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Chocolate Zucchini Bread is moist, sweet and filled with a hidden gem! It bakes perfectly and has a beautiful cracked sugar crust topping!
Chocolate plus zucchini is a delicious combination. Try this Chocolate Zucchini Cake, Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting or Double Chocolate Zucchini Brownies for more dessert ideas.
Chocolate Zucchini Bread
Zucchini is my favorite summer vegetable. It is one of the best garden vegetables and grows abundantly for everyone to share. I love how easy this bread is to make and comes together so quickly. This quick bread bakes so well and looks delicious straight out of the oven. The zucchini is a hidden gem that creates a moist and delicious bread.
Top this with a sweet crust after baking and it is to die for. It creates a dessert like bread that everyone loves. Kids love this chocolate zucchini bread recipe and most don’t even know that zucchini is hidden in the bread. It is the perfect combination and loved by all!
Zucchini Bread Ingredients:
It is the perfect afternoon snack, early morning breakfast or a light dessert after dinner. Get your chocolate fix by enjoying this tired and true favorite!
- All Purpose flour: Helps thicken the quick bread.
- Cinnamon: Gives a hint of sweet and spicy flavoring.
- Salt: Just a pinch.
- Baking Soda: This will help the bread raise.
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder: Added chocolate flavoring to the bread
- Canola Oil: The best type of oil for baking bread.
- Sugar: Sweet the bread with white sugar.
- Brown Sugar: Makes the bread moist and sweet.
- Eggs: Works well with the baking soda and creates a higher rise in the baked bread.
- Vanilla: Added for flavoring
- Sour Cream: Creates a moist and delicious inside.
- Zucchini: The main ingredient! Fresh is best and shredded then strained from the water.
- Mini Chocolate Chips: More chocolate!
Topping:
- Brown Sugar and White Sugar: Delicious sweetness added on top!
- Cinnamon: A sweet and spicy seasoning to add more flavoring.
How to Make Easy Chocolate Zucchini Bread:
It is easy to make and comes together quickly. This bread has the perfect blend of sweet with a healthy and twist of zucchini. Add in the chocolate and be even more amazed!
- Prepare Bread Pans: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a large 9″ bread pan and set aside. Mix topping ingredients and set aside.
- Combine Dry Ingredients: Whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, cocoa powder in a small bowl until combined. Set aside.
- Mix Together: In a stand mixer or using a hand mixer, beat together sugars, oil, and eggs for about 1-2 minutes until slightly fluffy. Add vanilla and sour cream.
- Add in Zucchini: Fold in the grated zucchini. Add the remaining dry flour ingredients. Stir to combine and lastly fold in the chocolate chips.
- Pour Bread Batter: Pour into prepared 9″ bread pan. Sprinkle the topping on the top. Bake for 50-60 minutes. I set a time for 45 minutes and mine was done at that time. Oven temperatures vary, so just make sure a toothpick entered in the center comes clean.
- Serve When Cooled: Let cool for about 5-10 minutes and remove from pan. Delicious served a little warm, even with a little butter on top.
Preparing Fresh Zucchini:
Fresh zucchini is best when making this chocolate quick bread. I love to have fresh picked zucchini or bought from the store. Either way, this zucchini bread is always a hit!
- Summer or Fall Season: This bread is best made with the freshest zucchini vegetable. If possible, use a home grown zucchini rather than a store bought zucchini. Zucchini is best picked from the garden in the summer or fall season.
- Grating Zucchini: Cut the ends off the zucchini and do not peel if you would prefer. Use a grater to grate with the skin on or off. Fresh zucchini is very moist and watery. This will increase the breads moistness as it bakes as well.
- Drain Moisture: Place the grated zucchini in a sieve or several paper towels. Discard any excess liquid from the zucchini the best that you can. Let it sit while combining ingredients.
- Dry Zucchini: Add some water to the zucchini to help moisten the zucchini before adding it to the bread batter.
Variations and Substitutions:
Create your perfect bread using these variations and substitutions. Enjoy chocolate zucchini bread just the way you like it!
- Add Water: If you notice your zucchini is not moist. Either add 1 to 2 Tablespoons to the bread batter or soak the shredded zucchini for a few minutes before adding it to the bread batter.
- Flour: White flour is best. If you are wanting a whole wheat flour use half and half flour.
- Cocoa: Make sure to use natural unsweetened cocoa powder to help activate the baking soda. Do not use dutch process cocoa for this chocolate bread.
- Sugar: Add a little more sugar (3/4 cup) to make a sweeter bread.
- Yogurt: Substitute sour cream for a low fat plain greek yogurt. Vanilla flavor will also work or non greek yogurt.
- Chocolate Chips: Add in peanut butter chips or white chocolate chips for a variation. Chocolate chips are a must for this bread to become sweater and more flavorful.
- Slicing Bread: Let the bread cool before slicing the bread. It is best to slice the chocolate zucchini bread with a bread knife. Slice zucchini bread with a bread knife.
Storing Homemade Zucchini Bread:
There are a few ways to store zucchini bread. The trick is, to try and have left overs. This quick bread goes fast and is a great snack or dessert for everyone around!
