Chocolate Paleo Zucchini Bread
Posted Jul 10, 2017, Updated Jul 01, 2024
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This paleo chocolate zucchini bread is an easy & healthy quick bread loaded with zucchini! It’s rich and chocolatey with a beautiful crumb.
If you’re looking for a chocolatey treat that is secretly healthy – you’ve found it in this paleo chocolate zucchini bread.
It’s rich and chocolatey while being loaded with fruit and vegetables. Plus, it’s dairy-free, gluten-free and has no refined sugar! So you feel like you’re eating a special treat but you’re actually fueling your body with fruits, veggies, protein and fiber.
Paleo Chocolate Zucchini Bread: Ingredients and Substitutions
- Coconut sugar: This is my favorite unrefined granulated form of sugar. If you have another (date sugar, maple sugar) feel free to use it as a substitute. I do not recommend using a liquid sweetener in place of coconut sugar.
- Coconut Oil: salted butter is a great substitute.
- Chocolate chips: choose a variety that complies with your dietary needs. Here are some suggestions:
Paleo Chocolate
- Hu Kitchen Chocolate Gems. This is my favorite paleo chocolate. These gems are delicious and easy to toss into cookies (no bar chopping required).
- Hu Kitchen Dark Chocolate Bars. You can also buy dark chocolate bars and chop them up to toss into these paleo chocolate chip cookies.
- Lily’s Dark Chocolate. They make chips and bars that are stevia sweetened, low carb, keto, etc.
- Enjoy Life Foods Dark Chocolate Chips are a good option that are vegan, dairy-free but not fully paleo.
How to Make Paleo Chocolate Zucchini Bread
I suggest making this recipe in the blender so the zucchini is undetectable. If you’d prefer, you can combine the wet then dry ingredients then mix in shredded zucchini all by hand.
In a medium bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (coconut flour, almond flour, cocoa powder, coconut sugar, baking soda baking powder, and salt). Set aside.
Then, put the zucchini and bananas in the container of a high-powered blender and blend until smooth.
Once smooth, add the melted coconut oil, vanilla and eggs and blend until combined (about 5-10 seconds).
Next, add the dry ingredients to the blender and blend until smooth.
If desired, add the chocolate chips and pulse or stir to evenly distribute them throughout the batter.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 35-45 minutes (depending on the size of pan you choose) or until the top is set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean!
Once the bread is done, remove it from the oven and place the pan on a wire rack to cool.
Let cool for at least 30 minutes before using the parchment paper to remove the bread from the pan and let it continue cooling until you’re ready to eat it!
Serve
Once cooled, slice and serve! We love enjoying this paleo chocolate zucchini bread plain, but you can slather it with honey butter, homemade almond butter, etc. Or serve with your favorite breakfast recipes.
Store/Freeze
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 2 months. Reheat for 10 seconds in the microwave.
Paleo Chocolate Zucchini Bread Recipe FAQs
Yes, bake in two standard muffin tins spaced apart at 400 degrees F for 15-20 minutes, or until the tops are set and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
No, there are no substitutes for coconut flour in this recipe.
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Paleo Chocolate Zucchini Bread
Ingredients
- ½ cup coconut flour
- ¼ cup almond flour
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup zucchini (unpeeled, 1 small zucchini)
- 3 bananas (overripe)
- 2 Tablespoons coconut oil (melted)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9×5” loaf pan with parchment paper, grease it and set it aside.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (coconut flour, almond flour, cocoa powder, coconut sugar, baking soda baking powder, and salt). Set aside.
- Place zucchini and bananas in the container of a high-powered blender and blend until smooth.
- Add melted coconut oil, vanilla and eggs and blend until combined (about 5-10 seconds).
- Add the dry ingredients to the blender and blend until smooth.
- Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 35-45 minutes (depending on the size of pan you choose) or until the top is set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean!
- Once the bread is done, remove it from the oven and place the pan on a wire rack to cool.
- Let cool for at least 30 minutes before using the parchment paper to remove the bread from the pan and let it continue cooling until you’re ready to eat it!
Notes
- Coconut sugar: This is my favorite unrefined granulated form of sugar. If you have another (date sugar, maple sugar) feel free to use it as a substitute. I do not recommend using a liquid sweetener in place of coconut sugar.
- Coconut Oil: salted butter is a great substitute.
- Chocolate chips: choose a variety that complies with your dietary needs. Here are some suggestions:
- Hu Kitchen Chocolate Gems. This is my favorite paleo chocolate. These gems are delicious and easy to toss into cookies (no bar chopping required).
- Hu Kitchen Dark Chocolate Bars. You can also buy dark chocolate bars and chop them up to toss into these paleo chocolate chip cookies.
- Lily’s Dark Chocolate. They make chips and bars that are stevia sweetened, low carb, keto, etc.
- Enjoy Life Foods Dark Chocolate Chips are a good option that are vegan, dairy-free but not fully paleo.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Do I need to get all of the water out of the zucchini before making the bread or just blend it as is? This looks amazing!!
No you do not need to squeeze out any water from the zucchini.
Hi! this recipe looks amazing. I live in a small town in Costa Rica and it’s imposible to find the almond and coconut flour here. Any ideas on substitutions? Have you tried this with regular flour?
Dear Laura!
I was craving your Banana Bread since I saw your Instagram post so I kept the bananas to ripe on purpose and when I thought I was ready… i was missing the brown sugar, so I went for this version because I had everything at hand. Oh how glad I am I was missing the brown sugar :p we all loved it and my husband (who recently found out he can’t eat gluten for health reasons) was simply over the moon. A new family favourite for sure. Big hug to the 7 (!) of you! 😀
This recipe is fantastic! Just made it tonight. Used cacao powder. I did have to use regular chocolate chips because I didnt have paleo ones. This is a win!
Is it possible to make this without bananas? I’m on keto so no bananas for me!
Hey Rishana! I am not knowledgeable about the Keto diet…but you could substitute applesauce or possibly pumpkin for the bananas…you’d just risk the bread not being very sweet!
Great recipe! A perfect balance of zucchini and banana that it makes an indulgent but guilt-free breakfast. I’ve made it several times and have since started increasing the zucchini by 50% while adding almond pulp (left over from homemade almond milk) to balance everything out- comes out less dense I found. Goes to show the recipe is pretty versatile if you want to play with it. Thanks for posting!