During my younger childhood years, my grandma flew out from Ohio to visit us a few times. She’d pack her suitcase with enough clothes to stay anywhere from a week to a month, and she always carefully nestled a loaf of her homemade zucchini bread inside too.
Although I probably would’ve turned up my nose at flecks of green in my bread from anyone else (yes, even after reading Green Eggs and Ham at least once a week), anything baked by Grandma was automatically delicious, so I would devour almost half of that loaf all by myself.
My mom would tuck half of a thick slice into my school lunch box as my treat instead of the usual store-bought chocolate chip cookies, and as soon as I burst through the front door in the afternoon, I dashed to the kitchen to ask Grandma for another piece as my snack. Because we plowed through it so quickly, she almost always baked another loaf (or two) partway through her visit!
While Mom enjoyed her slices reheated with a small pat of butter or thick schmear of cream cheese, I preferred my plain. No extra toppings, nothing hiding inside. Just plain, supremely moist zucchini bread with lots of cinnamon and spices.
And when I recently asked on Facebook whether you liked zucchini bread too, the majority of you answered yes… But with chocolate chips! Despite being a huge chocoholic (it’s why I’m writing a chocolate cookbook that’s coming out soon!), I had never tried that combo.
Until now. This Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread (and all of you, of course!) convinced me that every loaf deserves extra chocolate inside! Vegetables and chocolate… Who would’ve thought?
Just like my grandma’s loaves, I added both cinnamon and nutmeg to the batter. Although not all recipes include it, nutmeg gives the bread an extra oomph and warm, cozy dimension. I always mix it into my plain zucchini bread, and since my family adores that, why stop now?
But unlike Grandma’s, my clean-eating version contains only 1 tablespoon of oil—and coconut oil, at that! The rest of the tender texture comes from my favorite ingredient in healthier baking: Greek yogurt. If you’ve read my blog before, you’ll know just how much I adore Greek yogurt! It adds the same moisture as extra oil or butter but for a fraction of the calories, and it gives your baked goods a little protein boost too.
When it comes to zucchini bread, I have a secret trick to baking the perfect loaf: pat the zucchini dry with paper towels! Zucchini contains a lot of moisture, which it releases during baking. If you add too much zucchini, that extra moisture will destroy the structure of your quick bread and make it sink in the middle while cooling.
To add as much zucchini as possible without the collapsing problem, pat the zucchini dry to remove the excess moisture! Lay a double-thick layer of paper towels on your cutting board, and arrange the freshly shredded zucchini on top. Place another double-thick layer of paper towels on the zucchini, and gently press down until the top towel turns wet.
Then voila! You’re ready to add the zucchini to the batter.
And of course, who could forget those chocolate chips that you convinced me to add? Their warm, melty, gooey pockets of decadence hiding among the crevices… Pure bliss. I prefer mini chips so that nearly every bite contains a little morsel of chocolate, and I always sprinkle some on top for a sweet finishing touch.
I think I should’ve bought more zucchini at the store… Or maybe plant some in the garden next year!
| Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread | | Print |
- 2 cups (240g) whole wheat flour (measured like this)
- 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp (14g) coconut oil or unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup (120g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- ½ cup (120mL) pure maple syrup
- 6 tbsp (90mL) nonfat milk
- 3 tbsp (42g) miniature chocolate chips
- 1 ½ cups (160g) shredded zucchini, patted dry*
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and line the inside of a 9x5” loaf pan with foil or parchment paper. Lightly coat with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the coconut oil, egg, and vanilla. Stir in the Greek yogurt, mixing until no large lumps remain. Stir in the maple syrup. Alternate between adding the flour mixture and milk to the egg mixture, beginning and ending with the flour, and stirring just until incorporated. (For best results, add the flour in 3 equal parts.) Set aside 1 teaspoon of chocolate chips. Gently fold in the remaining chocolate chips and zucchini.
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan, and gently press the reserved chocolate chips into the top. Bake at 350°F for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
White whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour, or all-purpose flour may be substituted for the whole wheat flour.
For a gluten-free version, use the following blend: 1 cup (120g) millet flour, ½ cup (60g) brown rice flour, ½ cup (60g) tapioca flour, and 1½ teaspoons xanthan gum. Store-bought gluten-free flour blends should also work, as long as they're measured like this.
