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Zucchini Chocolate Desserts Quick Breads
4.6 from 51 votes

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Jump to RecipeVideoPrintRate
By: Joanna Cismaru •3/27/23 35 Comments

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.

3 slices of chocolate zucchini bread stacked on each other

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.

overhead of chocolate zucchini bread slices stacked on each other

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.

steps for making chocolate zucchini bread

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!

chocolate zucchini bread cooling on a wire rack

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.

overhead shot of two pieces of chocolate zucchini bread surrounded by berries

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.

slices of chocolate zucchini bread stacked with the top piece ripped in half

Did You Love This Quick Bread? Try These!

  • Marbled Chocolate Banana Bread
  • Lemon Blueberry Yogurt Loaf
  • Easy Banana Bread
  • Olive Ham and Cheese Loaf

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.

side view shot of 3 slices of chocolate zucchini bread stacked on top of each other
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4.55 from 51 votes

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Prep 10 minutes minutes
Cook 45 minutes minutes
Total 55 minutes minutes
Rate Recipe
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.
10

Ingredients

  • 1½ cup all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon (ground)
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • ½ cup vegetable oil
  • ½ cup granulated sugar (packed)
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 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 the oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
  • In a separate large bowl, beat the eggs, vegetable oil, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract until smooth and creamy. Stir in the grated zucchini.
  • Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.
  • Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Transfer the loaf pan to the oven and bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean.
  • Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing it from the pan and transferring it to a wire rack to cool completely.
  • Slice and serve.

Video

Notes

  1. 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

Serving: 1sliceCalories: 373kcal (19%)Carbohydrates: 49g (16%)Protein: 6g (12%)Fat: 18g (28%)Saturated Fat: 8g (50%)Polyunsaturated Fat: 7gMonounsaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 37mg (12%)Sodium: 211mg (9%)Potassium: 335mg (10%)Fiber: 3g (13%)Sugar: 28g (31%)Vitamin A: 106IU (2%)Vitamin C: 5mg (6%)Calcium: 100mg (10%)Iron: 2mg (11%)
© Author Joanna Cismaru

Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.

side view shot of 3 slices of chocolate zucchini bread stacked on top of each other

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Joanna Cismaru

Joanna Cismaru

I’m Joanna (Jo for short) and this is my blog where I share with you my culinary adventures. Through Jo Cooks, I invite you to join me in my kitchen as we explore delicious recipes from around the globe, celebrate the joy of cooking, and make every meal a memorable one. Happy cooking!

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35 Comments
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Noreen
Noreen
Posted: 1 month ago

In the comments, I see someone asking to use butter instead of applesauce and Greek yogurt instead of regular…applesauce and yogurt are not in this recipe. The comments are a couple of years old, so I want to make sure I’m not missing something.

0
Reply
Joanna Cismaru
Joanna Cismaru
Author
Reply to  Noreen
Posted: 1 month ago

You’re not missing anything, I did update the recipe a while back, and used butter instead but it does work with applesauce and yogurt as well.

0
Reply
Sally
Sally
Posted: 8 months ago

i made this! taste even better on day 2. I cut down sugar to 100g and it still tasted great!

0
Reply
Joanna Cismaru
Joanna Cismaru
Author
Reply to  Sally
Posted: 8 months ago

So glad you like it!

0
Reply
Christina Whitten
Christina Whitten
Posted: 11 months ago

5 stars
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.

0
Reply
Stephanie
Stephanie
Posted: 1 year ago

Do I squeeze the liquid out of the grated zucchini or toss it all in, liquid and all? Thanks!

0
Reply
Joanna Cismaru
Joanna Cismaru
Author
Reply to  Stephanie
Posted: 1 year ago

Toss it all in. 🙂

0
Reply
Mary
Mary
Posted: 1 year ago

5 stars
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 🙂

0
Reply
Jo Cooks Team AMJ
Jo Cooks Team AMJ
Reply to  Mary
Posted: 1 year ago

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!

0
Reply
G’s Grandma
G’s Grandma
Posted: 2 years ago

5 stars
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.

0
Reply
Joanna Cismaru
Joanna Cismaru
Author
Reply to  G’s Grandma
Posted: 2 years ago

My pleasure, so glad you liked it!

0
Reply
Ari U
Ari U
Posted: 2 years ago

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!

0
Reply
Joanna Cismaru
Joanna Cismaru
Author
Reply to  Ari U
Posted: 2 years ago

Yes, I think maple syrup would be great!

0
Reply
Lynn Stuart
Lynn Stuart
Posted: 2 years ago

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?

0
Reply
Joanna Cismaru
Joanna Cismaru
Author
Reply to  Lynn Stuart
Posted: 2 years ago

It’s a regular loaf pan, 9×4.5-inch.

0
Reply
Cecile
Cecile
Posted: 2 years ago

Can I use butter instead of applesauce? How much?

0
Reply
Jo Cooks Team
Jo Cooks Team
Reply to  Cecile
Posted: 2 years ago

For sure! Same amount.

0
Reply
McKenzie
McKenzie
Posted: 2 years ago

Can I use Greek yogurt instead of regular? Thanks!

0
Reply
Jo Cooks Team
Jo Cooks Team
Reply to  McKenzie
Posted: 2 years ago

For sure!

0
Reply
Nicky Lakin
Nicky Lakin
Posted: 3 years ago

5 stars
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 🙂

0
Reply
Marilyn Cunard Howard
Marilyn Cunard Howard
Posted: 3 years ago

5 stars
This is the greatest and so healthy!

0
Reply
Phyllis Ballough
Phyllis Ballough
Posted: 3 years ago

5 stars
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.

0
Reply
Jo Cooks Team
Jo Cooks Team
Reply to  Phyllis Ballough
Posted: 3 years ago

Sour cream is a perfect sub! We’re glad you loved it 🙂

0
Reply
Kate
Kate
Posted: 3 years ago

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?

0
Reply
Nicole Beaulieu
Nicole Beaulieu
Reply to  Kate
Posted: 3 years ago

You can use applesauce! The flavor will be a bit different but still tasty.

0
Reply
marvina
marvina
Posted: 3 years ago

4 stars
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

0
Reply
Joanna Cismaru
Joanna Cismaru
Author
Reply to  marvina
Posted: 3 years ago

Thank you! So glad you guys like this!

0
Reply

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