Chickpea Blondies Recipe (2024)

These Chickpea Blondies with peanut butter are healthy, fudgy, vegan blondies with chocolate chips.

It’s a delicious healthy vegan protein dessert or snack ready in 30 minutes!

Table of contents

Vegan Blondies are similar to vegan brownies. Well, except for the color, hence their name. Brownies are named for their chocolate color, the same is true for blondies.

They are blonde because of the lack of chocolate in their dough, replaced with vanilla.

Ingredients and Substitutions

This is the key to making blondies with canned chickpeas. All the other ingredients you need are pretty simple pantry staples:

• Canned Chickpeas – Canned chickpeas, also known as Garbanzo beans must be drained and towel-dried, to remove any excess water that could make the blondies too soft and fragile. If you love chickpeas, try my other chickpea recipes.
• Maple Syrup – or any unrefined liquid sweetener of your choice, such as coconut nectar or rice malt syrup.
• Peanut Butter –Find out how to pick vegan peanut butter.
• Dark Chocolate Chips – or pieces of 70% dark chocolate. Most dark chocolates with more than 70% cocoa are vegan-friendly.

How To Make Chickpea Blondies

Chickpea blondies are fudgy healthy blondies bars made in 10 minutes in your food processor using canned chickpeas.

The trick to making a fudgy blondie with chickpea is to drain and towel-dry the chickpea first!

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). For a thin blondie, line an 8-inch x 8-inch brownie pan with parchment paper. For a thicker blondie, use a 6-inch x 6-inch pan. Set aside.
2. Open the can of chickpeas, rinse, and drain them thoroughly. Then, use a clean towel to dry/rub the chickpeas, removing all the water or moisture. This is very important, as too much moisture will make the blondies fragile and dense.
3. Place the chickpeas in the bowl of a food processor and add the peanut butter, maple syrup, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, and salt (photo 1). Blend on high speed for 1 minute or until the mixture is smooth and no big lumps are left (photo 2).
4. Add the almond flour and process again at high speed for 15-30 seconds, or until evenly blended (photo 3).
5. Remove the food processor blade and stir in the chocolate chips. Set aside 3 tablespoons of the chocolate chips for sprinkling on top of the blondies before baking. This will prevent the blondies from becoming too brownie-like, as too many chocolate chips in the batter will melt and make the blondies too dense.
6. Spread the blondie batter evenly into the prepared baking pan and sprinkle the reserved chocolate chips on top (photo 4).
7. Bake the blondies for 20 to 30 minutes at 350°F (180°C) until the blondies are golden brown and crusty on top. The cooking time will vary depending on the size and depth of your baking pan. If your pan is wider, the blondies will cook faster. If your pan is smaller, the blondies will be thicker and may take longer than 30 minutes to set.
8. To check if the blondies are done, insert a toothpick into the center. If the toothpick comes out clean with a few crumbs attached, the blondies are ready.

8. Let the blondies cool in the pan for 10 minutes to firm up. Do not skip this step, or the blondies will break.
9. Once the blondies have cooled slightly, use a knife to gently loosen the sides and then lift the parchment paper to easily remove the blondies from the pan and transfer them to a cooling rack. Be careful, as the blondies will still be soft and fragile. If they are too soft or moist, let them cool for an additional 10 minutes before transferring them to the cooling rack. This will help to prevent the blondies from breaking.
10. Let the blondies cool completely for at least 1 hour before slicing and serving. They may be fragile if sliced too soon.
11. After 1 hour, you can optionally refrigerate the blondies for an additional hour. This will give them a fudgier texture and make them easier to slice.

Allergy Swaps

While I love the combination of chickpea and peanut butter in this recipe, there is a nut-free option!

First, you can replace peanut butter with sunflower seed butter (be careful, as it might turn the batter slightly green).

Next, swap the almond flour with oat flour.

Finally, if you can eat almonds and you are only looking for a peanut-free option, replace peanut butter with any other nut butter, such as almond butter or cashew butter, and keep the almond flour.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Healthy Vegan Dessert Recipes

If you love these healthy vegan blondie bars, you will probably love my vegan brownie recipes!