Dark Chocolate Zucchini Brownies

zucchini brownies

Let’s rewind to a housewarming party earlier this summer. Late that night, a girl walked in with a warm-from-the-oven zucchini cake covered in cream cheese icing. She set it down on the counter along with some forks and tipsy partygoers, myself included, eagerly dug in.

Upon first bite, I declared it the best cake I’d ever had. It didn’t even taste like zucchini—it was just the most moist, delectable spiced cake I had ever tasted. After the second bite, I pronounced that I would henceforth define my life in terms of the pre-zucchini cake era and post-zucchini cake era. It was an enlightening experience, friends.

Fast forward to last week, when I was contending with a serious chocolate craving. I tried to satisfy it with a small piece of dark chocolate, which usually does the trick. When that failed, I ate a chocolate chip cookie. That didn’t cut it, either. I nibbled on chocolate this and chocolate that, but my craving was fueled by deadline stress and only a seriously decadent, rich chocolate treat would do. Enter zucchini brownies.

shredded, grated zucchini

zucchini brownie recipe

I found a zucchini brownie recipe that called for honey instead of sugar and whole wheat pastry flour instead of all purpose. I took it as an opportunity to bake with some new ingredients in my pantry, substituting some whole spelt flour for the pastry flour and coconut oil for the vegetable oil.

I was slightly concerned that the combination of zucchini, honey, coconut, chocolate and cinnamon flavors would overwhelm the taste buds, but they melded together perfectly.

how to make zucchini brownies

Once I had mixed together the healthiest brownie batter around, I dumped in an entire bag of dark chocolate chips.

Chocolate craving: satisfied.

chocolate chip zucchini brownies

zucchini brownie batter

healthy zucchini brownies recipe

courgette brownies recipe

Dark Chocolate Zucchini Brownies
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert
 

Ingredients
  • 2 cups zucchini, grated
  • 1/2 cup virgin coconut oil
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
  • 3/4 cup whole spelt flour (or an additional 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour)
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips (I used a bag of Ghirardelli 60% Cocoa Chips)

Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8 inch square baking pan.
  2. Grate zucchini. Dump into a mesh colander and squeeze it with a towel to get rid of excess moisture. Fluff it back up with a fork.
  3. In a large bowl, beat together the wet ingredients (oil, eggs, honey and vanilla). Stir in the zucchini.
  4. In a separate, smaller bowl, stir together the dry ingredients (whole wheat pastry and spelt flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder and cinnamon).
  5. Pour the dry mixture into the wet/zucchini mixture. Stir just until combined, and then stir in the chocolate chips.
  6. Pour the batter into your prepared pan.
  7. Bake 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (mine was done baking at 30 minutes). Let cool completely.

Notes
  • Adapted from A Dash of Sash.
  • I have tried making these brownies with agave nectar instead of honey, but they tasted bittersweet. Honey is best.
  • My friends raved over these brownies when they were fresh from the oven. I preferred them at room temperature or chilled, so the chocolate is not gooey but a rich, dense contrast to the super moist crumb. Either way, you’ll love them!

P.s. Upon closer inspection, I realized that this is the same brownie recipe that Kelsey from Happyolks adapted for her blackberry zucchini brownies. Her recipe goes to show that you can substitute fresh fruit for the chocolate chips if you’re not craving such an intensely chocolately treat.

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34 Comments

  1. Posted September 28, 2011 at 1:01 PM | Permalink

    Woah. Chocolate and vegetable cravings cured! :-) These look incredible Kate!!!

  2. Posted September 28, 2011 at 1:07 PM | Permalink

    I could totally eat these and still feel good about my sweet tooth self. Dark chocolate zucchini brownies—yes, please!

  3. zazzie
    Posted September 28, 2011 at 1:29 PM | Permalink

    Sounds amazing! Can’t wait to try:))

    Would it hurt the taste a lot if I added some other oil instead of the coconut oil you suggested? Do you have any suggestions maybe? Unfortunately I don’t know where they sell such things..
    Love your blog – in case it wasn’t obvious already;)

    • Posted September 28, 2011 at 1:35 PM | Permalink

      The original recipe called for olive oil, but I would probably go with vegetable oil for its neutral flavor. I’ve found coconut oil at health/gourmet stores, but it can be a little pricey. So happy to hear that you love my blog, Zazzie!

      • zazzie
        Posted September 28, 2011 at 1:44 PM | Permalink

        :) Thank you

  4. Posted September 28, 2011 at 1:33 PM | Permalink

    If these taste as half as good as they look…im hooked. :) Lovely!

  5. Posted September 28, 2011 at 1:34 PM | Permalink

    Great minds think alike. We know a good recipe when we see it! The Blackberries give it more of a fudge like texture, I must admit. The chocolate chips keep the brownie authentic :)

  6. Posted September 28, 2011 at 1:56 PM | Permalink

    I am so into this!

  7. Posted September 28, 2011 at 3:10 PM | Permalink

    I really want to make these right now. They sound delicious, and the pictures are great!

