Vegan zucchini brownies which are soft, moist, gooey, fudgy, and very chocolaty! The recipe is plant-based, gluten-free, easy to make, and delicious! Enjoy this vegan chocolate cake with your family and friends. Kids will love this healthy chocolate dessert.
Healthy Vegan Zucchini Brownies
Do you also love moist and gooey brownies, especially when they are pretty healthy? Well, I do for sure, because these vegan brownies don’t taste healthy at all and you won’t taste the zucchini, trust me! They taste like a rich and soft chocolate cake which will make your mouth water!
Some reasons, why I could never say no to these vegan zucchini brownies:
- They are vegan, gluten-free, and healthier than most other brownie recipes
- Kids will love these brownies because they taste chocolaty and yummy
- The recipe is easy to make with simple ingredients
Zucchini Brownies Are Great For Kids
I love “hiding” veggies and legumes in brownies and cakes because they aren’t noticeable due to the intense chocolate flavor. Also, isn’t it so much more enjoyable making desserts with healthier ingredients, instead of using the same boring (and not so healthy) ingredients over and over again?!
Kids won’t notice a difference either and you don’t even need to tell them that these brownies contain zucchini! 😀
How To Make Vegan Zucchini Brownies?
This is a “throw it all together recipe” that everyone can easily make in a food processor.
- Line a 6×9 (15×23 cm) loaf pan or a slightly bigger pan with parchment paper or grease it with vegan butter or oil.
- Process all dry ingredients (except the chocolate chips) in a food processor.
- Add all wet ingredients and blend again until the batter is smooth.
- Finally, add the chocolate chips and stir with a spoon.
- Pour the batter into the loaf pan and add more chocolate chips on top.
- Bake in the oven for about 35-40 minutes. For fudgy brownies, I recommend a baking time of 35 minutes or less. And for cakey brownies, I recommend a baking time of 40 minutes or a little more. You can also insert a toothpick in the center of a brownie after 30 minutes and if it comes out clean/slightly crumbly the brownies are done. If the toothpick comes out very sticky/wet, then the brownies need more baking time.
- Let the brownies cool completely. They will firm up once they cool and taste even better on day two!
Great For Breakfast Or Dessert
You can enjoy the vegan zucchini brownies for dessert or breakfast. They are also great on the go or for school, travel, work! If you want to make the chocolate cake brownies even healthier and furthermore oil-free, simply leave out the chocolate chips. You can add raisins or any other dried fruit as a substitute!
Simple Ingredients
These easy zucchini brownies contain only simple vegan ingredients which are as follows:
- Zucchini
- Ground oats (gluten-free if needed)
- Granulated sweetener of choice
- Cocoa powder
- Nut butter or seed butter of choice
- Baking powder and baking soda
- Salt
- Dairy-free chocolate chips
- Plant-based milk (I used canned coconut milk)
- Vanilla extract
- Instant coffee powder (optional)
Find the exact measurements below in the recipe card!
Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake
I used rolled oats for this easy brownie recipe which I processed in an electric coffee/spice grinder to make oat flour. You can use regular rolled oats or gluten-free oats and process them in a blender (or grinder). Of course, you can also use store-bought oat flour.
To make the zucchini brownies oil-free, simply leave out the chocolate chips. 🙂
These Vegan Zucchini Brownies Are:
- Plant-based (dairy-free, egg-free)
- Gluten-free
- Can be made refined sugar-free (by not using chocolate chips)
- Can be made oil-free (by not using chocolate chips)
- Rich
- Moist
- Soft
- Chocolaty
- A great breakfast or dessert
- Easy to make with simple ingredients
Should you give these vegan zucchini brownies a try, please leave a comment and rating below and don’t forget to tag me in your Instagram or Facebook post with @elavegan and #elavegan because I love to see your remakes! 🙂
If you like healthy brownies and chocolate cake, definitely also check out the following delicious gluten-free & vegan brownie recipes:
- Sweet Potato Brownies
- Cheesecake Brownies
- Caramel Chocolate Brownies
- Best Vegan Brownies
- Healthy No-Bake Brownies
- Flourless Brownies
Vegan Zucchini Brownies
Ingredients
Dry ingredients:
- 3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sweetener (see notes)
- 1 1/2 cups (135 g) rolled oats, ground into flour (see notes)
- 1/2 cup (90 g) dairy-free chocolate chips + more for the top
- 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp (50 g) cocoa powder unsweetened
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/3 tsp salt
- 1 tsp instant coffee powder (optional)
Wet ingredients:
- 1 1/4 cups (200 g) shredded zucchini tightly packed
- 1/2 cup (120 g) nut butter of choice (see notes)
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) plant-based milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- I recommend using a kitchen scale for this recipe. This recipe has a video for easy visual instructions (see below).
- Line a 6x9 (15x23 cm) loaf pan or a slightly bigger pan with parchment paper or grease it with vegan butter or oil and preheat oven to 360 degrees Fahrenheit (ca. 182 °C).
