Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Bread
Decadent vegan chocolate zucchini bread that comes together in one bowl! This eggless quick bread is packed with zucchini and is perfectly soft and moist.
Why you’ll love this recipe
TASTE/TEXTURE: Soft, rich chocolate flavor and decadent. The extra zucchini makes this bread moister than a traditional chocolate cake! Don’t worry, you cannot taste the zucchini at all.
DIFFICULTY: Easy to make using just a few common ingredients, just like my chocolate beetroot cake.
Simple ingredients you’ll need
The full list of ingredient quantities and instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Shredded zucchini. No need to squeeze or blot the zucchini before using it! I’ve adjusted the amount of wet ingredients so the bread turns out perfectly moist without being wet or heavy. I’ve tested the recipe using zucchini shredded with both a box grater and a food processor and both work well.
Brown sugar for moisture and depth of flavor.
Dairy-free yogurt binds the ingredients and makes the bread more tender. We don’t notice the crumbliness in chocolate zucchini muffins because they’re smaller and don’t need to be sliced! Alternatively, you can use unsweetened applesauce, mashed banana, a flax egg or just omit it.
Cocoa powder. For a deeper chocolate flavor, I used dutch-process cocoa powder. Natural cocoa powder will work but your zucchini bread will have a milder chocolate flavor.
Dairy-free milk. I used soy milk but any variety, such as almond milk or oat milk will work. Cocoa powder is a very dry ingredient, so we need a little extra milk to ensure the bread is moist.
How to make chocolate zucchini bread
One of the best things about this quick bread is that it comes together in one large bowl!
First, mix all the wet ingredients including the sugar. Stir in the cocoa powder, then the rest of the dry ingredients and finally the chocolate chips. We’re mixing the cocoa powder before the flour to ensure it’s thoroughly combined. Since cocoa powder doesn’t have gluten, you don’t have to worry about overmixing it!
For the best zucchini bread, I recommend:
- Use a kitchen scale and grams to measure your ingredients. It’s difficult to accurately measure zucchini and flour by their volume and too much of either will give the bread a dense texture.
- Avoid overmixing the batter. If you’re using chocolate chips, mix the batter until just before it’s combined then fold in the chocolate chips.
Tips for baking the zucchini bread
This bread is straightforward to bake! However, I understand that all kitchens and ovens are different so here are some tips:
- If your oven has a strong top heating element, the top of your loaf may burn. Keep an eye on the loaf and, if needed, tent the loaf with aluminum foil during baking.
- If you’re using an 8-inch (20cm) loaf pan, make sure it’s at least 3 inches deep. This chocolate zucchini bread rises higher than a standard USA Pan loaf pan. If your loaf pan is shallower, use a 9-inch loaf pan instead or bake the excess batter in a muffin pan.
Customizing this recipe
I recommend checking out my recipes for vegan chocolate zucchini muffins or regular zucchini muffins that are designed for muffin pans. I also have a non-chocolate vegan zucchini bread recipe.
Yes! Some delicious add-ins include:
– white vegan chocolate chips
– chopped walnuts or pecans
– 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon or 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg for depth of flavor
Or, you may like my vegan chocolate banana bread!
I haven’t tested it however, a combination of almond flour and gluten-free all-purpose flour has worked in my other similar recipes, such as my vegan apple bread. Alternatively, if you’ve successfully used a brand of 1:1 gluten-free flour for another similar vegan recipe, it should work for this.
More vegan zucchini or chocolate recipes
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Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Bread
Ingredients
Wet ingredients
- 2 cups (250g) coarsely shredded zucchini, (around 1 large zucchini)
- 1 cup (200g) packed brown sugar, granulated sugar or coconut sugar
- ½ cup (120g) dairy-free milk, room temperature
- ½ cup (110g) neutral flavored oil
- ⅔ cup (150g) dairy-free yogurt, room temperature (note 1 for alternatives)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional
Dry ingredients
- ½ cup (45g) dutch-process cocoa powder, (note 2)
- 1 ¾ cup (220g) all-purpose plain flour, spoon and leveled (note 3)
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt, optional
- ¾ cup (130g) vegan chocolate chips, optional, plus more for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Line or grease an 8-inch (20 cm) loaf pan with parchment paper.
Make the vegan chocolate zucchini bread:
- Add the zucchini and all the wet ingredients to a large mixing bowl and whisk until combined and there are no strands of zucchini sticking together. Add the cocoa powder and mix until combined.
- Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix until just before combined. Add the chocolate chips and fold through the batter until just combined.
- Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan and smooth the surface with a spoon. If desired, sprinkle more chocolate chips on top.
Baking and storing the bread:
- Bake the bread for 60 to 65 minutes or until you can insert a toothpick in the center and it comes out clean with no wet batter (this is a moist loaf so a few moist crumbs are fine).
- Allow the bread to cool in the pan for 20 minutes then transfer it on a wire rack.
- Enjoy the bread warm or at room temperature.
- Store any leftover bread in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the fridge for up to 5 days. Or store individual slices in the freezer for up to 1 month.
Notes
- This recipe will still work without yogurt, but your bread will be more crumbly. Instead of yogurt, you can use the same amount of applesauce, mashed banana or two tablespoons of ground flax seeds mixed with six tablespoons of water.
- Dutch-process cocoa powder results in a richer chocolate flavor. Natural cocoa powder will work but the chocolate flavor will be milder.
