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This might be the most dangerously easy brownie recipe you’ll ever make because a warm, fudgy brownie is only 90 seconds away.
Need chocolate right now? This easy mug brownie recipe is rich, chocolatey and ready in less than 5 minutes. Even better, it makes just one serving and comes together right in a mug, so there’s almost nothing to clean up.
Table of Contents
- Ingredients for a Mug Brownie Recipe
- Why Hot Cocoa Mix?
- How to Make a Brownie in a Mug
- How Long Do You Microwave a Mug Brownie?
- What Size Mug Should I Use?
- Mug Brownie Toppings
- Try Different Hot Cocoa Flavors
- The Story Behind Our Hot Cocoa Mug Brownie
- Mug Brownie Recipe FAQs
- A 5-Minute Chocolate Dessert for One
- More Brownie Recipes
- Easy Mug Brownie Recipe
And here’s the fun part: this brownie is made with hot cocoa mix! It gives you that cozy hot chocolate flavor in a warm, gooey microwave brownie.
It’s the perfect single-serving dessert when you want a brownie but definitely don’t need an entire pan sitting on the counter tempting you.
Why You’ll Love This Mug Brownie Recipe
This is one of those recipes that’s almost too easy to know about.
- Ready in less than 5 minutes
- Made in the microwave
- One mug and minimal cleanup
- Perfect single-serving dessert
- Uses simple pantry ingredients
- Made with hot cocoa mix for extra chocolate flavor
It’s especially great for college students, empty nesters or those nights when everyone else has gone to bed and suddenly you need a warm brownie. We’ve all been there.
Ingredients for a Mug Brownie Recipe
- Hot Cocoa Mix: The secret to this mug brownie! It adds chocolate flavor and sweetness all in one.
- All-Purpose Flour: Gives the brownie structure while keeping the center soft and fudgy.
- Butter: Adds rich flavor and moisture, giving the mug brownie that decadent, fudgy texture.
- Water: Adds the moisture needed to bring the batter together.
- Vanilla: A little vanilla enhances the chocolate flavor and makes the brownie taste more homemade.
Important: Use regular hot cocoa mix rather than sugar-free or no-sugar-added hot cocoa. We’ve tested those varieties and they don’t turn out the same.
Why Hot Cocoa Mix?
Most mug brownie recipes use unsweetened cocoa powder, but this recipe started with something we almost always have in the pantry: hot cocoa mix.
Hot cocoa mix generally contains sugar and cocoa along with ingredients that give it that creamy hot chocolate flavor, making it an easy shortcut for this single-serving brownie.
We usually make ours with Stephen’s Gourmet Hot Cocoa, but we’ve also had success with Swiss Miss.
And because flavored hot cocoa mixes work too, you can change the flavor of your mug brownie without changing the recipe (see section below for ideas).
How to Make a Brownie in a Mug
Making a microwave mug brownie couldn’t be easier:
- Mix: Add the ingredients to a microwave-safe mug and stir until combined.
- Microwave: Cook for about 90 seconds.
- Add toppings: Let it cool briefly, then add whatever sounds good.
- Dig in! The brownie is best eaten warm right out of the mug.
That’s seriously it. From pantry to warm chocolate brownie in just a few minutes.
How Long Do You Microwave a Mug Brownie?
Our mug brownie takes about 90 seconds in the microwave, but microwave wattages vary.
You want the brownie cooked around the edges with a soft, fudgy center. If yours still looks very wet after 90 seconds, microwave it for a few more seconds at a time.
Be careful not to overcook it. Like any brownie, a mug brownie gets drier the longer it cooks.
What Size Mug Should I Use?
Use a microwave-safe mug with enough room for the brownie to rise as it cooks. You don’t want the batter filled all the way to the top.
A wider mug also gives you more of those cooked brownie edges while keeping the middle soft and fudgy.
And that’s important because I used to be firmly on team chewy-center brownie, but I’ve recently converted to an edge person. With a brownie in a mug, you get a little of both!
Mug Brownie Toppings
A warm mug brownie is plenty good all by itself, but toppings make it even better.
Try:
- Vanilla ice cream
- Whipped cream
- Chocolate chips
- Mini marshmallows
- Peanut butter
- Crushed candy canes
- Sprinkles
- Hot fudge
- Caramel sauce
- Butterscotch sauce
- Toffee bits
- Mini M&M’s
For a peanut butter mug brownie, add a dollop of peanut butter to the batter before microwaving. It gets warm and melty in the middle and is ridiculously good.
Try Different Hot Cocoa Flavors
This is where this mug brownie recipe gets really fun.
Stephen’s makes tons of hot cocoa flavors, and you can use different varieties to change the flavor of your brownie. Depending on what’s available, try flavors like:
- Dark chocolate
- Chocolate raspberry
- Hazelnut
- Mint chocolate
- Salted caramel
- English toffee
It’s basically a choose-your-own-adventure brownie.
The Story Behind Our Hot Cocoa Mug Brownie
This recipe actually became famous in my family because of my dad.
My parents became empty nesters after decades of cooking for five kids, and suddenly making full recipes for just two people didn’t make much sense. A quick dessert for one or two? That was much more appealing.
Enter the hot cocoa mug brownie.
My dad became obsessed.
At the time, my parents were serving college students through their church, and whenever food came up, Dad would apparently invite students over so Mom could teach them how to make mug brownies.
The only problem?
He didn’t always remember to tell my mom first. 😂
So strangers would show up at the house ready for their mug brownie lesson while my very shy mother discovered she’d apparently been volunteered to teach a cooking class.
