Chocolate Zucchini Bread with Walnuts
A dark, fudgy quick bread that hides a full cup of grated zucchini — the vegetable every garden overproduces by August.
- Serves
- 8
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 1 hr
- Written
Method
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Preheat the oven to 350°F and butter a 9x5-inch loaf pan.
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Grate the zucchini, then gather it in a clean kitchen towel and wring out as much liquid as you can over the sink — you should end up with a tight, dry-ish ball.
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Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
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In a separate bowl, whisk the oil, brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, and vanilla until smooth.
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Stir the squeezed zucchini into the wet mixture.
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Fold the dry ingredients into the wet just until no streaks of flour remain.
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Fold in ½ cup of the chocolate chips and the walnuts, then scrape the batter into the pan and scatter the remaining chocolate chips over the top.
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Bake until a skewer inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs but no wet batter, 55 to 65 minutes, tenting loosely with foil if the top is browning too fast.
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Cool in the pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool completely before slicing.
Notes
Squeezing the zucchini is the step that decides whether this is a bread or a pudding — skip it and the extra water pools at the bottom of the loaf and keeps the center from ever fully setting. Wrung dry, the zucchini disappears into the crumb and just keeps the loaf from drying out the way banana bread does.
Swap the walnuts for pecans or leave them out for a smoother, all-chocolate crumb. It keeps on the counter, wrapped, for several days, and slices best once it’s had a full day to settle.