100-Calorie Protein Mug Brownie

What’s better than an ooey-gooey chocolate brownie fresh out of the oven? I’m thinking an ooey-gooey chocolate protein mug brownie with 100 calories and 13 grams of protein that’s ready in one minute!

Since I first published this recipe, it’s gone on to be one of my most popular recipes. And for good reason. It tastes amazing, has the texture of a real brownie, and is unbelievably easy to make.

Microwavable Protein Brownie Ingredients

Most readers love this protein brownie straight out of the box, but I’ll tackle some common ingredient questions below.

What can I use instead of pumpkin? 

Another great thing about this protein brownie is that it’s highly customizable. If you don’t love pumpkin, there are lots of potential swaps:

• Unsweetened Apple Sauce
• Mashed Banana
• Light Butter (lower carb option)
• Avocado (lower carb option)
• Cooked and Mashed Sweet Potato (or any starchy carb puree)

I’ve included notes on using half pumpkin and half apple sauce in the recipe card’s notes section, as well as a peanut butter banana protein brownie variation.

Additional Sweeteners and Toppings

Depending on how sweet your sweet tooth is, you can add stevia or zero-calorie sweetener to either recipe, but I find it’s sweet enough without it.

As for toppings, fat-free whipped topping is a great way to trick your mind into thinking brownie with ice cream since the whipped topping melts a bit. Placing a few chocolate chips on top right out of the microwave will give a melted chocolate, extra gooey consistency without adding many calories. Just be sure not to go chocolate chip crazy here!

And I’d be remiss if I didn’t recommend using a half cup of a lower calorie ice cream like Edy’s Slow Churned Vanilla. Yum.

My Choice of Protein Powder

Nearly all my protein powder recipes use PEScience Select Whey and Casein. You can use my affiliate discount code ‘mason’ to save 15% on PEScience products.

How to Avoid A Tough or Dry Protein Brownie 

Since there are a lot of moving parts in recipes with protein powder (different types of protein, volume differences in scoops, scooping vs weighing accuracy, etc.), there’s always a chance you’ll end up with a tough or dry finished product. I’ll include a few ideas to combat this below:

• Use whey concentrate or a blend of proteins that’s not super lean like whey isolate (the extra carbs/fat goes a long way)
• Slightly reduce the amount of protein powder used
• Increase fat sources or faux fat sources (i.e. pumpkin, mashed bananas, sweet potato, avocado, unsweetened apple sauce, coconut oil or processed coconut flakes, etc.)
• 14 grams of light butter only has 50 calories and changes lives
• Slightly increase liquid ingredients
• Reduce cook time
• Add moisture after cooking via whipped topping, ice cream, or fruit reductions

Life’s too short for dry protein treats. I hope this helps!

If you do like this breakdown, I recently did an even deeper dive to find the internet’s best healthy brownies.

Okay, that’s pretty much all ya need to know. As always, if you make this microwave protein brownie, tag me in your creation on Instagram. Enjoy!

For Make Ahead Brownies

You can fill 4-ounce microwave safe jars with the brownie batter and refrigerate for 4-5 days. When you’re ready for a brownie, pop the jar in the microwave. You’ll likely need to play around with cook time as it will vary on the size of jar and amount of brownie batter you put inside the jar. (The 45-75 second range would be my guess.) I’ve not tried freezing them, but you could probably freeze and thaw overnight.

If you’re using smaller jars, you could use a piping bag or Ziploc bag with a corner cut off the get the batter in the jars.