Best Dark Chocolate Fudge Brownies
These chewy Dark Chocolate Brownies are the BEST! Fudgy and decadently delicious. They’re so rich and so moist, and you don’t need a mixer to make them.
Try baking super fudgy homemade brownies from scratch, and you’ll never make a boxed version again!
Who’s a chocolate lover like us? Silly question, we know 🙂
Well, this is the one chocolate recipe we are asked for over and over, so we thought we’d share! You have to try our favorite brownie recipe for the best Dark Chocolate Fudge Brownies.
Friends are always amazed at how much better homemade brownies taste than the boxed kind and with minimal effort. It’s totally worth the few extra minutes to make these from scratch.
These moist, dark chocolate brownies are delish in this Brownie Strawberry Shortcake Recipe, this Chocolate Trifle, and to make these Spider Brownies.
Ingredient Notes
For chewy, dark chocolate brownies, you’ll need:
- Dark Chocolate Morsels – we like Nestle morsels, but your favorite brand of chocolate chips will work. You’ll divide these before adding them to the recipe.
- Granulated Sugar – It makes the centers soft and the top of the brownies crackly.
- Butter – for taste, we need butter! Salted or unsalted butter works.
- Water
- Eggs – to bind the batter together, you’ll need large eggs.
- Vanilla Extract – pure vanilla extract is best.
- Flour – all-purpose flour spooned into a measuring cup and leveled with a knife.
- Salt – we prefer sea salt.
- Chopped Nuts – it’s optional to add walnuts or pecans.
You’ll find the measurements and instructions in the printable recipe card below.
If you’re out of an ingredient, we’ve got you! Lookup a baking substitution!
Optional add-ins
You can up your brownie game by adding:
- Crushed pretzels
- 2 tablespoons of peanut butter drizzled on top before baking
- Chopped nuts – any kind you like!
How to Make The Best Dark Chocolate Brownies
The secret to a fudge-like brownie (besides the fat-to-flour ratio) is undercooking just slightly. This means keeping an eye on the oven because you want to take them out just as they get firm. They continue cooking a bit as they cool.
If you prefer a cakey brownie, then leave them a little longer. Either way, the flavor is rich and delicious.
Step 1 – PREHEAT AND LINE YOUR PAN. Preheat the oven to 325º F (163 degrees C). Then, grease an 8-inch-square baking pan or line it with parchment paper. Next, set aside ⅓ of a cup of your chocolate morsels.
Step 2 – HEAT CHOCOLATE, SUGAR, AND WATER. Heat 1 ⅓ cups dark chocolate morsels, granulated sugar, butter, and water in a small saucepan over low heat. Constantly stirring until the chocolate and butter are melted.
Step 3 – STIR IN EGGS AND VANILLA. Next, pour into a medium bowl and cool slightly. Now, stir in eggs, one at a time, with a whisk until blended. Stir in vanilla extract.
Step 4 – ADD FLOUR, SALT + REMAINING CHOCOLATE. Then, add your dry ingredients, the flour, and salt; mix well with a wooden spoon or spatula. Stir in the remaining ⅓ cup of chocolate morsels and nuts if using. Pour your dark chocolate brownie batter into the prepared baking pan.
Step 5 – BAKE. Bake for approximately 30 to 35 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out slightly sticky (The key to fudgy brownies). Cool in pan on wire rack.
Finally, cut into bars.
This is pure brownie love! So grab a glass of cold milk and enjoy it.
Tips & tricks
- Let the brownie batter cool slightly before adding your eggs.
- Properly measure your flour by spooning it into a measuring cup and leveling it with a knife. It matters. If there’s too much flour, the brownies will turn out dry and cakey.
- Don’t forget to add the 2 tablespoons of water to the pan with the butter and chocolate. It matters!
- You can make these brownies with semi-sweet chocolate chips, but they won’t have the rich flavor you get from dark chocolate.
