Healthy Chocolate Zucchini Bread

A healthy chocolate zucchini bread full of hidden zucchini, a dark dense chocolatey cake, and topped with a luscious fudgy layer of melted chocolate. Egg-free, oil-free, vegan, dairy-free, refined-sugar free and option for gluten-free. If we are going to eat dessert, it might as well be nutritious!

Healthy Chocolate Zucchini Bread

This healthy chocolate zucchini bread recipe is simple and light for several reasons but mostly because it is oil free. Specifically this bread is high in protein, fiber and fairly low in sugar and fats.

And this snack bread is remarkably delicious. And easy to make. A great way to sneak those required veggies into your loved ones.

Ingredients for Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Zucchini - grated. Use organic because you don't want to  peel it, the peel carries fiber and nutrients, but non-organic zucchini also retains more pesticides.

Unsweetened cocoa - use plain cocoa, not  dutch processed, because plain is more acidic and you want that so it can react with baking soda and contribute to leavening.

All purpose flour or a GF blend.

Apple sauce - unsweetened, and this replaces oil.

Yogurt - I recommend coconut but if you don't have yogurt, use more apple sauce in it's place.

Organic Cane Sugar - this is less processed than refined sugar.

Maple Syrup - adds sweetness and moisture.

Flax seed egg - instead of eggs of course.

Don't forget the baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla...

How to Make Healthy Chocolate Zucchini Bread

It's an easy recipe. Just combine dry ingredients, and then wet, and then combine them and bake. Here are the steps:

First, preheat the oven to 350 F, line a loaf pan with parchment or grease, and make flax egg and set aside. Grate your zucchini, don't peel it, and press between paper towels to remove moisture.

Add dry ingredients to a smaller bowl and stir up. Add wet ingredients to a larger bowl, and combine into a batter.

Pour into pan and bake between 40 and 60 minutes. Test at 40 minutes and put a foil roof over it lightly if the top seems to be browning too fast.

Remove loaf from oven, cool in pan for 15 minutes, then cool out of pan for 30 minutes. Melt chocolate chips and pour over cooled loaf.

Substitutions to Make With Chocolate Zucchini Bread

There are a few substitution possibilities with this recipe.

All purpose flour can be replaced with Bob's Red Mills Baking 1 to 1 flour to make this recipe gluten free.

Yogurt can be replaced with more unsweetened apple sauce although I wouldn't recommend it because the yogurt provides the healthy fat in the recipe.

Organic cane sugar can be replaced with brown sugar or coconut palm sugar.

Before we continue talking about this recipe, I'd like to invite you to sign up for my free chocolate course. Five lessons hit your inbox with detail on how to create your own simple healthy chocolate desserts.

Okay, so back to this recipe...

Q & A For Healthy Chocolate Zucchini Bread

1. Do I leave the skin on zucchini for zucchini bread?
Yes, the skin is nutritious and full of fiber. But the ewg.org says non-organic zucchini carry high levels of pesticide in their skin so buy organic and leave the skin on.

2. How many calories are in a slice of chocolate zucchini bread?
Well my recipe has less than 200 calories a slice, largely because it is plant-based and oil-free.

How do you keep zucchini bread from getting soggy? Easy! Just follow my instructions to press out the water in grated zucchini.

3. Does zucchini bread have nutritional value?
Yes! Chocolate zucchini bread has exceptional nutritional value. High in fiber, protein and essential nutrients.
4. Do you have to dry zucchini before making bread?
No, I grate mine on the largest holes of a box grater to get the best moist, zucchini-flecked texture!

5. How long does chocolate zucchini bread last?
It keeps well refrigerated in a sealed container, or freeze for three months tightly wrapped.

6. How do you make chocolate zucchini bread from scratch?
I made mine without eggs, so I used unsweetened cocoa, flour, baking soda, flax egg, butter, brown sugar and of course, shredded raw zucchini.

What To Mix Into Chocolate Zucchini Bread?

Walnuts are a wonderful addition to this recipe. Just fold in ½ cup walnuts at the end of batter mixing. Or chocolate chips although the texture will have wet spots where they melted. Maybe that's a good thing?

You can also sprinkle them on top of the batter before baking, or sprinkle chocolate chips.

Make This As Plain Zucchini Bread

To make this into a plain zucchini bread, remove the cocoa powder, increase the flour by ¼ cup, and mix in raisins and 1 tsp of pumpkin pie spices.

Can I Make Healthy Chocolate Zucchini Muffins?

Sure, just bake 12 in muffin tins lined with paper liners at 350 F for 25-30 minutes.

How to Store Healthy Chocolate Zucchini Bread?

You can store this bread in a sealed container in the refrigerator for 5 days.

Other Desserts With Hidden Veggies

Cauliflower Brownies
Crunch Bars
2-ingredient Fudge
Chocolate Covered Chickpeas

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