Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread
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If you’re searching for a delightful treat that sneaks in some veggies without compromising on flavor, look no further than our Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread. The best part? The zucchini is perfectly hidden, making it a stealthy way to add in some extra nutrition. Perfect for breakfast, dessert, or an anytime snack, this recipe is sure to become a favorite that you’ll feel good about serving.
Reasons You’ll Love This Recipe
- It’s freezer friendly. Similar to our Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread, you can double the batch and freeze one for later.
- Zucchini is incredibly healthy and pretty tasteless.
- Kids love it. They think they are eating dessert for breakfast!
- The dark chocolate color masks any pops of green that might throw off skeptical kiddos.
- It’s a perfect recipe to use up any frozen zucchini you might have in the freezer too.
You might also like our other zucchini recipes on our site:
- Zucchini Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies
- Healthy Zucchini Muffins
- Double Chocolate Zucchini Waffles
Ingredients:
This sweet bread is a snack or quick breakfast you can feel good about. After all, it’s chock full of 100% whole wheat, zucchini, and all real food ingredients. Here is what you’ll need:
Ingredient Notes:
- Coconut oil – Can sub avocado oil or vegetable oil.
- Cane sugar and brown sugar
- Vanilla – Here’s how to make your own vanilla.
- Shredded zucchini – If you think your kiddos will sniff out the shredded zucchini, just throw it in a food processor to blend it up more. I often do this when sneaking fruits and vegetables into my kids’ favorite recipes.
- White whole wheat flour – I highly recommend using white whole wheat flour, like King Arthur or Prairie Gold. It makes the bread turn out much lighter than the usual whole wheat flour (made with red wheat).
How to Make Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread
Prep
Move a rack to the very center of the oven. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a metal or glass loaf pan with cooking spray. Tip: Drape parchment paper over the long sides of the pan, pressing it against the bottom and sides so it sticks to the cooking spray. This helps to remove the loaf later.
Dry Ingredients
To a large mixing bowl, add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, and salt. Whisk until combined.
Wet Ingredients
Use paper towels to squeeze out excess moisture from the grated zucchini.
In a small mixing bowl or glass measuring cup, whisk together the oil, sugar, and vanilla. Mix in eggs and shredded zucchini.
Combine
Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir briefly just until it starts to come together as a batter (it’s important to not over-mix). Add the chocolate chips. Stir just until the chocolate chips are distributed evenly throughout the batter (again, don’t over-mix). Add to the loaf pan.
Bake and Cool
Bake for 50-60 minutes, depending on your pan size and type*. Start checking it at 50 minutes but expect that it will be done between 55-60 minutes. The bread is done when a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out mostly clean (a few crumbs are fine).
*In multiple tests, my wider metal pan took 55 minutes and my narrower glass pan nearly 60 minutes.
Place on a cooling rack and let cool for at least 10 minutes. Use a bread knife to loosen the sides of the bread from the pan and remove to the cooling rack. Serve slices with a little butter or slather on cream cheese on top, if desired.
Can You Freeze Zucchini Bread?
You betcha! I almost always bake two loaves so my family can enjoy one now and I can freeze one for later.
Freeze For Later: Bake and completely cool the bread. Wrap tightly in several layers of plastic wrap and/or foil or place in a gallon size freezer bag, squeezing out any excess air. Alternately, slice the bread into pieces and wrap each piece in plastic wrap and then place in a freezer bag. Freeze.
Prepare From Frozen: Thaw on the counter or in the fridge. Warm slices in the microwave briefly, if desired.
Tip: How to Freeze Shredded Zucchini
If you have extra zucchini that you can’t use up, go ahead and shred it and freeze it! Here’s how…
FAQs
When making zucchini bread, it’s not necessary to peel the zucchini. The skin of the zucchini is edible, contains nutrients, can add a nice touch of color to your bread, and provides some additional texture. However, if you prefer a smoother texture in your bread or if the skin of the zucchini is tough, peel it before using it in the recipe. Ultimately, it comes down to personal preference.
Wash the zucchini and trim the ends. Then, you can grate or shred the zucchini using one of these two methods:
Box grater: Use the side with larger holes on a box grater. Hold the grater over a large bowl and run the zucchini along the side in a downward motion. Be careful to protect your fingers while grating.
