Chocolate Zucchini Bread

This chocolate zucchini bread is incredibly rich, chocolatey and moist. You don’t taste the zucchini at all. It’s also easy to whip up and does not require a mixer.

It’s zucchini season which means we have been making a lot of zucchini recipes.

And this chocolate zucchini bread is a new favorite. It’s so rich and decadent. You don’t taste the zucchini, but the zucchini does keep the bread very moist and gives it a very tender crumb. It took a lot of willpower to not eat this entire loaf in one sitting!

How to Make Chocolate Zucchini Bread

I love this zucchini bread because it only takes a few minutes to mix the batter and then it’s ready to go into the oven. Here are my tips and how-to steps so you can make this delicious bread, too.

Zucchini

• For this chocolate zucchini bread, it’s best to use fresh, in-season zucchini because it contains a lot of moisture which is important for the bread. Zucchini that is out of season is usually drier and will make the bread dry, too. Depending on where you live zucchini is in season during the summer and early fall months.
• When you shred the zucchini, it will release a lot of liquid. Don’t drain or get rid of the liquid! You will need it to keep the bread moist.
• Use a grater with small holes to shred the zucchini. The finer the shreds, the less noticeable the zucchini will be in the bread.
• Because there’s so much zucchini available this time of year I have several favorite zucchini dessert recipes that I like to make like my classic Zucchini Bread, Zucchini Brownies and Chocolate Zucchini Mug Cake.

Chocolate

• You will need a ½ cup of unsweetened cocoa for this recipe. I don’t recommend using Dutch-process cocoa because your bread may not rise properly as it bakes. The unsweetened cocoa reacts with the baking soda which helps the bread rise as it bakes.
• I also added a generous amount of mini chocolate chips to the batter as well as for the top of the bread. I love how the chocolate chips look on the baked bread and I never say no to a little extra chocolate!

How to Make the Batter

• I like to use two bowls for this recipe: one bowl for the dry ingredients and one to combine the wet ingredients. It’s a lot easier to incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet ones in batches without over mixing the batter. Overmixing the batter will make your bread a little tougher.
• I used an 8×4” loaf pan to bake the bread. I like to line it with enough parchment paper so some is left overhanging the sides. This makes it a lot easier to remove the bread from the pan without having to butter and flour it.
• As I mentioned, I like to mix some of the chocolate chips into the batter and then sprinkle the rest over the top of the batter once it’s in the pan.
• The bread will take approximately 50 minutes to bake at 350°F.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Servings: 10 slices

This easy quick bread requires no mixer. It is super chocolatey and moist and you can’t taste the zucchini at all.

Print Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa not dutch processed
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 cups packed shredded zucchini
• 1 cup semisweet mini chocolate chips divided

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 8 inch x 4 inch baking pan with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, combine eggs, oil, brown sugar and vanilla. Whisk until smooth.
3. In a separate small bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, and baking soda.
4. Add dry ingredients to the wet batter. Mix until evenly combined. Stir in zucchini. Stir in ¾ cup chocolate chips.
5. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Top with remaining chocolate chips.
6. Bake approximately 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean (it’s okay if there is melted chocolate chips, but you don’t want any wet batter.) Allow cake to cool before cutting and serving.

Notes:

You do not need to squeeze or drain the water from the zucchini. You will need it to keep the bread moist.

I recommend using a hand grater to shred the zucchini. The finer the shreds, the less noticeable the zucchini will be in the bread.

Adapted from Two Peas & Their Pod

All images and content are © Kirbie's Cravings.

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