Like my chocolate zucchini cake, this moist and fudge-like double chocolate zucchini bread raises a huge question: How on earth is there a vegetable in THIS?! Readers have loved this recipe for years, and it’s on my menu all summer long when zucchini is plentiful.
I originally published this recipe in 2015 and have since added new photos, a video tutorial, and more success tips. I also made a few small changes to the recipe to yield a more moist, flavorful loaf.
One reader, Kristin, commented: “I never review recipes, but had to write one for this one. This bread, cake, dessert—whatever you want to call it—is fabulous! Just the right amount of sweet, chocolate, and is perfectly moist. I have made it for different people (just in the last two weeks because I can’t stop thinking about it) and everyone has loved it. I made no substitutions to anything and it was perfect… ★★★★★”
I firmly believe that the biggest baking mistake one could ever make is… not doubling today’s recipe. After 1 slice, you’ll instantly realize you need far more than 1 loaf of this chocolate bliss. With its moist and rich fudge-like crumb, deep chocolate flavor, and melty chocolate chips inside, it’s almost impossible to believe there’s zucchini in the batter.
One reader, Deb, commented: “Wow! I made this today and it is sooo good! Even my guys (who don’t want anything to do with zucchini) LOVED it! No one can believe there is shredded zucchini in it. One mistake I made—I only made one. ★★★★★“
Here’s What You’ll Love About This Chocolate Zucchini Bread
- Batter comes together quickly and easily
- Sneaks in veggies (which, along with the Greek yogurt, make it one of my healthier dessert recipe ideas)
- Freezes well—make several loaves when zucchini is plentiful, and freeze for future chocolate cravings
- Use this recipe for muffins or cupcakes, too
- Super moist and deeply chocolatey—just read the reviews!
Why Bake With Zucchini?
If you’re new to combining zucchini + chocolate, welcome to the not-so-secret club!
Zucchini is one of my favorite baking ingredients and I have a lot of published recipes using this summer vegetable. My recipes for zucchini bread and zucchini muffins are both incredibly popular with readers, and you’ll find a whopping 3 cups of the nutrition-boosting green shreds in my chocolate zucchini cake, but only if you are looking for it—no one will know if you don’t tell them!
It sounds odd to bake with a green vegetable, but here’s why you should:
- There are only so many zucchini side dishes to make (looking at you, zucchini casserole). Zucchini is abundant in the summer months, so sneaking it into baked goods is a great way to use up a bounty of squash.
- Zucchini adds flavorless moisture. We’re talking pure moisture with zero savory vegetable flavor. You’ve had carrot cake, right? Well, zucchini adds even more moisture and hides even better!
Once you’re convinced, try this zucchini cake with brown butter cream cheese frosting next. For even more inspiration, see all my favorite zucchini recipes—both sweet and savory! You absolutely don’t want to miss these savory zucchini biscuits.
Success Tip: Shredding Zucchini
Today’s zucchini bread comes together in just minutes with simple kitchen tools including a couple bowls, a whisk, and a 9×5-inch loaf pan or an 8×4-inch loaf pan like this one or this one. You also need a grater to shred the zucchini. If you’re looking for recommendations, I own and love this box grater because it’s easy to use, grates quickly, and has held up well with regular use. It’s what I use when making zucchini fritters, too.
Key Ingredients You Need & Why
- Zucchini: Zucchini can vary in size, but 1 medium zucchini is plenty for this recipe. You need 1 and 1/2 cups shredded, which is about 180g, depending on how tightly you pack it.
- Flour: Doesn’t seem like a lot of flour, and it’s not. Keep in mind there’s also cocoa powder which is another dry ingredient. Most of the volume is the zucchini!
- Cocoa Powder: Make sure to use unsweetened natural cocoa powder, not Dutch-process, in this recipe. Read about the difference between Dutch-process vs natural cocoa powder.
- Instant Coffee/Espresso Powder: A little espresso powder gives this double chocolate zucchini bread the richest-tasting chocolate flavor; the bread doesn’t taste like coffee, rather, the espresso powder deepens the flavor of the cocoa. It’s a trick I use in chocolate chess pie and chocolate cake, too. You can find it in the coffee aisle at the grocery store or online.
- Chocolate Chips: Chocolate chips provide some sweetness, while also creating melty pockets of chocolate throughout every slice.
- Oil: I prefer to use oil in my quick breads, like in strawberry bread and peach quick bread, because of the unparalleled moisture it provides. Lately I’ve been making this chocolate zucchini bread with melted coconut oil.
