Paleo Chocolate Zucchini Bread: Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free + Refined Sugar-Free

Paleo chocolate zucchini bread is moist, delicious and has a rich dark chocolate flavour. But don’t worry, this healthy treat still has some hidden veggies inside. You’re going to love this recipe!

As the summer slowly starts to come to an end + schools are back in session, the prime time of zucchini season is upon us! It’s amazing how, all at once, the garden seems to EXPLODE with this yummy summer veggie. This quick Paleo Chocolate Zucchini Bread is a super easy (and delicious way) to use up the plethora of produce!

This chocolate zucchini bread is gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free + refined sugar-free, but it’s JUST as moist + chocolatey as any traditional version. It uses a blend of almond + arrowroot flour for a tender + light crumb, despite the lack of wheat flour. But don’t worry if you don’t have access to arrowroot, I’ll supply some other options later on in the blog post!

This Paleo Chocolate Zucchini Bread uses my Paleo Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins (a reader fave) as a jumping off point, but this recipe is just slightly different with the addition of a bit more maple syrup + some cocoa powder to make it as rich as possible.

What ingredients are needed for this bread + what can I substitute?

The ingredient list for this chocolate zucchini bread is super intentional. Paleo baking isn’t always an easy feat, but when you get it right, you really know! Here’s what we’re going to use for this bread:

• almond flour: almond flour is going to be the main structural flour for this bread. If you are allergic to almonds, I’d try using cashew flour or even sunflower seed flour, although this may affect the colour of the finished product.
• arrowroot starch: arrowroot really makes this bread have a bit of lightness + fluffiness. If you don’t have any arrowroot to hand, you can also use tapioca flour. (Cornstarch may also work, but I haven’t tried it + it’s technically not paleo, but feel free to try!)
• cocoa powder: for an even richer flavour, feel free to use cacao powder too!
• salt
• raising agents: both baking powder and baking soda really provide the lift we need, so don’t skimp on them!
• cinnamon: you can’t really taste the cinnamon, but it just adds a tiny bit of warmth like you’d find in a traditional zucchini bread. I promise, promise, promise this is a worthy addition. But, if you aren’t a fan, feel free to leave it out.
• eggs: I would not swap these out for flax eggs even if you’re tempted! Paleo flours tend to be a bit denser + really need real eggs to be able to help them rise properly.
• maple syrup: this adds sweetness and moisture to the bread, so feel free to swap it out for honey, but a dry sweetener (like coconut sugar) could make your final loaf quite dry!
• coconut oil, ghee or butter: to ensure that this bread is as decadent as we want, we need a bit of a fat. I tend to use coconut oil in my baking to keep it dairy free, but feel free to use ghee or even butter if you aren’t worried about a bit of dairy!
• vanilla extract
• chocolate: the chips are the best part of this dessert quick bread! You are more than welcome to use chopped chocolate bars or chips, dark, milk or even white if your heart desires. It’s your bread!
• zucchini: this is a pretty essential part of the zucchini bread, ha, so don’t skip it! The recipe calls for a cup and a half, which equates out to one large zucchini grated. The recipe will have you squeeze out most of the liquid, which ensure the correct texture in the final bread, but also cuts down on some of the “zucchini” taste that lives in all of that liquid.

How to make Paleo Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Making this bread is about as easy as it gets – if you’ve got any little kitchen helpers (like your kiddos), grating the zucchini can be a really fun way to get them involved…as long as they watch their little fingers 😉

1. Mix the dry ingredients. There’s no need to sieve or do anything special, just add the dry ingredients together into a bowl + whisk or use a spoon to combine.
2. Combine the wet ingredients. Again, nothing special here, just add everything wet together + whisk to combine! Make sure your eggs are mixed well, but that’s it!
3. Add the wet to the dry. Simply pour your wet mix into your dry + use a spoon to combine. It should be really easy + the resulting batter will be relatively thick.
4. Get the zucchini ready to add. To get our zucchini ready to go in the batter, we just need to drain out a bit of extra liquid. The reason for this is we want to control the amount of moisture in our bread + we do that by removing the EXTRA liquid. In my opinion, the water from a zucchini has a very “veggie” taste as well, which will make it’s way into your bread unless we remove it. The easiest way to do this is just to go ahead and wrap the grated zucchini in a kitchen towel and squeeze it out over the sink. It’s okay if there’s still some left – we just want the majority of the liquid removed.
5. Add the mix-ins. Drop in your drained zucchini into the chocolate batter mixture and add your chopped chocolate or chips as well, just be sure to save a small amount of chocolate for the top of your bread too!
6. Add to a prepared bread pan. I just used a standard bread pan, but I imagine you could use almost any sized pan you want, the baking time just may differ if you go for something like an 8×8 since the bread will be much thinner! To prepare the pan, just cut a large enough section of parchment paper that it fully covers the base of the pan with some overhang over the edges to help you lift out the baked bread when it’s done. I also like to grease the parts of my pan that aren’t covered in parchment to ensure that no ends of my bread stick!
7. Bake. This bread needs to cook for an hour to be fully done in the middle, but as I said, if you use a different pan (muffins, 8×8, etc.) you will be need to increase or decrease your cooking time accordingly.

How to store this zucchini bread

Once the paleo chocolate zucchini bread comes out of the oven, be sure to allow it to cool in the pan a bit before trying to move it to a cooling rack to finish cooling. I KNOW IT’S HARD, but I always try to wait until the bread is cool to slice it + do find that a serrated knife is the easiest way to ensure you get clean slices in something with a more tender texture like this bread.

I love to pre-slice my bread and keep it stored in an airtight container in the fridge. You can totally store it at room temperature too, but I wouldn’t do this for longer than a few days since it is SUCH a moist bread. If you want to have extras around, I love to place my slices in a ziplock bag and just keep them separated by layers of parchment so that I can pop one of out the freezer at a time. Just allow it to come to room temperature or pop it into the microwave for a minute or so before enjoying!

This quick paleo chocolate zucchini bread is honestly a snack or breakfast option that will satisfy the entire family. It’s full of healthy fats, fiber and veggies, so it’s something that everyone can feel good eating PLUS it tastes like a rich, decadent treat.

If you do make this recipe, be sure to pop your thoughts down below in the comments! It really does help other people find these recipes too + I LOVE reading what you thought. Or, head over to instagram + tag me in your photos there. It’s so fun to see what you make!

Other recipes you might love:

• paleo chocolate chip zucchini muffins
• paleo blueberry muffins
• paleo pumpkin cream cheese muffins
• paleo mint chocolate chip smoothie (with hidden zucchini)

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