Chocolate zucchini bread is the perfect way to use up any extra zucchini bread you have laying around. And I bet you’ll make it a priority to have extra zucchini after tasting this recipe! 😉 
The other day I met my parents for dinner at a local Mexican restaurant for some chips, salsa, and margaritas. Also chicken fajitas, because duh.
That morning I had baked a couple loaves of this chocolate zucchini bread recipe and I knew that if I kept both loaves in my house, I would eat both loaves. By myself. In one day.
So, I stuck a loaf of bread in my purse and smuggled it into the restaurant like a weirdo and passed it off to my mom.
This zucchini bread is so heavy, I thought my purse straps were going to break. But that’s just because it’s packed full of good stuff – loads of freshly grated zucchini, cocoa powder, eggs, flour, and obviously some sugar. This stuff is GOOD.
Table of Contents
How to make zucchini bread:
To make the best zucchini bread, I think it’s important to start by peeling your zucchini and then shredding it. You can use your food processor or a box grater (affiliate links) for shredding. Either work!
We’re going to use a neutral oil in this recipe (vegetable or canola both work well) in place of butter. This will make for a nice moist bread.
You’ll beat together your oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla and then add in the dry ingredients.
The batter is THICK. Don’t be scared and don’t add more liquid. Keep in mind that zucchini is a pretty watery vegetable and it’s going to release a lot of liquid as it bakes.
Stir your grated zucchini into the batter. You’ll notice the batter thinning out a bit as you stir.
Spoon the batter evenly between two loaf pans. I use these ceramic loaf pans (affiliate link), mostly just because I think they’re pretty. Metal or glass work as well, though you may need to adjust the baking time a bit.
This zucchini bread recipe gets topped with a sprinkling of chocolate chips and then goes in the oven for about 50 minutes.
Cool completely before slicing.
How to tell when zucchini bread is done:
This can be tricky because you certainly don’t want to over-bake your bread, but if you under-bake, it will fall in the center and not taste or look so great. 
I use the time in the recipe as a guide and start checking my bread with a toothpick 5 minutes before the recipe calls for.
Because this recipe has chocolate chips on top, just be sure to poke your toothpick down in a place that isn’t covered by chocolate chips.
Your toothpick should have a a few moist crumbs attached, but should not have any raw/wet batter on it.
How to store zucchini bread:
Tightly wrapped zucchini bread will last on the counter for 1-2 days.
If you’d like to store the zucchini bread for longer than that, I’d recommend freezing it. Slice your bread into nicely sized portions and wrap tightly. Freeze individually wrapped sliced in a freezer bag for up to 6 months.
To thaw your frozen zucchini bread, let the slices sit on the counter to come to room temperature and enjoy.
Recipe for zucchini bread below!
I hope you’ll give this recipe a try and let me know you like it. Y’all just LOVED my chocolate banana bread recipe, so I have a feeling this one will be a hit too. Be sure to give this sweet bread recipe a try too – it makes cute little gifts!
If you like this recipe, please leave a comment and be sure to rate the recipe below! 🙂
Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup canola oil
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 cups peeled and shredded zucchini
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray 2 9x5 inch loaf pans with non-stick spray.
- Add the sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla to a large mixing bowl and beat until well combined.
- Stir together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and baking powder. Gradually beat into the sugar mixture until just combined. Batter will be very thick.
- Add the zucchini to the batter and stir to combine.
- Spoon the batter evenly between the two prepared baking loaves and sprinkle with chocolate chips.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a tester comes out with just a few moist crumbs.
- Cool for 10 minutes before removing bread from the pan. Cool completely before cutting and serving.
Sonia says
I liked the recipe. Chocolate anything is my favorite! I made this bread hoping for a super moist bread. It was rich and very chocolaty which I appreciate, but it was dry. I even added extra zucchini in Hope’s that it would help in the process of the moistness, but it didn’t. Don’t know what went wrong.
Karly says
Ah, sorry to hear that. Make sure you’re measuring your dry ingredients properly (spoon and level) and don’t overbake. 🙂
Olivia says
I’ve tried this recipe twice and loved it more the first time. I had a huge zucchini and saved the leftover shreddings in the freezer. I’m not sure what I did (or didn’t do) second time around, but it also came out underbaked (my fault). The flavor profile was just bland. Maybe my cocoa powder had gone old? Zucchini lost its flavor after being frozen? Kosher salt? Unsure, but I wish I could’ve gone back to my first version, because it was seriously amazing!
Karly says
Well, that’s strange! I’d give it another try and see how it does. Maybe you missed an ingredient? 🙂
Elynor White says
I made this last year for Thanksgiving and it was a hit. It was requested that I make it again this year. Love the chocolate and cinnamon together. Rich chocolaty taste without being overly sweet.
