You'll love this chocolate zucchini bread recipe! Packed with shredded zucchini and gooey chocolate chips, it's amazingly moist and fudgy.
This double chocolate zucchini bread recipe is based on the chocolate zucchini muffins from our first cookbook. While I love that recipe, I wanted to make a version that would work well as a loaf for slicing and enjoying with a morning latte or afternoon coffee.
This super easy, delicious chocolate zucchini bread recipe came out better than I could have imagined. It has a perfect cakey crumb, delectable moist texture, and rich chocolate flavor. Like my traditional zucchini bread recipe, this one makes two loaves. We gobble them up pretty quickly at our house, but if you have extra, pop one loaf in the freezer for another day, or share it with a friend!
Chocolate Zucchini Bread Recipe Ingredients
My chocolate zucchini bread is rich, moist, and perfectly spiced…and (chocolate chips aside) it’s fairly healthy, too! Here’s what I use to make this delightful summer treat:
- Flour – A mix of white and whole wheat flour gives it a perfect moist texture and a little whole grain power.
- Baking powder, baking soda, and eggs – They help the bread puff up as it bakes.
- Cinnamon and nutmeg – They add a lovely spiced contrast to the chocolate.
- Sea salt – I add a dash to highlight the rich chocolate flavor.
- Maple syrup – I swap maple syrup for granulated or brown sugar, so this healthy chocolate zucchini bread is refined sugar-free!
- Almond milk – For moisture. If you don’t keep almond milk on hand, substitute whatever kind of milk you do. Oat milk, cow’s milk, and soy milk would all work well here.
- Coconut oil – I use just ¼ cup to make the bread rich, but not too decadent.
- Vanilla extract – It adds warm depth to the spiced chocolate flavor.
- Zucchini – I grate mine on the largest holes of a box grater to get the best moist, zucchini-flecked texture!
- Chocolate chips – I don’t recommend skimping on these guys! You’ll fold some into the batter to make the inside of the bread super fudgy and delicious. Then, you’ll sprinkle more on top!
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Chocolate Zucchini Bread
This double chocolate zucchini bread recipe couldn’t be simpler to make! Here’s how it goes:
First, whisk together the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and gently stir to combine.
Fold in the chocolate chips. Look how chocolatey that batter is!!
Pour the batter into two pans, and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaves comes out clean.
Place the pans on wire racks, and allow the loaves to cool in the pan before digging in. So easy!
Chocolate Zucchini Bread Recipe Tips
- Be careful not to overmix! As with all baking recipes that use wheat flour, overmixing the batter will make the bread dense. Stir until everything is just combined to get soft, moist, and puffy loaves.
- Use two packed cups of zucchini. The zucchini is essential for adding moisture, so pack your cups full! Skimping on it will yield a drier final loaf. No need to press or squeeze the moisture out of the zucchini. We want all of it to go into the bread!
- Bake once, eat twice. This recipe makes two loaves of quick bread. I like to enjoy one right away and slice and freeze the other for easy breakfasts or whenever I have a chocolate zucchini bread craving. To thaw a slice, let it sit out at room temperature for an hour or so, or pop it in the microwave for around 30 seconds.
- Try changing it up! Swap half the chocolate chips for chopped walnuts or dried tart cherries. Or, if you have it on hand, use yellow squash in place of the zucchini. Let me know what variations you try!
More Favorite Easy Baking Recipes
If you love this chocolate zucchini bread, try one of these yummy baking recipes next:
- Zucchini Chocolate Cake
- Easy Zucchini Muffins
- Best Carrot Cake or Vegan Carrot Cake
- Healthy Banana Bread
- Pumpkin Bread
- Apple Cake
- Homemade Brownies or Vegan Brownies
- Or any of these 25 Super Fun Baking Recipes!
And for more zucchini recipes, check out this post.