- Process all dry ingredients (except the chocolate chips) in a food processor.
- Add all wet ingredients and blend again until the batter is smooth.
- Finally, add the chocolate chips and stir with a spoon.
- Pour the batter into the loaf pan and add more chocolate chips on top.
- Bake in the oven for about 35-40 minutes. For fudgy brownies, I recommend a baking time of 35 minutes or less. And for cakey brownies, I recommend a baking time of 40 minutes or a little more. The baking time also depends on the size of the pan! You can insert a toothpick in the center of a brownie after 30 minutes and if it comes out clean/slightly crumbly the brownies are done. If the toothpick comes out very sticky/wet, then the brownies need more baking time.
- Let the brownies cool completely. They will firm up once they cool and taste even better on day two! Enjoy! Keep leftover zucchini brownies covered in the fridge. You can also freeze them!
Notes
- Granulated sweetener: You can use coconut sugar, Erythritol, Xylitol* or regular sugar. *Desserts with Xylitol should be never given to dogs.
- Oats: I used rolled oats for this recipe which I processed in an electric coffee/spice grinder to make oat flour. You can use regular rolled oats or gluten-free oats and process them in a blender (or grinder). Of course, you can also use 135 grams of store-bought oat flour.
- Nut butter: You can use almond butter, cashew butter, peanut butter or sunflower seed butter for a nut-free version. If you don't have nut butter, you could possibly use oil instead. Please note that I never made this recipe with oil, however, I would suggest about 1/4 of a cup (please report back if you give it a try).
- Nutrition facts are for one of eight brownies (1/8 of the recipe).
Nutrition information is an estimate and has been calculated automatically
Equipment
If you are using Pinterest, feel free to pin the following photo:
Hi, is it ok to use regular non-vegan butter instead of nut-butter? I have a severe nut allergy but I want to make this for a celiac friend. Thanks a bunch, can’t wait to try the recipe!
You can, but as mentioned in the recipe notes, you can also use sunflower seed butter or 1/4 cup of oil. 🙂
WOW! I don’t have sunflower oil at home so I used the light olive oil I keep for frying and baking and oh-my the result was delicious! I’m definitely making this again. I put 125gr of brown sugar cause I’m trying to cut it down a bit and I also skipped the chocolate chips because they’re sorta pricey where I live (Spain) and I figured they weren’t essential. If you make it for a celiac It’s important to make sure the oats and oat-milk are gluten-free, since it’s apparently not always the case. Thanks a lot for the recipe and for the super quick feed-back. Imma be sending the link to my celiac friends and family
Thanks so much for your amazing feedback, Julia. I am so glad they turned out delicious. 🙂
Even though my batch didn’t come out as good as I would have liked, I’m still giving it five stars because I think the substitutions I made are at fault. The batter tasted amazing before I baked it and so was surprised when the end result wasn’t as delicious. I only had 1 c of zucchini instead of 1.25. I used coconut sugar, which tends to run a little less sweet, in my opinion. Cacao nibs instead of chocolate chips. Ginger apple butter instead natural applesauce. Sugar free sunbutter for my oil. Had I not used the account nibs and more zucchini I think the baked result would be better. And I should checked the oven earlier than 35 because they’d be gooey rather than cakey. But I would totally use this recipe again and try a second time because the batter was super tasty.
Thanks for your feedback, Sara! I think with the chocolate chips, you would have really enjoyed them. 🙂
Hi! Would love to make these brownies! Was wondering if we should squeeze the excess water from the zucchini or not?
Thanks!
Hi, no, I didn’t squeeze out the excess water. 🙂
Thanks!
Good afternoon! I’ m looking forward to preparing this recipe:) could I use hazelnut butter in this? Thanks for clarifying!
Yes, that is totally fine. 🙂
These are delicious! No one would guess the ingredients. The whole family loved them. I only baked them for 28 minutes to keep them gooey and they were perfect. Thank you for the recipe!
Wonderful! Thanks for your great feedback, Kristi! 🙂
These are so amazingly perfect! Even my teenagers who have been a bit critical of my WFPBNO diet loved them! We live in a remote area with limited options so I subbed Agave syrup for the granulated sweetener, eliminated the plant milk, and dropped the cook temp to 340 to keep the agave from over browning/burning the outside of the brownies. They were ooey gooey perfection! I also cut them into 15 slices so about half of what the recipe calls for and they were still more than satisfying!
That’s wonderful, Stacy! I am so glad you love them. 🙂
This is a regular snack/dessert in our household and one of my kids favourites! So easy & quick to make. Thank you, Ela 🙂
Hi Sol, I am so glad you like the brownies. 🙂
I tried using coconut oil instead of nut butter. The batter came out really dry, so I added more nut milk and it tastes like baked oatmeal. not my favorite thing.
Sorry to hear you didn’t like the recipe, Kaitlin. 🙂
What can I substitute instead of oat flour?
