• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Green Smoothie Gourmet
  • About
  • Recipe Index
  • Spring Recipes
  • Cookbooks
  • Free eCourses
  • Navigation Menu: Social Icons

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
  • About
  • Recipe Index
  • Spring Recipes
  • Cookbooks
  • Free eCourses
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Home / Recipes / Breads & Muffins

    Chocolate Zucchini Bread

    Mar 1, 2019 · Updated: Mar 17, 2023 by Dee Dine · Affliate links disclosure.

    • Share
    • Tweet
    • Email
    Jump to Recipe

    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.

    Double Dark Chocolate Zucchini Loaf (vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free)
    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.

    Jump to:
    • Ingredients for Chocolate Zucchini Bread
    • How to Make Zucchini Bread
    • Recipe Substitutions
    • Q & A
    • Additions
    • Make Plain Zucchini Bread
    • Can I Make Chocolate Zucchini Muffins?
    • How to Store
    • Other Desserts With Hidden Veggies
    • 📖 Recipe

    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...

    Ingredients for a dark chocolate zucchini batter for bread or cupcakes.

    How to Make 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.

    Recipe Substitutions

    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.

    Q & A

    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.

    Additions

    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 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 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spices.

    Dark chocolate zucchini bread sliced and frosted.

    Can I Make Chocolate Zucchini Muffins?

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

    How to Store

    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
    Or, check out my round-up for 41 Healthy Vegan Desserts

    Are you on Pinterest? Perhaps save the recipe using this image..

    Dark chocolate zucchini bread sliced and frosted.

    If you try my recipes, please leave a comment and rating below and tag me on your Instagram post with @greensmoothiegourmet so I can see and share your remakes!!

    I invite you to keep up with me on:
    Instagram | TikTok | Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter

    Subscribe HERE to get recipes delivered to your inbox!

    📖 Recipe

    Double Dark Chocolate Zucchini Loaf {vegan, personal}

    Chocolate Zucchini Bread

    Created by Dee Dine
    Chocolate zucchini bread is oil-free, egg-free and full of hidden zucchini. This dark moist cake is vegan, dairy-free, refined-sugar free and option for gluten-free. If we are going to eat dessert, it might as well be nutritious!
    5 from 13 votes
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe SaveSaved! Rate Recipe
    Prep Time 10 mins
    Cook Time 45 mins
    Total Time 55 mins
    Course Dessert
    Cuisine American, International
    Servings 10
    Calories 171 kcal

    Ingredients
      

    Wet Ingredients

    • 2 cups zucchini (should be organic as zucchini tends to absorb pesticides; shredded, and uncooked)
    • ¼ cup unsweetened apple sauce
    • ½ cup yogurt full fat, I used coconut
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla
    • 2 flax eggs (Or 5 tablespoon aquafaba or other egg replacer)

    Dry Ingredients

    • 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour (I have also baked this successfully using Bob's Red Mill's all-purpose gluten-free flour)
    • ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
    • ¾ cup organic cane sugar (or brown sugar)
    • 1 teaspoon baking soda
    • ½ teaspoon baking powder
    • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
    • pinch of salt

    Glazed Topping

    • ½ cup dark chocolate chips (melted in microwave at 60 seconds, poured on cooled baked loaf)
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Instructions
     

    Prep

    • Make flax eggs by stirring 2 tablespoon of ground flax seed  into 5 tablespoon of water and set aside for 5 minutes.
    • Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a loaf pan and dust with cocoa powder, or line with parchment paper.
    • Wash and grate the zucchini, press it between layers of paper towels or kitchen towels, and wait 5 minutes. I press a cookie sheet on top of my paper towels and pile cans on for weight.

    Make the Batter

    • In the medium bowl, stir up the dry ingredients.
    • In the larger mixing bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients until everything is just combined. Don't overmix or the cake will become rubbery.

    Bake

    • Bake for 40 - 50 minutes to possibly 60 minutes, but start checking at 40 minutes. Bake until a tester comes out clean. To avoid the top browning too fast, layer a piece of foil on the top of the cake after about 35 minutes.
    • Let cool 30 minutes before attempting to remove the loaf from the pan. I remove it by slipping a knife in the edges, and prying upwards and eventually tipping it over and tapping.

