Make these amazing Vegan Zucchini Brownies that are gluten-free and just 7 ingredients! Oil-free, so rich, decadent and fudgy…nobody would ever know there is a hidden veggie!
VEGAN ZUCCHINI BROWNIES
Ever since I created these No-Bake “Nutella” Cream Pie Bars back in 2014, I have been itching to use zucchini again in a baked vegan chocolate dessert. Well, the other day when I saw one left sitting in my fridge, I suddenly had the urge to make some brownies. Now, some recipes take me multiple trials to get right but these I must have had the brownie gods on my side because the very first trial was a success!
You are probably wondering, another vegan brownie recipe?? I have quite a few on the blog already and every one has been super popular with you all. I see remakes each week, especially on the Double Chocolate Sunflower Brownies and the Fudgy Low-Fat Bean Brownies. As popular as those bean brownies have been, I actually love these zucchini ones more. And hey, one can never have too many brownie options, right?
These turned out rich, fudgy, super moist and the most important factor, incredibly chocolatey. I do not skimp on cocoa powder when I create a brownie recipe. I want to TASTE chocolate, not just sugar that has a brown color, but actually taste rich chocolate.
Now, depending on how moist you like your brownies, that can factor into your baking time. I baked mine at 25 minutes and they are fudgy/slightly gooey, but still a great brownie texture.
It’s important to use the right amount of zucchini, as that of course will affect the baking time too.
HOW TO MAKE VEGAN ZUCCHINI BROWNIES
For these Vegan Zucchini Brownies, you just need 7 ingredients (+salt):
- zucchini
- unsweetened cocoa powder
- maple syrup or agave
- roasted almond butter
- vanilla extract
- oat flour or regular flour
- chocolate chips
I topped these with the So Delicious cocowhip and it was so delicious! hope you all really love these Vegan Zucchini Fudgy Brownies! Be sure to leave feedback below after you make them!
Vegan Zucchini Brownies (Only 7 Ingredients!)
Ingredients
- 1 medium zucchini, peeled and sliced, and THEN measured 150g
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (120g) pure maple syrup
- 1/2 cup (128g) creamy roasted almond butter (runny, not stiff or thick)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup (32g) superfine oat flour (see NOTES below for subs)
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (36g) unsweetened natural cocoa powder (not dutch)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 6 heaping tablespoons (95g) dairy-free semi-sweet chocolate chips + 3 tablespoons for top (135g total)
- I topped these with So Delicious Cocowhip
NOTE
- As always, I recommend highly to use a scale to prevent room for error. You don't need cups or to compare the weights to cups, just simply follow the weights listed, as this is exactly how the recipes are tested and made. Make sure to zero out before adding each ingredient.
- I use this scale.
NOTE
- If you want to make these with spelt flour, just sub the oat flour with the same amount. If you want to make these with regular all-purpose flour, while I have not tested it, I'm sure it would work fine. All-purpose flour will make them more dry and cook faster, so check them around 20 minutes and cook until the desired cooked center.
Instructions
- Spray a nonstick 9x5 loaf pan with nonstick spray well on the bottom and sides. These will stick bad if you don't spray the pan! Preheat the oven to 350 F degrees.
- Peel and slice the zucchini. Use a scale so you get the correct amount of moisture for the brownies, as all zucchini sizes are so different.
- Add the zucchini and all of the remaining ingredients, except the chocolate chips, to a food processor. Process until smooth. Scrape the sides and process for another minute. It should be very smooth and runny. Taste and you will see the batter is not very sweet, since there is chocolate chips added, but if you want the base sweeter, add 1-2 tbsp of a DRY granulated sugar.
- Stir in the chocolate chips, but do not blend. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, making sure to really scrape out allll of that chocolatey goodness.
- Bake for 22-25 minutes until they have a dry/shiny look on top and have pulled away from the edges. The toothpick can have a tiny bit of sticky crumbs, but not super wet batter. I baked mine for 25 minutes and they were cooked the way I like, but still nice and fudgy. If you prefer a cake-ier brownie, cook a few minutes longer until the toothpick comes out CLEAN. Depending on whether you correctly measured your zucchini will affect the baking time, as less water from the zucchini means they will cook faster. Check the brownies at 22 minutes.
- Let them cool in the pan 45 minutes to an hour, no exception, or they will fall apart. These firm up a ton while they cool. Slice into desired size and carefully remove. Eat as is or with a delicious scoop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. I loved these with SoDelicious CocoWhip cream!
Notes
Nutrition
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Hi Brandi, these brownies look amazing…I will be making them soon. Could you let me know what kind of chocolate chips you used? If their regular choco. chips, have you tried “carob” chips? Thanks for all your efforts, great resource!
Hi Daniel, I’m SO sorry I missed this comment before, please forgive me! I use regular dairy-free chocolate chips. There are many dairy-free brands out there, Enjoy Life, Trader Joes and Sprouts both carry dairy-free brands as well as Sunspire. Just double check the ingredient list. I have not tried carob, no, it doesn’t taste like chocolate, but rather a sweet caramel-like flavor and they don’t melt the same as chocolate chips, so not sure how they would fare in these!
