The Best Brownie Mix Brands, According to Pro Bakers
Updated: Oct. 27, 2022
Taste of Home's Test Kitchen sampled nine brands to find the best brownie mix brands. Trust us, these top picks are just as good as homemade.
If you’re looking for a decadent but easy dessert to whip up for a weeknight (or anytime really), you can never go wrong with a pan of homemade brownies. But let’s get real: When you’re having a serious chocolate craving, you need something fast and satisfying. That’s where snagging the best brownie mix comes in.
But do you really know which brand is the fudgiest? The chocolatiest? The most tempting? That’s where Taste of Home‘s Test Kitchen comes in!
How we tested brownie mixes
While sampling brownie mixes is a pretty fun job, Taste of Home‘s Test Kitchen takes it seriously! Their team did their research and purchased nine popular brownie mix brands, then prepped each exactly according to the package instructions. Once baked and cooled, our pros tested these nine brownies in a blind sampling, all the while keeping these criteria in mind:
- Chocolate flavor: How did the brownies taste? Were they super chocolaty? Was the chocolate deep and dark or sweet like milk chocolate? Were there any chocolate chips stirred into the mix? Was the chocolate of good quality?
- Texture: What was the texture of the brownies like? Chewy? Fudge-like? Cakey?
- Appearance: Did the brownies look appetizing? Were they a dark chocolate shade? Lighter in color? Did the top look delicate and crackly?
Our test kitchen-preferred brownie mix brands
Our team sampled plenty of brownies (there were only a few crumbs left!) and these were the brands that earned top marks.
Best overall brownie mix: Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Premium Brownie Mix
When you want a delicious brownie for a baking emergency—or just to treat yourself—look no further than a box of Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Brownies.
These fudgy brownies were packed with that Ghirardelli chocolate flavor that so many of us love. They tasted of rich cocoa and the generous amount of chocolate chips in the mix really make these brownies feel like a special treat. For those of you that love the edges and corner pieces—you’ll be pleased with these brownies. The edges were oh-so chewy with a very slight crispness around the very edge.
And when it comes to the appearance, the Test Kitchen squad loved the crackled top on these brownies. There’s something about that texture that just invites you to dive right in (a scoop of vanilla ice cream, though, would be a welcome addition).
Best for dark chocolate lovers: King Arthur Baking Company Brownie Mix
For some, the darker the chocolate, the better the brownie. If that sounds like you, you must try King Arthur Baking Company Brownie Mix.
This super moist brownie had the deepest dark chocolate flavor of any brownie option our team tried. It was rich and the texture really felt fudgy—something truly decadent to enjoy after a long day.
Because of this dark chocolate taste and not-so-sweet flavor, the Test Kitchen team suggests that you bake up a box of King Arthur Baking Company brownies for your next book club or adults-only shindig. The depth of flavor and lack of sugar might not be as appealing to kids.
Best cakey brownie: Duncan Hines Chewy Fudge Brownie Mix
If you like your brownies a bit more cakey than fudgy, skip all the other mixes and pick up Duncan Hines Chewy Fudge Brownie Mix.
These Duncan Hines brownies were light and tender—not terms we normally associate with brownies, but that’s part of the appeal. These cake-like brownies had a nice chocolate flavor and a beautiful tissue paper-like top that really made our Test Kitchen team dive right in.
Another bonus: This mix makes enough to fill a 13×9 pan—more than the other mixes listed here. If you’ve got a bigger group to serve, you can snag just one box of this Duncan Hines brownie mix rather than mixing up a few batches of the others.
Best organic brand: Annie’s Organic Double Chocolate Brownie Mix
Just because you want to eat organic doesn’t mean you have to settle for less when it comes to boxed mixes. Annie’s Organic Double Chocolate Brownie Mix was given the Test Kitchen’s stamp of approval in our blind taste test.
These boxed brownies baked up dense and fudgy with a very rich chocolate flavor. The kitchen pros could really pick up on the flavor of the chocolate in this mix, remarking that it tasted like a high-quality cocoa powder and good mini chocolate chips studded throughout. In fact, Annie’s got some of the highest praise you could get for a boxed baking mix: “It tastes homemade.”
