How to Make Easy Homemade Brownies from Scratch
Making brownies from scratch doesn’t have to be hard or time-consuming. It can be almost as easy as using a boxed brownie mix. But they taste so much better. Try these easy homemade brownies and see how easy they really are to make.
Easy Homemade Brownies from Scratch
I know making brownies using a box mix is so simple and easy but it also has other ingredients in it you won’t want to feed your family.
When you make brownies from scratch, you know exactly what goes into them. So you don’t have any weird ingredients you don’t want.
And it only takes a few extra ingredients, flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt needed to make them from scratch.
And I think you’ll see that other than measuring a few ingredients that’s the only difference between a box brownie mix and making easy homemade brownies.
Even with the brownie box mix you still have to add the eggs, oil, and water.
This recipe I’m sharing is the best brownie recipe at least I think so.
It’s one of my grandma and my aunt used to make all the time when I was growing up. They turned out so delicious and fudge like; I think you’ll like them.
Watch How to Make This Homemade Brownie Recipe..
I’ve made a quick video to show you how to make these easy homemade brownies from scratch. If watching videos isn’t your think, keep on scrolling for the printable recipe below.
Tips for Making this Homemade Brownie Recipe
Don’t mix in the flour until the last step. This helps to keep the brownies tender.
Soften the margarine or butter. But don’t liquify it. It should only be softened. You can easily make this dairy free by using dairy free margarine. We like the Nucoa brand for baking.
Mix the eggs and sugar into the softened butter. Breaking up any clumps of cocoa powder.
Bake until set, but don’t over bake. When you check with a toothpick at the edges, it should come out clean. The middle should be set.
Let cool before you cut into them.
Here’s the Printable Easy Homemade Brownies Recipe…
Easy Homemade Brownies
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup Butter or Margarine
- 4 Eggs
- 2 cups Sugar
- 5 tablespoons Cocoa Powder
- 1/4 teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
- 1 cup Flour
- 1 cup Nuts or Baking Chips optional
Instructions
- Soften the margarine or butter, add the cocoa, eggs and sugar.
- Beat until creamy.
- Add salt, vanilla, and flour.
- Mix well, add nuts or baking chips if desired. Pour into a 9 by 13 inch baking dish.
- Bake 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Or until a toothpick comes out clean near the edges of the pan.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Cost to Make a Batch of Easy Homemade Brownies
While the box mixes are inexpensive costing about $1.50 on sale or up to $2 for the regular price. But that only includes the flour, sugar, salt, cocoa powder, and flavorings. You still need to add oil and eggs to the box mix. So doing a fair comparison. I only priced the ingredients you would get in the box mix to compare.
Homemade Brownie Ingredient Costs
Flour, $3.96 per 10 pounds, 1 cup cost, $.11
Sugar, $1.99 for 4 pounds, 2 cups cost, $.44
Cocoa Powder $4.00 per pound, 5 tablespoons cost $.40
Salt is less than half a cent
Vanilla $1.00 for 8 Ounces or 1 tablespoon cost $.02
That’s $.98 for a batch of homemade brownie before adding the butter and eggs. Which you would need to add to the boxed mix too.
So you can save a little money anywhere from $.50 to $1 by making these from scratch instead of a boxed mix.
Not too bad for a minute or two of work.
How to Make These Easy Homemade Brownies Dairy Free
You can make these easy homemade brownies dairy free by using a dairy free margarine like Nucoa brand. If you’d like to stay away from margarine, you can use olive oil or coconut oil instead. Either will work well.
With only a few ingredients and a few more minutes than it would take to make brownies from a boxed mix, you can have from scratch homemade brownies.
Give these easy homemade brownies a try and let me know what you think.
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Wow, that is just as easy as making brownies from a boxed mix! I think my daughter could even make these on her own 🙂
Pinning for later!
Hi, was looking for a new recipe for a luncheon I’m going to on Sunday and your brownies looked really good and will probably be what I take. That said your math for the cost doesn’t come close to what I pay. Now I do live in small town, 10k and a small walmart is our cheapest groceries. I just bought flour, King Arthur, 5 lb. (no 10 lb bags available) and 8ox McCormick vanilla. My 5 lb of flour was $3.58 and my vanilla was $7.49. So my cost for just these two items would put me well over $1.20. Math being my major and I used to sell bakery goods to friends I’m really conscious about cost.
Margi,
Yes, prices can vary a lot from town to town and state to state. That’s why I try to add how much I paid for each item at the store. So the reader can know if their prices are higher, then the overall cost will be higher or if their costs are lower, then the overall cost will be lower.
And this recipe was more unique because I was comparing the cost of making brownies from scratch with a mix and didn’t add in the eggs and butter since both of those items would have to be added either way you made the brownies.
Unfortunately, there is no way for me to be able to estimate how much it will cost for each reader since even Walmart prices can vary greatly from one state to another.
I’ve seen people post sales prices so much better than I can get, like $.99 for 5 pounds of flour at Walmart for the Walmart brand. Which I haven’t seen that price in a few years here.
I buy store brands for ingredients or buy in bulk to help keep our cost lower. And I know big brands like King Arthur can cost more. Like you’ve found in your area a 5 pound bag of flour from King Arthur costs almost as much as a 10 pound bag of store brand flour.
And maybe you don’t have the store brands available to you in your area because it’s such a small store and has limited availability of items. Which I think is a shame.
I do the best I can by giving the readers an idea of what I paid for the item at the store and how much it was per cup or tablespoon so they can give an educated guess at how much it would cost them with the prices they pay for those same items.