If you love baking with chocolate, try Double Dark Chocolate Cookie Cups, easy Chocolate Oatmeal Bars, and the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe! If you want a hands-off recipe, try our Crockpot Lava Cake!
What makes brownies more fudgy?
Great question. What makes a brownie fudgier is the fat-to-flour ratio—more fat, to be exact. To get the best fudgy brownies, you need to have more butter and chocolate in the recipe.
Otherwise, you’ll have a more cake-like brownie.
How to store
There is no need to refrigerate your Dark Chocolate Brownies. Simply store them in an airtight container at room temperature. They will last about 5 – 7 days days.
These brownies freeze well, too! Let them cool completely, and then flash freeze them (place them on a baking pan in the freezer until frozen).
Once frozen, transfer your dark chocolate brownies to a freezer-safe container, label, and date them, and then place them in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Follow our freezer tips to always avoid freezer burn!
Can I freeze dark chocolate brownies?
You can freeze dark chocolate brownies for up to 3 months.
For best results, after baking fudge chocolate brownies, let them cool completely. Next, wrap the whole sheet of brownies tightly with plastic wrap, then wrap them with foil. Don’t forget to label them.
Recipe FAQs
To make these brownies gluten-free, swap a 1:1 gluten-free flour for the all-purpose flour and make sure your chocolate morsels do not contain any gluten.
What makes a brownie fudgier is the fat-to-flour ratio—more fat, to be exact. A cakey batch has more flour and relies on baking powder for leavening. If you want your brownies to turn out fudgy, you should also underbake them slightly.
By adding an extra egg, the entire structure of the brownie changes from chewy to cakey.
Other Amazing Chocolate and Brownie Recipes
Dark Chocolate Peppermint Bark
Brownie Strawberry Shortcake
Delicious Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars
Fudgy, No-bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies are the best!
This is also a wonderful recipe for you chocolate lovers out there! Layer these brownies in this Chocolate Trifle Recipe, and wow, the compliments will be flying. Pin the recipe for later here.
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Dark Chocolate Fudge Brownies Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ⅔ cups (300 g) 10-oz. pkg. Nestle dark chocolate morsels, divided
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup (76 g) butter, cut into pieces
- 2 tablespoons (2 tablespoons) water
- 2 (2) large eggs
- 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) pure vanilla extract
- ¾ cup (94 g) all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon (0.3 teaspoon) salt
- ½ cup (59 g) chopped walnuts or pecans, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325º F (163 degrees C). Grease an 8-inch-square baking pan or line it with parchment paper. Set aside ⅓ cup chocolate morsels.
- Heat 1 ⅓ cups morsels, sugar, butter, and water in a small saucepan over low heat, constantly stirring, until chocolate and butter are melted.
- Pour into a medium bowl. Cool slightly. Stir in eggs, one at a time, with a whisk until blended. Stir in vanilla extract.
- Add the flour and salt; mix well with a wooden spoon. Stir in remaining 1/3 cup morsels and nuts if using. Pour into prepared baking pan.
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the wooden pick inserted in the center comes out slightly sticky. Cool in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars.
Notes
- Let the brownie batter cool slightly before adding your eggs.
- Don’t forget to add the 2 tablespoons of water to the pan with the butter and chocolate. It matters!
- These brownies can be made with semi-sweet chocolate chips, but they won’t have the rich flavor you get from dark chocolate.
We originally posted this recipe on May 2, 2016. We updated it with enhanced instructions and images on August 25, 2020.
So fudgy and good!
This looks like something that my family would be all over. Can’t wait to try it!
This recipe ALWAYS gets rave reviews! I’m sure your family will enjoy it!
Dark chocolate is my fave — these were delish!!
The dark chocolate gives these brownies the best flavor! Enjoy!
I am loving these dark chocolate fudge brownies!! They are SO GOOD!!
We get requests for this recipe ALL THE TIME! So glad you found it.
These are amazing, gotta love fudgy rich chocolately brownies. So easy to make too!