She was not a fan of that part.
But even Mom can’t argue with how easy and delicious these brownies are.
And Dad wasn’t wrong about one thing: they’re perfect for college students. They’re inexpensive, require hardly any equipment and you can have a warm homemade dessert in minutes.
Mug Brownie Recipe FAQs
It should be soft and fudgy in the center, but it shouldn’t look like completely raw batter. Remember that the brownie will continue to set a little as it cools.
A rubbery or dry mug brownie is usually a sign that it was microwaved too long. Since microwave wattages vary, yours may cook faster than ours. Try reducing the cooking time the next time you make it.
This particular recipe was developed specifically for hot cocoa mix, so we recommend sticking with it rather than swapping in unsweetened cocoa powder. The two aren’t interchangeable because hot cocoa mix also contains sugar and other ingredients.
For the most consistent results, we recommend mixing each brownie in its own mug and microwaving them individually. Cooking multiple mugs at once can change the microwave cooking time.
A 5-Minute Chocolate Dessert for One
There are days when making an entire pan of brownies sounds wonderful.
And then there are days when you need dessert in approximately 90 seconds.
This easy mug brownie recipe is for those days. It’s warm, fudgy, chocolatey and made with hot cocoa mix you may already have sitting in the pantry.
Just mix, microwave and grab a spoon.
Dangerously easy? Absolutely.
More Brownie Recipes
If one brownie isn’t enough, try some of our other favorites:
- Ina Garten’s Outrageous Brownies
- Easy Caramel Brownies
- Snickers Caramel Brownies
- Copycat BYU Mint Brownies from Scratch
- Lunch Lady Brownies
Easy Mug Brownie Recipe
Ingredients
Instructions
- In a hot cocoa mug, mix together all of the ingredients plus any additional mix-ins if desired until smooth.6 Tablespoons Hot Cocoa Mix, 4 Tablespoons Flour, 2 Tablespoons Butter, 3 Tablespoons Water, ¼ teaspoon Vanilla
- Place in the microwave for 90 seconds. Do not over cook.
- Serve with whipped cream, sprinkles or any toppings you’d like.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
So yummy, eating this right now and the receipe came out PERFECT! Thank you!
Yay! Thanks Melody!
I made it just like it said but the “batter” turned out like a liquid, and after cooking for double the time, i still was pouring off melted butter, and had the consistency of jello. I don’t know what I did wrong?!
Hmmm…I’m so sorry for the frustration. It sounds like something definitely went wrong. The consistency will be very fudgy, but it’s shouldn’t be like jello. Maybe try reducing the water to 2 Tablespoons. All microwave cook a little differently too, so it might take longer to bake. You just don’t want to overcook it!
Awesome recipe!! I made this and added in crushed malted milk balls. So good and convenient. It was just enough for a chocolate snack. I can’t wait to try more add ins.
Yay! Thank you so much Christine! I’m ALL about the add-ins! Enjoy!
I was very dubious about the recipe since it was looking…not at all like batter before it went in, and there wasn’t enough liquid in the recipe and yeah, I was right. It was crumbly chunks before it went in, and looked exactly the same coming out of the microwave. It certainly didn’t look like the picture. Your recipe is missing an egg or two I think.
Hello! Did you melt the butter first?
Should I melt the butter before adding it?
Yes!
Great recipe! But please update recipe to say Hot Cocoa MIX rather than just hot cocoa. I would have assumed that to be already-prepared hot cocoa if I hadn’t read all the comments first. Kind of a major difference.
Done! Thanks for the feedback David!
Absolutely delicious! I used a Swiss Miss dark chocolate hot cocoa packet which only gave me 4 tablespoons, so I replaced the other two with a tablespoon of cocoa powder and a tablespoon of sugar. I followed the rest of the recipe and then added some mini chocolate chips on top before microwaving it, sprinkled on some sugar after, and it came out amazing! I will hopefully be trying this again sometime!
Yum! Sounds delicious! Thanks for the feedback Jake!
You should consider putting metric units under the metric tab of the recipe
Done! All of our recipes should have metric measurements. I must have just missed this one. Thanks for bringing this one to my attention!
It’s so hard to find anything on your site through my phone. The text is so small and I had to search through so many tags on the recipe index to find something as simple as desserts. Then when I did find it, the dessert page is filled with things like salads and dinners. Not mobile friendly at all, which is sad because I know there’s great recipes, I just can’t find them.
Hi Rachel! I’m so sorry. We are in the middle of a site redesign for this very reason. If there is anything specific you are looking for, let me know and I can send you a link.
Do you actually make the hot cocoa and then add the 6 tbsp or are you adding 6 tbsp of dry hot cocoa mix?
Just tried it and its dry cocoa mix.
Dry hot cocoa mix
OMG i hate you love you this is soooo good. I melted choc chips on top as soon as it came out. Thank you!!
Right?! I warned you that you would want to make it every night! It’s just too delicious and too easy! Glad you enjoyed it!
Empty nester here, every word you said is true. It’s so hard to adjust recipes down to portions for just two, especially for desserts. How do you divide an egg for instance. And you are also right that cooking has become a chore and just not worth it a lot of the time. I can’t wait to try this recipe and hope to see more like it in the future! Thank you so much!
I can’t wait for you to try this Robin! Let us know how it goes!
Is the flour self rising or plain flour? Thank you!
Marsha
Hi Marsha! It’s just regular all purpose flour.