Thanks for commenting and giving me a chance to share my thoughts on how I figure pricing for recipes. It’s not a perfect system but at least a starting point for others to work with to determine their own costs.
I’m sorry the price of ingredients are so high in your area, do you have store brands available to you to help reduce your cost?
Just made this recipe and wow. Talk about sooo good! Maybe instead of 2 cups of sugar, knock it down to 1 1/2 cups!!! Either way they are amazing!! Mine didn’t turn out crackly on top just bubbly looking! Will most definitely use this recipe from now on instead the boxed stuff! THANK YOU!!!!
Marla, so glad you liked the recipe.
Just made these for me and my son, as a late night snack after his back to school dance! Can’t wait for them to come out of the oven – and him to get home of course! 😉
I hope you and your son loved the brownies!
Great recipe! Didn’t have a 9×13 so I used a round cake pan. Still came out pretty good, just had to bake for longer.
Thanks!
Glad you liked the recipe, Janine.
What kind of flour do I need to use?
Shellie, I use all purpose unbleached flour in this recipe. I hope that helps.
I made these brownies and everyone loved them! I had a hard time cutting them because they were so fudgy. Each piece came out like a ball of brownie. Any suggestions? Maybe bake for longer period of time? I know every oven is different.
Janine, it sounds like they were a little under baked. I would try baking them longer. I hope that helps.
Try cutting brownies with a plastic knife even if they are still warm it’s a real life changer
Mema, thanks for the tip, I’ll try it next time.
I haven’t tried this recipe yet, but I may tomorrow. I’m going to try using a cup for cup Gluten Free flour blend. I would like them to be more cake like. Do you think I should add some Baking Powder and maybe an extra egg to get more rise? It’s tough being Celiac!
Julie, I think by adding another egg your brownies will be more cake-like. I’m not sure about adding the baking powder but it should help them be more light and less fudgey. I hope your brownies turn out great.
My daughter and I made the brownies yesterday and we could not be any more happier!! They came out absolutely PERFECT! The top was flaky just how we wanted too! I wanted to make a lot so I just doubled the portions of all the ingredients. I did use 1 less egg though. At first my daughter and I were going to just use boxed brownie mix but then I said “nah let’s try this recipe”. I am very happy that I did. Thank you very much for posting!!
Kris, I’m am so glad you liked the recipe.
Delicious! Made them for my family last night and we all love them. Thanks so much for sharing!
Lauren, I’m so glad your family loved the recipe. It’s our favorite too.
These tasted way better and were just as easy than box brownies. This was my first time making brownies from scratch and I wouldn’t change a thing. Thank you 😊
Karly, I’m so glad you liked the recipe. You made my day!
Can these be made with a sugar substitute?
I’ve never tried it Rex, so I’m not sure how it will turn out. Sorry.
For the oven, is the temperature in celcuis or Fahrenheit? Also , do you switch on both upper and lower rod in the oven?
K, the oven temperature is Fahrenheit. I move the racks so the brownies will cook in the center of the oven. I hope that helps.
This recipe was amazing and will definitely make again!!
So glad you liked the recipe.
I make this recipe a few times a week. Its a great way to use up extra eggs from our chickens and my family loves it. So easy so delish. Best brownie recipe I have found on the internet IMO. My mom used to make excellent brownies but I’ve never been able to find a comparable recipe. Thank you so much for sharing this.
I loathe buying boxed mixes (cakes, brownies, muffins, etc). I mean sometimes I will for the convenience if I am really short on time. It’s not so much about the taste or the financial cost, though I do find boxed mixes to be fairly generic, but more about the environmental impact.
When you think about the unnecessary total environmental footprint involved in manufacturing, transporting and purchasing a boxed good that I can easily make myself in the kitchen with ingredients that I already keep on hand in my pantry, it doesn’t make sense.
Also to the person above who commented on the price of flour and vanilla. A 5lb bag of flower and a bottle of vanilla will make you MANY MANY MANY batches of these brownies. I don’t think your concern is relevant.
Cheers!
I’m so glad you like the brownie recipe. I agree with you about boxed mixes, they are good when really short on time but I prefer to stock the ingredients and make it from scratch, it really doesn’t take that long and once the pantry is stocked like you said you can make many batches.
Do you need to grease the pan ?
Beverly, no need to grease the pan. I hope that helps.
just made this recipe there in the oven I like were she said margarine or butter in the past I used margarine in recipes that use butter and the out come was not very nice but the batter came out pretty good and taste will come back talk about how they taste so far easy recipe
Raquel, I hope your brownies turned out great.
they was great there was more like a cake texture not sure why but the flavor was great and so easy to make
My family loved the brownies! Thank you so much
Roxane, I’m so glad your family liked the recipe.
Surprisingly Fabulous (for being so easy). I simply added
Amazon Chocolate, pistachio nuts, guajillo chile powder and sea salt! But still, it’s your recipe as foundation of a great success! Thank you… (btw, it was a baker friend who highly recommended your recipe to me).
Mick, sounds delicious! I”m glad you liked the recipe.
Hi Rex. I made them and used Swerve and they were Awesome. The recipe calls for 2 cups of sugar . I used 1 1/2 cups of Swerve.
We whipped them up fast and ate them just the same💕
Charlotte, I’m glad you liked the recipe.
This is my go-to recipe for brownies. Super easy, super delicious – way better than boxed mix, and I usually always have the ingredients in my pantry already. I get compliments every time I make them. I sometimes frost them with a homemade fudge frosting which makes them extra delicious 😋
Jacqui, I’m so glad you like the recipe. You made my day. I hope you have a great day too.