Chocolate Zucchini Bread

I humbly submit to you that in this era of amped-up everything, the homely zucchini bread deserves a place on our tables.

Zucchini bread is usually thought of as an innocent way to get rid of zucchini, the assumption being that everyone is inundated with zucchini in late summer. Maybe that was once true, but now most of us just get to enjoy zucchini for what it is, rather than hiding it in things. That is, unless you have an overzealous gardening friend who is intent on foisting their excess crop on you.

It has also come to my attention that many people supposedly “don’t like” zucchini because “it’s mostly water.” My friends, I have some news for you. So are you. And almost every single vegetable. It’s all just water. Refreshing, sustaining giver of life.

As for the zucchini in zucchini bread, its water content is a boon: the squash serves as a brilliant means of keeping the bread moist. The zucchini shreds also add some nice green flecks to the loaf, but the zucchini here is not really for flavor.

Many zucchini loaves have you shred the zucchini and remove excess liquid by wringing it out inside a dish towel. This recipe doesn’t do that—there’s just enough zucchini to keep things springy and lush without sogging out your loaf or needing to dirty a dish towel with zucchini water.

On a final note, this zucchini bread can easily serve as a blueprint for carrot bread or parsnip bread—simply replace the grated zucchini with an equal amount of your preferred root veg.