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
The best, best, chocolate zucchini bread EVER!!!
We had lots of zucchini (what gardener doesn’t during the summer?) and rather than making another savory dish with it, I decided to make a sweet dessert type. While this looked perfectly delicious in the recipe, the chocolate chips in mine ended up all on the bottom causing the bread to stick to the pan after sitting for the recommended hour long cooling period. Consequently I had quite a time extricating the bread. Then the sweetness and flavor that the chocolate chips would have provided was sorely lacking in the rest of the bread. Not sure if I’ll try this again. Maybe Sally’s spiced zucchini cake.
Hi Anniemaria, we’re so sorry to hear that. If you wish to make this bread again, you can try gently tossing the chocolate chips in a Tablespoon or two of flour before adding to the batter. That should help prevent any sinking you experienced. Thank you for giving this recipe a try, and let us know if you do try the zucchini cake. It’s a favorite! Here are all of our zucchini recipes, in case you’re interested in browsing.
I’m glad I came across your website as I am growing zucchini fir the first time and I needed some recipes I can’t wait to bake and try the chocolate cake and the double chocolate zucchini bread loaf.
I’ve been baking a goo many years and thought i had the best chocolate zucchini recipes, but this recipe is the BEST!. My 85yr old mother even asked me for the recipe. I baked them in muffins (no extra chips on top) and added some cinnamon along with inst coffee since i didn’t have espresso powder. So Yummy and moist!! No frosting needed on these, thank you!!!
This tasted great, and I love the addition of chocolate chips. But, why mix the chocolate chips in with the dry ingredients at the beginning instead of folding them in at the end? Adding them with the dry ingredients made the liquid ingredients difficult to incorporate, and I imagine I mixed more vigorously as a result. I imagine it would be better to add the chocolate chips after the zucchini since the batter at that point will be more liquidy and easier to mix.
Wow! So chocolatey and moist! I will include mini loaves of this bread when I mail out my Christmas cookies
Even my hubby who’s not a chocolate fan LOVED this “bread”! You and other readers commenting that you probably should make two loaves are RIGHT!! This loaf won’t last long. So glad it’s summer and there’s a lot of zucchini around! Haha! Thanks Sally!!
This looks so good! How would the baking time vary if doing mini muffins? Thanks for your great recipes!
Hi Angela, for mini muffins, bake 11–13 minutes at 350°F (177°C) the whole time.
I used the conversion to make muffins. I added some chopped almonds and used nearly half the amount of sugar—incredibly moist and fudgy. Sally saves the day once again!
Could whole wheat flour be substituted for the all-purpose flour in this recipe?
Hi Roberta, we haven’t tested this recipe with all whole wheat flour. We would recommend using a blend of whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour, though the bread might be a little heavy and dense.
This recipe tastes just like a delicious, moist chocolate cake. I read the other reviews and thought that surely it wasn’t that good and that mine would turn out dense or dry as my quick breads often do, but no – it turned out delicious. Made it again as muffins and just as good. I made the muffins with just a half cup of sugar and thought they were still plenty sweet. I’m going to keep making it until my zucchini runs out!
Superb, the only chocolate zucchini bread that I’ll ever need. Doubling the recipe is the smart play as it doesn’t take any extra effort. Love how easily this recipe comes together. No stand mixer required.
I like this recipe! I tried a bite before it cooled because a friend was leaving and had me pull it out of the pan early so he could try a little slice. Definitely follow Sally’s advice and let it cool fully. I was worried because it tasted oddly bitter. (The batter did too) but in the morning when I had a slice for breakfast it tasted great.) I did add about an extra 1/4 cup of sugar because when I tested the batter it just didn’t taste quite sweet enough to me. In hindsight it didn’t need it, I was trying to counter the bitter taste that I wasn’t liking, but that went away after baking and cooling. (+the chocolate chips make it super sweet which you can’t experience until it’s baked.) long story short, I should have trusted the recipe!!! It’s really very yummy.
So glad you enjoy this! It’s one of my favorites. It’s fantastic the next day, you’re right!
