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The Starbucks double chocolate brownie is the one thing in that bakery case I have never been able to walk past. When Starbucks pulled it in 2025 and then brought it back two months later after everyone lost it online, I decided I was done depending on them for it. This Starbucks brownie recipe gives you the same dense, fudgy square with the crackly top and the chocolate chunks that stay soft in the middle.
It comes together in one bowl with melted butter and real chopped chocolate, bakes in a standard 8×8 pan, and gives you nine thick squares for a fraction of what nine of them would cost you at the counter. If recreating that bakery case at home is your thing, this one sits right alongside the rest of my Starbucks copycat recipes.
Quick Look:Starbucks Brownies Recipe
- 🍫 What it is: A one bowl copycat of the Starbucks double chocolate brownie, baked in an 8×8.
- ⭐ Why it works: Melting a real chocolate bar into the butter, not just cocoa, is what makes the crumb dense.
- 💛 Why you’ll love it: No mixer, no chilling, no waiting in the drive thru line.
- ⚠️ What to watch for: The toothpick never comes out clean. Moist crumbs means done, wet batter means wait.
- 🍳 Pan notes: An 8×8 gives you nine thick squares. Anything wider bakes them thin and dry.
- 🎯 How close to the original: Same fudgy crumb and chocolate chunks. Yours tastes darker if you use 70% chocolate.
Why This Starbucks Brownie Recipe Works
Most copycat versions online use cocoa powder alone. That gets you the color but not the texture. This one melts two ounces of real chopped chocolate into the butter first, then adds cocoa on top of it, which is where the dense, almost-truffle crumb comes from. It is the same reason my cocoa powder chewy brownies turn out chewier and lighter than these do, even though the two recipes look nearly identical on paper.
The second thing that matters is when you pull them. Starbucks brownies are underbaked by normal brownie standards. You are looking for moist crumbs clinging to the toothpick, not a clean one, and the center will still look slightly soft when the edges have set. Take them out then and let the residual heat finish the job while they cool.
Table of Contents
Key Ingredients
Starbucks lists cocoa, chocolate chunks, butter, eggs, sugar and flour on their own ingredient panel, which is exactly what you need here. Scroll to the recipe card for full measurements.
- Butter. Salted or unsalted both work. Real butter only, and melted, not softened, because that is what keeps these fudgy instead of cakey. If you want to take it further, the brown butter brownies method works on this base too.
- Chocolate bar. Two ounces, chopped and melted with the butter. This is the “double” in double chocolate and the single biggest quality lever in the recipe. Semi-sweet or bittersweet.
- Cocoa powder. Unsweetened, sifted. A regular natural cocoa keeps it close to the Starbucks flavor. If you want it darker and more Oreo-like, swap in the cocoa I use for my black cocoa brownies.
- Granulated sugar. Straight white sugar. I know, super simple!
- Eggs. Two large, at room temperature, so the batter emulsifies smoothly instead of seizing against the warm chocolate.
- Vanilla extract.
- All-purpose flour. Only half a cup. The low flour ratio is deliberate and it is what makes these dense.
- Salt. A quarter teaspoon, which cuts the sweetness and makes the chocolate read darker.
- Chocolate chunks. A cup and a half total, one cup folded in and half a cup pressed on top. Chunks melt into pools, chips hold their shape. Both work.
Substitutions And Additions
- Espresso powder. A teaspoon stirred into the melted chocolate and butter deepens the chocolate without tasting like coffee. If you want to go all the way in that direction, make my fudgy espresso brownies with a crinkly top instead, they are built around it.
- Chocolate percentage. My reader Summer used 70% dark for the chunks and said they came out noticeably darker than the Starbucks original. Stick to semi-sweet if matching the real thing matters to you.
- Chips instead of chunks. Fine, use the same volume. You lose the melted pools, you keep the texture.
- Smaller batch. If nine squares is too many, my ultra fudgy small batch brownies scale the same idea down.
