Zucchini Brownies

by Sabrina Snyder

Published on

2 Comments

4.50 from 2 votes
16 Servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
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Zucchini Brownies are the ultimate fudgy, gooey, brownie with sneaky veggies. The zucchini adds extra nutrition, but you’d never guess they’re even there!

If you’ve tried our recipe for Chocolate Zucchini Bread, then you already know just how moist and rich zucchini and chocolate recipes turn out. These Chocolate Zucchini Brownies are the perfect Dessert Recipe to get a little extra nutrition in your diet while still enjoying a delicious sweet.

Sliced Zucchini Brownies stacked on cutting board

ZUCCHINI BROWNIES

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Brownies just might become your new favorite brownie recipe! The fudgy brownies are easy to make and very similar to our regular Brownie Recipe. The only big difference is of course adding in grated zucchini. Adding a vegetable to brownies may sound strange if you haven’t tried it before, but you’ll be surprised to find it only makes the Zucchini Brownie recipe even tastier!

WHY BAKE WITH ZUCCHINI?

Baking with zucchini is a great way to sneak some vegetables into your favorite desserts. Zucchini recipes are rich in vitamins C and K, antioxidants, fiber, and many other important nutrients. Adding zucchini doesn’t just make for healthy brownies. The baked goods also get added texture and moisture from the zucchini. In fact, healthy Zucchini Brownies might just be the most perfectly moist and fudgy brownies you will ever try!

Zucchini Brownies Collage of prep steps

Zucchinis also don’t have a strong flavor, so they are ideal to mix into other recipes. While you’re enjoying fudgy Zucchini Brownies, you won’t taste the zucchini. You might hardly believe there are vegetables in the sweet, chocolatey treat.  

MORE BROWNIE RECIPES

TIPS FOR MAKING MOIST CHOCOLATE BROWNIES

There’s simply nothing better than perfectly moist, warm brownies, and there are a few tricks to make sure your brownies turn out perfect every time! 

  1. Make sure you prep your baking pan with cooking spray. Otherwise the brownie batter will bake to the bottom and you’ll lose half the delicious treat to the dish. 
  2. Whisk together the sugar and oil well enough. Making sure that the wet ingredients are nice and smooth is an important piece to the recipe. 
  3. Sift together your dry ingredients. It can be tempting to skip this step and just dump the ingredients together. However, sifting the flour and other ingredients takes out any clumps and aerates them. This makes sure you get fudgy, gooey brownies instead of more cakey brownies. 
  4. Don’t over-mix the wet and dry ingredients. Once they are just combined fold in the grated zucchini and chocolate chips, then bake. 
  5. Keep your eyes on the brownies during the baking time. You’ll know they’re done when the top looks shiny and if you see the first signs of cracking. It’s important not to over-bake them so take them out right when the baking time is finished. 

Zucchini Brownies in pan after baking

VARIATIONS ON ZUCCHINI BROWNIES

  • Peanut Butter: To make Peanut Butter Zucchini Brownies try adding a layer of fluffy peanut butter frosting to the top of the brownies once they’ve cooled. Mix together 1 ½ cup of unsalted butter and 1 ½ cup of creamy peanut butter with a stand mixer, then slowly add 6 cups powdered sugar and ½ milk, alternating and beginning and ending with the sugar.
  • Chocolate frosting: Try adding even more chocolate goodness to your Chocolate Chip Zucchini Brownies with Chocolate Frosting. You can make a rich chocolate frosting with simple pantry ingredients like 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 6 cups powdered sugar, 2/3 cups milk, and 1 tablespoon vanilla.
  • Mix-ins: You can replace the cup of regular chocolate chips with 1 cup mini chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips, or white chocolate chips. For some extra crunch add a cup of nuts. Pecans, walnuts, or almonds would work nicely. 
  • Ingredient substitutes: For healthy brownies, you can substitute some of the ingredients in the recipe for different more nutritious options. To replace the regular granulated sugar, you could use coconut sugar, honey or maple syrup. You could also substitute the all-purpose flour for wheat flour or gluten-free options like coconut flour, almond flour, or oat flour. 
  • Vegan Zucchini Brownies: This recipe is already fairly vegan friendly. There are no eggs or milk so you don’t have to make a lot of substitutes for vegan zucchini brownies. All you have to do is take the chocolate chips from the recipe, or use dairy-free chocolate to make vegan zucchini brownies.

Sliced Zucchini Brownies on plate

MORE CHOCOLATE RECIPES

HOW TO STORE ZUCCHINI BROWNIES

  • Serve: Brownies can stay good at room temperature for up to 2 days. To increase the shelf life in the pantry, cover the dish in plastic wrap or store the brownies in an airtight container. 
  • Store: The Zucchini Brownie recipe can also be kept covered in the fridge for up to 3 days. Keeping them in the fridge will maintain the moisture nicely and you can enjoy them chilled. 
  • Freeze: To freeze the brownies, put the squares in a ziplock bag and separate each layer with parchment paper so that they don’t stick together. They’ll be good in the freezer for 3 months. 

Sliced Zucchini Brownies on cutting board

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Dinner, then Dessert

Zucchini Brownies

Zucchini Brownies are the ultimate fudgy, gooey, brownie with sneaky veggies. The zucchini adds extra nutrition, but you'd never guess they're even there!
Yield 16 Servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder
Sliced Zucchini Brownies in stackstacked on cutting board
PrintRate

Ingredients
 

  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups shredded zucchini
  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips , divided

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9x13 inch baking pan with baking spray.
  • In a large mixing bowl whisk together vegetable oil, sugar, and vanilla extract until smooth.
  • Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt and whisk it into the mixing bowl until just combined.
  • Stir in zucchini and ½ cup chocolate chips.
  • Press mixture into a baking dish and top with remaining chocolate chips.
  • Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Nutrition

Calories: 264kcal | Carbohydrates: 39g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 251mg | Potassium: 162mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 23g | Vitamin A: 37IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 15mg | Iron: 2mg

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Zucchini Brownies

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

See more posts by Sabrina

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. I was a bit nervous making these being my first attempt. not too bad. the batter was dry but after i mixed in the zucchini, let it sit for a bit, voila, no dryness. as i do with all my brownie and cake mixes, i added 1/2 cup of mayo for richness. it did taste a bit cake like but certainly not enough to not enjoy. i did not add chips for the reason of saving a few bucks. added frosting because i always do. i’m glad i gave this recipe a try.

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  2. Easy and delicious! I am growing monster zucchini, so this was perfect. Gave some to my friend who has a very picky 4 year old eater, and he ate it all up. Little does he know that there are two cups of zucchini in there! Definitely will bookmark for when I’m sick of eating roasted zucchini, zoodles, etc.

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