Honey or agave may be substituted for the maple syrup. Alternatively, ½ cup (106g) of light brown sugar plus an additional ¼ cup (60mL) of milk may be substituted instead.
Any milk may be substituted for the nonfat milk.
{gluten-free option, clean eating, low fat, low calorie}
I just made this last night! I scoured the Internet for healthy zucchini bread recipes and they called for cups of oil or honey or starch or white flour ! I’m so glad I found this recipe! I made a few substitution. I don’t like overly sweet things so I subbed a mashed banana for the maple syrup. I also didn’t have milk so I used unsweetened almond milk. And I added cacao nibs and walnuts! It turned about amazing! The dough worked well with the almond milk and the banana added enough (maybe too much) moisture. I don’t think I cooked it all the way because I was too impatient. The cacao nibs added the perfect amount of chocolate and the walnuts made it nice and crunchy. I will definitely be making this again. And will try to be more patient and cook it thoroughly.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the zucchini bread Lauren, and I’m truly touched that you selected my recipe out of all the ones you saw. My heart is so happy right now — thank you for sharing that with me! 🙂 Thanks for sharing your tweaks as well; I love hearing what fun twists work!
I made this loaf last weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the zucchini bread Tania! 🙂
Great loaf! Can I use white chocolate instead?
Yes! That sounds like such a fun twist. I can’t wait to hear what you think of the zucchini bread Mahee!
Hi Amy! I made this last night and my bread turned out dry. I didn’t quite have 1 1/2 cups of zuchinni (only about 1 cup) and am also wondering if I may have cooked it too long? Would the have made a difference? Thanks for your help!
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Amanda! The zucchini bread should be really moist, not dry, so I’m happy to work together to figure out what happened. 🙂 What kind of flour did you use, and how did you measure it? Did you scoop it directly from the container using the measuring cups? How long did you bake the loaf? And did you make any other modifications to the recipe, other than using less zucchini?
Amy, I am so excited to try your recipe as I have been looking for a healthier version of zucchini bread. I do have a couple of questions.
1. I would rather not add the chocolate chips so if I leave them out, do I need to alter the recipe in any other way?
2. Do you know if the zucchini bread would freeze well?
Thank you for the secret tip on taking out the excess moisture out of zucchini. Also, after I make your recipe I will come back and rate your recipe.
You can definitely omit the chocolate chips, and you don’t need to alter the recipe if you do. This zucchini bread freezes really well! I slice it into individual pieces once it’s cooled to room temperature before freezing, and I actually have a few slices in my freezer right now. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of the zucchini bread Michelle!
Everyone loves this super tasty loaf. And it is an added bonus that it is healthy.
I’m so happy to hear that Helen — that means a lot to me! 🙂
We have recently adopted a “clean eating” lifestyle, so I have been making lots of healthy zucchini muffins and breads. However, my chocolate orange zucchini bread and lemon zucchini muffins both turned out dry, which was very disappointing, as I spent so much time making them. I scooped my flour from the container, which I learned from your measuring tips is why they both came out dry…too much flour.
Your tip of using a spoon to measure flour and shaking it into the cup changed everything. I made your chocolate chip zucchini bread, and it came out moist and yummy. So so good. I substituted unsweetened cashew milk and So Delicious plain coconut milk yogurt, as my son and I can’t have dairy. Thank you Amy for an amazing recipe and for the best tip…I will be using that measuring trick from now on, Look forward to trying more of your recipes!
I’m so glad that you enjoyed this zucchini bread Heidi!! I’m really happy that the measuring trick helped you too. It’s such a good thing to know, and hopefully it helps in all of your baking recipes in the future! 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what recipe of mine you try next!
Hi Amy, I discovered this recipe last summer and made many loaves for my family and friends, everyone loves it! I’m in the process of moving and already packed most of my baking supplies, but I was wondering if you think this would work in a jumbo muffin tin instead- it’s about the only baking pan I haven’t packed yet! If so, how long would you bake it for?
I’m so honored that you’ve baked this zucchini bread so many times, Sara! That’s the best kind of compliment — thank you so much for sharing that with me! 🙂 You can definitely use jumbo muffin tins! I’d recommend starting to check on them around 22 minutes. They’ll probably take longer to bake, but it’s easier to bake them longer than to deal with burnt muffins! 😉 I can’t wait to hear how your muffins turn out!