Better Boxed Vegan Brownies

Written by Kreg Published on January 21, 2023 in Desserts, Easy Eats, Popular, Recipes

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This may be the most important post I’ve ever done. You’re thinking what’s so hard about making a brownie vegan from a boxed mix? Well, that tells me you’ve never tried it. But isn’t it just swapping an egg substitute in and the rest are normal ingredients from the instructions on the box? You’d think so, but you’d be wrong. Most who have tried and failed know what I’m talking about. It sometimes turns into an oily lava pit bubbling away in the oven or gets tough as hockey pucks. Well, I’m here to help.

For a seemingly simple brownie that even a child should be able to make this is rather complicated. I too have struggled over the years to make a decent brownie from a boxed mix. I’ve tried all the egg substitutes. Flax eggs, Just Egg, applesauce, pumpkin, bananas and it was always the same mess. Turns out the egg substitute was only part of the equation. Most boxed mix recipes call for oil to be added along with an egg or two then water usually. Eggs absorb some fat in a baked good and since we’re not using real eggs, some of that fat pools and makes the brownies greasy. I found that using melted vegan butter which is not 100% fat helped to mitigate that issue and I also reduced the amount by half of what was normally called for in the recipe. We still need more fat though so my second idea was to add a nut butter. It’s has fat yes but also protein. That helped.

Lastly we needed the egg substitute and some more moisture so I tried a bunch but the tried and true flax egg was the winner. But it’s not just any flax egg. It’s almost triple the amount of flax meal usually used to make a flax egg. Normally I would use 1 tablespoon of flax per 3 of water. Here we’re using 3 tablespoons flax in 1/4 cup water. That really helped. Last was a little more water (not nearly as much as most box recipes called for) and that was the ticket. My brownies had the shiny crackly tops and those delicious fudgy interiors I was looking to emulate.

The next piece of the puzzle was the baking time. All ovens vary which is one factor and everyone likes their brownies a bit different. Some prefer cakey, some super fudgy and some a perfect mix of both (my preference). I use a convection oven and that cooks things faster so I really had to time things out for the type of brownie I wanted. Also, pan size is a huge factor. I used a 9 inch square pan but some prefer an 8 inch for thicker brownies and some boxes of mix say they make 9×13 pan sized brownies which I don’t see how. They must be super thin. You’ll have to experiment to get the bake that’s right for you. look at the recommended times on the box and judge from there. For super fudgy I would shave off 5-7 minutes. For chewy I would bake the recommended time minus a few minutes and for cakey, maybe a few minutes more. I hope you enjoy boxed brownies again but vegan! I tried these multiple times with a few different brands of mixes and they worked every time.

Pump up the volume!

You can also pump up the volume on your boxed brownies with some optional additions.

Add 1 teaspoon espresso or coffee powder. Coffee heightens the flavor of chocolate and makes it taste more chocolatey.
Add chocolate chips! Some mixes include them but I always add some to mine. Usually 1/2 cup is sufficient but as as many as you’d like!
Add a little vanilla. I sometimes add a 1/2 teaspoon to the mix.