Healthier Chocolate Hazelnut Zucchini Bread

Kitchen Little Essentials

To make this Healthier Chocolate hazelnut Zucchini Bread, you will need:

A good 9-by-5-inch loaf pan

A box grater

A large mixing bowl

A good zucchini bread recipe is just a nice thing to have in a home baker’s back pocket. Decidedly better for you than, say, a classic banana bread, this Healthier Chocolate Hazelnut Zucchini Bread, is just barely sweet, thanks to the maple syrup, and is perfect with some whipped butter and honey. I love to make this on weekend mornings for my family to nibble on throughout the day, and I love that they love to love it. It’s GREAT when your 5-year-old digs a healthier baked good like this.

Feels like a real win. That said, how are you guys when it comes to zucchini bread? Is it something you make often, or ever? I’ve been on a bit of a kick with it recently, tinkering with my recipe, and this is the one I keep coming back to.

How to Make This Healthy Zucchini Bread

This is about as straightforward as zucchini bread gets, with the exception of the two healthier flours that we’re incorporating – the almond flour and the whole wheat flour. Now, you can just use all all-purpose flour if you like. That would be fine, and would result in a lighter, fluffier crumb. The combination of the whole wheat flour and almond flour just creates a more fiber-rich, less processed batter which is cool, if that’s something you care about.

This is a one-bowl zucchini bread, so things are really low-maintenance so far as the prep of it goes. We love this, yes? We’ll just shred our two zucchinis on a box grater and wring as much of the water out of it as we can. To do this, I just pile the shreds on a clean kitchen towel, wrap it all up, and then wring it out until I get sick of doing it. BOOM. That’s all there is to that.

We’ll add the melted coconut oil (you can sub any neutral flavored oil that you have – I just love the flavor of unrefined coconut oil), eggs, vanilla, and maple syrup to a bowl, stir it to mix, and then add the dry components. As with most quick bread batters, you don’t want to develop the glutens any more than is necessary here. This means don’t work the batter any more than is necessary to get it mixed. As soon as the dry ingredients mingle with the wet, those glutens form. So, no need to mix the heck out of it. Just stir and fold things gently until well-combined, and call it good.

I think this zucchini bread eats best warm and slathered with butter and a healthy drizzle of either honey or more maple syrup (since it’s what we’ve sweetened the bread with). But how you enjoy your healthier zucchini bread is, of course, up to you.

If you like the sounds of this Healthier Chocolate Hazelnut Zucchini Bread, you might want to check out:

Best Ever One Bowl Banana Bread

Vanilla Chai Swirl Pull-Apart Bread

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