breakfast Featured gluten-free loaves snacks

Zucchini Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips [Healthy]

June 30, 2021

A healthy summer treat with a serving of zucchini mixed into this sweet and delicious Chocolate Chip Zucchini Banana Bread! Made gluten-free with oat flour, sweetened with unrefined sugars including banana and maple syrup and a healthy dose of chocolate.

If you subscribe to the THM meal plans then you’ll be fully up-to-date on my gardening adventures! Unlike last year’s garden in our very shaded yard in California, our sunny Minnesota garden is absolutely thriving. In fact, it’s kind of out of control! Our zucchinis are especially prolific and I’m at the point where I’m just handing out zucchinis to anyone who shows up at our house. Thankfully I have plenty of zucchini recipes up my sleeve including this zucchini banana bread.

What I love about this healthy loaf recipe is that it’s entirely sweetened with unrefined sugars like maple syrup and the natural sweetness of bananas. It’s also gluten-free (love me some oat flour!) and dairy-free if you choose to grease your loaf pan with coconut oil. I’ve heard this healthy zucchini bread is a real hit with the kiddos. Would love to hear your thoughts!

Here’s What You Need:

  • oat flour – you can buy oat flour or make your own by grinding up rolled oats.
  • bananas
  • zucchini
  • maple syrup
  • eggs
  • chocolate chips
  • cinnamon
  • nutmeg
  • baking powder
  • sea salt

A quick note: This zucchini bread is not extremely sweet. Sweetness will depend entirely on the ripeness of your bananas. If you like things a bit sweeter I’d recommend adding 1/4-1/2 cup of brown sugar or coconut palm sugar.

How to Make Healthy Zucchini Banana Bread

STEP 1:  In a large bowl combine oat flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder and sea salt.

STEP 2: In a separate bowl mash up bananas and add in maple syrup and eggs.

STEP 3: Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir in zucchini and chocolate chips.

STEP 4: Add mixture to loaf pan and bake for 50-60 mins. Loaf is done when top is firm to touch and no batter remains when poked with a toothpick or fork. Let sit in loaf pan for 20 mins before removing and allowing to cool completely on counter.

Baking with Zucchini

The most important thing to know about baking with zucchini is that it holds a lot of water! Start by shredding your zucchini into a separate bowl or onto a clean kitchen towel. Take the kitchen towel or paper towels and squeeze out all of the excess liquid from the zucchini. The end result will be a big ball of shredded zucchini that you’ll add to the batter.

Cucumber getting strained for an easy greek yogurt tzatziki recipe

This healthy zucchini banana bread will keep up to 3 days if left well-wrapped on the countertop…if it lasts that long!

Print

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Banana Bread

A healthy summer treat with a serving of zucchini mixed into this sweet and delicious Chocolate Chip Zucchini Banana Bread! Made with oat flour, sweetened with banana, maple syrup and a healthy dose of chocolate.

  • Author: Davida Lederle
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 60 minutes
  • Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
  • Yield: 12 slices 1x
  • Category: Breakfast
  • Method: Bake
  • Diet: Gluten Free

Ingredients

Scale
  • 2 cups oat flour (ground up rolled oats)
  • 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • pinch of ground nutmeg
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • pinch of sea salt
  • 3 large ripe bananas, mashed
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 large zucchini, shredded and excess water squeezed out* (roughly 1 cup)
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Grease a loaf pan with coconut oil or butter and set aside.
  3. In a large bowl combine oat flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder and sea salt.
  4. In a separate bowl mash up bananas and add in maple syrup and eggs.
  5. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir in zucchini and chocolate chips.
  6. Add mixture to loaf pan and bake for 50-60 mins.
  7. Loaf is done when top is firm to touch and no batter remains when poked with a toothpick or fork.
  8. Let sit in loaf pan for 20 mins before removing and allowing to cool completely on counter.
  9. Will keep for up to 3 days in an airtight container on the counter.

*I use a clean dish towel and place the shredded zucchini inside before squeezing out all of the liquid. Be sure to get everything so it ends up in a large ball that you have to break up into the batter.

Keywords: Zucchini banana bread, zucchini bread, gluten-free zucchini bread

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  • Reply
    VeraLucia C.
    July 18, 2022 at 4:51 pm

    Hi there, can it be frozen or stored in the fridge for longer than 3 days?

  • Reply
    Allie Bales
    June 1, 2022 at 4:15 pm

    Loved the texture of this bread! Taste was great- not too sweet. Perfect to top with yogurt or nut butter! Def will make this againz

  • Reply
    Alma
    November 1, 2021 at 7:21 pm

    We made this bread today and my toddlers loved it! It was full of taste, soft and so delicious ! Saving in my recipe book as a family fave!! Thank you for sharing it! Now looking into making the sweet potatoe cornbread:)

  • Reply
    Tanya
    August 29, 2017 at 6:33 am

    Wonderful recipe..made it for my toddlers and they devoured it. Love that it uses oat flour. Mine was very dense and came out quite wet still after baking an hour, so I sliced it up and put back in the oven. Next time I will spread it out into bars rather than a loaf. I also added cocoa powder to make it more chocolatey. Will def be making this one again!

  • Reply
    Sha
    August 10, 2017 at 7:21 am

    Dear Davida,

    How much zucchini was used in this recipe (cups, after squeezed out)? Where I shop, there are many sizes of large zucchinis, I don’t know how large is large. It may help is you can give me an estimate of how many cups of it squeezed, so I can get an idea of how much zucchini to grate 🙂
    Thanks in advanced.

    • Reply
      Davida @ The Healthy Maven
      August 10, 2017 at 11:53 am

      One large zucchini will come out to around 1 cup after being squeezed. This isn’t an exact measurement, but it doesn’t need to me!

  • Reply
    Cassie Autumn Tran
    August 5, 2017 at 1:23 am

    Would two flax eggs work for this bread? It looks delicious!

    • Reply
      Davida @ The Healthy Maven
      August 10, 2017 at 12:06 pm

      I think it should but I haven’t tried it myself!

  • Reply
    Kay
    August 4, 2017 at 9:23 pm

    I can’t wait to make this! Would you be able to tell me how much zucchini I would need in terms of cups? Thank you Davida! Absolutely love your blog!

    • Reply
      Davida @ The Healthy Maven
      August 10, 2017 at 12:07 pm

      Hi Kay! It comes out to about 1 cup after being squeezed. This is a rough estimation but the exact amount won’t change the recipe!

  • Reply
    Tales of Jules
    August 3, 2017 at 8:39 am

    I really need to try this one out! It looks absolutely delicious and we have so many zucchinis in our garden at the moment that I run out of ideas what to do with them.
    Defenitely trying this one out at the weekend.

    xx Julia

    http://www.talesofjules.com/

  • Reply
    Kylie
    August 2, 2017 at 8:03 pm

    I made this yesterday, it is AMAZING. A delicious healthy comfort food for the cold winter in Sydney.
    Absolutely love it, keep up the great work, your recipes are amazing.

    • Reply
      Davida @ The Healthy Maven
      August 10, 2017 at 12:14 pm

      So happy to hear that!

  • Reply
    Diane
    August 2, 2017 at 5:33 am

    It’s in the oven now…. smells good. Will report back w/how it turns out!

    • Reply
      Diane
      August 4, 2017 at 6:28 am

      It came out quite dense actually and wet (even though I cooked it or 80 minutes). I think for my personal taste, I’d rather eat something a bit sweeter.

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