- Plain Greek Yogurt: Greek yogurt adds protein, while also adding tenderness. I always use nonfat here, but you can use low-fat or full-fat Greek yogurt, or regular yogurt, if you prefer.
You also need 2 eggs, baking powder, baking soda, salt, vanilla, and sugar.
If you love this recipe, you’ll also love my double chocolate banana bread which uses many of the same ingredients. And if you like some peanut butter with your chocolate, my peanut butter chocolate chip zucchini bread is right up your alley!
If you don’t have or don’t want to use coconut oil, a neutral oil such as vegetable oil works instead. Expect a very, very thick batter:
The bread takes about 50 minutes to bake. Begin checking at 45 minutes, though, just in case your oven works extra hard!
While it’s incredibly tempting to slice right into this double chocolate zucchini bread while it’s warm, try to resist. I’ve found that with most baked goods starring zucchini, the flavor is noticeably better once it’s completely cooled. This goes for zucchini oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, too.
You can peel the zucchini if you’d like, but I never do. There’s no taste or texture difference. If you’re worried that picky eaters will be suspicious, peeling the zucchini will prevent any trace of green specks sharp eyes might detect.
Slice the bottom end off of the zucchini, hold onto the stem end, and scrape the squash against the shredder side of a box grater like this one until you get to the stem you’re holding. The shredder side is the one with the largest holes.
When I first published this recipe in 2015, I included a step for blotting some moisture out of the zucchini. I don’t find this necessary anymore. In fact, you WANT that extra moisture in every single slice. Just shred the zucchini and add right to the batter.
Fan-Favorite Chocolate Zucchini Bread
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 1 loaf; 10 slices
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This double chocolate zucchini bread is moist and fudge-like, and comes together quickly with a couple bowls and a whisk. Readers have loved this recipe for years, and it’s on my menu all summer long when zucchini is plentiful. See recipe Notes for freezing and doubling instructions.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/2 cup (41g) unsweetened natural cocoa powder (not Dutch process)*
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon espresso powder*
- 3/4 cup (135g) semi-sweet chocolate chips*
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup (60ml) vegetable oil or melted coconut oil
- 1/3 cup (80g) plain Greek yogurt or sour cream*
- 2/3 cup (135g) granulated sugar*
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 and 1/2 cups (180g) shredded zucchini (no need to blot)*
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan or 8×4-inch loaf pan (for a taller loaf) with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and espresso powder together until combined. Mix in the chocolate chips. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, oil, yogurt, granulated sugar, and vanilla together until combined. Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently whisk to combine. Fold in the zucchini. The batter is very thick.
- Bake for 45–55 minutes, making sure to loosely cover the bread with aluminum foil halfway through to prevent the top from over-cooking. The bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean with only a few small moist crumbs. The 9×5-inch pan takes closer to 45 minutes, and the 8×4-inch pan takes closer to 55 minutes. All ovens vary, so begin checking around the 45-minute mark.
- Remove bread from the oven and allow the bread to cool in the pan set on a wire rack for 1 hour. While it’s still warm, I gently press a few more chocolate chips into the top; this is optional and only for looks.
- Remove bread from the pan and place the loaf directly on the wire rack to cool completely.
- Cover and store bread at room temperature for 5 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Freeze baked & cooled loaf, tightly wrapped, for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator. If desired, bring to room temperature before serving. To learn more details about how to freeze quick breads, see my post called Make-Ahead Baking.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9×5-inch Loaf Pan or 8×4-inch Loaf Pan | Box Grater | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Silicone Spatula | Cooling Rack
- Double the Recipe: You can double the recipe by doubling all of the ingredients and dividing the batter between 2 loaf pans. If the batter seems much too thick, you can add a splash of milk.
- Chocolate Zucchini Muffins: Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C) and spray a 12-count pan with nonstick spray or line with cupcake liners. Prepare batter as directed above, fill each liner to the top with batter and bake the muffins for 5 minutes at 425°F (218°C). Then, keeping the muffins in the oven, lower the temperature to 350°F (177°C) and continue to bake for an additional 14–15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Makes 10–12 muffins.
- Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C) and line a 12-count pan with cupcake liners. Prepare batter as directed above, fill each liner 2/3 full with batter and bake for 19–20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely, then frost with chocolate buttercream. Makes 12 cupcakes.
- Cocoa Powder: Use natural cocoa powder, not Dutch-process. See Dutch-process vs natural cocoa powder for more information.