PAMELA ROMINES says
This recipe deserves 10 stars! The batter was a breeze to throw together (thanks to the food processor), and it baked up beautifully. Parchment paper helped keep it from sticking to the pan, which I do with all quick breads. The result was a remarkably moist extra special treat! The flavor was incredibly balanced-rich, sweet (but not too sweet), and delightfully decadent! After comparing a couple recipes, I ended up replacing half the oil with melted margarine, used good quality sugar free chocolate chips- which were surprisingly delicious, and added 1 cup of drained crushed pineapple. I could eat an entire loaf; thankfully it made 2! 😉
Karly says
Pineapple sounds like such a good addition! Glad it was a hit! 🙂
Tamara says
Such a wonderful recipe. I’m not a baker but I made this and it was so easy. And delicious!! Thanks for sharing!
Karly says
So glad it was a hit!
Barbara A Church Bak says
Can I use greek yogurt in place of the oil, I do this with any cakes I make and it gets raves from everyone, lots less calories and tastes great.
Karly says
I’ve never tried it, so I really can’t say how it will work. If you give it a try, please let us know!
Penny says
This is the absolute best bread ever! Thank you so much I just keep baking loads of it and sharing.
Karly says
Wow, thanks, Penny! Glad it’s a hit!
Chrissy says
Fairly easy to make…however a bit dry. Not cakey at all. Also the nutritional info is wayyyyy off. Calories are more like 300 to 350 per serving (I didn’t add chips).
Karly says
Sorry to hear that this one didn’t work out for you. As stated, the nutrition info is just a guide. It calculates automatically when I plug in the recipe and it’s not always accurate.
April says
This is more of a cake than a bread in my opinion. It’s very rich moist and delicious! I bake this recipe in cast iron and put a whole bag of chocolate chips in versus the 1 cup. Also I bake bread in my smoker which adds another depth of flavor otherwise not available. I would recommend this to anyone and all who have tried this LOVE IT! This does freeze good as well! Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe!
Karly says
Glad you enjoy this one! I’ve never tried bread in the smoker – do you actually add wood to the smoker for bread as well?
Julie Camelio says
Made this last night. Didn’t have two loaf pans so I make cupcakes with the remaining batter. Both turned out great. My super picky kid loved it. Mind you I did not tell her there was zucchini in it.
Susan says
I baked two perfect loaves of this caky chocolate delight for 45 minutes. The (liberally added) chocolate chips sunk into my loaf like a surprise chocolate filling. It’s my new favorite comfort food!
Amy says
I made the recipe today and it was dry and crumbled easily. Sadly, I was hoping that my family would love this, but it was a miss.
Karly says
Sorry to hear it didn’t turn out for you. Are you sure you measured correctly and didn’t overbake? I’ve never had an issue with it being dry or crumbly.
Maggie Martin says
Holy Cow!!! I have had chocolate zucchini bread before but THIS is the bomb. I too am freezing bags of grated zuch for this winter, which was grand idea. Husband nearly fainted when he saw the bags of zuch, he is not a fan and Karly, you were right, the chocolate covers up the green flecks and he likes the bread. Men.
Maggie
Karly says
Glad you could sneak the zucchini by your husband, Maggie! 🙂
Carebear says
Made and addicted to this for a chocolate Fix.
The Combination seemed odd, made my stomache turn at first. Very unusual & strange aND I come from wonderful heritage bakers.
And surprised how deliciously yummy this is. Texture is more cake like than usual sweet bread. I used coconut oil and half sprinkle semisweet gheridelli chips for top. All I had in the bag someones’ been in!
Baked full 50 min.
No need for processor.
Freezing bags zucchini to make this for me after garden is done.
Thank you. Great oldfashioned like recipe to have handy.
Michele says
I love zucchini bread but this chocolate zucchini bread looks incredible! I love the addition of the chocolate chips.
SA Mattthews says
So how many chocolate chips on top and you put them on the batter or add later? Did I miss it? Thx.
sabrina says
the next step for zucchini bread, chocolate-ify it! Great idea, thank you for this recipe!
Blair says
HEAVEN! I would have to give away a loaf, too. Dangerous to have it on hand! 🙂
Marsha | Marsha's Baking Addiction says
This chocolate bread looks heavenly – I bet my daughter would LOVE this!
Amber says
I saw this video come across my facebook feed earlier, and I just had to pop on and print it. It looks SO DANG GOOD. Hoping to bake it up this week with Evan, while he recovers from his tonsillectomy. Something nice and soft for him to eat.