Hello 😊. I did your recipe and it’s the most, delicious, fudgy brownie in the world. I baked it for 23 minutes and it was perfect…
My question is…. If I want to double the recipe, the baking time will be the same???
Thank you
HI Fiona! Yes, the baking time should be very similar as long as the height of the brownie is the same. Just look for the clean toothpick like you did in the first batch! Thank you so much for the amazing review!
Hello 😊. I did your recipe and it’s the most, delicious, fudgy brownie in the world. I baked it for 23 minutes and it was perfect…
My question is…. If I want to double the recipe, the baking time will be the same???
Thank you
I made these today and they are delicious! I don’t think the nutritional information and calorie count are correct though. Cronometer comes out to 241 calories each!
Hi Cindy! So glad you loved them! Hmmm, 241 is too high. Are you sure you plugged it in by grams? And for 8 brownies? I just doubled checked it again..I always use CalorieCount.com for my recipes and it is 175 calories. I have a confusing amount listed on the chocolate chips since I had listed the batter amount and then the topping, but I just fixed it to make it more clear, so perhaps that was it.
Using caloriecount.com instead of cronometer, it comes out to 175 per serving IF you don’t add in the chocolate chips. If you add in 135 grams of chocolate chips (which by themselves is a total of 720 calories), these come out to 264 calories per serving.
zucchini = 3 calories per serving
maple syrup = 39 calories per serving
vanilla = 1 calorie per serving
oat flour = 16 calories per serving
almond butter = 105 calories per serving
cocoa powder = 11 calories per serving
chocolate chips = 90 calories per serving
All of this adds up to 264 calories per serving.
I’m so curious to see where your calculations differ. I really want to be wrong because I would love it if they were lower in calories as you are listing.
Thanks for your reply!
Hi Cindy, I’m not sure how you are punching it in, but the 175 calories most definitely includes the chocolate chips. I use this system all the time and include the chocolate chips. I have done it multiple times and I have even included the label above now right below the recipe. You can click on the “Verywell” link and see that the chocolate chips are included. If I remove the chocolate chips, it is then only 85 calories per brownie. Yes, you are correct that the chocolate chips are 720 total for the whole recipe, which is listed on the site, but when you divide the total nutrition by 8 for 8 brownies, that is exactly what it comes out to. 175 calories. I plug in everything by weight because that gives exact results since that is how I measure as well. Hope this helps!
Here is the link again to the nutrition label:
https://www.verywell.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4129594
I think I see where the error is now. Caloriecount.com recipe analyzer is listing 128g of almond butter as having 125 calories. That’s obviously incorrect. Check to see what it’s listing for almond butter when you are inputting the ingredients. 128g of almond butter actually has about 785 calories. I think if you put in the correct amount of calories for the almond butter, you’ll get a more accurate calorie count for the brownies.
It’s been fixed. I entered it by almonds instead of almond butter. Since I go by weight instead of cups/tablespoons (for accuracy), 128 grams of almonds gives an accurate amount since the almond butter I use is only almonds and no added oils anyways. So many different brands of almond butter will have varying amounts of oil added so it will just be easier to do it by the weight of almonds. I emailed them about the error on how their system is not calculating the full amount of almond butter.
Best brownies ever. Seriously
I’m so happy you loved them so much Andrea, thank you so much for taking the time to rate the recipe!
Just made these for the first time (double batch – two pans) and they are so, so, SO good! Thanks!
Yay! Thank you Steve, so happy to hear they were a winner! Thank you for the awesome review!
I can totally see why these zucchini brownies are so popular, they look absolutely amazing and so gooey. 🙂 When I work with zucchini in baked goods, I notice that it makes a huge difference whether I add the zucchini grated to the batter or blend it really smooth. But both ways desserts often end up super moist and delicious, so yes I love to add zucchini to desserts as well. 🙂 Wonderful pictures and great video, Brandi!! 🙂
Thank you so much Ela! Yes, brownies you want to be nice and fudgy, cake, not so much, lol! I like to blend it up here so it gets totally and accurately incorporated and not flakes of zucchini. I find that so many people grate or shred theirs differently and end up with different results so I really prefer to blend it all up 🙂
Hi.
Can you recommend a scale, please??
Hi! This is the one I use and love!
http://amzn.to/2yHSG2L
Can’t wait to make this! My son has various allergies but he will be able to have it. Does it freeze well? Always looking for some nice treats I can keep in the freezer for when classmates have birthday parties and I need to send something in for him.
Just made them and they are indeed delicious! The almond butter I used does have a bit of sugar added; if I want to use slightly less maple syrup than what you recommend, should I add more zucchini to make up for the missing liquid from using less syrup? Also – does it freeze well? Thanks for all your work on this blog. I’m just starting experimenting with oil free cooking and your recipes have been great!
Hi Iuliana! No, don’t add more zucchini. I would use a thick/creamy milk in place of the tablespoons of syrup you remove. That should work I think, but of course I have not tested that so I can’t vouch for the results, but think it should be fine. Just know that the batter is not very sweet on it’s own so I wouldn’t recommend removing too much maple syrup or they may be too bitter. I have never tried freezing these personally but there is a lot of moisture in them and am 99% sure they would freeze just fine! Thank you so much for your kind words!
