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Chocolate Zucchini Bread

January 24, 2012

My mother used to make the most insanely delicious zucchini bread. I don't remember eating a lot of zucchini in side dishes as a kid (which is sad because I love it so much), but I sure remember her bread. It's was sweet and moist with thin ribbons of zucchini laced throughout. Was that just her way of getting zucchini into our diet or was she simply baking something that she enjoyed making and we loved eating? I'd say the latter since, no one was holding me down telling me I had to eat it. In fact, I would usually beg for seconds.

I wanted to make a zucchini bread recipe for weelicious, but since I already made Zucchini Muffins last year I decided to mix things up and feature one of Kenya and Chloe's favorite ingredients -- chocolate -- in a co-starring role. The chocolatey flavor comes from just 1/3 a cup of cocoa powder and while you may assume this bread is only for dessert, it's actually also great as a mid-day snack and even for breakfast. Yes, I said it. Chocolate for breakfast. That's not to say you should be handing out Snickers bars before the school bus comes, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with offering this bread to your kids to start their day.

And while you may have seen the title for this recipe and thought to yourself, "awesome, I can get my kids to eat their veggies by telling them I'm serving Chocolate Bread," I beg you not to. Don't sneak. Food is all about making discoveries and you just may find yourself with a new zucchini fan after your little one tries this bread.

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Chocolate Zucchini Bread  (Makes 2 Loafs)

  • Prep Time:5 minutes,
  • Cook Time: 50 minutes,
  • Total Time: 1 hours, 5 minutes,

Ingredients

  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
  • 2 eggs, whisked
  • 1 banana, mashed
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 2 cups zucchini, grated

Preparation

  1. 1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
  2. 2. In a bowl, combine the first 6 dry ingredients.
  3. 3. In a separate large bowl, beat the vanilla, oil, eggs, banana and honey until combined.
  4. 4. Slowly combine the dry ingredients into the wet then stir in the grated zucchini.
  5. 5. Pour the batter into two greased 8 x 4 inch loaf pans.
  6. 6. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
  7. 7. Cool for 10 minutes, then remove bread from the pan and cool completely.
  8. 8. Serve.
  9. * Loaves can be wrapped tightly in foil, placed in Ziploc bags labeled with the date and frozen for up to 3 months.
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Comments






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  1. Sarah

    April 18, 2013 at 9:07 pm

    Reply

    I halved the recipe and it made 24 perfect mini-muffins! (I finely shredded the zucchini and then chopped it a bit more to not have stringy bits for my 2yo to pull out!) He’s currently on his 3rd ‘cupcake’!

    Oh, and since I didn’t have any bananas to hand, I used applesauce – worked great!

    • hopesicle

      May 13, 2013 at 6:08 pm

      Reply

      I did the mini muffins today, 20 minutes was the perfect time to bake them and they were moist. However, I did not find them sweet enough at all. If I make them again, I will definitely sweeten it more. For reference, I substituted unsweetened applesauce for both the oil and the banana (total applesauce used was 3/4 cup, remember though that this was for a half recipe). I also used white whole wheat instead of just whole wheat flour since that was all I had on hand.

  2. Angela

    April 16, 2013 at 11:42 pm

    Reply

    Will this work without the cocoa powder? We haven’t introduced chocolate over here yet. Thanks!

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  4. Steph

    March 26, 2013 at 9:13 am

    Reply

    Added extra honey, some brown sugar, choc chips. . .and made muffins. Delicious!

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  6. Lindsay

    March 12, 2013 at 10:47 am

    Reply

    Would agave nectar be okay to use instead of honey!? Love your website:)

    • catherine

      March 12, 2013 at 12:03 pm

      Reply

      Yes! You can exchange honey for agave and vise versa at a 1:1 ratio!

  7. Jana

    February 14, 2013 at 7:25 am

    Reply

    Holy cow, this is yum!!! Made a ton of zucchini bread and this is the best. I was making it as a cake so I took another person’s suggestion and used coconut oil and a little milk. I also threw in a handfull of chocolate chips. So good!!!

  8. N Robitaille

    January 14, 2013 at 1:31 pm

    Reply

    My 5 year old came home from school feeling “bad all over” today. She asked for Chocolate Zuchinni muffins and applesauce. What mum could deny that request? So, wanting to get it right… how many opportunities do you get to provide a scrumptious zuchinni muffin to a kid – right? I searched Weelicious. What do you know? I found a recipe for chocolate zuchinni loaf. Making it into muffins NOW :)

  9. Kristin

    January 4, 2013 at 5:35 pm

    Reply

    This recipe is fantastic. Absolutely loved it. My toddler loved it as well.

  10. Tina

    November 19, 2012 at 8:19 pm

    Reply

    I used 4 mini loaves and baked for 40 min. I also used agave nectar instead of honey. Turned out perfect! My kids are not big fans of zucchinis but I had my 6 year old help by shredding and measuring out the zucchini. He did not hesitate eating the bread. Overall, the kids and husband loved it. It is a keeper!

