This ultra rich and decadently moist vegan chocolate zucchini bread is loaded with finely shredded zucchini to give it an almost fudge-like loaf cake speckled with dairy free milk chocolate chips and a deep chocolatey flavor! We’re topping with a silky smooth dairy free chocolate cream cheese frosting for extra chocolatey goodness. This is your excuse to get your veggies in and use up all of that extra summer zucchini!! All made entirely with just a bowl and a whisk and NO eggs nor dairy!

sliced vegan chocolate zucchini bread
Featured Review
★★★★★

“Have made this 2 times already and my picky eater boys LOVE it!! So moist and fudgy! A chocolate lovers dream.” Paula

“Saw it, had to make it. Absolute perfection, as usual! Chocolatey and decadent and moist and fluffy and and and…. thanks for another boss recipe!” Kate

“This was the best chocolate zucchini bread I have ever made! I only recently started eating plant-based and this recipe far surpasses any other zucchini bread I made prior to now. It’s so rich and decadent. Thank you for sharing!” Daniele

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You’ve never had a chocolate zucchini bread like this one:

I’ve finally cracked the code on how to make the most rich, deeply chocolatey, MOIST chocolate zucchini bread. All without using any eggs nor dairy AND only a bowl and a whisk.

Here’s how:

Finely shredded zucchini. This is KEY. We want to use zucchini as a vehicle for extra moisture in our chocolate zucchini bread rather than just a mix in so that it’s more like a fudge cake than dried out, bland bread (stuffed with vegetables, no less). Using a veggie grater with the smallest holes possible will help achieve this. Then we squeeze out extra moisture from the zucchini so that it’s MOSIT and not gummy.

Dairy free yogurt. I know, I KNOW, it sounds weird to add yogurt into bakes (but hey, people add sour cream!). But trust me, this is a major moisture unlock. I’ve found that whisking in dairy free yogurt in lieu of eggs to the wet ingredients will help give our chocolate zucchini bread batter sturdiness to rise but NOT dry out.

Which honestly, before I went vegan 10 years ago, I found that sometimes eggs dry things out in baking, so this is a major plus in my book! Why even use eggs in the first place, when the dairy free alternative produces even better results, ya know?

Black cocoa powder. Oh my GOODNESS, this has been a game changer in my baking for all things chocolate! Now to be specific- I use it for just baking and not for no-bake recipes (like frostings or no bake cheesecakes). But black cocoa, like Dutch-process cocoa powder, is processed to be more alkaline, which gives a more fudge-like texture. Black cocoa powder is just even MORE fudgy!

Oil instead of butter!! SERIOUSLY! I discovered this trick first when I was making cupcakes. Oil tends to make things more moist than butter (or vegan butter in our case). I’ve learned this is because oil stays liquid at room temperature (unlike vegan butter or butter, which contains solids and will dry out).

sliced vegan chocolate zucchini loaf cake

Tell me about the chocolate ‘cream cheese’ frosting:

This is my petition to make all chocolate frostings with cream cheese. In fact, I may honestly need to change the frosting on my chocolate zucchini cake (though I do love the simplicity of a 2 ingredient chocolate ganache!). It adds this ultra silky tang to the rich chocolate and balances out anything that may feel too sweet in frosting on the whole.

The key is using room temperature vegan butter and COLD vegan cream cheese. Along with a few tablespoons of cold vegan heavy cream! In my testing, creaming the vegan butter at room temperature with the cold cream cheese will help to integrate the ingredients together while also ensuring that the frosting isn’t too soft that it slides right off your beautiful chocolate zucchini loaf cake!

And then the heavy cream, and using it cold, actually helps it mix in like whipped cream- it adds volume, silkiness, and stability, as cold heavy cream is what creates whipped cream (not room temperature!).

zucchini bread before slicing
sliced vegan chocolate zucchini bread

Overview: Step-by-step how to make a vegan chocolate zucchini bread:

For the full written instructions and ingredient measurements, see the bottom of this post in the recipe card. You can also hit the “jump to recipe” button at the top of this post! Here, we’ll go over a brief overview of the steps, along with providing visuals for a better understanding of the recipe.

