This recipe for delicious white bean blondies is so easy to make, and my kids love it! Baking with beans instead of flour adds protein to this healthy, naturally sweetened dessert, just like black bean brownies and maple pecan blondies!

Remember when I shared that my kids ate a whole pan of black bean brownies in two days?
Um… well… they ate a pan of these white bean blondies in one.
I don’t know if the bean gods decided to open up the heavens and drop amazing recipes for baked goods like the aforementioned black bean brownie recipe or chocolate hummus or cookie dough hummus or the below white bean blondies into my lap…
OR, I got wiser and STOPPED forcing my bean-hating family to eat beans in dishes they don’t like and STARTED to offer beans in ways they DO like.
I think it’s the latter.
What are White Bean Blondies?
Brownies are brown because of the chocolate, right? This means blondies are blonde because of the lack of chocolate.
So If chocolate gives color and flavor to brownies and blondies obviously don’t have color, do they not have flavor too?
Thanks to Google, I learned that blondies traditionally have a butterscotch flavor AND that the flavor comes from brown sugar and butter. Mmmm. My two favorite words.
After several attempts at making White Bean Blondies (including one where we did a side-by-side taste test of white chips versus butterscotch chips), I perfected a recipe. My kids ate the whole pan! It didn’t taste like beans. It tasted like amazingness (I Love Feeding My Kids Beans And Not Hearing Them Complain About It).
Why make Blondie Dessert?
I like making these white bean blondies because they are:
- High in Protein.
- Healthy.
- Easy.
- Delicious. My family LOVES them.

Ingredients for White Bean Blondies

You can make this simple recipe with just 4 ingredients!
- Beans. I used great northern beans because that’s what I tend to buy (thanks to my belly-warming northern beans and ham soup). You can use navy beans or small white beans too. I don’t recommend cannellini beans (a.k.a. white kidney beans) because their flavor is a bit too strong in my opinion.
- Honey. I swapped honey for maple syrup because the butterscotch flavor came through better.
- Oats. A bit of oats helps to absorb some of the moisture from beans and butter, and in the case of white bean blondies, it’s also taking the place of the cocoa.
- Butter. Another deviation from the coconut oil but again, HELLO BUTTERSCOTCH. The swap of butter makes these white bean blondies feel a bit more grown-up than I think they do with coconut oil (if you’re dairy-free, coconut oil will work).

How to Make Easy White Bean Blondies
Step 1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line an 8×8 glass pan with parchment paper.
Step 2. Combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend until the batter is mostly smooth. You likely will have some oats that are not entirely ground up, but the rest of the batter should be smooth.

Step 3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 15-20 minutes, until the tops are medium golden brown. Careful not to undercook the brownies as the center will remain gooey.

Step 4. Allow the brownies to cool completely before cutting.
It is that easy.
Note: You can add vanilla or chocolate chips (I think vanilla chips are AMAZING in this recipe), but avoid butterscotch chips. They failed miserably in this recipe, which surprised me. The butterscotch chips had a processed sugar alcohol taste to them, and not only ruined the brownie but melted and left behind burnt sugar holes in their place.
If you cannot find vanilla chips, go ahead and make them white chocolate blondies with white chocolate chips.

Additional Recipe Notes:
You may be wondering whether to use canned beans or dried beans.
- Canned Beans: convenient // still have to rinse // might give you stinky toots
- Dried Beans: economical // you can de-gas them to avoid stinky toots // can be cooked in a slow cooker // cost less overall
Your call folks! Now excuse me while I go eat brownies for breakfast.
Can I freeze homemade blondies?
Yes! Once your blondies are cooled, store in an airtight container. If you’d like to freeze them, wrap each blondie in plastic wrap and freeze for up to 3 months.
Can I make gluten-free blondies?
Yes, you can make these white bean blondies gluten-free by using certified gluten-free rolled oats!
More Healthy Dessert Recipes
- Black Bean Brownies
- Healthy Homemade Pumpkin Pie
- Maple Pecan Blondies
- Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream
- Pumpkin Swirl Black Bean Brownies
- Strawberry Pretzel Salad

