bake this recipe in a larger 12×17″ rimmed baking sheet (a classic cookie sheet), I multiply the recipe by 1.5. For best results, line your pan with foil or parchment paper and let the edges of the paper extend up over the edge of the pan as seen below. This allows the brownies to have something to “grip” onto and rise.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can use either natural or Dutch process cocoa powder in this recipe.
I specifically developed the recipe to work best with semisweet or dark chocolate chips. That being said, it will work just fine with any chocolate, so feel free to experiment! You are welcome of course to also use chocolate chips, or a chopped chocolate bar (like trader joes pound plus bar)
Brownies freeze beautifully, which make them great for a make-ahead treat, or having a place to stash leftovers! If you’re freezing frosted brownies, I recommend freezing them in a single layer first, and then then you can stacked the frozen frosted brownies between layers of parchment in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
Chewy Fudge Brownies with Crackly Tops
Ingredients
- 1 cup salted butter 2 standard sticks
- 2 cups sugar 400g
- 1 cup chocolate chips 170g Semisweet, dark, or bittersweet
- 4 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt (a little less if using table salt)
- ½ cup cocoa powder 42g
- 1 ⅓ cup all purpose flour 173g
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- Optional: 1 additional cup chocolate chips to mix in
Optional Icing
- ½ cup salted butter 1 standard stick
- ½ cup cocoa powder 42g
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 4 tablespoons heavy cream or reg cream, or milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325℉. Line a 9×13" pan with parchment paper.
- Place butter, sugar, and 1 cup chocolate chips in a large glass mixing bowl. Microwave for 1 minute, stir, and microwave for 1 minute more. Whisk mixture until smooth. If chocolate or butter is not completely melted, microwave again in 30 second intervals until everything is melted and smooth. Once melted, whisk for about 1 minute. You'll still see sugar granules and that's okay!
- Add eggs one at a time to chocolate mixture, mixing each time. Stir in vanilla and salt.
- Tip: It's time to add the dry ingredients. I like to place a mesh sieve on top of my bowl and shake all my dry ingredients through it. Add flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder to bowl, preferably over a fine mesh sieve to avoid clumps. If you skip the sieve, mix dry ingredients in another bowl first and whisk to combine before adding to your brownie batter. Gently stir flour mixture into the batter until just mixed and no visible traces of flour remain. If you'd like chocolate chunks, stir in an extra cup of chocolate chips at this point. Do not beat or overmix!
- Transfer pan to oven and bake for 30-35 minutes. Chocolate can be difficult to guage because of the color! Some visual cues to look for: Edges should be set and start to pull away from side of pan. You should see a crack around the perimeter of the brownies. The top should be papery and crackly. A skewer inserted in the center should come out without wet batter attached. Cool completely if frosting.
Frosting Instructions
- Melt 1/2 cup butter in a heat-safe bowl large enough to make icing in. Once Completely melted add 1/2 cup cocoa powder and ¼ teaspoon salt. Whisk until smooth, for about 30 seconds. This process blooms your cocoa powder for a more intense chocolate flavor.
- Sift powdered sugar into the mixture and then beat with a hand mixer. Slowy add cream a little at a time until desired consistency is reached.
Questions & Reviews
Great tasting brownies they was marvelous thank you so very much I appreciate every little bit by bit step
great recipe! wonderfully chocolately! i added 1/4 teaspoon espresso powder.
I put the batter in mini cupcake paper/pan. It changed the final texture to more muffin-like, but they are still amazing. I couldn’t find my pan, and I wanted ‘bites’, so i did this instead. I wanted fudgey, but oh well, they still taste great. simple recipe as well. and i appreciate the measurements in grams, too, since i started measuring with a kitchen scale more.
Brownies without frosting is all kinds of wrong. Thanks for including the icing recipe!😉