To start, simply:

  1. Grate the zucchini and pat dry.
  2. Add in the wet ingredients (at room temperature!), and mix them to combine.
  3. Then add in the flour and vegan buttermilk, and whisk JUST until fully combined.
  4. Fold in the chocolate chips, and then pour the batter into a loaf pan.
  5. Bake until ready and remove from the oven!
chocolate zucchini bread batter
baked zucchini loaf with frosting

How to create that beautiful bakery dome:

This step is completely optional, but I place 1 tbsp of cold vegan butter, sliced and formed into a long line to place in the middle of the batter on top. This creates a weakness in the batter as it bakes, so the loaf cake will dome around the vegan butter as it bakes into the batter. I was skeptical the first time I tested it, but after a few rounds, it really does work!!

creating a dome in the chocolate zucchini bread
baked chocolate zucchini bread

In my testing, I’ve found it’s best to let the zucchini bread cool in the loaf pan for about 30 minutes after baking. I find this helps the rest of the bread finish baking (as technically it is still baking while it’s warm), and creates a really nice moist texture to the bread.

sliced vegan chocolate zucchini bread

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If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below. This helps others to find the recipes! As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there as well!

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sliced vegan chocolate zucchini bread

Super Moist Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Bread

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 13 reviews
  • Author: Britt Berlin
  • Prep Time: 10
  • Cook Time: 65
  • Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
  • Yield: 16 1x
  • Category: Dessert
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: American
  • Diet: Vegan
Print Recipe

Description

This ultra rich and decadently moist vegan chocolate zucchini bread is loaded with finely shredded zucchini to give it an almost fudge-like loaf cake speckled with dairy free milk chocolate chips and a deep chocolatey flavor! We’re topping with a silky smooth dairy free chocolate cream cheese frosting for extra chocolatey goodness. This is your excuse to get your veggies in and use up all of that extra summer zucchini!! All made entirely with just a bowl and a whisk and NO eggs nor dairy!

Ingredients

Scale

Chocolate Zucchini Bread:

  • 1 cup (175 g) grated zucchini, patted down to soak up the water (should weigh 110 g after being pat down)**
  • 3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup (50 g) light brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup (85 g) unsweetened dairy free yogurt, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup (45 g) black cocoa powder
  • 1/3 cup (76 mL) neutral cooking oil
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 2 cups (250 g) all purpose flour or 1:1 gluten free baking flour
  • 1 cup (240 mL) vegan buttermilk, room temperature
  • 2/3 cup vegan chocolate chips

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting:

  • 1/4 cup (56 g) vegan butter, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup (113 g) vegan cream cheese, cold
  • 1/4 cup (60 mL) vegan heavy cream, cold
  • 2–3 cups (240–360 g) powdered sugar
  • 1/4 cup (25 g) Dutch-process cocoa powder
  • 1/4 tsp sea salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Prep: Preheat the oven to 350F and line a 9″ loaf pan with parchment paper.
  2. Prepare the zucchini first. Grate the zucchini and pat dry. You should have soaked up most of the water. I to put it in a clean dish towel and place a heavy bowl on top to hold it down while I whisk together the dry ingredients. When you measure the zucchini again, it should weigh around 110 grams. 
  3. Make the batter: In a large bowl, whisk together the zucchini, granulated sugar, light brown sugar, dairy-free yogurt, and neutral cooking oil. Add in the coca powder, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla extract and sea salt, and whisk again. Finally, add in the flour, and pour in the vegan buttermilk as you whisk the flour into the wet ingredients.
  4. Fold in the chocolate chips: Switch to a silicone spatula, and pour in the chocolate chips. Fold until combined. 
  5. Bake: Pour the batter into the loaf pan. Top with extra chocolate chips if desired, or leave off if you’re making the frosting. Bake for 60-65 minutes, or until the toothpick comes out clean. Then remove from the oven.
  6. Cool: Let the loaf cool in the pan for 30 minutes for removing and slicing. Or you can cool fully before making the optional frosting, in the next step.
  7. Make the chocolate cream cheese frosting: In a large bowl with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer with whisk attachment, cream together the vegan butter, vegan cream cheese, and vegan heavy cream until fluffy and consistent, about 2-3 minutes. Then add in the powdered sugar and cocoa powder, and mix on low speed at first to combine the cocoa powder into the frosting, then increase the speed to fully incorporate and make fluffy. Finally, add in the sea salt and vanilla extract, along with an additional tablespoon of vegan heavy cream if desired for a smooth consistency, and mix again.
  8. Frost: Only frost the zucchini loaf if the loaf cake is FULLY cool and there is no warmth whatsoever to the touch. Then scoop the frosting onto the cake, smear to the edges, and top with vegan chocolate curls if desired.
  9. Serve: Slice the chocolate zucchini bread and enjoy! To store, slice and place into an airtight container. Store at room temperature for up to 3 days if unfrosted or in the fridge for up to a week if frosted, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Notes

Gluten free: Please use the cup measurements rather than the gram measurements. For Bob’s Red Mill in the blue bag (the 1:1 flour), you’ll need 2 cups, or 280 g. Please DO NOT use the namaste blend. It will not work.

**For best results: Use a kitchen scale, especially with the zucchini! It’s difficult to know how much liquid you’ve squeezed out without a kitchen scale.