Chocolate Zucchini Bread
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
This Chocolate Zucchini Bread not only is it full of zucchini and chocolate chips, but it’s super moist, rich, and delicious! No one will know there’s zucchini hidden in there, but this zucchini bread is still decadent and very chocolatey.
I have a treat for you today and I consider it a healthy treat. That’s right, you heard me. A healthy treat, and what a fantastic treat this is! My husband is absolutely madly in love with this bread. So am I, of course.
Don’t get turned off at the sound of zucchini, you can’t even taste it in this bread. When I first told my husband that I made this recipe with zucchini he turned his back and was not interested. As per usual, I begged for him to try a piece and when he did he squealed with delight. He does that a lot, complains at veggies, but throwing some zucchini in this bread is a brilliant idea!
What Ingredients Are in Chocolate Zucchini Bread?
This recipe has the usual ingredients you’ll find in a quick bread, like flour, baking powder and soda, salt, brown sugar, and a few healthy substitutions. What’s the point of putting a vegetable in this bread without making sure everything else is healthy, right? You can even make this bread even healthier by substituting the butter with applesauce or yogurt.
What Does Chocolate Zucchini Bread Taste Like?
Surprisingly, this bread tastes nothing like zucchini. All you taste is delicious, moist, chocolaty goodness! I know it can be intimidating to load up your sweets with a vegetable, but trust me on this one. The zucchini adds incredible moisture to your loaf without the need to add fat like butter or oil.
How to Make Chocolate Zucchini Bread
You’ll want to make sure to preheat your oven to 375 F degrees a few minutes before you get started. This recipe is so easy, you’ll have everything measured out and mixed in no time at all.
Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, melted butter, and brown sugar until the sugar has mostly dissolved. Add the zucchini and mix until well combined. Dump the wet ingredients into the large bowl with the dry ingredients, and whisk well until the mixture is uniform. Now you can fold in those big chocolate chunks!
Pour the batter into a well greased loaf pan and bake for 35-45 minutes. Can you barely wait? I’m excited for you!
How to Tell When Your Chocolate Zucchini Bread Is Done Baking
It can be hard to tell when a chocolate chip filled loaf with cocoa in the batter is done! If you use the toothpick test and it comes out dirty, what is that? Is it uncooked batter? Is it melted chocolate? The frustration!
Use a few toothpicks and test out different parts of the loaf. Melted chocolate will stick to the toothpick and look very glossy and smooth. Raw batter will be slightly more dull than melted chocolate, and will have a bit more texture versus that silky chocolate.
How to Store Chocolate Zucchini Bread
One of the reasons I love making quick breads is how perfectly they freeze and thaw back out. You can make a big batch of loaves, freeze them and take them out of the freezer as they’re needed. Let the loaf cool fully to room temperature, then wrap it tightly with plastic wrap, and then a layer of foil. This will last in the fridge for about 1 week in the fridge and 6 months in the freezer.
Did You Love This Quick Bread? Try These!
Before You Begin! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Chocolate Zucchini Bread
Ingredients
- 1¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 large eggs
- ¾ cup butter (melted)
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 2 cups zucchini (grated, drained in a sieve to remove excess moisture)
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips (or chunks)
Before You Begin! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Instructions
- Preheat oven: Preheat oven to 375 F degrees. Evenly spray cooking oil in a loaf pan.
- Mix dry ingredients: In a large bowl mix all the dry ingredients, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
- Mix wet ingredients: In another bowl whisk the egg, melted butter and brown sugar together. Stir in the zucchini.
- Combine wet and dry: Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Fold in the chocolate chips until they are evenly dispersed in the batter.
- Bake: Pour the batter in the loaf pan, transfer loaf pan to the oven and bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Video
Notes
- Let the loaf cool fully to room temperature, then wrap it tightly with plastic wrap, and then a layer of foil. This will last in the fridge for about 1 week in the fridge and 6 months in the freezer.
Nutrition Information
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
i made this! taste even better on day 2. I cut down sugar to 100g and it still tasted great!
So glad you like it!
I’d made a double recipe, put it in an angel food pan, is very good, can’t taste the zucchini. I’m not used to dark chocolate a little bitter. But looks very nice and taste good.
Do I squeeze the liquid out of the grated zucchini or toss it all in, liquid and all? Thanks!
Toss it all in. 🙂
Love this as a loaf but is it possible use the batter to make muffins and just adjust the baking time? Can’t wait for your new book to release 🙂
Hi Mary,
You can definitely make this into muffins too. Bake them at 350°F on the middle rack until muffins are golden brown, and the top of the muffins feels bouncy when you press on them, about 20-30 minutes. Let us know how they turn out!
My 5 year old granddaughter wanted to make chocolate zucchini bread. So glad I found your recipe. So easy and delicious. She loved it.
Thank you, Jo.
My pleasure, so glad you liked it!
Hello Jo, this looks absolutely delicious but I was wondering if you think this would work with a sugar alternative such as honey or maple syrup? If so, how much? Thank you!
Yes, I think maple syrup would be great!
Hi Jo – I am looking forward to making this recipe.
A friend recommended it to me, and it looks great. Just one question… What size of loaf pan do you use?
It’s a regular loaf pan, 9×4.5-inch.
Can I use butter instead of applesauce? How much?
For sure! Same amount.
Can I use Greek yogurt instead of regular? Thanks!
For sure!
I swapped out the yogurt with tahini (dairy free) and used chickpea flour (gluten free) and it came out perfect. I’m not really into baking Ive just got all these zucchinis lying about so I googled for a recipe – this one is lovely! Thank you so much 🙂
This is the greatest and so healthy!
I had so much zucchini in my garden this year. Stumbled on this. Recipe. LOVE IT. Did not have Greek yogurt so I used sour cream.
Sour cream is a perfect sub! We’re glad you loved it 🙂
Haven’t made this yet, was wondering if there was a good non dairy alternative for the yogurt? Could I substitute almond milk (the one I have is thicker consistency)? Could I use applesauce?
You can use applesauce! The flavor will be a bit different but still tasty.
Hello, just found your blog. Decided to you my zucchini from the garden to make your chocolate bread zucchini. Did not have a bread pan nor yogurt. Used a 8×8 pan and sour cream. Perfect. My husband really liked it. I do not like chocolate, but tried it. Very good. Glad I found your site Jo
Thank you! So glad you guys like this!
I added a half of banana so now we get some fruit too! Thanks, great recipe! Denise