Name: Fudgy Homemade Brownies from Scratch
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 24 min
Total time: 160 min
Ingredients: 1/2 cup unsalted butter; 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, for melting (6 ounces); 2 large eggs (, room temperature if possible); 1 cup granulated sugar; 1/4 cup light brown sugar (, packed); 2 teaspoons vanilla extract; 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (regular or Dutch-process); 1/2 cup all-purpose flour; 1/2 teaspoon fine salt; 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (, for folding in (optional))

These amazing brownies have dense, fudgy middles under a shiny, paper-thin top that crackles when you cut into them. The secret is one full minute of hard whisking before the chocolate goes in. Two bowls, one 8×8 pan, no mixer, and ingredients you probably already have in the pantry.

BROWNIES At A Glance

Prep

15 min

Bake

24 min

COOL

2 HOURS

Serves

16 squares (or 9 big ones)

Pan

8×8 metal pan

What it tastes like: Savory, tangy, and hearty, like a rich tomato and beefy macaroni meal!

A stack of three fudgy homemade brownies with shiny crackly tops on a white plate, with more brownies on a platter behind them — Fudgy middles, crackly tops, and edges that hold together when you stack them.

The Best Brownies Go Beyond the Box

As a kid, I usually made brownies from a box, mostly because that was the only way anything chocolate lasted in our house. (And it was all my fault … I once remember eating hot cocoa mix dry, that’s how much I love chocolate.)

Now as a grown-up who still loves chocolate, I much prefer to make my brownies from scratch. So when Greg requested brownies the other night, I wrote down my best fudgy brownie recipe so I could share it with you, too!

And these aren’t just like the boxed version … these are truly amazing and will check all your brownie boxes! But they are also rich. I cut the pan into nine big squares last night, and he gobbled his right up, while I only made it about a quarter of the way through mine. So I’m recommending sixteen smaller squares here, and if you have a Greg in your house, you can always cut nine.

Let’s dig in!

Tips and Notes Before You Start

Don’t skip the one-minute whisk. Whisking the eggs and sugar hard until they turn pale is what gives you the shiny, crackly top.
Plain semisweet chocolate chips work great. That’s what I used, melted right in with the butter. No fancy bar chocolate needed.
Fold the flour in gently. Stirring hard after the flour goes in is how brownies turn cakey.
The batter gets very thick once the flour and cocoa are in. That’s normal, and you’ll spread it into the pan with a spatula.
Pull them at the fudgy stage. A toothpick in the center should come out with moist, sticky crumbs. They keep setting as they cool.
Want them a little less sweet? Skip the extra 1/2 cup of chips that get folded in at the end.
Let them cool all the way before cutting, about 2 hours. Warm brownies look raw in the middle even when they’re done.

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What You’ll Need for Homemade Brownies

Labeled ingredients for fudgy brownies: cocoa powder, flour, salt, butter, semisweet chocolate chips, eggs, vanilla, brown sugar, and granulated sugar on a white counter — Nine ingredients, all pantry staples.

Semisweet chocolate chips. Melted chocolate is where the fudgy texture comes from, and chips melt smoothly with the butter, so there’s nothing to chop. If you’d rather use a bar, chop 6 ounces of semisweet or bittersweet baking chocolate. Bittersweet will make the brownies a little less sweet.

Unsalted butter. If you only have salted butter, it works too. Just cut the salt in the recipe to a pinch.

Granulated sugar and brown sugar. The white sugar is what whips up with the eggs to form that crackly top, and the brown sugar adds a little moisture and a deeper, caramel-y flavor. If you’re out of brown sugar, you can make it in about two minutes with my homemade brown sugar.

Eggs. Room-temperature eggs whip up a little fuller, so if you think of it, set them on the counter while you get everything else out. (I used fresh eggs from our chickens!)

Unsweetened cocoa powder. Dutch-process cocoa works too and gives a slightly darker, mellower chocolate flavor. The cocoa deepens the chocolate taste without adding more sugar, which is why this recipe uses both chocolate and cocoa.

All-purpose flour. A little goes a long way here, and is a big part of why these come out fudgy instead of cakey.

Vanilla and salt. The salt keeps the brownies from tasting flat and one-note sweet, so please don’t leave it out.

What Size Pan Should I Use for Brownies?

