Zucchini Brownies
Fudgy chocolate brownies with grated zucchini for moisture, baked for 28 minutes and topped with chocolate chips.
Photograph credit: chocolate zucchini bread by stu_spivack · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Flickr · this resized copy is shared under the same licence
It sounds like a trick, and it is a good one. Zucchini contributes moisture and softness to a brownie but virtually no flavour, so it disappears into the chocolate, and a person eating one has no idea that there is a vegetable in it. It is the oldest way of sneaking vegetables into children, and also a useful way to use up an overgrown summer courgette.
Grate the zucchini on the fine side of a box grater, and squeeze it hard in a clean cloth. This matters more than anything else in the recipe. Courgettes are 95 per cent water, and a handful of wet shreds adds enough liquid to turn a brownie into a pudding. After squeezing, you should be left with a loose, pale green pile that has lost about half its volume.
Do not peel it. The skin is thin, and the green flecks vanish in the dark batter. Use medium zucchini rather than huge ones, which have tough skins and watery, seedy flesh. The cocoa and melted chocolate hide the vegetable completely.
The batter is a standard fudgy mix with oil instead of butter, to keep it tender. Bake until a skewer shows a few moist crumbs, and cool in the tin before cutting. The brownies are even better after a night in the fridge, when the flavour deepens and the crumb sets.
What People Ask
How long does Zucchini Brownies take to make?
15 minutes of preparation and 28 minutes of cooking, so at least 43 minutes. The method also needs time for cooling completely, which it does not time, so treat that as a minimum. The recipe serves 16.
The Method for Zucchini Brownies
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Heat the oven to 175°C / 345°F. Grease and line a 20 cm square tin.
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Mix the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt.
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Whisk the eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla for 2 minutes. Stir in the squeezed zucchini.
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Fold in the dry ingredients and half of the chocolate chips. Spread in the tin and scatter over the remaining chips.
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Bake for 28 minutes until a skewer comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool completely and cut into 16.
Related guides: Prep, cook and total time · Pan and tin size.
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Tips That Matter
- Squeeze the zucchini very dry.
- Grate it finely.
- Cool the brownies before cutting.
What to Serve With It
Vanilla ice cream · Cold milk · Coffee · Fresh raspberries
Keeping and Reheating
Keeps in the fridge for 4 days.
Zucchini Brownies Nutrition
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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