Easy Vegan Zucchini Bread with Chocolate Chips

Not sure what to do with all of that zucchini from your garden? Bake up a loaf of vegan zucchini bread! Loaded with chocolate chips, it's the perfect afternoon snack. It's great for dessert, and even breakfast, too. This easy vegan recipe is free from oil and refined sugar. It has a gluten-free option.

Zucchini Bread

PETA’s The Compassionate Cook, or “Please Don’t Eat the Animals” was one of my first vegan cookbooks, and I cooked from it almost daily. It looks nothing like the vegan cookbooks we know and love today. It’s a small, photo-less paperback that’s printed on cheap paper, but it helped me learned to cook and I love it. My copy is dog-eared and stained, but it will always be an important part of my cookbook library

Years ago, I was gifted with a very generous bunch of zucchinis, I consulted my copy of The Compassionate Cook and found a recipe for zucchini bread. It was easy to make and it used just a few ingredients. I was an avid baker and had everything I needed on hand, so I headed to the kitchen and whipped up a few loafs of delicious zucchini bread.

Did I mention that the zucchini bread was delicious? The recipe made two loaves, so I gave one to the person who had originally gifted me with the zucchini. She loved it, and she soon began giving me more zucchinis, hoping for more fresh loaves of bread in return.

The recipe from The Compassionate Cook used all-purpose flour, commercial egg replacer, two cups of sugar, and a whole lot of oil. I don’t follow a totally sugar free or oil free diet, but it’s just too much for me, and I don’t cook that way anymore. I've created a version that's a little more healthy.

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

I’ve been tinkering with the recipe over the years, swapping refined sugar for maple syrup and oil for apple sauce. I’ve also added walnuts and chocolate chips, because everything is better with chocolate chips. My new zucchini bread recipe really looks nothing like the recipe that inspired it, but it’s just as tasty—maybe even more so.

What You Need

• Almond or soy milk
• Apple cider vinegar
• Whole-wheat flour
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg
• Baking soda
• Baking powder
• Sea salt
• Maple syrup 
• Applesauce 
• Vanilla extract 
• Zucchini
• Walnuts 
• Chocolate chips

See the recipe card for exact amounts.

How to Grate Zucchini

This recipe calls for one cup of grated zucchini. I use one medium-sized zucchini.

It only takes a couple of minutes to grate your zucchini using a manual grater. If your food processor has a grating attachment, you can get the job done in a matter of seconds!

How to Make Vegan Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

This vegan Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread is super easy to make!

• First you add a little apple cider vinegar to almond or soy milk and allow it to clabber, or curdle. This helps the bread bake up nice and fluffy.
• Then you mix the dry ingredients together in one bowl and the wet in another. Mix the two together, and then fold in the zucchini, walnuts, and chocolate chips.
• And finally you bak it! And like magic, you’ll have a loaf of delicious vegan chocolate chip zucchini bread in less than an hour!

Recipe Notes

Clabbered almond milk (or soy milk) is the first step in this recipe. Clabbering thickens and curdles milk, giving it a buttermilk-like consistency. To make clabbered milk, you just need to add vinegar to almond or soy milk and let it sit for about 10 minutes. It will look curdled, which is what you want. This won't work as well with other non-dairy milks, so make sure you use either almond or soy.

When buying chocolate chips, make sure you check the ingredients for dairy. Chocolate chips that were once vegan are sneaking milk into the ingredients, so I always check, even if it's a brand I've bought before. I like to use Enjoy Life and Pascha.

If you follow a gluten-free diet, you can use Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour.

Serving Your Zucchini Bread

A slice or two of vegan Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread pairs well with a cup of tea for a mid-afternoon snack! It makes a great grab-and-go breakfast, too.

Storing Your Zucchini Bread

Your bread will last about 5 days in the fridge. Be sure you store it in an air-tight container. It also freezes well. It will last in an air-tight container in the freezer for about 6 months. Just defrost it on the countertop when you're ready to eat it.

Vegan Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

Dianne

Not sure what to do with all of that zucchini from your garden? Bake up a loaf of Vegan Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread! This healthy treat is free from oil and refined sugar.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 55 minutes mins

Course Bread

Cuisine American

Servings 10 slices

Calories 180 kcal

Ingredients

  

• ½ cup almond milk or soy milk
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1½ cups whole-wheat flour
• 1½ teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• ¼ cup maple syrup
• ½ cup applesauce
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup grated zucchini packed, (about 1 medium zucchini)
• ½ cup chopped walnuts
• ½ cup chocolate chips (make sure they're dairy-free)

Instructions

 

• Preheat your oven to 350° and lightly oil an 8x4-inch loaf pan or line it with parchment paper.
• Mix the almond or soy milk and apple cider vinegar together and set aside to allow the milk to curdle.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, applesauce, vanilla, and almond or soy milk mixture.
• Pour the wet mixture into dry mixture and mix until there are no visible lumps of flour. Do not overmix. The batter will be thick.
• Carefully fold in the zucchini, walnuts, and chocolate chips. You can save a few of the chocolate chips to sprinkle on top, if you like.
• Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth it down with a spatula or wooden spoon
• Bake until the bread until it is golden brown around the edges and toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45-55 minutes.
• Place the loaf pan on a wire rack and allow the bread to cool for 10 minutes before carefully removing it from the pan.

If you enjoyed this recipe, you might also like:

• Peanut Butter Bread
• Jalapeño Cornbread Muffins
• Whole Wheat Soda Bread
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

More Zucchini Recipes Include

• Lemon Poppy Zucchini Muffins
• Crispy Zucchini Fritters
• Zucchini Noodles with Spinach Pesto
• Zucchini Lasagna