Food and Recipes Desserts Chocolate This Ingredient Is The Secret To Your Best-Ever Zucchini Bread Even zucchini bread haters won’t be able to resist. By Lisa Cericola Lisa Cericola Lisa Cericola has been on staff at Southern Living since 2015. As Deputy Editor, Lisa manages the food and travel departments and edits those sections of each issue, as well as digital content. Previously, she was the features editor at Food Network Magazine and has more than 15 years of experience writing, editing, and managing photo shoots for print and digital lifestyle brands. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Published on August 12, 2024 In This Article View All In This Article Stir In Chocolate Chips Mix In Cocoa Powder Add A Swirl Close Photo: Victor Protasio, Food Stylist: Margaret Dickey, Prop Stylist: Christina Daley While I wouldn’t recommend pairing chocolate with most vegetables, zucchini is an exception. Whether in a quick bread, muffin, or cake, this summer squash loves chocolate. And now that zucchini season is at its peak, it’s the best time to treat yourself to some zucchini bread—especially if you haven’t tasted this wonderful combination before. (And yes, I know that zucchini is technically a fruit, but I’m going to call it a vegetable since it is typically used like one.) Shredded raw zucchini has no flavor on its own, so it can shape shift in recipes. And unlike banana bread, which is already naturally sweet, zucchini bread can use a little help in that department. Enter: chocolate! Here are a few ways to incorporate it into your favorite zucchini bread recipes. How To Freeze Zucchini (4 Methods) Stir In Chocolate Chips Let’s start with the most obvious, low-effort suggestion: chocolate chips. Depending on the size of your recipe, add ½ to 1 cup of chocolate chips to the batter. Once you scrape the batter into the prepared loaf or muffin pan, sprinkle a handful of chips on top for good measure. You can use milk, semi-sweet, or dark chocolate chips, but I prefer semi-sweet or dark chocolate, which pairs really well with warm spices like cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, which are in most zucchini bread recipes. If you’d rather have bits of chocolate throughout the entire loaf, rather than melty pockets of chocolate, try chopping up a bar of chocolate into shards and stirring that into the batter. Mix In Cocoa Powder This recipe for Chocolate Zucchini Bread has a double dose of chocolate goodness from chips and cocoa powder. This combination, along with the tender crumb from the shredded squash, makes the quick bread taste fudgy, and cake-like. You could eat it for breakfast or dessert. But if it’s dessert you’re really after, this recipe for Chocolate-Zucchini Cake is a showstopper. Made with cocoa powder and chocolate chips, the sheet cake is topped with one of my all-time favorite frostings: our Browned Butter-Pistachio Frosting. It’s ideal for a party because you can make it ahead and transport it right in the same pan. There won’t be a crumb left behind, trust me. Add A Swirl Another easy way to take zucchini bread to new heights is to add a swirl of everyone’s favorite hazelnut-cocoa spread. This Nutella Banana Bread recipe will show you how to do it—just substitute your favorite zucchini bread recipe for the batter, dollop Nutella on top, and swirl it with a knife before you bake the bread. Recipes To Try Zucchini Cake 3 hrs 10 mins Zucchini Muffins 55 mins Chocolate Zucchini Bread 3 hrs 15 mins Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit