Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

My Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread is the perfect way to use up the season’s best zucchini. It’s loaded with healthy ingredients and lots of chocolate chips and cinnamon, keeping it tasty and so fun! You’ll love the ingredient list, but you’ll love the taste even more! This recipe is gluten-free.

I hope I’m not too late! Am I too late?! I don’t think I am…

I know you’re probably harvesting your zucchini…erm like weeks ago? Or in all honesty, gathering it at the store and farmers markets. SO I have a recipe just for you!

This Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread is my everything! Seriously, it’s so darn good, it got my husband to eat zucchini bread! A food, I kid you not, just 2 years ago, he refused to eat because he said he just doesn’t like it. Boom.

And it’s not one of those quick breads that’s actually an unhealthy nightmare, wrapped up in pretty little packaging. Nope. Look at those ingredients! Almond flour, Greek yogurt, applesauce, coconut sugar…chocolate chips…the gang’s all here!

I just happen to be craving zucchini bread so I quickly texted my girl Jacki, who I KNOW had just been baking some in avoidance of some Masters school work. Within 5 minutes I had recipe ideas, was pulling piles of ingredients from my cupboards, and was shredding zucchini like a champ.

I think the key to the texture and ease of this bread is in how you treat your zucchini. I shredded mine with the fine side of a box grater. And then, placing it all in a bread towel, I gave it a few gentle squeezes over the sink. Not enough to truly drain the zucchini of it’s water content, but just enough so the bread doesn’t turn out gummy or just overly moist.

This Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread is gluten-free, because we are using an extra fine almond meal and brown rice flour. I’ve kept it simple by sticking to just those two flours. I found my almond meal at Trader Joe’s and it is more of the texture of flour, versus the more coarse typical almond meal. If you don’t have a TJ, just pulse your meal a few times in a blender or food processor to really break it down.

Chocolate chips…just don’t skimp. We don’t have to chat too much here, now do we?

Finally, this is seriously the perfect portion size to be using that KitchenAid Mini Stand Mixer. You could certainly put it all in a bigger mixer, but LOOK how adorable the mini is! I loved how perfectly sized it was for this recipe. Nope, this isn’t a sponsored post, just had to humble brag because I love my mixer.

OK I don’t want to delay your baking any longer. I seriously polished off 2/3 of this loaf all by myself (no shame), so I don’t want to keep you from that glory. Ready?

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread
Recipe by Melissa @ Treats With A Twist
Yields 1 loaf

INGREDIENTS
1 ½ cups shredded zucchini*
1 large egg
½ cup unsweetened applesauce
½ cup plain Greek yogurt (2% or full fat)
2 Tbs. grapeseed oil (or another neutral oil, like safflower or sunflower)
½ cup coconut sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbs. cinnamon
1 cup brown rice flour
1 cup almond meal**
1 ½ tsp. baking soda
½ cup chocolate chips

*I shredded my zucchini with a fine cheese grater. Then I slightly squeezed it out in a layer of a bread cloth. I didn’t squeeze out all the moisture, just took off the excess by quickly squeezing it 3 times over the sink.

**Use extra fine almond meal if you can find it. I found mine at Trader Joe’s. You can also pulse your almond meal in a high powered blender to make it more fine.

METHOD
For this recipe, I used a KitchenAid Mini stand mixer. You can use a standard mixer or a bowl with an electric hand mixer.
Prepare a loaf pan (I used an 8×4.5”) by buttering the sides and bottom (or using a bit of oil on a paper towel). Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
In the bowl of your mixer, combine the egg, applesauce, yogurt, oil and coconut sugar. Let your mixer mix it all on medium until it looks smooth (you’ll still see coconut sugar speckles though). Next, add your vanilla and cinnamon and mix those in.
Turn off your mixer. Carefully add your zucchini, flour, almond meal and baking soda. Turn your mixer on low and let it pull everything together. Scrape down the sides and let it mix until it all looks evenly distributed.
Finally, add the chocolate chips and let the mixer stir those in evenly.
Bake your loaf for 45-50 minutes, checking with a toothpick that it is done. Your toothpick should have minimal crumbs on it when you poke into your loaf.
Let your loaf cool for 15-30 minutes before turning it out of the pan. You may need to run a knife around the edges of the pan. Turn the loaf onto a wire rack to finish cooling. Cut, enjoy!

NOTES
This loaf can be kept on the counter for 2 days, well-wrapped, or in the fridge for 5 days.

TO PRINT this recipe, copy and paste the text into a new blank document on your computer and print. Voila!

 

Do you LOVE quickbread recipes?! You should try this one!! And THIS one!