Chocolate-Chip Walnut Zucchini Bread

I made 7 different zucchini bread recipes this summer, trying to find my new go-to recipe. Some of them were double chocolate, other’s played with a variety of flours, like Rye or Spelt. There were recipes that had me wringing out the shredded zucchini, where others didn’t. And after all of this baking I just never found one that I loved. I mean they were good, but not my new go-to. So one day while Lola and I did a quick stop at our favorite local bakery walk-up counter, I ordered a slice of their zucchini bread with walnuts and chocolate, and it was absolutely perfect.

From there I started playing around with adding the toasted walnuts (pecans work great too) and chopped chocolate. I ran into Erin McDowell’s banana bread recipe and quickly made the zucchini/banana ingredient swap. And there we have it, summer is basically over, and I discovered my most favorite zucchini bread recipe. Do yourself a favor and double the recipe, then once the second loaf is cool, slice it, and freeze. I’ll remove individual slices from the freezer and warm up with a pat of butter in a cast iron pan, it’s perfect.

If you have the patience, this bread is even better the second day. Simply remove the bread from the oven, place on a cooling rack, and leave the bread to cool uncovered, and untouched.

Chocolate-Chip Walnut Zucchini Bread
One 9-inch loaf

INGREDIENTS
2 cups shredded, packed zucchini
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 cup/220 grams light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups/255 grams all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup/135 grams finely chopped chocolate
1 cup/130 grams coarsely chopped toasted walnuts
Turbinado Sugar for finishing

STEPS
Shred zucchini and place in a colander to drain while you prep the remaining ingredients. No need to wring it out.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and lightly grease a 9x5 loaf pan with nonstick spray or softened butter.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and salt to combine. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk the melted butter, yogurt, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla. Fold in the drained shredded zucchini until well combined. Add the flour mixture to the zucchini mixture using a spatula, stir to combine, making sure to scrape the sides and the base keeping an eye out for those flour pockets.

Fold in the chopped chocolate and walnuts until combined. Pour the batter into the loaf pan, tapping the pan on you counter and smoothing the top. Sprinkle the top with turbinado sugar, if using.

Bake for 65-70 minutes until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Remove from the oven, and run a knife around the edges to separate the zucchini bread from the pan. Let it cool in the pan, on a cooling rack for 10 minutes before removing the bread, and allow to fully cool.

*See note above about waiting to eat this bread the second day, it is well worth it. Simply leave the bread in the pan, uncovered until the following day.