This chocolate chip zucchini bread is delightfully moist and flavorful thanks to freshly grated zucchini, brown sugar, and cinnamon! This easy recipe comes together fast with minimal tools and ingredients and includes instructions for baking zucchini bread muffins, too.
When summer is at its peak and the garden is overflowing with ripe zucchini, you know it's time to make homemade zucchini bread! This easy zucchini bread recipe is adapted from the old-fashioned recipe my family has been using for years, passed down on a handwritten recipe card. It's deliciously simple and easy to make, with a subtly-sweet cinnamon flavor and a beautifully moist crumb.
Jump to:
- Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Why bake with zucchini?
- Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
- Special Equipment
- Step-By-Step Instructions
- Should you peel zucchinis before grating?
- How to Grate Zucchini for Baking
- Can I Use This Recipe for Zucchini Bread Muffins?
- Storage Instructions
- More Sweet Bread Recipes
- Recipe
- Comments
Why You'll Love This Recipe
This old-fashioned zucchini bread recipe could not be easier to make and takes less than 30 minutes. Basic kitchen equipment like a mixing bowl, a box grater, and a wooden spoon is all you'll need to whip up a batch of this perfectly moist zucchini bread. Flavored with brown sugar and cinnamon, it makes a delicious breakfast treat or a snack. And the chocolate chips are technically optional, but I'm obviously on team chocolate chip (yes, even for breakfast)!
Oh, and this recipe works great for muffins, too! Check out the recipe notes for instructions for baking zucchini bread muffins.
Why bake with zucchini?
Much like carrots in carrot cake and the bananas in banana bread, grated zucchini adds moisture and texture to breads, muffins, and cakes. Because of its mild flavor, it pairs well with other flavors and spices like chocolate and cinnamon (both of which are included in this recipe).
Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
See recipe card at the bottom of this post for full ingredient list and measurements.
Zucchini - Though the bread is named for this ingredient, it's actually not the star of the show. The zucchini adds moisture and texture to the bread, but doesn't have a big impact on flavor, allowing the flavors of cinnamon and molasses to shine through.
Brown Sugar - Brown sugar adds moisture and delicious molasses flavor to the bread. Use dark brown sugar for a loaf with more molasses flavor and a darker golden color, or use light brown sugar for a more delicate molasses flavor and lighter golden brown color.
Cinnamon - Ground cinnamon gives this loaf a sweet spice flavor.
Vegetable Oil - Vegetable oil helps to create a moist and tender loaf.
Chocolate Chips - Chocolate is totally optional, but it's definitely delicious! I opted for semi-sweet chocolate chips, but use whatever kind you like best.
Special Equipment
In addition to essential baking equipment (like a mixing bowl and whisk), I recommend some special tools for making this recipe.
- A box grater, for grating the zucchini.
- A standard loaf pan, for baking the bread (or a standard muffin pan with paper liners for baking muffins).
Step-By-Step Instructions
See recipe card at the bottom of this post for detailed recipe instructions.
Step 1: Whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
Step 2: Beat eggs until lightly fluffy. Add both sugars and whisk to combine.
Step 3: Add a third of the flour mixture to the egg mixture and stir just until combined. Add a third of the grated zucchini to the mixture and stir to combine. Repeat two more times until all of the flour mixture and grated zucchini has been added and stirred in. Do not over mix the batter.
Step 4: Add chocolate chips (optional) to the batter and stir just until evenly distributed throughout the batter.
Step 5: Pour the batter into a loaf pan sprayed with cooking spray and sprinkle more chocolate chips over the batter.
Step 6: Bake the zucchini bread at 350ºF for 1 hour or until golden brown. Let the loaf cool slightly before removing it from the pan and letting it cool completely on a wire rack.
Should you peel zucchinis before grating?
You can if you wish, but there's no need to peel zucchini before grating it. I leave the skin on when grating zucchini for zucchini bread and zucchini bread muffins.
How to Grate Zucchini for Baking
Just like grating carrots for carrot cake, the easiest way to grate zucchini when baking zucchini bread is to use a box grater. You can also use a food processor, though this will release more of the zucchini's liquid, which will slightly impact how moist the bread is. The food processor can also be a pain to wash, so for this simple grating job I much prefer to use a box grater.
And don't squeeze the liquid out of the grated zucchini before you add it to the batter! That liquid is why zucchini creates such a deliciously moist bread.
Can I Use This Recipe for Zucchini Bread Muffins?
This recipe also works perfectly for baking zucchini bread muffins! No recipe tweaks are needed for baking the bread as muffins, and the recipe makes 12 to 16 muffins baked in a standard muffin pan. The complete instructions for baking zucchini bread muffins can be found in the notes section of the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Storage Instructions
Zucchini bread can be stored in a sealed (but not airtight) container at room temperature for up to 5 days. I love to store it in a bread box. Do not refrigerate zucchini bread, as this will cause the bread to dry out more quickly.
And can you freeze zucchini bread? Absolutely! Like other quick breads, zucchini bread freezes well stored in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
All of these storage recommendations apply when making zucchini bread muffins as well. And check out this article if you want to know even more about the best way to store quick breads like zucchini bread and banana bread.
More Sweet Bread Recipes
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Recipe
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread
Special Equipment
- Box grater
- Standard loaf pan (or muffin pan and liners)
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups (210 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon (2 grams) ground cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon (4.5 grams) baking soda
- ½ teaspoon (2 grams) baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon (2 grams) fine sea salt
- 2 (100 grams) large eggs
- ½ cup (99 grams) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (107 grams) brown sugar
- ½ cup (99 grams) vegetable oil
- ½ teaspoon (2.5 grams) vanilla extract
- 1 cup (120 grams) grated zucchini (about half a medium-sized zucchini)
- 1 ¼ cup (213 grams) chocolate chips, divided (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Spray a standard loaf pan (8.5" x 4.5") with cooking spray and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, add flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to combine and set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat eggs with a whisk until yolks and whites are well blended and eggs are just lightly fluffy.
- Add both sugars to eggs and whisk to combine. Add oil and vanilla and whisk to combine.
- Add about a third of the flour mixture to the egg mixture and stir just until combined using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Add about a third of the grated zucchini to the mixture and stir to combine. Repeat two more times until all of the flour mixture and grated zucchini has been added and stirred into the batter just until combined. Do not over mix the batter.
- Add 1 cup (170 grams) chocolate chips (if using) to the batter and stir just until they're evenly distributed throughout the batter.
- Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup (43 grams) chocolate chips over the batter.
- Bake the zucchini bread for 1 hour or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.
- Let the loaf cool in the pan on a wire rack before removing it from the pan and letting it cool completely on a wire rack.
Tiffany says
Fantastic! I doubled the recipe because two loaves are always better than one 🙂
Tiffany