It’s amazing how easy homemade brownies are to make. Well worth the time and effort!
Those brownies look delicious! I’ll just have to make a pan of those for myself. I could gobble that whole pan in one afternoon! LOL! I’d need a cold glass of milk to go with them!
Yes! these go perfect with a tall glass of milk! They are a bit addicting, so be careful, Cecelia! I just love how soft and fudgy they are. Enjoy!
Hi Erin, your Brownies are the first Brownies I’ve made in (I would say a couple of years) the children rolled their eyes at first, but they were a winner! Honestly they were really chocolaty with a nice thin ‘crust’on the outside, but perfectly gooey on the inside. And so quick to make!
I have promised the family I won’t be making them every weekend, but I’ll certainly be making them again!
xx
These sounds sooo good! Thanks for sharing on Welcome Home Wednesday
These look incredible! Just the way I like them, gooey in the middle with a little crust on top. These are going on the must make list, and I will be topping them with vanilla ice cream and hot fudge, my favorite decadent dessert. Sometimes, if I’ve had a rough day it might even be for dinner. Nothing cheers you up like a brownie sundae!
Erin you’ve got me salivating. When I first moved to Greece there was no such thing as canned soup or boxed cake mixes… none of that I was in a primitive country. It was actually the best thing that ever happened to me because it forced me to learn to cook from scratch. That is what it’s all about cooking with natural ingredients that you can understand. And that’s what this recipe is all about. Thank you for joining us over at Sweet Inspiration. Pinning and sharing.
Once you make things from scratch it’s hard to go back to packaged boxed versions. I like to feed the family natural ingredients if I can…so although this is a treat, it’s at least natural 🙂
You had me at dark chocolate! These looks amazing…pinning the recipe for later! Thanks for sharing! Found you via Sweet Inspirations over at Boondocks Blog 🙂
The richest of dark chocolate is something else, isn’t it, Sarah 🙂 I think you’ll enjoy this recipe. It make a believer out of me that dark chocolate is better than milk for brownies!
I love dark chocolate, mmm good! I’m going to have to try making these this summer.
You won’t be disappointed, carol! I get so many compliments with this recipe…I hesitated giving out my secrets 🙂
Oooh! Thanks for this recipe! I just started making flourless chocolate cakes, but these brownies would be perfect to add to my chocolate repertoire! They are different because of the flour, and have the added benefit of being able to be eaten by hand! Pinning and will try soon! Thank you!
I love flourless chocolate cake, too! Try this recipe and let me know what you think. If you like it fudgy, then definitely keep an eye on it in the oven and take it out just as you think it’s almost done. Enjoy!
I can not pass up the opportunity to read a brownie recipe, Erin. These look amazing, as does the trifle 🙂
Ahh, thanks, Sarah! This really is a good recipe that everyone always comments on. It tastes so much better than a box.
Hi Erin, a few years ago I was on a mission to find the best chocolate Brownie recipe and ended up making them every weekend for weeks. To me the perfect Brownie is moist and gooey inside and should be served warm with vanilla ice cream (to balance the chocolatiness).
I’m not keen on dark chocolate either, but it’s the only chocolate that works with Brownies.
Your Brownies look perfectly moist and I will be trying this recipe at some point. I can hear the family groaning as I type!
xx
Yes, this brownie is moist…just the way I like them 🙂 I like the fact this recipe is easy to make and tastes so good. It really takes no more time than a boxed version, but the flavor is so much better.
Wow, not sure how you kept your figure after making brownies every weekend! Try this recipe and let me know what you think! I really like that it’s so moist and rich! Enjoy!
Debbie you are too funny! I’ll come over and be your tester. lol
Mary I was on a mission, I can tell you. Some recipes were ‘weak’ to say the least (no flavour and no goo), but I give these Brownies the thumbs up. Proper gooey and chocolaty! So quick to make too and my lot enjoyed them despite threatening to never eat another chocolate Brownie again!