Most amazing bread/cake I’ve ever made!
Thanks for sharing! I used coconut oil, stony fields vanilla yogurt and doubled the recipe like you said (to not regret it lol) and it was super moist and FUDGE hit the spot!
Love your recipes Sally! So I was so excited to make this bread. However , it came out dry? I used a food processor to shred the zucchini and I didn’t pack it down when measuring. Could that have made a difference? I also didn’t add the chocolate chips because I thought the bread would be too sweet. Thoughts?
Hi Cheri, I usually slightly pack down the shredded zucchini when measuring. Was the zucchini moist and shredded after using the food processor? I don’t think leaving out the chocolate chips would be the issue. I also wonder if it was over-baked? If you try the recipe again, see if reducing the bake time helps.
I like to make mini loaves for freezing, gifting and just to keep the bread fresher in our home rather than a larger loaf. What would you recommend for baking time?
Hi Karen, the bake time will depend on the exact size of your mini loaf pans. Keep a close eye on them and use a toothpick to test for doneness. I’d begin checking at 20 minutes.
This recipe sounds great! I have a ton of summer squash, any chance you’ve tested this substitute or used summer squash in a similar manner? I’ve never baked with it…Thanks in advance!
Hi Amanda, we haven’t tested it, so aren’t sure of the results. If you have young (small) yellow summer squash, it should work interchangeably with zucchini. If you try it, please report back!
I am terrible at determining doneness with the toothpick test. My loaves always seem to be raw in the middle! Is there an instant-read temperature that will tell me when my loaf is done?
Hi Mary, I’m sorry to hear you’ve had trouble with this! For most cakes and quick breads, the internal temp should be 205°F to 210°F. Hope this helps for future bakes!
Do I have to use the chocolate chips? Can I use some liquid coffee instead? Must use chocolate chips?
Hi Kim, we don’t recommend leaving the chocolate chips out. They sweeten the bread and give the bread more chocolate flavor. The bread is a little bland without them.
I am curious if anyone has successfully baked this in an air fryer?
I loved this recipe, it came out suuper chocolatey and moist! I will definitely be making it again.
Hi Sally
This is super amazing recipe. Thank you so much for this recipe.
Love from India
I’ve made this recipe many times and it is delicious. Is there a way to make it a GF recipe?
Thank you!
Hi Renee, we haven’t tested this recipe with gluten-free flours, but some readers have reported success using 1:1 flour substitutes (like Cup4Cup). If you try it, let us know how it goes!
This came out great! I used 25% or about 3 tablespoons less sugar and was happy with the results. Added 1/2 cup more zucchini for volume difference. I measured out with a scale so the weight was the same.
This came out great! I used 25% less sugar and was happy with the results. Added 1/2 cup more zucchini for volume difference.
I am not a baker (not much of a cook in general) but I love good food. Go figure. I saw this recipe and thought I would be brave and give it a try. I was a little dubious because it came together so easily. I made the recipe using the muffin directions. This is easily the best desert I have eaten in a while. The muffins are moist and rich without being too sweet. You cannot find the zucchini in them. They are delicious plain but a scoop of vanilla ice cream makes them absolutely decadent. Great job with this recipe…I am your latest fan!!
Delicious!! The only thing I alter is sprinkling the chocolate chips on top halfway through baking, otherwise they sink to the bottom of the batter if mixed into the bread/muffins.
Fantastic dessert bread. I doubled the recipe and brought them to work. My coworkers loved it. Many asked for the recipe. I will definitely make this a lot this summer!
Gooey chocolate deliciousness!! I made the muffin version without any changes. Soooo good! I followed the metric measurements by weight which only yielded 9 muffins. I’ll try again and double check the quantities and update my gram measurements if necessary. They were very moist and melty. Great way to use up zucchini. Everyone went crazy for them!
Modifications for a bundt cake? Should recipe be doubled? Thanks!
Hi Melissa, the best option would be to use our chocolate zucchini cake batter for a Bundt cake. We’re unsure of the best bake time.