Perfect for chocolate lovers, this Chocolate Zucchini Bread is tender and moist. It’s the perfect recipe for a surplus of summer zucchini.
Love zucchini bread? You also need this Chocolate Wave Zucchini Bread and this traditional Zucchini Bread Recipe.
We have hit the time of the summer that is my favorite – when the summer harvest is coming in hot!
And whether you have zucchini plants, or have neighbors that do, you know that this is the vegetable that grows like crazy. It seems like someone is always trying to hand off their excess zucchini.
I’ll gladly take it all just to make this Chocolate Zucchini Bread. Filled with chocolate flavor, this moist bread is perfect as a breakfast treat or as an afternoon pick me up. It’s a must make every summer!
Ingredients
Make sure to scroll to the recipe card at the end of the post for full amounts, ingredients, and instructions.
- Sugar: You need granulated sugar for this recipe.
- Oil: You can use any neutral flavored oil. I usually use vegetable oil, but canola, avocado, or any other neutral oil should work.
- Eggs: You need large eggs.
- Vanilla: The vanilla gives you extra flavor. I like to use a pure vanilla extract.
- Flour: I have only tested this recipe using all-purpose flour.
- Cocoa Powder: I typically only have unsweetened cocoa powder, like Hershey’s, on hand, so that is what I used in this recipe.
- Baking Soda: This will give the bread it’s lift and texture.
- Salt: The salt will help to balance flavors.
- Zucchini: If you are using smaller zucchini, there is no need to drain the zucchini. If you have a large zucchini, they tend to be wetter, so you may need to remove the seeds, shred, and drain.
- Chocolate Chips: I like to use mini chocolate chips. They melt into the bread, giving little pockets of chocolate throughout.
How to Make Chocolate Zucchini Bread
PHOTO 1: In a large bowl, combine the sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla. I like to use a whisk and mix it by hand, but you could always use a mixer. I would suggest a stand mixer over a hand mixer, though, because the batter will be quite thick.
PHOTO 2: In another bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together. Then add this to the wet ingredients and start to mix it all together. You don’t want to mix it completely yet – just until it is fairly mixed through with some dry patches still. It will be thick at this point.
PHOTO 3: Now you’ll add the zucchini and continue to mix. Mix until it is mostly combined.
PHOTO 4: Reserve about 2 tablespoons of the chocolate chips, and then add the remaining chips to the batter. Mix until they are incorporated, but try not to overmix the batter.
PHOTO 5: Pour the batter into a 9×5-inch loaf pan. I like to line mine with parchment paper because it makes it easier to get it out of the loaf pan. But either way, you’ll want to make sure the pan is greased before adding the batter.
PHOTO 6: Sprinkle the reserved chocolate chips over the top, then bake the bread until a tester inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean.
Tips and Tricks
You want to make sure you are using a 9×5-inch loaf pan. You will find that loaf pans come in all kinds of sizes, and a smaller pan will probably not fit all of the batter. I use this Goodcook 9×5-inch loaf pan and it works perfectly.
As hard as it is, you want to make sure to let the bread cool before cutting into it. I actually like it best the 2nd day.
Store the bread covered at room temperature. I will usually wrap it in plastic wrap and keep it on the counter.
You can store it in the refrigerator to make it last longer, but it will dry out faster that way.
More Zucchini Recipes
Zucchini Muffins
Glazed Lemon Poppy Seed Zucchini Bread
Zucchini Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
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Chocolate Zucchini Bread
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups grated zucchini
- 1 cup mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9×5 loaf pan well, or line with parchment.
- In a large bowl, combine the sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Whisk to combine.
- In another bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Add this to the sugar mixture and stir together until it is about halfway mixed together. The batter will be very thick.
- Add the zucchini and continue to mix until mostly combined. Reserve about 2 tablespoons of the chocolate chips, and add the remaining to the batter. Continue to stir just until everything is combined. (The batter will still be quite thick – but you should be able to stir everything together.)
- Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan. Spread the batter to an even layer.
- Bake until a tester inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean, about 1 hour. (When testing, it can be tricky if you hit a chocolate chip, so you may want to test in a few different areas.)
- Let the bread cool before removing from the pans to slice and serve.
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