This recipe is made for an 8×8-inch metal baking pan. Metal heats up quickly and evenly, and that helps the edges set while the middle stays fudgy.

If you only have a glass or ceramic 8×8 dish, lower the oven to 325°F and expect them to need a few extra minutes. I baked mine in metal, so I haven’t tested the timing in glass myself. Start checking a little early and go by the toothpick.

How to Make Fudgy Brownies

Step 1: Line the pan and heat the oven

An 8x8 metal baking pan lined with a strip of parchment paper that hangs over two sides — One strip of parchment, with the ends hanging over as handles.

Heat your oven to 350°F with a rack in the middle. Cut a strip of parchment paper as wide as the pan and long enough to hang over two sides, and press it down into the pan. Those overhanging ends become handles later, so you can lift the whole batch out in one piece and cut neat squares on a cutting board. It works really well!

Step 2: Melt the butter and chocolate chips

Butter and semisweet chocolate chips starting to melt together in a glass bowl in the microwave — Butter and chocolate chips, melting together in the microwave.

Put the butter and 1 cup of chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 30-second bursts, stirring between each one, until it’s almost melted. Then just stir, and the heat in the bowl will melt the last few chips. Don’t worry if the chips still hold their shape after the first round. They soften on the inside before they look melted, and a stir shows you how far along they really are.

Smooth melted chocolate and butter in a glass bowl with a spoon — Smooth and glossy, with no lumps left.

Be careful not to rush this with longer bursts. Chocolate scorches easily in the microwave, and scorched chocolate turns thick and grainy. Once it’s smooth, set it aside for about 5 minutes so it’s warm but not hot.

Step 3: Whisk the eggs and sugar for one full minute

Two eggs, granulated sugar, packed brown sugar, and vanilla in a large glass mixing bowl with a whisk — Eggs, both sugars, and vanilla go into the big bowl together.

This is the step that makes the crackly top, so let’s take it seriously. Put the eggs, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl and whisk hard for one full minute. Set a timer if you need to… a minute of whisking is longer than it sounds!

Pale, foamy egg and sugar mixture in a glass bowl after one minute of whisking — After a minute, it turns pale and a little foamy.

You’ll see the mixture go from bright yellow to a pale, creamy color with little bubbles on top. The reason this matters is that you’re dissolving the sugar and beating air into the eggs. In the oven, that sugary foam rises to the surface and dries into the thin, shiny crust that crackles when you cut it.

Step 4: Whisk in the warm chocolate

Melted chocolate being poured from a glass bowl into the whisked eggs and sugar — Pour in the chocolate slowly while you whisk.

Pour the melted chocolate into the eggs slowly, whisking the whole time. Pouring slowly keeps the warm chocolate from cooking the eggs. Keep whisking for about 30 seconds after it’s all in.

Smooth, glossy chocolate brownie batter swirled in a glass bowl — Smooth, glossy, and still pourable at this point.

Enjoy it while it lasts, because the next step changes it completely.

Step 5: Sift in the dry ingredients and fold

A hand-crank flour sifter sifting flour, cocoa powder, and salt over chocolate batter in a glass bowl — I sifted the flour, cocoa, and salt right over the batter.

Sift the cocoa, flour, and salt right over the batter. I used my flour sifter, but a fine mesh strainer works just as well. The reason to sift is that cocoa powder loves to clump, and those little lumps don’t break up once they’re in the batter.

A white spatula folding flour and cocoa into chocolate brownie batter in a glass bowl — Switch to a spatula for folding.

Now switch to a spatula and fold the dry ingredients in, scraping from the bottom of the bowl and turning it over the top. Stop as soon as you don’t see any more dry streaks. One common mistake is beating the batter here the way you did with the eggs. Once flour is in the mix, extra stirring builds gluten, and that’s what makes brownies cakey and tough.

Very thick brownie batter with chocolate chips folded in, in a glass bowl — Thick, with the extra chips folded in.

Don’t be surprised when the batter goes from glossy and pourable to very thick, almost like frosting. That’s totally normal for a fudgy brownie with this little flour. If you’re using the extra 1/2 cup of chips, fold them in now with just a few turns.

Step 6: Spread the batter in the pan

Thick brownie batter being spread into the corners of a parchment-lined 8x8 pan with a spatula — Push the thick batter out into the corners with a spatula.

