Vegan Zucchini Bread

It’s zucchini time. Have you been squashed yet? You know…squashed is when neighbors and coworkers drop some of their extra zucchini on you. A nice gesture, unless you have your own pile of zucchini to deal with.

I’m always happy to come by some zucchini since I love to play around in the kitchen. Today I decided to tinker with my Zucchini Muffin recipe. I made changes to the recipe to veganize it and to make it into a loaf shape.

To make the best zucchini bread, start with small or medium fresh zucchini. Large zucchini can be full of seeds and aren’t as good to bake with. Finely shred the zucchini. (I use the small holes of a box grater.)

Zucchini bread loves chocolate. I didn’t have any chocolate chips so I decided to add roasted cacao nibs to the loaf. Cacao nibs are bits of husked cocoa beans. They are unsweetened and have intense chocolate flavor and a crunchy texture. Cacao nibs can be purchased raw or roasted.

For added flavor and crunch stir in toasted walnuts along with the cacao nibs.

Vegan Zucchini Bread
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk or soymilk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup organic evaporated cane sugar or sucanat
1/4 cup virgin unrefined coconut oil, melted (liquid)
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup finely shredded zucchini
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla
1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts or pecans
2 tablespoons roasted cacao nibs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray bottom of 8×4-inch loaf pan with cooking spray. In large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ginger; mix well. Set aside.

Sir together almond milk and vinegar; let stand 2 minutes until thickened. In medium bowl mix almond milk mixture, sugar, coconut oil, applesauce, zucchini and vanilla until well blended. Add to flour mixture, stirring until just combined. Stir in nuts and cacao nibs. Spread batter evenly in pan.

Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until browned and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack.

Makes 1 loaf (16 slices)

Tip: This hearty whole grain zucchini bread is lightly sweetened. If you prefer a sweeter loaf you may want to increase the sugar to 3/4 cup or use 1/2 cup chocolate chips in place of the cacao nibs.

Recipe Links:
Vegan Zucchini Bread Muffins from Weekly Bite
Vegan Banana Bread

Product Links:
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