This rich Chocolate Zucchini Bread is moist, chocolatey, and made with better-for-you ingredients like less sugar, yogurt, chocolate, coconut oil, oats, and zucchini.
Try some other popular zucchini quick breads like this Lemon Zucchini Bread or Healthy Zucchini Bread.
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread
You are going to love how indulgent-tasting this chocolate zucchini bread is — especially when considering all the great nutrient-filled ingredients we’re loading into this bread. While there is still a good amount of sugar, it’s a fraction of what other recipes contain. We’re also using tons of other healthier ingredient swaps — dark cocoa powder and dark chocolate chips (healthy fats and antioxidants –yeah!), protein-packed Greek yogurt, oats in place of some of the flour, coconut oil, and — of course– let’s not forget we’re adding veggies to this bread in the form of zucchini!
Check out the next section for some helpful ingredient notes and suggestions before heading to the grocery store!
Chocolate Zucchini Bread Ingredients
- Cocoa Powder: Use Dutch-process cocoa like Hershey’s Special Dark® for deep chocolate flavor. It works better than regular cocoa and is easy to find.
- Greek Yogurt: Honey Vanilla Greek Yogurt (like Greek Gods®) keeps the bread soft and adds flavor. Don’t use low-fat or regular yogurt—it won’t work the same.
- Chocolate Chips: Any kind works—semi-sweet, milk, or dark. I use dark to keep it a little healthier.
- Coconut Oil: Melt it first, then measure and let it cool. If it’s too hot, it can mess up the batter.
- Zucchini: Use finely grated zucchini. No need to peel or dry it—the moisture helps. Skip the big grater holes.
How To Make Chocolate Zucchini Bread?
- Get Ready: Heat oven to 350°F (176°C). Put parchment paper in a loaf pan.
- Mix Wet Ingredients: Mix Greek yogurt, honey, and gently pressed brown sugar until smooth.
- Melt Chocolate: Melt chocolate chips with coconut oil in short times, then mix into the wet stuff.
- Mix Dry Ingredients: In another bowl, mix oat flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- Mix Together: Stir the wet and dry ingredients softly. Stir in grated zucchini and more chocolate chips until it’s all mixed (don’t overmix).
- Bake the Bread: Pour into the pan and bake until a toothpick comes out with slightly sticky crumbs.
- Let It Cool: Let cool before cutting. Use a knife with a bumpy edge for cleaner slices.
What Is Oat Flour?
Oat flour is basically just powdered (blended) oats. It adds a great texture, a unique flavor, and a nutritious aspect to Chocolate Zucchini Bread. No need to go buy oat flour; oats blend up in seconds.
How to make oat flour in 30 seconds or less: All you do is blend regular old-fashioned oats (or quick oats)in a blender until they resemble regular flour. I’ve used $20 blenders and my high-powered Blendtec® and both will do the trick just fine.
Quick Tip
Unfortunately, you can not use ALL oat flour in this bread. I have tried it and it was not successful. Also if you attempt to use a different flour in this recipe, please note that it may not yield the right texture. Oat flour absorbs much more liquid than regular flour.
Baking Tips
- Don’t overmix. If you mix the batter too much, you’ll end up with a dense loaf. Mix until ingredients are just combined and then pop it in the bread pan and bake!
- Generously grease the bread pan. I like to grease the pan with nonstick spray and then lightly dust with flour. There are few things as frustrating as trying to invert a loaf and having it fall apart or stick to the bottom! Take your time to generously grease the pan or line it with parchment paper, leaving an overhang for easy bread removal.
- Cool baked bread on a wire rack. Run a table knife along the edge of the pan and invert the loaf onto the wire rack. Chocolate Zucchini Bread needs to be elevated so air can circulate around all sides as it cools. Otherwise, moisture will condense on the bottom of the bread, making it damp and slightly sticky.
- Use the right size pan. We use an 8.5 x 4.5-inch bread pan for this recipe; it doesn’t bake up the same in other-sized pans.
How To Know When Zucchini Chocolate Chip Bread Is Done
It can be tricky to know when quick bread is fully baked. There are a lot of variables in baking zucchini bread such as altitude, humidity, actual oven temperature, bread pan used, etc. Here are a few cues to look for and tips to keep in mind:
- Preventing underbaked zucchini bread: Make sure your oven is correctly calibrated; wait for the oven to fully preheat before adding the bread to the oven and position the loaf in the center of the oven.
- Visual cues for doneness: Bread has pulled away slightly from the edges of the pan.
- Physical cue for doneness: A toothpick (or fork) inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean or with a couple of moist (not wet) crumbs.
Storage
Savory ways to use leftover zucchini
- Mexican Zucchini Boats low carb, high protein meal
- Zucchini Pasta Sauce tossed with spaghetti noodles
- Zucchini Boats with Italian sausage
- Italian Sausage and Veggies in just one pan
- Garlic Parmesan Chicken and Zucchini made in one pan
Chocolate Zucchini Bread
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup honey vanilla Greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar lightly packed
- 1/3 + 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips divided
- 1/3 cup melted coconut oil
- 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup oat flour just blend regular oats in a blender—see note 1
- 2 tablespoons Dutch process cocoa powder recommended: Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup all-purpose flour or use white-whole wheat
- 3/4 heaping cup lightly packed and finely grated zucchini
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C). Lightly grease and flour an 8-1/2 by 4-1/2 inch pan or line with parchment paper, leaving an overhang for easy removal. Grate zucchini on the small holes of a grater. Measure and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the Greek yogurt, honey, and brown sugar until smooth.
- In another small microwave-safe bowl, place 1/3 cup (62g) chocolate chips. Melt the coconut oil and measure the oil after being melted. Pour the melted coconut oil over the chocolate chips and stir. Microwave in bursts of 15 seconds, stirring for 20 seconds between each burst until chocolate is fully melted and smooth. Allow to cool to room temperature, then use a spatula to scrape every bit into the Greek yogurt mixture. Stir to combine. Add the egg and vanilla extract and stir until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, stir together the oat flour (see note 1), cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cornstarch. Add in the flour and the remaining 3/4 cup chocolate chips (118g). Stir the dry ingredients together.
- Add the dry to the wet. Mix in the zucchini. Gently stir until just combined. Overmixing will result in dense bread or a sunken center.
- Use a spatula to scrape every bit of the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the top into an even layer. Top with a few more chocolate chips if desired. Bake for 45–55 minutes or until a toothpick when inserted into the center comes out with dry or moist (not wet) crumbs. The bread should also be pulling slightly away from the sides. Be careful to not overbake; it will yield a much drier, less-tasty zucchini bread.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes before inverting it onto a cooling rack to finish cooling. Allow to completely cool before cutting into the bread—otherwise, it’s pretty crumbly! Cut with a sharp, serrated knife. Best enjoyed the same day—see “Storage” notes below.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I don’t see how much zucchini is in the recipe?
In the recipe card it calls for a heaping 3/4 cup! I hope this helps!