Vegan Zucchini Brownies

Ingredients and Substitutions

Below is a quick overview of what you’ll need to make the recipe and any substitutions you can make. Use the recipe card with the full list of ingredients and measurements at the bottom of the post when you’re ready to make the recipe.

• Zucchini: You’ll need one medium-sized zucchini or about 1 heaping cup grated. After you squeeze the liquid out, you should have about 1 cup. The amount doesn’t have to be exact.
• Banana: Ripe or slightly over-ripe banana works. You can substitute applesauce but you may want to increase the coconut sugar to 2/3 cup in that case.
• Coconut Sugar (Coconut Palm Sugar): This can be substituted with light brown sugar or dark brown sugar.
• Almond Butter: You can use any almond butter as long as it’s not too dry. It should be “drippy”. You can substitute any other nut or seed butter such as peanut butter or tahini.
• Coconut Oil: Use melted and cooled coconut oil or substitute melted and cooled plant-based butter.
• Cocoa Powder: Use natural unsweetened cocoa powder, this is the regular, most common variety. You could also use dark cocoa powder or cacao powder.
• Almond Flour: Use super fine almond flour. You can use store-bought or make your own by finely blending blanched almonds. If you purchase a fresh bag of almond flour, you can also use it in these almond flour peanut butter cookies, sesame cookies, and almond flour oatmeal cookies.
• Chocolate: You can use semi-sweet chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips or chocolate chunks. You can also add walnuts or pecans in place of or in addition to chocolate chips. I also like to sprinkle extra chocolate chips on top!

Before you start making the brownie batter, line an 8×8-inch baking pan with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350 F.

Quick Note: While it’s not required to use parchment paper, it makes it easy to lift out the brownies and slice them after baking. If you’re not using parchment paper, lightly grease the pan with cooking spray.

Step 1: First, mix the ground flax and water in a small bowl and set aside for 5-10 minutes to thicken.

Step 2: Finely grate the zucchini with a box grater, then squeeze the shredded zucchini with your hands in a strainer over a bowl or in the sink to squeeze out the excess liquid.

Step 3: If you haven’t mashed the banana, add it to the mixing bowl and mash well with a fork until it resembles a smooth paste.

Add the flax egg, coconut sugar, almond butter, vanilla and coconut oil mix well until fully combined. Stir in the drained and grated zucchini.

Step 4: Add the cocoa powder, almond flour, baking soda, salt and chocolate chips and mix until all the flour is incorporated and you have a uniform batter.

Quick Tip: I suggest sifting the cocoa powder into the batter through a mesh sieve or sifter to make sure any clumps are broken up.

Step 5: Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and bake for 33-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out with just a few crumbs attached.

The edges should look firm and the middle nearly firm if not slightly underdone.

Step 6: Once baked, allow the brownies to cool completely before slicing. After they cool down a bit you can transfer the pan to the fridge to speed up the cooling process.

Do not skip cooling, it’s needed for them to firm up.

Recipe FAQs