Chocolate Zucchini Bread
Ingredients
- 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup whole wheat flour
- ⅓ cup cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- 3 large eggs
- 1½ cups almond milk, at room temperature
- ¼ cup coconut oil, melted
- ⅔ cup maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups shredded unpeeled zucchini
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, plus more for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and lightly spray two 8x4” loaf pans with nonstick spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose and whole wheat flours, the cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, almond milk, coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla. Stir in the zucchini. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Don’t overmix. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pans. Sprinkle with more chocolate chips and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the tops spring back to the touch. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
I’ve made your chocolate zuchini muffins from your cookbook which turned our perfectly! However, when I followed this recipe it didn’t seem like there was enough cocoa powder because the loaves weren’t nearly as dark as the photograph depicts. I doubled the amount of cocoa powder the second time around and it looked more like the photograph (and the muffins I made previously).
Amazing recipe! I took the other reviewers comments in and replaced all purpose flour with almond flour. Made in 8 x 8 pan because I wanted just one bread.
Delicious and moist! Will def make again!
Amazing recipe!!! So moist and delicious. A great chocolate treat. I made 2dz muffins. Freezer friendly!
Thank you for sharing !
Quick question about the almond flour you use: does it still contain its oils? I have oil-free almond flour and until now found it very difficult to find recipes to bake with it…
Hi Johanna, I haven’t heard of oil-free almond flour. The type I use is made up of only ground up almonds… so there isn’t added oil, but almonds have fat in them.
Thanks for your reply! I was gifted some oil-free almond flour. Apparently, it’s used in low carb diet recipes. I’ll try your recipe anyway 😀
This is seriously delicious!! I used regular milk and avocado oil instead of coconut because of sensitivities and I didn’t have whole wheat pastry flour so I used 1 cup whole wheat flour and 2 cups regular pastry flour… despite the modifications it is so amazing, super moist and I will definitely make this again! P.s. don’t be scared by how liquid the batter is!
Hi Katheryn, I’m so glad you loved it!
Do you have the nutritional value of this recipe or did I miss the information.
Nice sharing, thank you so much
These are INSANELY delicious. I am growing zuchinni and have so much squash right now…have been trying different recipes. This one hits it out the park. Thank you for sharing!
I’m so glad you loved it!
This tastes amazing. I love that maple syrup is used instead of sugar. This is not super sweet tasting but rich in flavor. Saving this recipe as zucchini season is just starting.
I’m so glad you loved the zucchini bread, thank you for sharing!
Can I use a bundt pan? I don’t have 2 loaf pans.
Thanks
Hi Lisa, I haven’t tested it in a bundt pan, so I’m not sure how it’ll go. It might be too moist to come out without falling apart. If you give it a try, definitely cook it longer than the loaf pan instructions. I’d highly recommend a loaf pan for success, or you could make them into muffins (I’d bake muffins for less time than the loaves).
This bread was absolutely delicious!! I used all unbleached regular flour (what I had on hand) and organic blue agave in place of maple syrup. Tonight I am making another batch with blueberries in place of the chocolate chips!
Hi,
Can I sub soy milk for the almond milk?
yep!
Just made a mini loaf and 12 muffins. So very delicious and moist. 10/10!
Hey! That’s super delicious, I have a sweet tooth and I can’t stop drooling over this.
What is the nutritional value per serv5?
Delicious and healthy . Kids like this
It’s delicious and easy to make!! A really delicious bread
What can I substitute if I don’t have (can’t find) whole wheat PASTRY flour?
Thank you.
Hi Laurie, I’d do a 50/50 mix of AP and whole wheat to replicate the lightness of whole wheat pastry. Hope that helps!
Just made these, but instead of using the white flour I used almond meal instead. I also used a food processor to puree the zucchini since my kids helped and love pressing the buttons. OMGGGGGG I can’t stop eating these!!! So delicious 🙂
I’m so glad you enjoyed it with almond flour!
I just made the classic chocolate zucchini bread and I am so happy to say it was the easiest and the most moist bread i have ever made. It really was so good. Thank you for sharing it with me. I am throwing away my old recipe that i used to use.
I agree with you.
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This recipe is so good. You would think i used regular flour and sugar for this. So tasty.