Scrape the batter into the lined pan. It won’t level itself out, so use the spatula to push it into the corners and smooth the top. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Mine had swoops and ridges all over it, and they baked right into that pretty, rippled top.

Step 7: Bake until a toothpick shows moist crumbs

An 8x8 pan of brownies baking on the middle rack of the oven — About 24 minutes on the middle rack.

Bake for about 24 minutes. Mine were done at exactly 24 minutes in a metal pan, but ovens vary, so start checking at 22. When they’re close, the top looks set and shiny all the way across, and the edges have darkened and pulled a little away from the parchment.

A toothpick with moist, sticky brownie crumbs and a fudgy smear near the tip — Moist, sticky crumbs and a fudgy smear mean they’re done.

Now poke a toothpick into the very center. For fudgy brownies, you want it to come out with moist, sticky crumbs clinging to it, like mine. If it comes out clean, they’re past the fudgy stage. If it comes out with wet, shiny batter, give them 2 or 3 more minutes and check again.

It’s okay if you’re nervous about pulling them at the sticky-crumb stage. The brownies keep cooking in the hot pan after they come out, and they set up a lot more as they cool. Pulling them early is the safer bet, because an underbaked brownie is still delicious and an overbaked one can’t be fixed.

Overhead view of a pan of baked brownies with a shiny, rippled top in a parchment-lined 8x8 pan on a plaid towel — Straight out of the oven, with a shiny, rippled top.

Step 8: Cool completely

A pan of brownies cooling on a gold wire rack on the kitchen counter — A wire rack lets air under the pan so they cool evenly.

Set the pan on a wire rack and let the brownies cool completely, about 2 hours. I know that’s the hard part. A rack helps because air can get underneath the pan. On a towel or a solid counter, the heat gets trapped under the pan and the bottom keeps baking, which can push your brownies from fudgy toward firm.

If you cut them while they’re warm, the middle will look gooey and underdone even when it isn’t, and the squares will smear. Waiting is what gives you clean edges.

Step 9: Lift out and cut

Close-up of a cut brownie showing the shiny, paper-thin crackly top — That paper-thin, crackly top is from the one-minute whisk.

Use the parchment handles to lift the whole slab out of the pan and onto a cutting board. Cut it with a large, sharp knife, pressing straight down rather than sawing. Wiping the knife clean between cuts keeps the crackly top from tearing. For the neatest squares, chill the cooled slab for 30 minutes before cutting.

Nine homemade brownie squares cut and slightly separated on parchment paper — I cut mine into nine big squares. Sixteen is plenty for most people!

Cut 4 rows by 4 for sixteen 2-inch squares, or 3 by 3 for nine big ones.

A hand holding a brownie broken in half, showing the dense, fudgy inside — Dense and fudgy all the way through.

How to Store Homemade Brownies

Once they’ve cooled completely, store the brownies in a zip-top bag or an airtight container on the counter for 3 to 4 days. Make sure they’re fully cool before they go in, because warm brownies steam in the bag and the tops turn sticky. Press out as much air as you can so the edges don’t dry out.

I’d keep them out of the fridge unless you’re chilling them for clean cuts. Cold firms them up and mutes the chocolate flavor.

A stack for sharing, and a platter of backups behind it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why didn’t my brownies get a crackly top?

Usually the eggs and sugar weren’t whisked long enough. Give them the full minute, until the mixture turns pale, so the sugar dissolves and forms that thin crust in the oven.

Why are my brownies cakey?

The two usual reasons are stirring too much after the flour goes in and baking too long. Fold just until the streaks disappear, and pull them when the toothpick still shows moist crumbs.

Can I double this recipe?

You can bake a double batch in a 9×13 metal pan. It will take longer than the 8×8, so start checking around 28 minutes and go by the toothpick. I haven’t baked a double batch of this one yet.

How to Trust This Recipe

I’m a real person, baking in my own kitchen, and I want you to be able to trust that what you see here is exactly what came out of my oven. So I took a photo of these brownies cooling on my stove with an app that seals it with a verified record of when and where it was taken.

That photo was taken with ProofMode, which attaches Content Credentials (the C2PA standard) to the image, so anyone can check that it’s an original, unaltered photo taken by a real camera. You can download the proof files here and learn how to verify them.

If you make these, I’d love to know how many squares you cut yours into, and who in your house finished theirs first.

Happy baking!

Love,
Jennifer

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