Oil instead of butter is the one swap I would skip. It changes the crumb and you lose the flavor that the melted chocolate is sitting on.
How To Make This Starbucks Brownie Recipe
- Melt the butter and chocolate together. Add the butter and the chopped chocolate bar to a large glass bowl and microwave in 30 second bursts, stirring between each, until completely smooth. No lumps, no streaks. This is the step that makes these fudgy instead of cakey.
- Whisk in the sugar. Pour the granulated sugar into the warm chocolate mixture and whisk until it looks glossy and slightly thickened. It will feel grainy, that’s normal.
- Add the eggs one at a time. Whisk the first egg in completely before adding the second, then stir in the vanilla. Do not dump both in at once. Whisking them in one by one is what builds the crackly top everyone asks about.
- Sift in the dry ingredients. Add the cocoa powder, flour and salt straight over the batter and whisk until just combined and no dry streaks remain. Stop the second it comes together. Overmixing here is how you end up with tough brownies instead of the soft ones you get in my classic homemade fudgy brownies.
- Add the chocolate chunks. Scatter one cup over the finished batter. Hold back the remaining half cup for the top.
- Fold and spread. Fold the chunks through with a spatula, then scrape the batter into the prepared pan and push it right into the corners. Scatter the reserved half cup of chunks over the surface and press them in lightly so they anchor instead of sliding off as it bakes.
- Bake 25 to 28 minutes. You are looking for set edges, a crinkly top, and a center that still looks slightly soft. The toothpick should come out with moist crumbs clinging to it, never clean. A clean toothpick means you went too far.
- Cool completely, then slice. Leave them in the pan until fully cool, lift the slab out by the parchment, and cut into nine squares. This is genuinely the hardest step. Warm brownies smear no matter how sharp your knife is, so dip the blade in hot water, wipe it dry, and make one cut at a time.
Expert Tips
- Keep a tall glass of hot water next to your cutting board. Dip the knife, wipe it dry, make one cut, repeat. That is the whole trick to clean edges.
- Press the topping chunks lightly into the batter so they anchor instead of sliding off the baked top.
- Room temperature eggs matter more here than in most brownie recipes because the chocolate mixture is warm.
- If you bake a lot of these, the rest of my 40+ tested brownie recipes use the same doneness cue.
Starbucks Brownie Recipe FAQs
Yes. Starbucks discontinued it in spring 2025 as part of a roughly 30% menu reduction, then reversed course under customer backlash and brought it back within about two months. It has been in the bakery case since, though availability varies store to store.
Starbucks lists 480 calories for their double chocolate brownie. This homemade version comes in around 424 calories per square when you cut the 8×8 into nine, so you are getting a slightly bigger, slightly lighter brownie for a lot less money.
Almost always the pan. This batter is written for an 8×8, and an inch of extra width in any direction spreads it noticeably thinner. If your brownies baked flat and still read wet on a toothpick after extra time, the pan was larger or shallower than 8×8, not underbaked. A thinner slab actually sets faster, so adding time past that point just dries the edges.
Yes, with adjustments. For a 9×9, increase every ingredient by about a quarter to keep the same thickness and start checking at 25 minutes. For a 9×13, double the recipe straight across and check the center at the 28 to 30 minute mark. My reader lg doubled it in a 9×13 and said the batter volume came out right.
Airtight at room temperature for up to 5 days, or in the fridge for longer if your kitchen runs warm. To freeze, cool completely, then freeze in a zip-top bag for up to 3 months. Thaw on the counter for a few hours, or microwave a square for 15 seconds. They come back almost identical, same as my fudgy Oreo brownies do.
More starbucks Copycat Recipes
Loved this? Leave a star rating and a comment below, it genuinely helps other bakers find the recipe. Tag me on Instagram @chahinez_tbt so I can see your pan, and join my newsletter if you want new recipes in your inbox every week.
Copycat Starbucks Double Chocolate Brownies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter unsalted
- 2 ounces semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate melted
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder sifted
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 & 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chunks
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease and line an 8×8 inch baking pan with parchment paper.
