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Grain Free Chocolate Zucchini Bread Recipe
I can’t wait for you to make this grain free Chocolate Zucchini Bread! It’s chocolatey, moist and SO delicious!
It’s also made right in the blender so it’s super simple and clean up is a breeze. Love that!
If you are looking for a delicious way to use up zucchini, you’ve got to try this easy recipe that we’ve been loving! It’s a crowd pleaser, too 🙂
Grain Free Chocolate Zucchini Bread Quick How To Video:
(The printable recipe is at bottom of this post)
If you can’t see the video player above, you can watch it on YouTube HERE:
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Grain Free Chocolate Zucchini Bread Recipe:
Grain Free Chocolate Zucchini Bread (Paleo, Gluten Free)
Grain Free Chocolate Zucchini Bread - Paleo, Gluten Free, Dairy Free, No Refined Sugar! Made in the blender using coconut flour.
Ingredients
- 12 pitted dried dates (I use THESE)
- 4 eggs
- 1 medium zucchini, cut in half, seeds scraped out and then cut into chunks
- ¼ cup butter, ghee or use refined coconut oil for dairy allergies
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I use THIS)
- ½ cup coconut flour (I use THIS)
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder or cacao powder (I use THIS)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- Pinch of sea salt
- Optional Toppings: mini chocolate chips (I use THESE dairy-free chocolate chips), coconut chips, raw pumpkin seeds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Place the dates, eggs, zucchini chunks, butter, and vanilla in the blender and blend until smooth.
- Add in the coconut flour, cacao powder, cinnamon, baking soda and sea salt and blend until smooth and thick.
- Pour the batter into a well greased or parchment lined regular sized loaf pan (I use THIS).
- Top with any optional toppings if you are using toppings.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes or until center is cooked through.
- Let cool then enjoy!
Pin Chocolate Zucchini Bread Recipe HERE:
Looks delicious! Your pumpkin muffin recipe is our family and friend’s favorite coconut quick bread recipe (it’s better than any made with wheat flour!) so I’m excited to try this recipe of yours. It was hard from the video to get a good idea of what you consider a “medium” zucchini. Would you say it was about three cups of chunks?
That’s awesome to hear, Gay! It’s about 2 1/2 cups of zucchini chunks. It’s a forgiving recipe and I’ve used bigger zucchinis and smaller zucchinis and so far, all of them have been good. But the average medium size I’ve been getting is about 2 1/2 cups of chunks. Hope you like this!
This looks amazing. Question, can it be frozen? Please let me know as I have an event in a few weeks, but would love to try to freeze one.
Thank you for all you do – I love your emails and blog.
Best Regards, Louise G
Hi Louise! Yes, it freezes very well! Thank you so much for your kind words – they mean a lot to me!
Kelly, these look so good. I’m always looking for ways to use zucchini from my garden. Do you happen to know what the carb count is? I’ve never cooked with dates before, I’ll have to give it a try.
What is the carb count in thes?
Hey there! My name is Jessica and I came across your website last night and absolutely love everything that is up here. I am super excited to try these recipes but don’t have all of the ingredients. So I was wondering If there are some baking and cooking basics I should have available to make these recipes.
I’m excited to get started!
Hi Jessica! Thank you for such a nice comment! 🙂
My baking and cooking staples are:
Fats:
olive oil
coconut oil
avocado oil
ghee or butter
Gluten-free flours:
coconut flour
tapioca flour
arrowroot flour
Miscl:
dried dates
spices!!! all kinds 🙂
cacao or unsweetened cocoa powder
unsweetened coconut flakes
coconut milk
I hope that helps!! xo, Kelly
How many servings? I estimated 8?
Yes, about 8 is exactly right, Darlene! You can make this recipe into muffins (just bake for 25 mins) and it does make 11-12 muffins.
This looks so great Kelly! Can’t wait to make.
Thanks, Mary!
Hi there. Does the butter need to be melted?
Hi Rene, it can be room temperature or you can also melt it.
Do you know how many grams of fat and / or calories this has per serving?
I tried this recipe last night it was amazing! I put some chocolate chips and walnuts inside and on top of the loaf! It was a big hit with my family. Thanks so much for posting this. And I love that I could make it in my Vitamix! Made it quick and easy. Love Love Love it! Will definitely make again 🙂 Thank you.
So glad to hear this, Jenny!! 🙂
Looks good but what could I use instead of the dates?
Can you substitute the dates for honey or something else, or would that ruin the texture?
Hi Kelly, this looks amazing!! I’m looking forward to giving it a go! Unfortunately my tummy is sensitive to dates. Do you have any suggested alternatives?