  11. Teresa

    November 11, 2012 at 11:00 pm

    Reply

    I made mine in one loaf pan too and I got only a short loaf. My son cannot have eggs so, I used an egg replaced. I think it might have affected the height of the loaf. Do you have any suggestion on what you would use to replace the eggs if I don’t use the replacer
    But my son still had a whole slice…he really liked it

    • catherine

      November 12, 2012 at 11:39 am

      Reply

      I’ve heard that a mashed banana in quick breads and muffins works great for replacing an egg!

  12. Rebecca

    October 24, 2012 at 6:50 pm

    Reply

    holy yum. two thumbs up from my veggie-phobic 3 year old (he helped make it and even added the zucchini… our ‘magic ingredient’). my one year old devoured it too, but she’s like a garbage disposal, so i don’t know if that counts.

    our loaves were very small. next time, i’m going to try it in one pan instead of two. if that works out, i’m going to try substituting flax meal for the canola oil in the following batch. this is going to be a staple in our household, methinks.

  13. Cristina

    October 15, 2012 at 4:06 pm

    Reply

    The first time I made this bread, I wasn’t that crazy about it. I thought it was very moist, but It wasn’t sweet enought for me. So, I decided to add 1 1/2 cups of shredded zucchini only and half a cup of shredded carrots.. It turned out to be delicious! Thank you for the recipe!

  14. Betsy

    October 15, 2012 at 2:59 pm

    Reply

    Hi-
    Josie can’t eat bananas, have you ever done this recipe without the banana? I was wondering if I could just add chocolate to the Zucchini muffin recipe? What do you think?

    • catherine

      October 15, 2012 at 4:05 pm

      Reply

      The banana adds moistness! You can leave it out if you need to, and maybe add another 1/2 cup shredded zucchini! You absolutely could add chocolate to the zucchini muffins!

  15. Melissa Ramirez

    September 21, 2012 at 4:11 pm

    Reply

    I really want to make this for my son but we has to be GF how can i make this and still have it be gluten-free. Thank you :)

    • catherine

      September 24, 2012 at 11:56 am

      Reply

      I haven’t tested this recipe with gluten-free flour, but I think an all-purpose gluten free flour would work! Try Bob’s Red Mill!

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  17. Dawn

    September 9, 2012 at 3:44 pm

    Reply

    What size loaf pans did you use? I divided into 2 as suggested but like other commemnts it seems low. It’s baking now so I’ll fnd out soon… just curious on what you used.

    • catherine

      September 10, 2012 at 11:48 am

      Reply

      My loaf pans are 8.5 x 4.5 x 2.5!

    • Dawn

      September 10, 2012 at 9:42 am

      Reply

      It made two short loaves for me and they were ready at 35 minutes but they are delicious. The short loaves actually make for a perfect sized slice for my little ones lunch!

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  19. 1gbmommy

    August 27, 2012 at 10:34 am

    Reply

    LOVE IT! I’ve made them into muffins and this time did the 2 loafs….one for now & one to freeze. Made them for our kiddos and they loved cause of the chocolate factor and my hubby loved cause it wasn’t overly sweet! :)

  20. Karla

    August 24, 2012 at 12:25 pm

    Reply

    Can I make mini muffins with this recipe< or just a loaf? Thanks!

    • catherine

      August 24, 2012 at 2:55 pm

      Reply

      I think mini muffins would work! Bake at same temp but only for like 15-20 minutes… or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let me know how they turn out!

  21. Stacy

    August 18, 2012 at 9:54 am

    Reply

    I made this last night. Not sure if I did something wrong but the dough wasn’t pourable it was like a ball when I was done. Also it all could have fit into one pan as I got 2 very short loaves. It was okay but didn’t really have any taste, is there anything I can add to it to give it a little sweatness. I will try to make this again and hope next time it turns out a little better. Oh and I was wondering could you make a video of this maybe that would help with what I think I am doing wrong

  22. Jane

    August 12, 2012 at 8:47 am

    Reply

    I’m looking forward to trying this. Is the zucchini supposed to be squeezed to get out the liquid or added as is?

    • catherine

      August 13, 2012 at 7:47 am

      Reply

      Add as is!

  23. Esther

    August 10, 2012 at 11:32 am

    Reply

    This recipe is super yum! I used coconut oil, added a bit of almond milk to loosen up the batter. I piped the batter into heart shaped donut pans. They came out delicious..

  24. Maggie

    July 18, 2012 at 12:06 pm

    Reply

    So I switched it up a bit & its really nice. I used what I had on hand. Instead of zucchini I used a yellow squash, Instead of veg oil I used unrefined sunflower oil which gives a nice nutty sunflower taste. & added a diced red plum. I like that it isn’t very sweet and that there is no sugar just some honey. Interesting take on bread :-)

  25. Ruth

    July 13, 2012 at 12:15 pm

    Reply

    Made this last night for a weekend river float – cut the recipe in half and baked in an 8×4 loaf pan. It only filled the pan 1/2-way. I also shredded the zucchini super fine so my son wouldn’t notice the texture. I tried a sliver when I sliced it this morning – it tastes really good. It is not as sweet as the sugar-based breads, but we’re fairly used to products made with alternative sweeteners so we don’t mind at all.

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