- Storing Chocolate Zucchini Bread: Storing the bread in a ziplock bag at room temperature will work perfectly. This will last about 3 to 4 days long.
- Freezing a Loaf of Bread: Tightly wrap the zucchini bread in plastic wrap. Place in a ziplock bag and place in the freezer for 1 month. When ready to serve, thaw at room temperture over night. This will last for about 2 to 3 days at room temperature.
More Fresh Zucchini Recipes:
- Crispy Parmesan Fried Zucchini
- Best Ever Zucchini Crust Pizza
- Cheesy Zucchini Fritters
- Taco Stuffed Zucchini Boats
- Parmesan Garlic Chicken with Zucchini
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Chocolate Zucchini Bread
Ingredients
- 1 Cup All Purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 3 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 Cup canola oil
- 1/2 Cup sugar
- 1/4 Cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 Cup sour cream
- 1 1/2 Cups zucchini grated and strained
- 1/2 Cup mini chocolate chips
Topping:
- 2 Tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoon white sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a large 9" bread pan and set aside. Mix topping ingredients and set aside.
- Whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, cocoa powder in a small bowl until combined. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer or using a hand mixer, beat together sugars, oil, and eggs for about 1-2 minutes until slightly fluffy. Add vanilla and sour cream.
- Fold in the grated zucchini. Add the remaining dry flour ingredients. Stir to combine and lastly fold in the chocolate chips.
- Pour into prepared 9" bread pan. Sprinkle the topping on the top. Bake for 50-60 minutes. I set a time for 45 minutes and mine was done at that time. Oven temperatures vary, so just make sure a toothpick entered in the center comes clean.
- Let cool for about 5-10 minutes and remove from pan. Delicious served a little warm, even with a little butter on top. 🙂
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi can I substitute oil for butter? I find when I bake with oil I can taste it.
Thanks
Yes, that sounds great!
Wow what an awesome loaf!!! This will be a new favorite for our family. A hint to make a loaf come out nice and easy every time is to line the loaf pan with parchment paper on all sides, then put the batter in, Easy to remove and no hassle.
I’ve used this recipe 4 times just this season! Everytime it’s been a little different (adding banana/carrot/Greek yogurt etc) and it’s always turned out great. It’s the only zucchini bread recipe I’ll need!
I’ve made this a few times and it is so moist and yummy. I did sub honey for the white sugar and used about 3/4 of the baking soda since I’m cooking at high altitude.
MMM! That sounds delicious! I am so glad you made it your own! Thanks for sharing! XOXO
Do you peel the zucchini before you grate it.
I did, because I use my overgrown zucchinis that I didn’t see growing under the plant leaves. The skin then gets tough and I also take out the large seeds. But if you are using small to normal sized (store bought, or garden grown) zucchini, you could leave the skins on. If you use them in a recipe without chocolate/cocoa, you will then see the specs of green color throughout the cake/bread, this is the skin, which is fine.
Hit up the farmers market this weekend and they had HUGE Zucchinis there! I just finished mixing this recipe and have it baking now! I did have to make a couple substitutions, I didn’t have sour cream so used mayo instead, and I don’t use canola oil so used vegetable oil, I also cut the sugar in half, the mix tasted great before I stuck it in the oven! Thank you, we can’t wait to try this!
This looks awesome, is there a dairy free option? Such as replace the sour cream for coconut cream? and maybe replace the canola with coconut oil.
Thanks 🙂
Just found this recipe for chocolate zucchini bread looks yummy. Would you be able to give me the calories?
Unbelievably delicious… Super rich and ooey gooey! I tripled the recipe and got a big bundt cake and a long loaf. Lots and lots of compliments. Thank you for sharing!
Just baked your Chocolate Zucchini bread recipe using 3 small 3 x 6″ pans baked for 30 minutes in a convection oven. Delicious! Some of the crunchy crust came off when I removed bread from pans but laid it back on top. Thanks for sharing this easy to made recipe.
Wow! This recipe was amazing. I finally got my kids to eat zucchini bread! Even my picky husband liked it. Thanks so much for sharing this!
Do you squeeze out the excess water from the grated zucchini?
I don’t know if you have to or not. I just kind of scooped up the zucchini in the measuring cup and left most of the excess water.
Came across this recipe on pinterest. Tried last night and looooooooooooooooooved it. My husband and I eat breakfast, in the car, on the way to work. I tried so hard to sneak bites of his while he was driving. So so so so so so so so so so gooood!
Simple and quick. left out the chocolate chips as I didn’t have any. No matter – rich and moist and yummy. Only change I’d make next time is less of the crust. It’s nice but so thick that it cracked and pieces fell off. Half the volume would work better.
I tried this recipe yesterday and they turned out great! One modification: I didn’t have sour cream so I used greek yogurt and it worked perfectly. I also just put them into mini muffin tins instead of a loaf pan. Yum!
I just cooked this recipe and I rate it a perfect 10. I didn’t have chocolate chips , so used a good quality finely chopped chocolate and used olive oil instead of canola oil Thanks for sharing this yummy recipe
Delish!!!!!!!! Tastes just like my mama’s Italian Chocolate Christmas Cookies but in a bread! I made one substitution and used vanilla yogurt instead of sour cream. Mmmmmmmmm!