As you may know, my gardening year was less than successful. In fact, I did so poorly that I actually killed my zucchini plants. (Betcha didn’t know that it was possible, huh?)
I was thrilled when my neighbor Jana offered to give me a baseball-bat zucchini. And since this is the first one I’ve had access to all year, it was kind of a treat, believe it or not! So I decided to make an actual treat, zucchini bread.
Zucchini bread is a quick bread, which means that it doesn’t require yeast or a rise time. For quick breads baking soda, baking powder, or a combination of both are used to make the bread rise while it bakes. There are a lot of great no-yeast alternatives available if you are looking for more quick ideas you can find some in The Prairie Homestead Cookbook.
A lot of zucchini bread recipes are more like cake… They usually call for cup after cup of white sugar, which is something I really try to avoid. So, I decided to make some serious modifications and present to you a much healthier chocolate zucchini bread.
Helpful Quick Bread Baking Tips
Before we dive right into making and baking this healthy zucchini bread I have a few helpful tips for making your quick bread baking a success.
Tip 1: Always grease your pan before pouring your batter in. When you grease your pan you are creating a barrier between your batter and the pan you are using. This will make sure that there is no sticking and that your bread can be removed from the pan with ease.
Tip 2: When you are mixing your ingredients be sure to mix the dry and wet ingredients in separate bowls.
Tip 3: After your dry and wet ingredients have been mixed in separate bowls add the dry ingredients to your wet ingredients.
Tip 4: Avoid overmixing your quick bread batter. Gently fold your ingredients together, mixing by hand or on a low setting in your stand mixer. Overmixing can cause your bread to become tough.
Tip 5: Try different oven placements when baking. Each oven is different so where you place your pan may not be the same for everyone. My best results have been in the center or towards the tops of the oven. Experiment with your oven.
Tip 6: Be patient! Allow your quick bread to cool completely before slicing it.
Tip 7: Quick bread can be stored at room temperature wrapped or in an air-tight container. If you would like it to last a bit longer you can store it in the refrigerator. You can also keep it in the freezer to store for up to 3 months.
Healthier Chocolate Zucchini Bread
What You Will Need to Make This Zucchini Bread:
Equipment:
- 2 Mixing Bowls
- Wooden Spoon
- Loaf Pan
- Knife
- Cheese Grater or Food Processor
- Stand Mixer (Optional)
- Wire Cooling Rack
Ingredients:
- 3 cups flour (use whatever combo you like. I used 1 cup hard white, 1 cup spelt, and 1 cup unbleached)
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder (or carob powder)
- 1 T. cinnamon
- 1 t. baking soda
- 1/2 t. aluminum-free baking powder
- 1 t. sea salt
- 3/4 cup sucanat (or another granulated sweetener of your choice)
- 3/4 cup honey
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup melted coconut oil (or use melted butter)
- 2 t. vanilla
- 2 cups shredded zucchini
Optional:
- 1 cup chocolate chips or chopped nuts
Zucchini Bread Instructions:
Step 1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease two 9×5 loaf pans.
Step 2: Shred your zucchini. If you do not want the skin on peel your zucchini, then cut lengthwise and remove the seeds. Use your cheese grater or food processor to shred your zucchini into smaller pieces.
Step 3. Mix all of the dry ingredients together.
Step 4. In a separate bowl, combine the sucanat, honey, and eggs (I use my Kitchenaid for this). Then add in the melted oil and vanilla. Mix well.
Step 5. Dump in the zucchini, and then add in the dry mixture. Mix until everything is moist and incorporated, then pour into the waiting loaf pans.
Step 6. Bake the zucchini bread for 50-60 minutes, or until they pass the “clean toothpick” test. Cool on wire racks.
Kitchen Notes:
1. I’ve never tried soaking this recipe or using gluten-free flours, so I don’t know how it would turn out with those modifications.
2. Feel free to play around with the sweeteners. I’m betting that maple syrup could easily be substituted for honey.
3. I used to have a hard time getting quick breads to bake evenly until I started using stoneware pans. Problem solved! Now, I can hardly bear to use anything else. You can find some great stoneware loaf pans here at Lehman’s.
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PrintHealthier Chocolate Zucchini Bread
Ingredients
- 3 cups flour (I used 1 cup hard white, 1 cup spelt, and 1 cup unbleached)
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder(or carob)
- 1 T. cinnamon
- 1 t. baking soda
- 1/2 t. aluminum-free baking powder
- 1 t. sea salt
- 3/4 cup sucanat (or another granulated sweetener)
- 3/4 cup honey
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup melted coconut oil (or butter)
- 2 t. vanilla
- 2 cups shredded zucchini
- 1 cup chocolate chips or chopped nuts (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease two 9×5 loaf pans
- Shred your zucchini. If you do not want the skin on peel your zucchini, then cut lengthwise and remove the seeds. Use your cheese grater or food processor to shred your zucchini into smaller pieces.