- Measure your flour accurately: For the best results, use the spoon and level method where you fluff up the flour in the container, use a spoon to add flour to a measuring cup, then level it off with a knife. I don’t recommend using the measuring cup to scoop flour out of your container as too much flour will result in dry and dense bread. Alternatively, use the grams measurements.
Other flours: If you’d like to use whole wheat flour or spelt flour, I suggest adding an extra dash of milk as those flours are more absorbent.
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I was concerned about the amount of sugar so I didn’t compact it. I was also a bit loose with the other measurements and turned out really well. I used lactose free vanilla yoghurt and 1:1 substitution for gluten free plain flour and this worked out perfectly! I’m both surprised and impressed.
So happy to hear! It’s always great when a recipe is forgiving enough for rough measurements and a ingredient swaps. I appreciate you taking the time to share! 🙂
I am saving it and curious to test this recipe out. I have been making zucchini chocolate bread for a while. The recipe I use is “sugar” free. Instead of brown sugar like your recipe suggests, it relies on the sweetness from medjool dates. 200g of brown sugar does seem like very sweet, how much can I cut down without affecting the moisture? Do you have a sugar free version?
Hi Mandy, that sounds delicious! Cutting down the sugar in any recipe will affect the moisture and texture. However, you could probably reduce the sugar by 15-20% without hugely affecting the structure of the cake. The easiest ‘sugar-free’ swap would be to use coconut sugar instead of brown sugar. Hope that helps!
Hi can this recipe be done with Gluten free flour please? if so what are the measurements.. thanks
Hi Sushma, I haven’t tested this recipe with gluten-free flour so I’m not 100% sure. Most of my recipes work well with King Arthur’s measure for measure gluten-free flour but I haven’t tested that one either.
Can I substitute maple syrup instead of brown sugar?
Hi Shell, unfortunately, maple syrup won’t work as a 1:1 substitute because it will throw off the balance of wet and dry ingredients. It may work if you reduce the milk, but you’ll need to experiment a little to find the right quantities. Hope that helps!
Tried it for the first time and was really surprised in depth of taste and the unbelievable consistence. So soft and moisty, all of our family fell in love with this irresistable cake!
Used spelt flour type 630, raw cane sugar and conventional yoghurt 3,5%.
Next time want to try a different flavour, such as pumpkin spice or cinnamon cardamom.
Thanks for this great recipe and warm regards from germany.
We’re so thrilled you and your family loved it! Thank you for sharing the ingredients you used, we’re sure other readers will find this really helpful. We hope you enjoy exploring the other bread recipes on the blog; pumpkin spice or cinnamon cardamom both sound like fantastic ideas for next time! Sending warm regards back to Germany 💛
Tried this and it came out great!! Everyone enjoyed it. Thank you for sharing!!
We love to hear this! Thank you so much for sharing your feedback!
Hi! Can I also use gluten-free flour?
Hi! We haven’t tested it for this specific recipe, but a mix of almond flour and gluten-free all-purpose flour has worked well in similar recipes, like the vegan apple bread. If you’ve had success with a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend in other similar vegan bakes, it should work here too! Hope that helps!
Just WOW! Moist, balanced, addictive! Such a surprising recipe which will be among my basics for sure!!
Hi Cristina, I’m thrilled you loved this recipe and that it’ll be a keeper for you!!
I made this using peanut butter instead of yogurt and it was excellent. Never had courgette bread before, was not sure what tonexpect. I used more cocoa and no chocolate chips.
So glad that you enjoyed this bread, and that substituting peanut butter worked for you! Thanks so much for your feedback 🙂
This is the 3rd time I make this recipe in 1 month! Double batches 😋 whoever used Hersheys cocoa powder, pls remember that the chocolate needs time to bloom its taste. Atleast 8hrs minimum. I used date syrup instead of sugar and half flour half almond flour(and 2 tbsp of coconut flour to help absorb the extra moisture from the date honey) since I ran out of flour 🤣 but it was so good like that and lower in carbs that I kept it. Hands down THE BEST!!! Making a double batch today!
I love that you’ve made this bread a few times and that this recipe is a keeper for you! And it’s great to hear that it worked with your substitutions as well and that you could customize it to the ingredients you had! Thanks so much for your wonderful feedback x
Loved the muffins recipe, tried these and sadly it wasn’t as great. Definitely make sure to use high quality cocoa powder (I used Hershey) wasn’t sweet enough or chocolatey..and it sank!
Hi Natalie, I’m sorry that you didn’t enjoy this recipe. It’s definitely not meant to sink, so I wonder if there was an issue with your ingredients or how they were measured (for example, using cups can add or subtract 50% of the specified dry ingredients which would throw off the recipe). This recipe is almost identical to the muffins recipe except this bread has yogurt, so I wonder why it tasted so different for you. Thanks for your feedback.
Fantastic so moist and yummy
Hi Shari, I’m so thrilled that you enjoyed this! Thanks so much for your review!
I love this recipe! Greatest in Mexico city.
Hi Diana, I’m so happy that you enjoyed this recipe! x
Lovely recipe.
Easy to follow and super delicious. Will bake it again 🙂
Aw, that’s wonderful to hear, and that the recipe is a keeper for you! I appreciate your feedback!
I did it without chocolate chips, only with cocoa and it’s great! I covered it in 74% cocoa chocolate and sprinkled with crushed pecan nuts. Delicious :).
That sounds wonderful, Jo! I’m so glad you enjoyed this bread, and thanks so much for your review!
I baked this cake today was delicious!
I’m thrilled that you enjoyed it! Thanks so much for leaving a comment here too 🙂