BEST EVER Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread — 💚🤎 Super moist, tender, loaded with chocolate chips, and so EASY to make! One bowl, no mixer, and THE BEST zucchini bread you’ll ever try! If you have zucchini on hand to use up, this is the PERFECT recipe for it. Plus, it’s picky eater approved and they may not even realize they’re eating zucchini! 😉
Table of Contents
Easy Zucchini Bread Recipe
I have a family who doesn’t like zucchini, but they sure loved this zucchini bread. If you know any zucchini haters, trust me — they won’t even be able to taste it. There’s so much chocolate in every bite, which is what dominates the flavor profile.
It’s so incredibly moist, tender, and just melts in your mouth. Between the oil, sour cream, and natural moisture from the zucchini, it’s impossible to have a dry loaf of this quick bread recipe.
I actually think this bread is so scrumptious, it could be considered cake, but baked in loaf form. So if it’s bread, it’s automatically a bit healthier than cake, right? Yes!
Save this original recipe for when your garden, your neighbor’s garden, or the markets are exploding with summer fresh zucchini.
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread Ingredients
This is such a simple recipe and other than the zucchini, you will likely have everything in your pantry and fridge to make this recipe right now! I made this homemade zucchini bread with sour cream, but note that full-fat plain Greek yogurt may be substituted.
You will need:
- Egg
- Vegetable or canola oil
- Sour cream or Greek yogurt
- Vanilla extract
- Granulated sugar
- Light brown sugar
- All-purpose flour
- Ground cinnamon
- Baking soda
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Zucchini
- Chocolate Chips, optional but highly recommended
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Zucchini Bread with Chocolate Chips
Full instructions for this recipe can be found in this recipe card at the end of the post. Here’s a quick overview of the baking process:
- To a large bowl, simply add the wet ingredients (egg, sugars, sour cream, vanilla, sugars) and whisk to combine them.
- Add the dry ingredients (flour, cinnamon, baking soda and powder, salt) and stir to combine.
- Add the shredded zucchini, chocolate chips, stir to combine, and turn the mixture out into a greased 9×5-inch loaf pan.
- Bake until done! The batter is fairly thick and dense, which is a good thing, so that when the zucchini releases its juices as the bread bakes, the dough started out sufficiently thick and can handle absorbing that extra liquid volume.
A Note About the Baking Time
It is very important to bake your bread through — approximately 50 minutes should do the trick — but that is not written in stone so you need to watch your bread and not the clock when evaluating doneness. Do not be afraid to bake your bread for 70 minutes if that’s what it needs in order to get it cooked through.
Because of the moisture content of your particular zucchini, exactly how much water you blotted out, your oven, you climate, the brand of flour used, and so forth, will all effect baking times. The bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out free from any wet batter.
I recommend draping a sheet of foil, i.e. tenting your pan, at the 25 to 30-minute mark to avoid excessive browning on the top and sides of your loaf.
Recipe FAQs
I use a box grater to grate the zucchini by hand in literally 60 seconds. Use the coarsest blade, and grate away. One big fat zucchini or about one-and-a-half or two thinner, smaller zucchinis will be sufficient.
Yes! Place the grated zucchini in doubled up paper towels and wring it out. You don’t have to wring like you are trying to wring out a wet swimsuit, but you want to blot up some of the moisture, if I were guessing, I’d say wring out 50% of the moisture. When measuring, don’t hard-pack it into the cup, but use more pressure than if you were just laying it in the cup.
Nope! No need to peel the zucchini before grating it. The skin is very tender and you can’t tell the difference between it and the flesh of the zucchini once it’s baked.
If you want to skip the chocolate chips, and/or incorporate walnuts or another favorite nut, that is just fine. Don’t exceed 1 cup combined of chocolate chips and/or nuts.
If your bread is soggy in the center after baking for the full amount of time, it means it needs to be baked for longer next time.
It is perfectly fine to use the batter to make muffins. Muffins will probably take about 20 to 25 minutes baked at 350F. Keep an eye on them; they’re done when they’re cooked through and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean from batter, although it’ll have chocolate on it.
The batter would be fine for an 8×8-inch cake or a small Bundt cake. It will depend on what you choose to bake it in, but I estimate it taking about 35 minutes for either. I haven’t tested either of these options personally, so watch your baking times.
Storage Instructions
At room temp: Store leftover zucchini bread on your counter, wrapped tightly or sealed in an airtight container, for up to five days.