- Mix dry ingredients together
- In a separate bowl, combine sucanat, honey, and eggs (I use my Kitchenaid for this)
- Add the melted oil and vanilla, Mix well
- Add your shredded zucchini
- Add the dry ingredient mixture to your wet ingredient mixture.
- Mix until everything is moist and incorporated, then pour into loaf pans.
- Bake 50-60 minutes until they pass the “clean toothpick” test.
- Cool on wire racks
Are You Ready To Try This Healthier Zucchini Bread?
We all have stories about being so overwhelmed by zucchini that you can hardly give them away. Now you can add this healthy zucchini bread recipe to the number of ways to use all of those extra zucchini. Enjoy it fresh, give it as a gift or store it in the freezer to enjoy months after your zucchini crop is gone. Do you have a favorite way to use zucchini or another great quick bread recipe?
More From the Homestead Kitchen:
- Easy Dough Recipe (for Bread, Rolls, Pizza, & More!)
- Old-Fashioned Sourdough Gingerbread Cake Recipe
- 5 Homestead Kitchen Tools I Can’t Live Without
- How to Cook from Scratch When You Have Limited Time
- Honey Maple Pumpkin Bread Recipe
I’m very curious to hear why you don’t soak things anymore.
Hey, don’t feel too bad about a crappy gardening year, we all mostly had it down here as well in Colorado. My zucchini just about died as well and just barely pulled through to start producing about 2 weeks ago. (Just in time to get killed off in the next few days due to cold weather- figures!!!!) I can’t wait to try this bread, although I’ll have to substitute the flour for some gluten free stuff (I use Pamela’s baking mix) but otherwise sounds delish!!!
Oh yeah- let me know how the gluten-free sub works out! I have no experience with that stuff.
Thanks for the recipe! I have a pile of zucchinis on my counter (and that’s after I’ve gone through so many!) and I’ve been a bit at a loss of what to do with them since all my recipes call for cups and cups of white sugar and I’ve been really trying to limit my (and my family’s) intake of refined sugar lately. Anyway, I made this bread today and it turned out really well (I used maple syrup and a little bit of honey and it worked fine). What a great snack for my family! My baby was gobbling it up, too! Thanks again!
Awesome Heather! Good to know that the maple syrup works as well. Glad it was a hit!!
I so appreciate this recipe! Six years ago at 9 yrs old one of my daughters baked a loaf of banana nut bread completely by herself. She went on a few months later to win a blue ribbon at the county fair for her bread (competing with adults). So now my next daughter is 9 yrs old. Last night she baked your recipe all by herself. It turned out wonderfully! She was so excited and encouraged. I would not be surprised if she brought home a ribbon too. This recipe is heathly and tastes fantastic. Even my 11 yr old son, who saw the zucchini and cringed, loves the bread. Thanks again.
Wahoo Edith! I love comments like yours. 😉 And way to go to your daughter, too. Hope she gets that ribbon!
Interesting recipe! Our garden didn’t do so well either… don’t feel bad 😉
I’d love to hear why you aren’t soaking things much anymore??
Ok… I made this yesterday and it is FANTASTIC. Such a good recipe! Thanks so much. (nom nom)
Awesome! Glad it was a hit! 😉
Oh my word this batter is delicious! I made it into muffins instead of loaves, and I’m just waiting on them to finish up in the oven. I’m so excited!
Oh, muffins are an excellent idea! Yum!
Ok, just made this tonight, substituting Pamela’s gluten free baking mix for the flour. I also didn’t have any honey left, so I used up the last of some agave syrup I had and topped that off with some molasses. I did both walnuts and the last of some chocolate chips, too. The bread turned out tasty, but not as sweet as I was expecting, which might have been my fault for omitting the honey. Still, very, very good! Even better with some butter slathered on it…but what isn’t made better with butter???!!!
We moved all summer, so I didn’t get a garden in at all. I am SOOO THANKFUL for our local Farmer’s Market and new neighbors, who have supplied us with lots of fresh produce. I made this bread for my father in-law who does not eat refined sugar… He loved it. I did have to leave out the chocolate chips as the only chips I had we not sugar free.
Is there not any sour milk in you zucchini recipe?
There’s no sour milk? I was just on your “20 ways to use sour raw milk” and it said make zucchini bread, which was linked to this. I have 2 gallons of raw milk that I don’t want to waste. I bought the normal amount we usually do, but didn’t consider that my two kids were going to be at Grandma’s for over a week. Now I am stuck with sour milk. Anyway, you might want to fix that link. BTW, thank you for your blog. Love it. I am new to this whole traditional, real food eating. You’ve helped a lot.
Agreed. I also came over from that link and found no milk in this recipe whatsoever.
Me too!