Thanks 🙂
Hi Chloe! What about figs? That would be a great substitute. I would substitute 6 or 7 dried figs if you can do that.
Can’t wait to try this one! My son doesn’t believe me when I say zucchini bread is so good…but then he saw your recipe with chocolate and has decided to give it a go! I’ll come back and report how he liked it. 😉 Thanks for sharing!
I made this and it was great! Even my husband liked it! :-)) Thank you for sharing. I’ll definitely be making it again. 🙂
Yay!
Hi! What other sweetner could your recommend? My system doesn’t tolerate dates. Would coconut sugar work? If so, how much would you suggest, I don’t use dates so I am not familiar with how sweet they are compared with others. Thanks for this recipe–it looks fantastic!
Stormi
Hi Stormi! I believe coconut sugar would work – I would suggest 1/3 to 1/2 cup.
‘This is so yummy!! We’ll be making this again, for sure. And probably doubling it!! I did mine in my food processor, btw and it worked well. Thanks!!
Awesome!!
Oh wow, this looks amazing and so incredibly moist. Normally when I make chocolate cake, it’s always heavier than I would like, but I’m guessing the zucchini has something to do with this being so moist? Can’t wait to try this. It looks like it may just become my new favorite thing 🙂
Yes, the zucchini makes it so moist 🙂
We liked this! It was especially perfect chilled in the fridge! thank you!
Awesome! Thanks for the comment, Tessa!
so i’m making this for a second time in a week! i actually doubled the recipe with the following modifications:
2/3 c. coconut flour and 6 eggs. (everything else stayed the same) it was AMAZING!
Woo! Thank you for the doubling tips!!
Looks delicious! I wonder if scraping out the zucchini seeds is really necessary, what’s the reason for that?
Hi Jen! Yes, it’s necessary because the bread will get really watery/soggy if you don’t!
Hi Kelly. I’m planning on trying this recipe this week and wondered if you peel the zucchini first or if the skin is included. You may have already mentioned this and I just missed it. Thanks for your help! When I’m looking for tasty, healthy recipes, I always come here first. 🙂
Hey Meghan! The skin is included so you can just leave it on! Thanks so much for the compliment, too – it means a lot to me 🙂
Just put these in the oven! The batter taste great! WLS Sleeve patient. THIS IS A GREAT WEBSITE FOR US!
Enjoy, Susan!
I made this yesterday for a friends birthday. The cake needed to be wheat free and sugar free. I thought I had zucchini at home, but alas I did not. I substituted pumpkin puree (I used 1 cup). The cake turned out nice and moist. The texture was a little too “textured” for me, but I don’t have a high powered blender and so the dates and coconut flour didn’t grind up super fine. (I did soak the dates first) I think next time I might do a littlemore dates as it could be a little sweeter for my tastes. Overall I was very pleased! Thank you so much for the recipe!!
love it. I use 3 grocery store size zuccini, maybe 8inch by 1-1 1/2 ” wide I use the coconut oil, add extra cinnamon and vanilla and a scoup or 2 of vegan chocolate protien powder. I add a few chocolate chips and top with slivered almonds. My kids love them for breakfast or snack
Great idea to add the protein powder, Robyn!!
forgot to add that one time I had them in the oven and noticed I had left the tsp of baking soda on the counter. They were still delicious, just fudgier.
I’m making this tonight for my 2 year old – can’t wait! Does the zucchini have to be peeled?
Nope!
I made this tonight, and I really liked it. I used Medjool dates though, and I only used 8. It was perfect on the sweetness scale. Will add nuts and bake in brownie pan for single servings next time. Oh and I used the whole zucchini. I figured the seeds would add a bit more nutrition and fiber. You don’t even know they’re there. I used a wand blender also. Worked fine for me!!!
Oh that’s great to hear, Wanda! So glad you enjoyed it!
I made it and I didn’t like it. It tasted really bland. If it weren’t for the chocolate chips it would probably go in the garbage. I think I’m giving up on healthy/paleo deserts – I hate wasting and nothing tastes that good.
Oh bummer, Michelle. I hope you can find some healthy desserts you enjoy. It took me awhile (a few weeks, I’d say) for my tastebuds to adjust to things not being overly sweet or artificially flavored – now I can’t even eat that stuff – it’s way too sweet for me!
This is hands down the best gf chocolate bread I have ever tried, I make it twice a week!!!! Awesome recipe:)
Woo!! Thanks, Melinda!
Calories for this recipe per serving?
