The Best Peanut Butter Brownies (Swirled or Filled)

Who doesn't love to sink their teeth into gooey peanut butter brownies? These brownies are ultra-fudgy and have the most delicious peanut butter filling. Even if you are a novice home baker, you will love how simple and easy this recipe is.

All you need are a few basic ingredients to make this chocolaty treat from scratch. By the way, you can also bake them in the air fryer. I'll show you how in my air fryer brownies post! Keep reading, and I’ll show you how to get that soft, fudgy center without overbaking them.

Jump to:

• Video Instructions
• Try These Peanut Butter Brownies
• Why You’ll Love It
• Ingredients
• How to Make Peanut Butter Brownies
• Recipe Tips
• Best peanut butter
• Peanut butter swirl vs filling
• Pan size
• What Can You Serve With This?
• FAQs
• Recipe

Video Instructions

Try These Peanut Butter Brownies

If you already love chocolate and peanut butter together, this brownie recipe is definitely worth making. The brownie itself is really fudgy, and the creamy peanut butter filling gives you plenty of peanut butter flavor without taking over the chocolate.

My favorite part is that you can choose between a thick, natural peanut butter layer or a swirl. I’d go with the filling when I want more peanut butter in each piece, while the swirl is nice when I want a little of both throughout the brownie.

Why You’ll Love It

• Really fudgy: Melted chocolate and cocoa powder give these brownies their rich chocolate flavor and dense texture.
• Plenty of peanut butter: The filling uses a full cup of creamy peanut butter, so the peanut butter doesn’t get lost behind the chocolate.
• Two ways to make them: Keep the peanut butter as a filling between the brownie layers or swirl it through the batter.
• Easy ingredients: Everything is made from scratch, but you don’t need anything complicated to make them.

Ingredients

• Peanut butter: I use creamy peanut butter because it mixes smoothly with the powdered sugar and melted butter and gives you a soft filling. Crunchy peanut butter also works if you like little peanut pieces, but I wouldn’t use homemade peanut butter here because the filling can turn out like dry cake and crumbly.
• Semi-sweet chocolate: I’d stick with chocolate around 50–55% cocoa because it gives the brownies a rich chocolate flavor without making them too bitter. Baking chocolate or a good chocolate bar also melts better here. Chocolate chips can leave the brownies drier, so they wouldn’t be my first choice.
• Cocoa powder: The little bit of cocoa powder added to the melted chocolate makes the chocolate flavor stronger. There’s no baking soda or baking powder in this recipe, so either natural or Dutch-processed unsweetened cocoa will work.
• Butter: Butter goes into both the peanut butter filling and brownie batter. I like European-style butter when I can get it because the slightly higher fat content helps make the brownies even fudgier, but regular unsalted butter will still work.

How to Make Peanut Butter Brownies

1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the peanut butter, powdered sugar, and melted butter until smooth and combined. Set aside.

2. Place the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and heat until melted. Stir every 15-20 seconds to prevent the chocolate from overheating and burning. Remove the bowl from the microwave, add the cocoa powder and stir until combined. Let rest for 5 minutes.

Note: Let the eggs come to room temperature for the best results.

3. In a large mixing bowl, beat the large eggs, sugar and vanilla extract for about 2-3 minutes until frothy.

4. Add the chocolate mixture and whisk to combine until no lumps remain. Then add the all purpose flour and salt and stir just to combine.

5. Pour half of the brownie batter into the prepared pan and cover the bottom, then add the peanut butter filling and top with the remaining brownie batter.

Note: Alternatively, you can alternate spoon dollops of peanut butter filling on top of the batter and chocolate brownie batter into the baking pan and draw a swirl.

6. Bake and let cool, drizzle some melted dark chocolate on top if you like. Then cut and serve or place in an airtight container for later.

Recipe Tips

• Don’t overbake these brownies. A toothpick should still have a few moist crumbs attached rather than coming out completely clean.
• Don’t skip the 10-minute break halfway through baking. It helps keep the brownie edges softer and fudgier.
• Line the pan with parchment paper so you can lift the brownies out without them sticking.
• For really neat squares, let the brownies chill completely for several hours or preferably overnight in the fridge before cutting.
• An 8x8-inch pan can be used for thicker brownies, but they’ll need a few extra minutes in the oven.
• You can use brown sugar in this peanut butter brownies recipe, but note that it will make the brownies sweeter and fudgier.
• You can wrap them individually with plastic wrap before placing them in a freezer for up to 3 months.

Best peanut butter

I almost exclusively use Skippy's creamy peanut butter for baking. It has a great taste, and the texture is so smooth and creamy and perfect for these peanut butter swirl brownies. Regardless of the brand, I recommend creamy peanut butter or crunchy if you like a few peanut pieces in the filling. However, I don't recommend homemade peanut butter as it results in a dry and crumbly filling.

Peanut butter swirl vs filling

How you assemble your peanut butter brownies is really up to your personal preference. This recipe works by either filling the peanut butter between two chocolate batter layers or alternately spooning dollops of peanut butter filling and brownie batter into the pan and running a knife through to draw a swirl.

Pan size

I use a 9x9-inch (23x23cm) square pan, but you can also bake them in an 8x8-inch (20x20cm) pan for slightly thicker brownies. In this case, just bake them a few minutes longer. Double the recipe and bake it in a 9x13-inch (23x33cm) pan if you want to bake a bigger batch.

What Can You Serve With This?

• Vanilla ice cream
• Fresh strawberries
• Whipped cream
• Hot coffee

FAQs

Recipe