100% Whole Wheat Zucchini Chocolate Chip Bread

This is an easy one-bowl whole wheat zucchini quickbread that is healthy, moist, delicious, and a great way to incorporate your zucchini surplus into your baking.

When you have more zucchini than you can imagine, try this 100% whole wheat zucchini quickbread. I know most people don’t get very excited when it comes to 100% whole wheat baking. The end product is usually not as soft, drier, and coarser. I personally love whole wheat in baking because it gives that nutty aroma and naturally sweeter, but I know I’m the minority.

Why you’ll love this recipe

1. Easy
You only need one bowl to mix the ingredients. No fancy kitchen gadgets are needed
2. The crumb is moist
Because zucchini is high in water, it really does a wonderful job keeping the crumb moist and not crumbly
3. The texture is light
Despite the moist crumbs, the bread doesn’t feel heavy and dense. It has a light texture

Ingredients and substitutions

1. Whole wheat flour
I use whole wheat flour, but original recipe uses white whole wheat flour. White whole wheat flour is much softer and won’t give as dark result in baked goods
2. Eggs
I usually use grade A large eggs
3. Zucchini
I use unpeeled zucchini so you’ll see specks of green in the bread. If you prefer not to, you can peel the skin off.
4. Molasses
I use dark molasses. You can substitute with honey, but please note that honey is much sweeter compared to molasses. Molasses helps to keep the moist texture in this 100% whole wheat bread
5. Brown sugar
You can use light or dark brown sugar. You can also use coconut sugar
6. Cooking oil
I use avocado oil, but I have tried with extra virgin olive oil before and it doesn’t have that prounounce olive oil taste if you worry about that. Alternatively, any oil of you choice would work here
7. Baking powder and baking soda
These two do the heavy lifting in the recipe and there are no substitute for these in the recipe
8. Dark chocolate
I like dark chocolate and I use 60-70% dark chocolate. You can use semi-sweet or milk chocolate too, but they will add some sweetness to the bread if that matters to you
9. Almond
I recommend using roasted almond. It has better flavor when you roast them
10. Vanilla extract
It adds a nice flavor to the bread. You can substitute with other extract such as almond extract
11. Ground cinnamon
I love the aroma of ground cinnamon in quick bread like this. Feel free to use other spices like cardamom, all-spice, nutmeg, etc

This recipe is adapted from King Arthur Baking with some modifications

How to bake 100% whole wheat zucchini chocolate chip bread

1. I cut the zucchini in half lengthwise and then scrape off the seeds before I grate them. The seed portions have too much moisture. You can also blend the zucchini (with the seeds removed) in a blender or food processor with the rest of the wet ingredients if you prefer not to “see” any zucchini in the bread

2. Grease the loaf pan and line with parchment paper for easy removal. Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C) for conventional oven and 330 F (165 C) for convection oven
3. Whisk the wet ingredients in a bowl until combine. Sift in the dry ingredients in and stir to combine.

4. Then fold in the zucchini, chocolate chips, and chopped nuts until just combine

5. Pour the batter into a prepared pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle with some raw turbinado sugar if you choose to. It adds an extra crunch that we really like

6. Bake in a preheat oven in middle rack for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean with some smear of chocolate is fine. Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then grab the parchment paper to lift the bread out and let it cool completely on the cooling rack

Can I make it even healthier?

If you want to cut down further on calories and fat, you can try the followings, but keep in mind that the result won’t be as moist compared to the original recipe. I suggest try to do one change at a time and not altering many things at one shot so you know which one works and which one doesn’t.
1. Reduce oil
You can use half plain yogurt and half oil. You can also use half applesauce and half oil. I don’t recommend replacing all of the oil. Keep in mind that this is 100% whole wheat bread and the result will be dry and crumbly texture.
2. Skip or reduce the chocolate chip
This bread is barely sweet despite the amount of molasses and it’s perfect for breakfast. Molasses is hygroscopic and hold on to moisture, which means, moist bread. You can skip the chocolate chips or reduce the amount further. I use 60% dark chocolate and it doesn’t make the bread much more sweeter
3. Skip the nuts
If you want to cut down on calorie further, you can skip the nuts. It adds some nice texture to the bread and I honestly don’t mind healthy nuts like almond in my bread

Did you make this 100% whole wheat zucchini chocolate chip bread recipe?

I love it when you guys snap a photo and tag to show me what you’ve made  Simply tag me @WhatToCookToday #WhatToCookToday on Instagram and I’ll be sure to stop by and take a peek for real!