- In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter and the 2 ounces of chocolate together. Stir until smooth.1/2 cup butter, 2 ounces semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate
- Stir in the granulated sugar until well combined then add in the eggs one at a time then mix in the vanilla extract.1 cup granulated sugar, 2 large eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- In a separate bowl, sift together the cocoa powder, all-purpose flour, and salt.1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined. Fold in 1 cup of the chocolate chunks.1 & 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chunks
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and spread it evenly and top with the 1/2 cup leftover chocolate chunks.
- Bake in the preheated oven for about 25-28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.
- Allow the brownies to cool in the pan before cutting them into squares.
Notes
- 8×8 as written, 9 thick squares.
- For a 9×9, increase all ingredients by 25% and start checking at 25 minutes.
- For a 9×13, double everything and check at 28 to 30 minutes.
If your brownies baked thin, the pan was wider than 8×8. Adding time will not fix thin, it only dries the edges.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
These were out of this world. Exact same texture as the Starbucks ones. However, I used the recommended pan size but they came out SO thin. I also had to add an extra 10-15 mins and they still were coming out sort of wet with toothpick. They’re fudgey and yummy but wondering if they’re underbaked. I followed recipe to the tee, so I wish I knew what I did wrong.
So glad you loved the texture and flavor!
If they came out very thin, it usually means the batter was spread a bit more than expected or the pan was slightly larger / more shallow.
Also, with fudgy brownies like these, a toothpick won’t come out clean even when they’re done. You want moist crumbs, not dry. If they were still coming out wet after extra time, they may have been just slightly underbaked in the very center (or cooling would’ve finished setting them up).
But from your description, they’re still very much in the right direction 😊
Actually so similar to Starbucks! I’m so happy I found this recipe! Just be sure to use bittersweet chocolate for both the melted and chunks part, I ended up using 70% dark chocolate for the chunks and it ended up being a little darker than the Starbucks one. Thank you again for this recipe, now I don’t have to spend so much money buying this delicious brownie!
YAY!! Thank you so much for sharing such a great review. Glad you loved it 🙂
This recipe was amazing and so simple. Made them at my boyfriend’s house who did not have anything to sift the dry ingredients but they still turned out great. I also only had a 9×13 pan so I doubled the recipe and the amount of batter seemed to be just right. I did less chocolate chips also and this was the right call for my preference. Really good recipe everyone loved them!!
I’m so glad everything turned out great even with the adjustments! Good job on you for that!
Made these brownies for the first time today, and they turned out AMAZING. Just like the double chocolate brownie from Starbucks, without costing almost $5 a pop.
I only had a 9×9 pan, so I uploaded the recipe onto Chatgpt and had the ingredient measurements adjusted. Make sure to ask Chatgpt to double check it’s measurements because I did actually catch an error LOL.
I also used semi sweet chocolate chips as I didn’t have chocolate chunks, I just used 1 cup instead of 1.5 cups. Next time I might add slightly less.
no words…… super fudgy, moist, delicioooooouuuuussss 😋 😋 😋
Gonna make it again in few days 🎉 🎉
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!!
plz provide measurement in grams
There’s a button on the recipe card that allows you to switch the measurements 🙂
I loved this recipe my brownies came out so good! But I used a 9 inch pan instead of an 8 inch pan. What changes should I make in ingredients so I can get the same thickness?
I’m glad you enjoyed the brownies! To adjust the recipe for a 9-inch pan instead of an 8-inch pan and maintain the same thickness, you can increase the ingredients by about 1/8 to 1/4. For example, if the original recipe calls for 1 cup of flour, you could use about 1 1/8 to 1 1/4 cups of flour. Keep in mind that this is an approximation, so you may need to adjust slightly based on the recipe.
I had the same issue, I only had a 9×9 pan. If you put the recipe into Chatgpt, you can ask Chatgpt to modify the measurements for a 9×9 pan. Worked perfectly for me.