Hello, you can use regular flour or spelt flour, if you aren’t gluten-free. One reader tried sorghum flour and another one tried buckwheat flour without issues. 🙂
Hi Ela! When using regular flour or any other is it the same ammount of oat flour? Thanks ❤ i really love all your recipes
Yes, for this recipe can use regular flour in the same amount. 🙂
Hi Ela,
Can i use this zucchini brownie recipe to make the brownie cheesecake?
I never tried it, but it might work. 🙂
I am generally not a great baker but I made these and they came out perfect, moist, delicious! I followed the recipe exactly and could not believe how amazing these turned out. Thanks for such a great and easy recipe!
Hi Anna, I am so glad you liked them! Thanks for your great feedback. 🙂
I just made this tonight because I’m up to my ears in zucchini and it turned out amazing! Thank you so much for the recipe, I’ll definitely be making this again.
Yay, that’s awesome, Nicole! Thanks for your feedback. 🙂
I have sooo much zucchini from my garden right now…so the list of recipes I’ve looked up are endless. I made this one and my oh my. I love it. I did sub the oat flour for sorghum flour instead…just because I didn’t have oat flour. I used carob powder in place of the cocoa powder (allergic to caffeine). Used Missy J’s carob chips! I also used half vanilla almond nut butter/peanut butter. I probably baked it for about 41 minutes and it is the perfect texture…next time will make a frosting to go on top.
That’s awesome, Taylor! I am so glad you liked the brownies. Thanks for your feedback. 🙂
These look great. And smell just like my fudge brownies! I used amlond flour and almond butter. They’ll cool and then and set up in the frig overnight. Can not wait to eat them!
Sounds great! Enjoy. 🙂
Riquísimoooo, lo ame!♥️ Mega húmedo
I am so glad you liked them! 🙂
I made this recipe this weekend and everybody loved it! I almost never bake and it came out perfectly 🙂 Thanks Ela! I will definitely make it again.
That’s so good to hear, Anne-Sophie! Thanks for your great feedback. 🙂
This recipe is INSANELY good. I’m by no means good at baking, but this was easy. I used oat flour, coconut sugar, a mix of peanut butter and tahini, oat milk and I didn’t have chocolate chips so I used smashed dark chocolate. I doubled the recipe for the tray I had so I’ve frozen some, it has been very popular so I already know freezes really well. I’m over the moon I’ve found this recipe. Next batch I’m going to add some nuts on top.
Yay, that’s awesome! I am so glad you love the brownies. 🙂
Absolutely delicious! I tried the recipie and realised I had no butter, so I used 1/4 cup of castor oil and miam miam miam!
I also tend not to like things too sweet, so I only used 60g of brown sugar instead of the 150g suggested and it was perfect! Will try with even less next time.
Thank you!
Hi Goody, did you mean coconut oil? I am glad you liked the brownies. 🙂
Oops, translation error, I meant rapeseed oil!
Thanks for clarification! 🙂
Hello Ela,
Thank you for this fantastic recipe. Can I use muffin molds and make a couple of cupcakes instead of proper brownies?
Yes, that should be fine, but bake them for only about 25 minutes. 🙂
This will be my third attempt at vegan zucchini brownies, and I’ll have to say, third time’s definitely a charm! I made the mistake of not including a flour-like ingredient on my first attempt. And the second recipe actually called for 1 cup of coconut flour, which completely obliterated the batch and outcome (I think it might have been easier to swallow sandpaper than that last batch); and which reading the comments here, is discouraged. But the third? Ohh the third. Let’s just say that this one will now be the default. Who needs to make brownies with the traditional, inflammatory ingredients when you can make these? With your recipe, I used coconut sugar, which has recently become my go-to for a healthier baking sweetener, and added a generous dash of cinnamon (because cinnamon makes everything better). I changed nothing else and used all natural almond butter for my nut butter of choice.
I used a blender to grind the rolled oats into oat flour, and I think the outcome was great, given this was my first time making oat flour. Though it is possible that the mix could have been even further blended for a finer flour, as there were some straggler oats that were not blended, and the brownie had a slight grit to it (similar to but not quite like cornmeal). Not sure if there is a recommended solution for making the finest possible oat flour.
Thanks so much, Ela! This recipe is surely a game changer.
Melody
Hi Melody, I am so glad you liked my recipe. For a finer oat flour, simply blend it longer, that will do the trick. 🙂
Thanks for the tip, Ela! I will try to blend longer next time. But I should add that, the following and subsequent days, there was no noticeable grit whatsoever. Must be that when the brownies cool completely (I’ve stored them in the fridge), the texture settles quite well. Texture is perfect, so much so that one can’t even tell that non-traditional ingredients were used. And I definitely agree with others here — they are even richer the following day, if it is even possible for something that is already so great to improve!
That’s awesome, Melody! Thanks for your great feedback. 🙂
These brownies were delicious! I didn’t realize all oats weren’t gluten free and didn’t have time to order GF oats from the store…so I actually ground up Cheerios last minute and used them instead of oat flour. It turned out so good!!! I was shocked it actually worked. Lol. Will def make these again!
That’s so interesting, thanks for sharing. 🙂