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Naturally sweetened recipe for delicious white bean blondies – my kids love it! Baking with beans instead of flour adds protein to this healthy dessert. Plus, they can be made gluten-free.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 9 blondies 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups cooked white beans (I used great northern)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup honey
- 2 tsp vanilla (make your own here)
- 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp rolled oats
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
- 1/2 cup vanilla chips (optional, can use whatever chips you’d like)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Line an 8×8 glass pan with parchment paper.
- Combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend until the batter is mostly smooth. You likely will have some oats that are not entirely ground up, but the rest of the batter should be smooth.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 15-20 minutes, until the tops are medium golden brown. Careful not to undercook the brownies as the center will remain gooey.
- Allow the brownies to cool completely before cutting.
Notes
You can add vanilla or chocolate chips (I think vanilla chips are AMAZING in this recipe), but avoid butterscotch chips. They failed miserably in this recipe, which surprised me. The butterscotch chips had a processed sugar alcohol taste to them, and not only ruined the brownie but melted and left behind burnt sugar holes in their place.
If you cannot find vanilla chips, go ahead and make them white chocolate blondies with white chocolate chips.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 130
These were lovely! I made a couple small alterations: I only used 2 tablespoons of butter, which I browned first to give a bigger impact, and I added a few drops of butter extract for some added impact. I used an entire can of beans (I only had pale pinto beans, which had a slight beany scent before being baked, but it went away while cooking), which ended up being barely more than 1.5 cans. I added a pinch of white pepper and a few scrapes of tonka bean instead of vanilla extract. I added a handful of white chocolate chips and two chopped up squares of bittersweet chocolate. I had to bake them for much longer than the recipe indicated before I felt they were solid enough to take out, but my oven temperature is wildly inconsistent, so that might be on me, not the recipe. All in all, these were very good, but not quite as good as the kind with white flour, brown sugar, and an entire stick of butter, but that is to be expected! I think next time I make these, I will add a few chopped toasted pecans, and a handful of coconut flakes for a little bit of interest. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Oh, and I forgot to say that I did not have quite enough honey or maple syrup, so I ended up combining them to make about 1/3 cup of a combo. I thought that was plenty sweet, but that was with some white and bittersweet chocolate morsels mixed in, so it might not be sweet enough by itself for everyone.
These are awesome. I’m vegan so I used agave instead of honey and vegan white chocolate chips and we absolutely couldn’t taste the beans. I’ve made bean brownies before and didn’t like them but since this recipe was so good, I’m going to try your bean brownies next.
Oh and I used vegan butter also.
HI Lenore!
We’re so glad you enjoyed it!
Hi there,
I haven’t cooked with dried beans before so possibly a silly question but would greatly appreciate your help as would rather try this than canned beans ….
When you say 1.5 cups cooked dried beans, do you mean measure the beans while they are dry? And then soak overnight I presume? Also cook them, or not? And if so, for about how long (and then let them cool before doing this recipe?).
Many thanks!
Hi Sunny!
It would be 1.5 cups of the beans for the recipe after they are cooked. Here are two ways to easily cook a batch of beans. You can use an instant pot or a slow cooker for convenience. Use the left over cooked beans in other recipes or freeze them in individual portions for future meals. Hope this helps! Enjoy!
Hi Sunny! You would measure the beans after they’re cooked, not dried. You also want beans that are room temperature for the recipe. If you’ve never made your own beans before, these can help:
https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/instant-pot-beans/
https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/slow-cooker-beans/
https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/how-to-soak-and-cook-beans-from-scratch/
Oh these blondies are so good! I just tried a small bite while they’re firming up in the fridge. I used the white chips and chopped some pecans. I guess I will have to wait till after dinner for a piece. I already tried your black bean brownies and we love those. Now the blondies! It’s funny how great they are without any flour in them! This is truly like getting away with something!
Hello! I made this recipe following it very preciselyx but when they were supposedly ready to get them out of the oven, they weren‘t cooked at all!! I left them 20 minutes more and nothing… only liquid 🙁 Do you know what could have happened?
I’m not sure Cata. I just made these last week and didn’t have any issues. Did you leave out the oats by chance?
I had the same problem. After 20 minutes in the oven, barley cooked. I followed the recipe and left nothing out. I ended up increasing the oven temperature first to 375 and then to 400 to finish baking. In the end they did taste great. Are you by chance using a convection oven? For those that don’t, this may be the reason why I needed to increase the oven temperature.
I wasn’t hoping someone had tried coconut oil and a different flour 🤔 I think I have rye and millet on hand. I do have oats but I’m fairly sensitive to them. Any thoughts on a good sub? Or should I suck it up and use oats?
You want a very mild flour Hayley. Coconut flour won’t behave the same as oat flour. I’d feel comfortable saying you can sub almond flour for up to 50% of the oat flour. If my choices are rye and millet, I’d try millet first!