Food processor: Cut the zucchini into smaller chunks and use the grating or shredding attachment on your food processor. This method is faster and more convenient if you have a large amount of zucchini to shred.
To prevent soggy bread, drain the excess moisture in the zucchini by squeezing out the excess moisture with your hands or wrap the zucchini in a clean kitchen towel and wring out the liquid.
Absolutely! Adding nuts, such as chopped walnuts or pecans, can provide a nice crunch and additional flavor to your chocolate chip zucchini bread. You can also add other mix-ins like shredded coconut or dried fruit to customize the recipe according to your preferences.
Yes! Just bake muffins at 350°F for 15-18 minutes. If making mini muffins, check them at 11 minutes.
Yes, you can substitute dark chocolate chips with regular chocolate chips.
More Sweet Bread Recipes
If you like this healthy, moist quick bread, then we’d love for you to try some of our other top sweet breads:
Want More Make Ahead Breakfast Ideas?
Foolproof make-ahead breakfast recipes that will help you start the morning the right way.
Did you make this? Snap a photo and tag us on Instagram at @thrivinghome so we can see your creations and cheer you on!
Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread
A double chocolatelytwist on normal zucchini bread with a few healthier substitutions that will not impact the flavor of this sweet bread.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup melted coconut oil (can sub avocado oil)
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini, squeezed of excess moisture
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup wheat flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips (or dairy-free chocolate chips)
Before You Begin! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease one 9×5 loaf pan (we used a metal pan).
- In a mixer, combine oil, sugars, and vanilla. Mix in eggs and shredded zucchini.
- In a separate bowl, mix flours, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Slowly mix this dry mixture into your wet mixture. Beat until combined. Mix in chocolate chips.
- Move the batter to your prepared loaf pan, and bake at 350°F for 55-65 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center. Remove from oven and cool in pan for 10 minutes before cooling on a wire rack.
Freeze for Later: After bread is baked, let cool completely. Slice the bread but keep it in the form of a loaf. By slicing it, you can thaw out one or two pieces instead of the whole loaf. Wrap loaf in saran wrap and then in foil. Store in freezer for up to 3 months.
Prepare From Frozen: Thaw individual slices of bread in refrigerator or microwave.
Notes/Tips
- We tested this bread in a metal loaf pan. If using glass or ceramic, bake time may be a little shorter or longer so keep an eye on it.
- If you have extra zucchini that you can’t use up, go ahead and shred it and freeze it using these instructions!
- To make this bread a little sweeter, use regular chocolate chips instead of dark chocolate.
- Use paper towels to squeeze out excess moisture from the grated zucchini.
Delicious! I made a 9×5 loaf with my first batch and then made another batch in my mini loaf pan that makes 8 mini loaves. This recipe was perfect for that and the only thing I changed was the amount of time. Mine cooked for about 25 minutes.
Hi Abbie! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review and for letting us know the timing on the mini loaves!
Amazing recipe! I doubled this and made it in my Souper cubes for easy freezer storage. Thank you for another great recipe!
Fun idea Rebecca. Thanks for leaving a review. 🙂
This bread is delicious! My family loves this recipe for breakfast, snack or dessert!
We’re thrilled your family enjoys it. Thanks for sharing, Alicia.
This recipe is awesome! Loved by all that had a taste of it. Making two more loaves today. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe.
Wonderful! I need to make this bread for my crew again. I have zucchini sitting in my fridge right now. Thanks for the review!
I’d like to try this as muffins. I know they wouldn’t have to cook as long, but do you think the oven temperature would be the same?
I did make muffins. I baked them for 25 minutes. They did fine. Nice and moist. I added nuts and drizzled chocolate syrup in a X across the tops before baking as I didn’t have chips. I used self rising flour and withheld salt baking powder and salt.
Good to know. Thanks for sharing your tips and experience, Carole. Appreciate it!
This bread look delicious! Did you half 1/3 c. of sugar or is that what you actually used? Thanks so much! 🙂
It certainly looks like your little ones enjoyed it. It looks yummy to me.
You bet! Who wouldn’t enjoy chocolate waffles for breakfast!