Treat yourself to a slice of deeply chocolatey goodness with these moist and fluffy (and, semi-importantly, veg-filled!) zucchini brownies.
When it comes to brownies, you've got the fudgey kind, the chewy kind, and then there's the cake-like kind. These are definitely on the cakey side, with a hint of fudginess to them. Something like a cross between a brownie, a zucchini bread, and a chocolate cake.
Super airy, and also super rich in chocolate flavor -- I used extra cacao as I was in the mood for something intensely chocolate.
I first got inspired to make this recipe way back with the last zucchini from my garden for the year. At the time I modified an existing recipe for some scrumptious beet brownies to take advantage of all the zucchini I had on hand. I quite enjoyed the resulting zucchini version, but felt like the recipe needed some tweaking still. So I experimented in different ways to fine-tune it, but then ran out of both zucchini and time (life gets busy sometimes...) and so left this recipe to come back to another time.
Fast forward 6 months and a long time reader of this website messaged to ask if I have a recipe for a chocolate zucchini dessert with some special dietary considerations. As I read over the list of ingredients to exclude / include I realized these zucchini brownies might just do the trick. And so I pulled out some cocoa and zucchini and gave it another try and voila -- the resulting simple / delicious brownies you see here. My favorite zucchini brownies yet!
Zucchini brownie serving suggestion
One quick note on these: the texture of these is very silky / fluffy when they're first baked, but with crunchy edges - my favorite part :). They are absolutely delicious when freshly baked and warm, but are a touch too soft / spongy at that stage to slice neatly.
I suggest cooling off completely if you want to slice them up. Give them time to cool off and "relax" on a rack to enjoy them in their peak as a more traditional "brownie" slice. I found these are actually even better the next day, so it's a great recipe to make in advance of a gathering.
Zucchini Brownies
Treat yourself for a slice of deeply chocolatey goodness with these moist and fluffy (and, semi-importantly, veg-filled!) zucchini brownies.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 9 slices
- Category: bars & slices
- Method: baked
- Cuisine: dessert
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- ¾ cup cocoa powder
- ½ cup brown rice flour*
- 6 tbsp sweet rice flour**
- ¼ cup arrowroot***
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder (gluten-free)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp allspice
- ½ tsp baking soda
Wet Ingredients
- 1 cup shredded zucchini (don't shred too finely****)
- 1 cup maple syrup
- ¾ cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- ½ cup avocado oil*****
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Optional Topping
- a bit of additional cocoa powder for dusting
Instructions
1. Pre-heat oven to 350F. Line a 9"x9" baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Using a wooden spoon, stir together all dry ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add wet ingredients and stir again to combine. Transfer this mixture into the prepared pan and smooth out into an even layer.
3. Bake in a pre-heated oven for approximately 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted down the middle comes out completely dry.
4. Remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack. When fully cooled off, use a sieve to lightly dust the top of the brownies with cocoa powder. Slice and enjoy!
Notes
*White rice flour is fine too.
**Sweet rice flour is also known as glutinous rice flour or sticky rice flour. You can often find it in the Asian aisle/section of grocery stores or on Amazon (like the link I put for it above).
***Tapioca starch, potato starch, or corn starch are fine here too.
****I actually didn't "shred" the zucchini on a traditional shredder, but used a small julienne peeler and just made ½" - 1" long matchstick shavings with it. I find if you shred the zucchini super finely on a grater it can easily turn into a pulpy mush, so better to shred on a larger grater hole setting or spiralize/use a julienne peeler -- whatever works.
***** You can use another similar baking oil of your choice if you prefer. I liked the avocado oil here because it's lighter-feeling and is very neutral-tasting in baking.
Sean Schumacher says
Can I just use multipurpose gluten free flour in place of the two flours you have listed in your recipe? Thank you
Audrey says
Hey Sean. I haven't tried it with a "standard" gf mix. I think it should work just fine though, but of course each mix produces a slightly different texture and maybe the baking time will vary a little so just keep an eye on it for "done-ness." If you give it a try, would love to hear how it turned out and which mix you used (so others can know too :) ).