Take 2…. After rereading the directions over again, carefully, I relized it said “blender” not “mixer”… dull moment for myself. I baked them in a preheated over set at 350°f for 15min, then added 5 more minutes bc they didnt look golden brown enough. I took them out and noticed they still where not as golden brown as yours and seemed like they might be gooey… I accidently placed them back for about 15minutes longer where they looked, perhaps a bit too golden. I expected that THIS time thry would be crunchy or not so gooey… for sure! lol Saddly they ARE still pretty gooey… their is a VERY thin top layer that is a bit crispy but other than that, it is pretty gooey. It will hold, not runny, but a bit too greasy and VERY sofy and doughyish.
What am I doing wrong lol?
I tossed my chips in last, before baking this time and now most of my chips look to have melted in the brownies. Yours looks like they stood a bit for firm and noticeable. My guess is this the reason for the greasyness but what do I do about baking it long enough to n
not be gooey but not too long that my chips obsorbe.
Ill wait to hear back before I take 3! hahahaha I am sure I am doing something wrong!
Hi Chanel! I’m so sorry these aren’t turning out nicely for you! These blondies will be softer than a traditional cake-like brownie. I suggest taking your round 2 batch and putting them in the fridge to firm up. The chips may account for some greasiness, but are you using too much butter? You only need 1/4 cup, or half of a stick (4 Tbsp).
I’m having the same issue! I even put them back in the oven because I didn’t think they were done after they cooled for a hour or two.
They taste alright… A bit more of a bean taste than what I get with a black bean recipe. I did use a little pure maple syrup because I ran out of honey… But that doesn’t usually make a difference. 🤔
Ahhh I failed!
The batter tasted good though! haha
1. Should or can I put the beans in a food processor first?
2. Are they suppose to turn out mushy?
I did exactly what the directions suffested but as I blended (with a hand mixer on high… which took me forever since I was trying to make the batter “smooth”) My chips got over blended.
I will try again since I am not sure how long a response b
comes but I wont give up! haha I am determined to love these! hahaha
I was wondering about the chips. You said to add all the ingredients to the blender, but not the chips right? Just stir those in before you put in baking pan?
Correct!
If I am using a metal pan instead of glass, is there a change in baking temperature or baking time? Thank you!
There shouldn’t be, but you can reduce the baking time by a few minutes and keep watch at the end to err on the side of caution. 🙂
Black beans were all I had, so that’s what I used. I used half honey and half maple syrup because I just love both of them. Earth Balance in place of butter. And I had no chips, but thought cinnamon would go great in it, so I added few shakes to the batter. What a great flavor! With the black beans, it turned out darker brown, but not as dark as brownies, and I told my family they were cinnamon bars so the color made sense. This a very allergy friendly recipe when you use vegan butter. Thank you!
I love all the substitutions, and naming them “cinnamon bars!” So glad you liked them!
This recipe is fabulous with white chocolate or white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. I used honey as advised and butter in the recipe. Its so rich you’d think brown sugar had been used.
Ooh, macadamia nuts sounds good!! And I agree – it tastes like it has brown sugar, but it doesn’t!!
This recipe is amazing! I subbed the 1/4c butter for 1/4 cup applesauce and it turned out great! Definitely my go to recipie for blondies.
Best bean brownies I’ve tried, light and not at all gummy. Butterscotch is not butter and brown sugar, it is butter and brown sugar cooked together. Take the butter and brown sugar instead of honey. Melt them in a pot on the stove, bring to the boil stirring, then chuck in the oats. Stir it all til it smells toasty and caramelised and toffee-y. Let it cool a very short time then add to processor with other ingredients. If you leave it in the pot too long it will set to the bottom and you will have to melt it off again. Also, walnuts, not chips.
What do you recommend as a butter substitute for this recipe to make it vegan?
Coconut oil would work Bekah!
Thanks, I’ll give it a go! And report back.
Do you think garbanzo beans (chickpeas) would work? I just pressure cooked some and i have a ton! Either way, I’m excited to try this..
I think it’s worth a shot Cheryl! The bean flavor might be more pronounced, but they’ll still be good!
I’m going to try these today. Thanks for the substitute measurement for oat flour instead of oats. I have a big bag of it in the freezer. TIP: I use butterscotch extract in a lot of baked goods. It only takes, for example, 1/4 teaspoon to give a deep butterscotch flavor to a whole batch of 3 dozen chocolate chip cookies.
I’ll probably skip the vanilla chips and go for grain-sweetened white chocolate chips instead. Regular chips, white or regular chocolate have too much sugar for me. Sunspire makes amazing chips using malted barley and corn syrup. Malted corn syrup is NOT high fructose corn syrup BTW. These are a list pricey but well worth it to me.
These are great ideas Anita – thanks for sharing! I hope you enjoy these with the substitutions!
I made these today and they’re so good, I could’ve eaten the entire pan! (Given the high fiber content, however, I imagine my husband is grateful I didn’t. Haha!) This recipe is getting added to the list of ones to use regularly as I attempt to purchase fewer pre-made convenience “energy” bars and also decrease processed sugars. Thanks!!
You’re very welcome Holly!
Great recipe! I skipped the chips and added chopped toasted pecans.
YUM! That’s a great substitution!
I reeeeaaaallllllyyyy wanna make these. Can I use brown sugar instead of the honey or no?
You probably can Audrey!