- Espresso Powder: Espresso powder deepens the chocolate flavor. You can find espresso powder in the coffee aisle at the grocery store or online. You can skip it or use 1 teaspoon of instant coffee powder instead.
- Chocolate Chips: Don’t leave these out! They sweeten the bread and give the bread more chocolate flavor. The bread is a little bland without them.
- Yogurt: I usually use nonfat plain Greek yogurt. You can use full-fat, low-fat, or even vanilla Greek yogurt instead. Or use regular plain yogurt, or sour cream. Prior to 2023, this recipe called for 1/4 cup (60g) yogurt, but I now use 1/3 cup (80g) as listed above. Extra moisture!
- Sugar: For a sweeter bread, use 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar.
- Zucchini: I do not peel the zucchini before shredding, but you certainly can if you’d like. I like to use a box grater for shredding zucchini. Zucchini can vary in size, but 1 medium zucchini is plenty for this recipe. If using frozen zucchini, thaw first and lightly blot before using.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 246
- Sugar: 20 g
- Sodium: 76.4 mg
- Fat: 11.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 33.2 g
- Protein: 5.4 g
- Cholesterol: 37.6 mg
Reader Comments and Reviews
Hi Sally: This zucchinni bread is delicious. I used my frozen shredded zucchinni, drained it and it worked perfectly. The Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate chips are so good in this. They are all I use anymore in my baking. Your recipe was easy and fun. Thanks very much for sharing it. I’ll certainly be making this bread often! Kathy
This has the perfect amount of sweetness! I skipped the espresso powder as I didn’t have any, and used sour cream, and it turned out perfect! I will definitely be making this again.
I love this recipe and the clear way that you lay out everything. I’ve made this several times. I’ve also found that apple butter or thick apple sauce can substitute for the coconut oil. Since I have apple butter that is decades old (and still good!) because I do not care for it, it’s a good way to save money and use it up.
Perfect recipe with the touch of healthiness from the yogurt and zucchini. I will be making this over and over again!
This is easy to make and very good but the loaves I made turned out a little dry. Maybe it was my mistake but I followed the recipe exactly. I will try it again and maybe underbake it by a couple of minutes.
Need more than 5 stars! This is amazing, moist and delicious! Everyone loves it and asks for the recipe. I use sour cream when I make it.
This chocolate zucchini bread looks so rich and moist! I love sneaking veggies into dessert
Where do you fine cocoa that isn’t dutch processed?
Hi Denise, we always find it in the baking aisle of the grocery store. We usually buy Hershey’s (not the Special Dark, the regular) or Ghirardelli brands.
This bread was very good. I didn’t add chocolate chips because I didn’t have any, but I did not think it was too sweet at all. Next time I will add them because I would like additional chocolate flavor-user error on my part. Tasty recipe.
The BEST zucchini bread I have ever had! Amazing and too good to be healthy!
I will never make this again because I can’t stop eating it!!! Delish.. I made jumbo muffins one day then next day made 2 loafs.
This recipe will be my go to whenever I have extra zucchini!!!!
Just made the chocolate zucchini bread-2loaves-for the first time. Delish!! I didn’t use espresso powder.
I usually make my grand littles banana bread but don’t have bananas so I’m hoping they like this. I won’t be telling them about the zucchini of course. I add sour cream to my banana bread recipe with great success so that’s what I used.
I also have the zucchini casserole mise en placed for dinner!
Thanks!
Debbie
I made this pretty much as written except I reduced the sugar a little. I also put the zucchini in the blender with the oil and liquified it, then added the eggs and yogurt, until just combined. Totally delicous and a great way to hide zucchini!
Do you think this recipe would still work with gluten free flour substituted?
Hi Reed, we haven’t tested it, but let us know if you do! Results may be a bit different.
If I want to make this with bananas instead of zucchini, would there be any adjustments I should make?
Hi Kelsey, I recommend my recipe for chocolate banana bread instead of substituting in this bread.
I have an abundance of Dutch Process cocoa. Is it possible to sub baking powder for the baking soda or do you think it will cause the bread not to rise properly?
Hi Will, it would take some trial and error to find out the exact substitution for this particular recipe. Our post on Dutch process cocoa vs natural cocoa may be a helpful starting place. Let us know if you do any experimenting!
Made the chocolate zucchini bread as your recipe called for and it’s delicious! Taste like chocolate cake! Thank you!
So good! Very moist and chocolaty. Best quick bread i’ve ever made!! Made multiple times and plans to make it again!
