Gluten-Free Chocolate Banana Zucchini Bread
If you live in the Midwest and it’s late summer/early fall and you have a garden or any contact with anyone who has a garden, you are probably neck-deep in zucchini. Literally every human being you pass on the sidewalk is like, “OH HELLO CAN I PLEASE GIVE YOU SOME ZUCCHINI? I BEG OF YOU, PLEASE. TAKE. THIS. ZUCCHINI.”
This zucchini bread recipe is one very delicious way to use up all that zucchini shoved upon you during the August-September harvest boon. It’s also absolutely the best zucchini bread I’ve ever made.
To be honest, I don't usually like baking very much because I lack confidence in my own baking skills. I like the goods that result from the baking... but I just don't enjoy the process of baking as much as I enjoy the process of cooking.
With baking, I can't tinker with the food because once it’s in the oven, it’s out of my hands. And what if it doesn't turn out? I don't have time for dry muffins. I don’t have time for soggy zucchini bread. Who does, really?
With this recipe, however, I am incredibly confident that this (paleo and gluten-free!) bread will not be a waste of your time. It tastes exactly the way a Chocolate Banana Zucchini Bread should taste—practically perfect in every way.
The secret? Tapioca flour. It helps give the bread a texture much closer to a regular banana or zucchini bread. If the recipe used only almond flour like many paleo bread recipes do, it might be too crumbly and harder to slice cleanly.
I’ve also tested this in muffin and mini muffin format several times since writing this post and IT HOLDS UP. I might even like the muffins better than the bread, but don’t tell the bread. Regardless, I included both versions of the instructions below.
Gluten-Free Chocolate Banana Zucchini Bread (or muffins!)
gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian (paleo and/or dairy-free, depending on your chocolate) | makes one loaf or 12 muffins
Ingredients
1.5 cups mashed banana (about 1-3 bananas)
3/4 cup unsweetened/unsalted nut butter of your choice
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2.25 cups almond flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
optional: 1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 cup shredded zucchini, squeezed, drained and thoroughly dried with a paper towel (about 1 small zucchini)
1/4 cup dark chocolate chunks or chips (omit if you want to keep it paleo or use a paleo brand)
Instructions
For bread: Preheat oven to 350 F. For muffins: Preheat the oven to 375 F.
In a large bowl, mix the wet ingredients: mashed banana, nut butter, maple syrup, vanilla and eggs.
In another bowl, mix the dry ingredients: almond flour, tapioca flour, baking soda and salt. A little cinnamon if you like.
Then combine the wet and the dry ingredients and mix until smooth.
Fold in the shredded zucchini and chocolate chips/chunks until everything is combined. Save little bit of the chocolate to place on top, if you like the look of it.
For bread: Line a loaf pan with parchment paper and pour batter into it. For muffins: Line a muffin tin and divide the batter evenly among the cups.
For bread: Bake 50-60 minutes at 350 F—or until the top is golden and a knife comes out clean. For muffins: Bake 20-23 minutes at 375 F (again, until a knife comes out clean).
For bread: Cool for 15 minutes before you remove it from the loaf pan, and then cool fully (or almost) on a rack before slicing. For muffins: Cool for 5 minutes before you pop them out of the muffin tin and onto a rack to cool fully.
EAT.
Notes
Make sure you drain and dry the zucchini well (so well!), or the moisture will sink to the bottom of the loaf and it’ll take longer for the bread to cook through. You can see this happened to me in my first loaf that’s sliced open in one of the photos (of course, it had to be the one I photographed nicely before noticing it needed more oven time… but I was not about to retake the pictures so there ya go).
If your nut butter already has salt in it, you can cut the amount of additional salt you add in half.
I’ve also done mini muffins with this recipe and follow the same instructions as the regular muffins except a little less time in the oven.