Type 2 Diabetes
Enjoy that melt-in-your-mouth goodness you know and love — without risking a blood sugar spike.
By
Erin Palinski-Wade, RD, CDCES
by
Lynn Grieger, RDN, CDCES
Traditional brownies are carbohydrate-bombs, but a few ingredient swaps make this treat more blood-sugar-friendly.
If you’re a chocolate lover, it’s a pretty safe bet that you are also a fan of the brownie. But if you’re trying to manage your blood sugar levels with type 2 diabetes, you’ve probably been wary of indulging. And for good reason. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the average brownie (size-wise, think a slightly larger-than-normal credit card) contains around 250 calories and 40 grams (g) of carbohydrates. Although your doctor can tell you the precise number of carbs your body needs to function at its best, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases notesthe recommended intake for most people is 45 to 65 percent of their total daily calories. That comes out to about 810 calories on an 1,800-calorie diet if you’re on a low-carb diet.
Sure, the average brownie may not be the ideal choice if you have diabetes, but that doesn’t mean brownies are off-limits for good. By making a few tweaks to the standard recipe, you can reduce the amount of added sugar and carbsin your treat, while maintaining all of the same ooey-gooey goodness you love.
RELATED: 10 Healthy but Delicious Cookie Recipes for People With Diabetes
The standard brownie recipe relies on a mix of granulated sugar, cocoa powder, and flour. Cocoa powder is the real hero here because it provides all of the chocolaty goodness. And the good news is unsweetened cocoa powder contains very little carbs or added sugar, so there’s no need to replace it. Instead, focus on ways you can sweeten your brownie without heaps of added sugar. For instance, you can use pureed fruit in a 1:1 ratio as a swap for granulated sugar.
Flour is the other main source of added carbs in a brownie recipe, so replacing all-purpose flour with low-carb options, such as almond flour, coconut flour, or even pureed black beans, can significantly lower the overall carb content of your brownie recipe.
To take the guess work out of it, why not try making one of these delicious reduced-carb brownie recipes from some of our favorite food bloggers? With the help of a registered dietitian who is also a certified diabetes educator, you can make these brownies part of a healthy diabetes diet. Just be sure to keep portion size in mind, as calories still count!
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Double Chocolate Brownies Made With Stevia
By removing the flour completely and swapping it for almond butter, these fudgy brownies contain 10.7 g carbs, along with 2.5 g of fiber, per serving. Because it relies on cocoa powder and sweetness coming from stevia, a natural sweetener, versus added sugar, this recipe can provide the same taste as the traditional option while having less of an impact on blood sugar.
Get the recipe at Keto Queens.
RELATED: 7 Reduced-Carb Waffle Recipes for People With Diabetes
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Low-Carb Carob-Date Brownies With Applesauce
Replacing sugar with fruit is an easy way to reduce carbs while maintaining a delicious, moist brownie. In this recipe, applesauce and date syrup provide that natural sweetness, and carob chips — an alternative to chocolate chips — keep the fat down and the fiber up. The result: a decadent and diabetes-friendly brownie with only 7 g carbs per serving.
Get the recipe at NutriSavy Health.
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Brownie Pizza With Raspberry Yogurt Frosting
You’ve probably heard of cookie cakes, but what about brownie pizza? This creative recipe mixes mashed avocado, sunflower seed butter, chia seeds, and coconut flour to create a pie with no added sugar. To top it all off, this treat features a creamy raspberry Greek yogurt frosting. Although nutrition information isn’t available, you can rest assured that eating a small slice of this dessert poses a low risk for blood sugar spikes due to its diabetes-friendly ingredients.
Get the recipe at Chelsey Amer Nutrition.
RELATED: The Best and Worst Foods to Eat in a Type 2 Diabetes Diet
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Low-Carb Vegan Brownie With Almond Flour
Reducing animal proteins and increasing your intake of plant-based foods can be a great way to promote heart health, according to a review published in May 2018 in the journalCardiac Failure Review. This vegan brownie recipe allows you to satisfy your sweet tooth while increasing your intake of plant-based foods, including almonds. Using an almond-flour base, this vegan brownie is lower in carbs than a refined flour–based recipe, while also offering protein, healthy fats, and fiber.
Another benefit: The magnesium found in almonds may aid in blood sugar management, according to a review published in August 2015 in the World Journal of Diabetes.
Get the recipe at 80 Twenty Nutrition.
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Bone-Protective Walnut Avocado Prune Brownies
If you’re seeking a simple way to reduce added sugar in your brownie recipe, consider incorporating prunes. Prunes offer a natural sweetness and moistness to baked goods. Not to mention, they offer 8 g of fiber per cup, according to the USDA— that’s 24 percent of the daily value (DV),perthe U.S. Food & Drug Administration(FDA).
A small randomized controlled trial of 48 postmenopausal women with lower-than-normal bone density found that eating 50 g of dried plum (the equivalent of 5 to 6 prunes) daily helped prevent further bone loss. The findings appeared in astudypublishedin July 2016 in the journalOsteoporosis International. Because osteoporosis risk increased with high blood sugarin Japanese elderly men with type 2 diabetes, per astudypublished in April 2019 in the journal Bone, eating bone-protective foods is especially important.
Get the recipe at Amy Gorin Nutrition (a nutrition partner to Sunsweet Growers).
RELATED: What to Eat and What to Avoid for Osteoporosis Prevention
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Fudgy Keto Diet– and Diabetes-Friendly Brownies
With only six ingredients, it doesn’t get much easier than this recipe to make a low-carb and keto diet-approved brownie. Using almond flour instead of traditional all-purpose flour, these mouthwatering brownies contain only 4 g carbs per serving. With a recipe that can be prepared in only 30 minutes, they're sure to be your new favorite.
Get the recipe at WholesomeYum.
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Keto Almond-Flour Brownies With Collagen
Sometimes a reduced-carb brownie calls for using a few new ingredients — such as the buzzy beauty ingredient collagen. By providing a source of protein as well as structure to the recipe, collagen gives you the same texture you love, with fewer carbs and calories (and potentially improved skin, according to areviewpublished in January 2019 in the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology). With only 112 calories and 4 g of carbs per serving, here’s a recipe you don’t have to feel guilty about indulging in.
Get the recipe at Perfect Keto.
RELATED: A Diabetes-Friendly Mini Raspberry Keto Cheesecake Recipe
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Quick Low-Carb Brownie in a Mug
Take the guesswork out of practicing portion control with this fun brownie recipe you can enjoy from your favorite mug. In only a few minutes, you can whip up an individual serving in the microwave with 16.2 g of carbs. It doesn’t get much sweeter than that.
Get the recipe at Keto Queens.
