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.
Have made this 2 times this week. We love it! Made exactly according to recipe but found that it was done in 35 minutes – not 50 in my oven.
I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Do you have a gluten free version?
Hi, we haven’t tested a gluten-free version of this recipe, so I’m not sure how it would work. A 1-to-1 gluten-free blend might work fine in place of the white and wheat flours.
If you’re going to make this recipe, use the whole wheat pastry flour. I tried the whole wheat flour and all purpose flour combined and like others, got a very spongy, odd consistency quick bread. I also felt like this recipe was a bit more work than usual quick breads.
Hi Kelly, Did you change anything about the recipe? We’ve found the loaves made with whole wheat pastry flour and part white, part wheat to be very similar.
Hi Phoebe,
I followed the recipe exactly as written since it was the first time making it. It did get less spongy over the course of a day or two but initially it was very unappealing to eat.
Hi Kelly, Thanks for your feedback! I’m glad you were happier with the texture over time.
I made this as muffins and they came out great! 17 minutes in my oven. YUM!
And it made 2 dozen.
Thanks for sharing this!
Hi Mandy, I’m so glad you loved the muffins!
I saw the comment about the recipe being changed. Can you provide details of the previous recipe? That worked so well for us!! I subbed out the pastry flour for almond flour and wasn’t sure of the ratio between the two.
Hi! I’m really excited to make this with my son, but just curious if you thought I could use all whole wheat flour instead of part that and part all-purpose. Thanks you!
Hi Cierra, I think all whole wheat would be pretty dense which is why we did this mix. Although, I do find that whole wheat pastry flour is lighter than regular whole wheat so you could use that here in place of all flours. Bob’s Red Mill and King Arthur make it.
What’s a good substitute for the eggs if I want to make it vegan?
Hi Sandy, we haven’t tested this one without eggs, but this other zucchini bread (with chocolate chips) has a vegan option: https://www.loveandlemons.com/zucchini-bread/
Amazing! Did anyone break down the nutrition and calories by chance?
I have been making this recipe for over a year now and always bake it in a Bundt pan instead of 2 loaf pans. It comes out perfect, moist and chocolatey every time. I made it last night for my son to take back to college and it came out spongy. It didn’t rise as much and is more dense than normal. I have no idea why, but I also wondered if the recipe changed because it used to call for whole wheat pastry flour. Was it always 3 eggs? I’m sad because my family loves this recipe so much. Thank you!!
Hi Lorie, we changed the flour because whole wheat pastry flour isn’t accessible for most people to find. I’m sorry it didn’t come out the same, we thought our loaves came out the same. You can definitely go back to the WW pastry flour (2 1/2 cups). We didn’t change the eggs.
Very good bread. Followed recipe exactly. It was perfect!!
I’m so glad you loved it!
Can you use two 9×5 loaf pans?
Hi Lanelle, you could, your loaves will be a little shorter.
This is a super tasty recipe! I switched up liquid after the first batch I made and added 1 cup EVOO and 3/4 cup oat milk and it was so luxurious.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Can I use butter instead of coconut oil? My husband is allergic to coconuts. Will also sub oat milk for almond as he’s allergic to that too.
TY, Lori
Hi Lori, melted butter might work, but I’d probably go with a neutral oil first (vegetable oil, canola, or avocado).
Would it be the same amount of avocado oil as coconut? I said butter because I was thinking closest saturated fat to coconut
Thank you
Lori
Hi Lori, yes, it would be the same amount of oil. I think melted better might work too. (same amount).
Wondering about the flour as I am allergice to wheat and I notice not just regular flour, but specifically whole wheat flour. I wonder what happens with all 1-for-1 GF flour? Asking first bc the stuff is expensive – LOL if the recipe crashes that’s a lot of GF flour, though results may still be salvageable with ice cream…
Hi Judy, I haven’t tried this bread with GF flour so I can’t say for sure.
Can you use this recipe to make muffins as well? Would the oven time be different?
Hi, I’d bake them less (maybe around 16-22 minutes) – and I’m not exactly sure what the yield would be.
Could I use milk instead of almond milk? Is it Dutch processed cocoa?
Hi Melissa, yes, you can use regular milk. And I use regular cocoa powder.
Looks delicious! I don’t have maple syrup, can I sub brown sugar, or will that alter the moisture of the bread?
Hi Kathryn, it’ll change things for sure – going from a wet to a more dry sugar. This regular zucchini bread uses regular sugar: https://www.loveandlemons.com/zucchini-bread/
hello. I love baking I have not baked a lot but ya sort of my happy hour. I had a question what shall I use instead of eggs in the bread . I am a vegetarians many cookies and breads have eggs involved. what can I use instead of eggs?
I made this with flax eggs, which worked just fine.
I am new at baking. I had great success. The chocolate zucchini bread turned out great. The family loved it. Really clear instructions. First class website, great presentation.
I’m so glad everyone loved it!
Hi Jeanine! Do you think I could swap the cocoa powder with all purpose or whole wheat flour to make a regular zucchini bread? I like how this recipe uses maple syrup instead of cane sugar like your recipe for regular zucchini bread, so I was hoping to use this one instead!
Hi Sarah, I haven’t tried that so I’m not sure. Can you let me know if you give it a go?