What would you think about substituting peanut butter for the almond butter? Would the taste be too overwhelming? Just trying to save myself a trip to the store because I have all the other ingredients.
I already replied to this but now don’t see the comment, so weird! Peanut butter would be fine, as long as you don’t mind a peanut taste, but it technically will work fine!
Made these yesterday as written and served to SAD guests and everyone enjoyed them. I only had a glass loaf pan and it had to take an hour for these to bake. I lost track of the exact baking time after adding so many increments.
Thanks for a great recipe!
So glad these were a hit Gisele, thank you!
I just made these and they are as amazing as they sound. Have recently moved to a plant-based diet and, so, have been trying out a lot of new recipes. The results have been a bit hit and miss – more miss and less hits! This one, however, is a winner. Soft, fudgey, taste really decadent and naughty – yet they aren’t naughty at all – even better !!! I will definitely be trying more recipes from this site ! Thank you!
So very happy to hear that Sarah, thank you so much for the feedback!
Brandi, I made these and they came out fabulous! Ooey gooey chocolatey wonderfulness!
So so awesome Terri! Thank you so much for making them and letting me know!!
I had extra zucchini and decided to make these today. Wow, wow, wow!! I only made one pan and it’s gone! These are amazingly rich and sweet! I would feel very comfortable taking these to a potluck/dinner because I know that everyone would love them! Now, I just need to figure out how to, like, quadruple the recipe!! Haha. Thank you, Brandi for the delicious recipes!!
Yay! So very happy to hear that Bridget! Thank you so much for the awesome review!
This is one of my all time favorite recipes and I’ve made these about 6 times. I always double the recipe and use a glass pan that’s about 8×10. Tonight I made them and forgot to blend the oatmeal into flour before dumping it into the food processor, but I just processed them a little longer and they still turned out great! I sometimes do half cashew butter and half almond butter too. Thank you SO much for this recipe!!
So wonderful to read this Candy! Thank you so much for the wonderful review and feedback!
Can I use pb2 in place of the other peanut butter?
Hi Alexz! There is no peanut butter in this recipe, so I’m assuming you are referring to the almond butter? If so, unfortunately, pb2 is a powder and will not work the same as a nut butter since the nut butter is a liquid ingredient and greatly helps to bind the brownies as well as give them a fudgy texture.
Dang girl. You got these right! They are delicious! And so easy.
Yay! Haha, thank you so much Lynette! So glad you loved these!
Sorry for the typos above!
Just made these, and they are very yummy! I think it was destiny for me to make these, as the leftove piece of zucchini in my fridge just happened to weigh exactly 150g after it was peeled! Haha. I needed to bake them for 30 minutes. Next time I would probably add the 2T of granulated sugar older a sweeter batter. Also, I lined my loaf pan with parchment, and the brownies didn’t stick at all! We waited only 30 min to cut them, and they were plenty firm and still melty and warm! Thanks so much for the recipe!
Hi Kylie! I’m so very happy to hear how much you loved them! Thank you so much for the feedback!
oh my, these are a MUST make! 10 stars on a five star scale. 😉 Of course the whole family loved them. A cinch to put together. I can’t figure out if you make anything that is not amazingly delicious. I haven’t found it yet.
This feedback made me so happy! Thank you so much Amanda for the amazing feedback. So happy to hear you and your whole family loved them! Thank you very much for such a kind compliment, too! 🙂
I finally got around to making these brownies today! OMG they are incredible. Fudgy, rich and so much healthier than most brownies! I used whole wheat pastry flour and baked them for 25 minutes, which worked perfectly! I was impressed with how easy they were to cut since the dough seemed so runny. Great recipe!
So awesome to hear Nora! Thank you so much for the review. I’m so happy you loved them!
Hi. Question. Is it 95 grams of chocolate chips total? Or 95 g for batter and then more for sprinkling on top before the pan goes into the oven? Thank you!
Hi Sue! The 95 g is for the batter portion and 45 g (3 tbsp) is for the topping. Sorry for the confusion, I’ve edited it now! 🙂
I made this today and it was so quick and easy. I used dutch cocoa as that was what I had, about 70g maple syrup and 10g of coconut sugar and about half the amount of chocolate chips. They were very rich, moist and sweet enough for me. Thank you for this amazing recipe. Do you think I can substitute some of the nut butter for more zuchinni/a banana?
Wonderful Jade! So glad you loved them, thank you for the feedback! Sorry for the delay. I actually don’t think zucchini and banana in place of the nut butter would work well at all, because the nut butter helps to firm and dry them up a bit. Extra zucchini and banana would make them WAY too moist and very raw tasting.
OMG…. this is mouthwatering 🙂 It looks so chocolate rich and moist… I WANT IT RIGHT NOW!!!! 😉 Looking forward to giving it a try at this weekend. Thanks for sharing this recipe 🙂
Thank you so much! I hope you love them!
Awesomeness in the form of a zucchini brownie! These look amazing! You rock, Brandi
Thank you so much Melissa, so sweet!