  8. Posted September 28, 2011 at 4:13 PM | Permalink

    Yum! These look fabulous, friend! How creative!!

  9. Posted September 29, 2011 at 7:02 AM | Permalink
  10. Posted September 29, 2011 at 10:55 AM | Permalink

    Devine! Love this idea :)

  11. Posted September 29, 2011 at 11:09 AM | Permalink

    These pictures are just. not. fair. These look amazing! And you’d never know they have zucchini in them from looking at ‘em! Yum.

  12. Posted September 30, 2011 at 1:26 AM | Permalink

    Those brownies look so good! I’ve been eating a ton of zucchini lately but keep forgetting to save some for baked goods and this one looks like a keeper. I LOVE your mint green spatula!

    • Posted October 4, 2011 at 3:48 PM | Permalink

      Thanks! I hope you can make zucchini brownies before zucchini season ends. Couldn’t resist that green spatula when I saw it at T.J. Maxx. :)

  13. Posted September 30, 2011 at 1:36 AM | Permalink

    Looks great Kate! I have seen so many zucchini brownie recipes that I really want to try it! Yours looks very healthy and delicious!

  14. Posted October 5, 2011 at 5:01 PM | Permalink

    off to the store to get chips to make these STAT!

  15. Posted October 7, 2011 at 11:46 AM | Permalink

    Ok, these look fantastic! Beautiful photography also!

  16. Jessica
    Posted October 10, 2011 at 2:26 PM | Permalink

    Finally made these this weekend. They have been calling me. So delicious and your recipes are so easy to adapt to gluten-free.

    • Posted October 11, 2011 at 8:19 PM | Permalink

      I’m so glad to hear that! Is it because they’re made with whole wheat?

  17. Posted October 16, 2011 at 3:54 PM | Permalink

    Hey! I ended up making these and putting them on my just-started-up blog! Linked back to here, of course. LOVED them. Thank you!

  18. Posted November 8, 2011 at 3:30 AM | Permalink

    I live in Italy, and made these for a dinner party… They ate the whole pan! The Italians were shocked by who healthy they were (once I told them the ingredients). They were so tasty! thanks!!!

  19. Ashton
    Posted June 25, 2012 at 10:55 AM | Permalink

    I’ve made a zucchini brownie recipe very similar to this before, but it calls for baking soda instead of baking powder. Does the baking powder make them more cake-like?

    • Posted June 25, 2012 at 12:25 PM | Permalink

      That’s a great question, Ashton. I am really not sure. I’ll try it with baking soda instead next time, because I think I would prefer for the brownies to be a little less cake-y. I’m hoping that chopping the chocolate rather than using whole chocolate chips help make them more uniformly fudgy, too.

  20. Posted July 20, 2012 at 9:57 AM | Permalink

    Kate! These were delicious!! Thanks for the recipe!

    • Posted July 25, 2012 at 12:26 AM | Permalink

      Glad you enjoyed the brownies, Sara! I’ve been meaning to make another batch with finely chopped chocolate instead of chocolate chips. We’ll see!

  21. Posted September 12, 2012 at 10:48 PM | Permalink

    My attempt to google to find a recipe with chocolate, zucchini, and a liquid sweetener led me to this recipe, and I’m so glad it did! I used your recipe as a spring board for a vegan zucchini brownie and it worked out great (and then I blogged about it :P)! Thanks for sharing!

    • Posted September 12, 2012 at 11:14 PM | Permalink

      Awesome, I’m glad the recipe worked well for you!

  22. bonnie schmitt
    Posted January 3, 2013 at 1:37 PM | Permalink

    Hi Kate, I can’t wait to make these tonight! Do you think adding some walnuts would mess with flavors at all? I love nutty brownies and since walnuts are mild in flavor I thought the additoon of them would add a nice crunch. What do you think?

    • Posted January 3, 2013 at 1:43 PM | Permalink

      Hi Bonnie, I think that adding walnuts is a great idea! You might also chop up the chocolate chips some so they melt into the brownies a little more uniformly. Please let me know how they turn out.

  23. bonnie
    Posted January 6, 2013 at 11:38 PM | Permalink

    Hi Kate, so the walnuts were a success and I made my hubby a believer of zucchini brownies! I tried chopping the choc chips and used 1/2 tsp baking soda and they came out moist and oh so gooey! My batter did end up being a little thick so I added a splash of milk and a little more coconut oil.

    • Posted January 10, 2013 at 8:35 AM | Permalink

      Thanks for getting back to me, Bonnie! I’m happy to hear that the brownies turned out well. I’m definitely going to chop up the chocolate next time.

  24. Shaweta
    Posted January 14, 2013 at 5:50 PM | Permalink

    Hi Kate,the brownies look awesome and the most important it is healthy. I can’t wait to try this wholewheat zucchini brownie tonight . I will let you know how it turns out.

  25. Denice
    Posted February 8, 2013 at 11:22 AM | Permalink

    I’m excited to try these but I don’t have enough honey on hand for the recipe. Any suggestions for how much turbinado and/or brown sugar to use as a substitute?

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