I Finally Found the Fudgiest Brownie Recipe Ever ... on Reddit (It's Irresistible)

After years of searching for the fudgiest brownie recipe, I thought nothing could beat Ghirardelli's Double Dark brownie mix. Then, a Reddit thread full of advice from fudgy brownie fans caught my attention. Here's everything I learned along the way.

Close up of a stack of brownies — The Spruce Eats / Mark Beahm

When I was in high school and just starting to take baking seriously, I set out to create a homemade brownie that could beat the Ghirardelli Double Dark box mix. After countless attempts, I gave in to the fact that there simply is no better brownie. To the dismay of my friend group tasting panel, I gave up. I've continued making brownies since then, both at home and in professional kitchens but, over time, I forgot about my abandoned mission.

Reading a post in the baking subreddit about the fudgiest, gooiest brownies, I was suddenly inundated with memories of my brownie quest like a proverbial madeleine soaking up tea. At first glance, fifteen years after my own brownie pursuit began, bakers still seemed to arrive at the same conclusion: homemade brownies never seem fudgy, gooey, or chocolatey enough to beat Ghirardelli.

Overhead shot of all brownie ingredients: chopped chocolate, cocoa powder, espresso powder, butter, eggs, flour, salt, vanilla, brown sugar, and granulated sugar — The Spruce Eats / Mark Beahm

Reddit's Top Tips for Making Fudgy Brownies

The baking community being the helpful one that it is, people shared their tried-and-true recipes and tips for better-than-box-mix brownies. The top comment was a link to Stella Parks’ recipe, a great place to start. From there, the post quickly grew into a compendium of trusted techniques and new ones to try:

Brown butter—This was the most suggested technique and a common theme of many of the shared recipes, including Stella Parks’. Browning butter evaporates the water and concentrates the butter flavor.
High sugar content—Sugar is a tenderizer and holds onto moisture. A high sugar content ensures soft brownies and helps create that sought-after crinkly brownie crust. A blend of granulated and brown sugar makes softer brownies than using granulated sugar alone and adds rich caramel flavors.
Foaming the eggs—I first learned this from Tartine’s cookbook, but it’s also featured in Stella Parks’ recipe linked to in the top comment. Beating the eggs with sugar for an extended period gives structure, acts as a leavener, and prevents the brownies from being overly dense. It’s also the other secret to that shiny, wispy brownie crust.
Baking time—Many bakers recommended slightly undercooking the brownies, baking until the top is slightly cracked, and moist crumbs stick to a toothpick inserted in the center. If you bake brownies until a toothpick comes out clean, they will be overbaked and dry once cooled.

Overhead shot of the brownie batter in a mixing bowl with a silicone spatula sticking out — The Spruce Eats / Mark Beahm

My Thoughts On Reddit’s Fudgiest Brownie Recipe

One gracious baker followed up in a new post with a recipe they created, combining everyone's favorite recipes and tips for the ultimate homemade fudge brownie. I took their recipe to the kitchen and browned some butter, melted some chocolate, and whipped some eggs.

The brownies had a beautiful crinkly crust, were intensely chocolatey, and had the perfect fudgy texture without falling apart. They were irresistible and came with the added satisfaction of putting my quest to rest, once and for all.

The recipe was beautiful as written, and I wouldn't change a thing. However, I did come up with a few tips for choosing your cocoa powder, chocolate, and baking pan.

Overhead shot of brownies with a shiny, crackly top — The Spruce Eats / Mark Beahm

Tips for Making Your Own Perfect Brownie

This recipe ingeniously calls for both melted bittersweet chocolate and Dutch process cocoa powder, and even goes the extra mile by blooming the cocoa powder in the still-warm brown butter. This step coaxes extra chocolate flavor from the cocoa powder.

With a staggering one cup of cocoa powder in the recipe, splurge on some high-quality cocoa if you can. Dutch process cocoa has a smoother flavor, darker color, and higher percentage of cocoa butter, making richer, fudgier brownies.

Stick with 60 percent cacao chocolate. Milk chocolate would be cloying and disappointingly mild in flavor. Dark chocolate has a more intense flavor, but at the same time, you need the fat from the cocoa butter, so I wouldn't go higher than 70 percent cacao or you risk dry brownies.

Use the correct brownie pan—a metal pan for sliceable fudgy brownies; a glass or ceramic pan for gooey, underbaked brownies you can eat with a spoon.

The recipe bakes in a 9x13 pan for standard brownies or an 8x8 pan for extra thick brownies (which will need to bake for longer). If, like me, you have a smaller household and no self-control around chocolate, you can halve the recipe and bake it in an 8x8 pan for a smaller batch of standard brownies (they will bake faster, so check them at 20 minutes).