Made this tonight! It was super easy to make and it is scrumptious. Thumbs up from Darlin’ too! Thank you!
Thank you for your comment, Kriss! So happy you both liked it!
Hello! Have you ever substituted the eggs for egg whites and butter for applesauce? Just wondering if it will work!?
Hi Cassie! I’ve done applesauce for butter (works great!), but I haven’t tried the egg whites for eggs. It sounds like it could be a definite possibility.
Thank you for this recipe! I’ve used flax eggs to make these into vegan cupcakes. Added some extra dates..delicious!
Yum! Thanks for your comment and for letting us all know that the flax eggs work for this recipe, Yinny – much appreciated!
Hi Kelly,
Your brownies look and sound delicious. Can I substitute coconut oil for the butter? Thanks!
Yes, definitely!
This is so delicious. I am so happy it has no added sugar as well. I find that a lot of paleo recipes use sweeteners like honey or maple syrup, and it’s wonderful that the dates add so much natural sweet flavor!
I love using dates, too, Ali! So glad you enjoyed this recipe!
Lovely cake! Tastes very good and it’s easy and nutritious. Have made it a couple of times now. Thanks!
This makes me happy, Aline! So glad you are enjoying it!
This was a great recipe. I especially like that it has no added honey or sweetener. That is hard to find!
So happy to hear this, Sarah! Thank you for the comment!
I wish I could post a picture of how mine turned out! Can hardly wait for t to cool – the batter tasted amazing so I’m pretty sure the final outcome is what I’m expecting! I followed the recipe exactly, aside from using 10+ ounces of packed dates, roughly chopped. No idea how may dates I used 🙂
🙂 🙂 🙂
This bread is very moist and suitable for breakfast !
Thanks for recipe !
Oh this is delicious. I just made it, and it was really good. The texture is great. Thanks for sharing a good recipe.
So happy to hear, Claudia!
Do you think I could substitute almond flour instead of coconut flour??
Hi Niki, coconut flour absorbs a ton of liquid, much more than any other flour…it’s generally advised not to substitute and look for an almond flour zucchini bread recipe instead. But a general rule that I’ve had a lot of luck with when substituting with coconut flour is to triple the amount of coconut flour that’s called for in a recipe. I hope that can help! And if anyone has made this with almond flour, please let us know!
I just made it with almond flour and it is delicious!!
Hi! I’ve just made this with a few substitutions… I used coconut oil instead of butter and used 1/2 teaspoon of Stevia and 1/4 cup peanut butter instead of the dates.. I used the nut butter to make up the bulk of the dates… It turned out absolutely heavenly!!! I was dying for a cakey low carb treat! 5 stars! Thank you!
Awesome, Jessie! Love your ideas!
Love this recipe! I have made it twice in the past 4 days and everyone I have served it too has swooned and told me how delicious these “brownies” are. I used my giant garden zucchinis cut in half and seeded. I chopped up zucchini until i had about 2 1/2 cups. I substituted 1 cup golden raisins soaked in hot water until plump and then patted dry. This recipe is so quick. I made it in a glass 8×8 pyrex lined with parchment paper and cut into 16 squares and it looked just like brownies.
Awesome!!
Made these today, as my mom and I try to find treats and snacks to make, for my dad who’s diabetic. I’ve never been a fan of dates and actually stay away from any recipe that includes them. I am so surprised at how moist and delicious this cake was. I didn’t taste the dates at all. I will definitely be making this cake again for myself!!!
Thanks,
Mary Ann
Awesome, so happy to hear! Thank you for your comment, Mary Ann!
Hello, I freeze shredded zucchini when I have an abundance from the garden. How much shredded zucchini would I use for this recipe? The first time I made this as is and it worked fantastic, the second time it was way to moist I believe my zucchini was to big. So if you have a weight or shredded amount that’d be awesome because I might have more consistent results.
Hi Michelle! I’m so glad you are enjoying this recipe! Your comment makes me wonder if it’s not necessarily the size of the zucchini, but because it was frozen or perhaps the seeds weren’t scraped out before freezing? The only reason I think this could be a possibility is because I’ve used all different sizes of zucchini for this recipe and it truly hasn’t made a difference (as long as I’ve scraped the seeds out). I’ve even used the huuuuge, monster ones that I left on the plant way too long and it was fine.
I do know that freezing vegetables can result in a TON more moisture when cooking. So to counter this, you may have to thaw the frozen zucchini and really squeeze the extra water out before adding it to the recipe.
But next time I make this, I’ll be sure to get a more exact shredded amount for you so hopefully you can enjoy this recipe for many years to come! Thanks for letting me know!