It tastes great, but I wouldn’t recommend using a whisk with pouring the wet ingredients into the dry. The chocolate chips get stuck in the whisk and are difficult to remove. Thanks for the recipe!
I appreciate a zucchini cake recipe that doesn’t call for lots of oil. I made muffins for portion control and they are moist and delicious with a nice crumb.
I found this quite bland using greek yogurt and not as moist as it could be even taking it out of the oven 5 minutes early. I think if I increased the salt and baked for less time it would be much better.
I made this yesterday and again tonight! (And will keep making it again and again!) It dissappears quick! The perfect way to use up my tromboncino squash! 10/10 recipe! super delicious!
-I only had vanilla Greek yogurt on hand, so I used that. I also added some extra chocolate chips on top before cooking. Can never have too much chocolate!
-I dusted some cocoa in the pan after greasing with vegetable oil. The loaf removed from the pan very easily!
Otherwise followed the recipe exactly. Thanks for the great recipe! 🙂
I finally found the espresso powder in my local Hannaford store. I made it for the first time on Sunday and had to make it again today as my son demanded more. Super yummy !! I used vanilla Greek yogurt and dark chocolate chips which are chunkier. Excellent. Thanks so much for sharing your recipe. I have a lot of zucchini in my garden this season so I guess I’ll be making this yummy loaf a lot … oh I use a vintage 9×5 milk glass loaf dish which takes 60 minutes in the oven. I did not put the chips on top afterwards. Definitely not needed. Very sweet chocolaty as is. Oh I used a whole teaspoon of the espresso powder this time. Yes it’s even better !!
I used 9×5 pans with double the recipe. 45 minutes was not long enough at all (toothpick test was fine around edges but came out looking like it was dipped in chocolate pudding in the middle.)
It looks like closer to a full hour for my loaves.
I used the muffin recipe. So fudgy good. Thank you!
Quick, easy and delicious! I used sour cream, vegetable oil, Nestle’s semi-sweet chocolate chips and instant coffee.
I just made this bread this morning. While delicious, I don’t think it rose properly. How many inches would you expect a loaf to be in a 9 x 5 pan? regardless, it is a moist, dense loaf of chocolate deliciousness. A winner in my book. Thank you!
Delicious! I wanted mini loaves and divided the batter into 3 pans. Reading the cupcake, muffin, and loaf pan baking temps/times, I baked at 350 degrees 20 minutes, checked, set for another 10, checked, set for another 10. That came out just right.
I didn’t have chocolate chips on hand so I chopped up a bar of semi-sweet baking chocolate. I didn’t add the extra sugar and it tasted great, although it would be good with more sweetness too.
I know the chemistry rationale for natural cocoa powder and…I only had Dutch processed on hand. I used it and this baked up fine. It might have risen more with natural cocoa, but I wanted to share this in case that’s keeping someone from making a great batch of chocolatey vegetable goodness.
Thank you for posting this info about the cocoa, I went everywhere looking for cocoa powder and could only find the dutch processed. They are in the oven at the moment so anxious to see how they turn out!
This recipe is incredible! The bread turned out so rich and moist. Some subs I made for anyone else wanting to do the same:
•King Arthur measure for measure GF flour instead of AP flour
•2/3 cup maple syrup instead of sugar
•also used Greek yogurt and coconut oil like recipe suggests
So so good! Will absolutely be making this again.
I have a whopper of a zucchini. Can I use a food processor with the shredding blade to shred it? Or will it break down the zucchini too much?
Hi Bridgette, you should be able to use a shredding blade on your food processor to shred the zucchini. Let us know how the bread turns out!
Hi! I couldn’t find an email to contact, but I have a technical question about printing recipes from your website. I’ve enjoyed several of your recipes, but each time I try to print a recipe, (many recipes, many times, over many months, using different browsers, etc.) it has large portions of text completely missing. The notes section prints correctly, but never the ingredients OR the instructions! Highly inconvenient for following a recipe. 😉 Is anyone else having this issue with printing recipes from this site? Will this issue eventually be fixed? I’d love to be able to print and use your recipes more easily! Thank you. 🙂
Hi Mrs. P! Thank you so much for bringing this to our attention. Could you send us an email (sally@sallysbakingaddiction.com) so that we can help you troubleshoot further? We’ll have our tech team look into this as well. Thanks again!
I used sour cream and canola oil , otherwise followed the recipe. It’s very moist and full of chocolate flavor. I found it too sweet though and will try to use less sugar next time.