In the freezer: Let the bread cool completely and then seal inside a freezer bag. Alternately, you can wrap the entire loaf in a few layers of plastic wrap and a final layer of heavy duty aluminum foil. Frozen zucchini bread will last up to three months. To thaw, place on the counter overnight. You can also freeze individual slices of zucchini bread.
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Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread
Ingredients
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup vegetable or canola oil
- ½ cup sour cream or Greek yogurt, I used full fat sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 1 ½ cups freshly grated zucchini, blotted, and fairly firmly packed in measuring cup (see Notes)
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate Chips, optional but highly recommended; with a few reserved for sprinkling on top of the loaf
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F, and spray a 9×5-inch loaf pan with floured cooking spray, or grease and flour the pan; set aside.
- To a large mixing bowl, add the egg, oil, sour cream, vanilla, sugars, and whisk to combine.
- Add the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and stir to combine; don't overmix.
- Add the zucchini and fold to combine, don't overmix.
- Add the optional chocolate chips, stir to combine, and turn batter out into the prepared pan, sprinkling a few reserved chips over the top of the loaf.
- Bake the bread for about 50 minutes (start checking earlier), or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean from any raw batter. There will likely be chocolate on the toothpick though. I highly recommend draping a sheet of foil, i.e. tenting the pan, at the 25 to 30-minute mark while baking to reduce excessive browning on the top and sides of your loaf. See Notes for baking tips.
- Allow the bread to cool in the pan for about 30 minutes, or until it's cool enough to remove. Bread will keep airtight at room temp for up to 5 days, in the fridge for up to 8 days, and in the freezer for up to 4 months.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Originally posted August 3, 2020 and reposted August 30, 2024 with updated text.
Super moist! Love the touch of chocolate.
Thanks for the 5 star review, Pat, and glad this was a winner!
I have been looking for a good zucchini recipe and I found it in your ingredients. I like making new recipes for my family and friends for Christmas. This is a definite one I am making. Thanks for all your great recipes.
Thanks for the 5 star review, Phyllis, and I am glad this recipe is going to work out well for you.
Your zucchini bread is delicious! I double the recipe and make 5 mini loaves to share with my friends.
Thanks for the 5 star review, Lynne, and I am glad this is a winner for you and how nice to think to double it and make 5 mini loaves that you are gifting! That is so thoughtful of you – your friends must be so happy!
This bread was a big hit at my house!
This bread was a big hit at my house!
Thanks for the 5 star review and I’m glad it was a big hit!
great
Made this zucchini bread exactly as written and found it delicious. The second time I divided the batter into 4 mini loaves, putting chips in two and toasted walnuts in two. These took about 50 minutes to bake. Great recipe.
FYI, the directions omitted when to add the vanilla. I added it after the eggs.
Made this zucchini bread exactly as written and found it delicious. The second time I divided the batter into 4 mini loaves, putting chips in two and toasted walnuts in two. These took about 50 minutes to bake. Great recipe.
FYI, the directions omitted when to add the vanilla. I added it after the eggs.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you love the bread and it worked great for you as mini loaves.
Vanilla fixed. Thanks for flagging.
Please please include proper weight measurements, far more accurate than cups. One person’s light squash is another’s heavy!
My recipes are not that temperamental. I factor this all in. I am not the type of baker who says oh if you don’ have exactly 147 grams of this, it won’t turn out. Not at all, I promise!
Many thanks for your reply. I certainly don’t weigh everything to the last gram! However being in the UK I use a digital scale. It’s a real ‘faff’ to convert cups which measure volume into weights.
We had lots of zucchini in our farm box this week. We used some of it to make a double recipe of this bread. One loaf was gone by the next morning and we gave the other to a friend. I shredded and squeezed 3 more cups of zucchini and froze it so we can make this bread again soon!
Really great idea. Do you prefer zucchini over carrots for this one?
Thank you. I love all your recipes.
Yes because I have a carrot-zucchini bread (check the related recipes I link to in the post) and this is totally different than that one.
just made it! absolutely perfect recipe as written!!
just made it! absolutely perfect recipe as written!!
Thanks for the 5 star review and I am glad it was absolutely perfect as written!
I love these zucchini recipes and would love to share them on facebook, so I can refer back to them, but there is no share button. I have gone to your facebook page, but have to look through so many post to find the recipe I want.
Just copy the link and share that into a post of yours on Facebook. I don’t have a direct sharing option anymore to Facebook.
Looks wonderful! I need to get some zucchini and try some of your recipes. Chocolate chips are for sure great in zucchini breads.
This bread is my favorite zucchini bread I’ve ever made, and I’ve made many, but this one is extra good!