    Frost the top

    • I melted a half of a cup of chocolate chips in a microwave for 1 minute. Let it cool a bit and then pour it on top of the cooled loaf.

    Notes

    1. Leave the skin on the zucchini because 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.
    2. All purpose flour can be replaced with gluten-free baking flour to make this recipe gluten free.
    3. Yogurt can be replaced with more unsweetened apple sauce although I wouldn't recommend it because the yogurt provides the protein in the recipe.
    4. Organic cane sugar can be replaced with brown sugar or coconut palm sugar.
    5. Chocolate zucchini bread has exceptional nutritional value. High in fiber, protein and essential nutrients.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 171kcalCarbohydrates: 33gProtein: 4gFat: 5gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 0.2mgSodium: 124mgPotassium: 248mgFiber: 3gSugar: 17gVitamin A: 53IUVitamin C: 5mgCalcium: 56mgIron: 2mg
    Keyword chocolate zucchini bread, zucchini bread
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

    More Breads & Muffins

    • Healthy cranberry orange muffins
      Cranberry Orange Muffins
    • pumpkin muffin
      Healthy Pumpkin Muffins
    • Healthy Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins
      Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins
    • Healthy Pumpkin Bread
      Healthy Pumpkin Bread
    • Share
    • Tweet
    • Email

    Feel Great in 2023

    1. Ginger Shots
    2. Ginger Juice
    3. Celery Juice
    4. Turmeric Shots
    5. How to Make Ginger Tea

    Buy My Two Cookbooks

    4-Ingredient Dessert Cookbook 4-Ingredient Smoothie CookBook

    About GSG

    Welcome to GSG, a healthy food blog sharing plant based recipes for healthy desserts and recipes, making clean eating easy!

    About Dee

    Chocolate and ginger enthusiast. Animal lover, a nutritional juicing aficionado, and probably chopping chocolate in my Washington DC kitchen right now. Read about Dee → »

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. mike

      June 15, 2020 at 2:31 pm

      Do you replace the vegan egg, acv, and vegan milk with one egg? Or Do you replace the vegan egg for the regular egg and still use the acv and vegan milk? Thanks!

      Reply
      • Dee Dine

        June 17, 2020 at 11:21 am

        Hi Mike, just replace the flaxseed egg and still use the milk and acv!

        Reply
    2. Patricia

      January 23, 2020 at 11:18 pm

      5 stars
      Just confirming the zucchini is used raw? Thanks.

      Reply
      • Dee Dine

        January 24, 2020 at 11:46 am

        It is raw, just shredded, and you don't even have to peel the zucchini as it disappears into the batter.

        Reply
    3. Torrey

      September 26, 2017 at 5:23 pm

      5 stars
      Have this in the oven right now! Smells amazing, can't wait to try!

      Reply
      • Debbie

        September 28, 2017 at 3:26 pm

        Wow, that's great news and I saw your post about it! Thank you Torrey, so happy you enjoyed this recipe! Dee xx.

        Reply
    « Older Comments

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Primary Sidebar

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • TikTok
    • YouTube
    Dee Dine of Green Smoothie Gourmet

    I'm Dee! Welcome to GSG! I make classic desserts and meals healthier and lighter, drawing on my science background to balance the nutrition in each recipe. Everyone will love them, whether following a plant based diet or not.  About Dee →

    Spring Holidays

    • overhead view of two chocolate bars
      How to Make Chocolate (Dark or Milk)
    • Fudge filled eggs with one broken open.
      Chocolate Easter Eggs
    • chocolate sauce dripping down a jar of vanilla ice cream
      Chocolate Sauce Recipe (3-Ingredients)
    • chocolate avocado mousse overhead view with sprinkles
      Chocolate Avocado Mousse

    Popular

    • glass of peanut butter smoothie with a bottle next to it
      Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie
    • a chocolate chip cookie with a bite out of it and a stack behind it.
      Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
    • frothed apple cider vinegar drink in glass with apple slices and lemons
      Apple Cider Vinegar and Lemon Juice
    • overhead of 7 overnight oats recipes topped with carrots, chocolate chips and zucchini
      Easy Overnight Oats (7 flavors)
    logos of publications that shared green smoothie gourmet content

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    About

    • About the Author
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Newsletter
    • Cookbooks

    Follow

    • Instagram
    • TikTok

    an amazon associate member

    Copyright © 2023

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Pinterest