Double Chocolate Vegan Zucchini Bread

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Ya’ll ever notice how people hear ‘vegan’ and automatically assume that means all you eat is kale and cucumbers? I’m pretty much the exact opposite of that stereotype. And this vegan chocolate zucchini bread is here to make sure I stay that way. Whether you’re a chocolate lover or not, I think you’ll like it. I can easily eat an entire mini loaf of this as a snack. It’s soo good.

If you need any more evidence to support the fact that you need to go make this right now, lemme tell you, even my husband loved it. And he’s kiiinda known for being a bit of a picky eater. When I veganized his mom’s banana bread recipe and added carrots, it took him days to try it. But this stuff? He helped me finish off the first loaf as soon as it was cool enough to shove in our faces. That’s a sign of a winner in my book.

Zucchini Season

We all know there’s that time of year when everyone’s garden just overflows with an abundance of zucchini. This decadent chocolate bread is the perfect way to enjoy it. Plus the loaves freeze and thaw really well, so you can make a couple big batches when the zucchini plants are thriving, and save or share them for weeks or months afterwards!

To prep your zucchini, wash it and trim the ends off. Shred with a box grater or food processor, and wrap shredded zucchini in a clean towel or cheesecloth and twist to squeeze out the excess moisture. Then measure out two cups. One medium sized zucchini made almost the perfect amount for one recipe.

Ingredient Checklist

Yes, this ingredient list reads much more for chocolate zucchini cake than bread, but it doesn’t have frosting! So we’re gonna keep calling it a double chocolate zucchini bread recipe, But yeah, it’s basically chocolate cake stuffed with lots of zucchini. Whatever you want to call it, it’s one of my favorite zucchini recipes!

To make it, you’ll need:

All purpose flour
Baking soda
Salt
Cinnamon
Aquafaba (That’s the liquid that comes in a can of chickpeas. It works great as a binder instead of eggs!)
Sugar
Vegetable or coconut oil (If this seems like too much oil, well, remember it’s in place of an equal amount of melted butter. We’ve already established this is basically cake, right?)
Vanilla extract
Natural unsweetened cocoa powder (go with dutch process cocoa for an even more rich chocolate flavor.)
Grated zucchini (see steps above to dry it out a little)
Chocolate chips (For vegan chocolate chips, look for dark chocolate varieties that don’t contain milk. Or, if you’re not dairy free, use regular semi-sweet chocolate chips or mini chocolate chips.)
Chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans, and almonds are all good.)

Method:

Since it’s the most time consuming part, I always prep my zucchini first, as described above.

Preheat oven and prepare your pans. I’ve only ever made this vegan zucchini bread in mini loaf pans, but it should be perfectly adaptable to a muffin tin as well. A larger loaf pan might not get cooked through. Prep pans by spraying or brushing with oil and dusting with sugar. This gives the finished loaves a deliciously crispy, sugary crust.

Mix together flour, baking soda, and cinnamon, set aside.

Give the aquafaba a quick whisk in a large mixing bowl, then add sugar and beat until smooth. Add in oil, vanilla and cocoa powder and blend well. Fold in zucchini, then add dry mixture into wet ingredients and stir until just combined.

Finally, fold in chocolate chips and nuts, if using. Divide between 4 mini loaf pans or 12 muffin tin cups.

Bake

I’ve found, that even for small loaves, vegan versions tend to take a little longer to bake. I clocked mine at 45 minutes, but basically, you want to be able to stick a cake tester in them and have it come out clean. Muffins will be done slightly sooner.

Let cool in pans for 5-10 minutes, then run a knife around the edges and turn out onto wire rack to cool.

Notes

Don’t have any aquafaba? Just open a can of chickpeas and drain the liquid out into a measuring cup, store leftovers in a mason jar in the fridge. Rinse and store the chickpeas as well. They are great to have on hand to throw in salads or make up a quick mock ‘tuna salad’ for lunch. This Mashed Chickpea Salad is a good one to try!

If you’re looking for another quick bread you can make in adorable mini loaf pans, try my Ultimate Vegan Banana Bread! It’s my vegan version of my mother-in-law’s locally famous recipe. Try it!