These homemade soft and chewy chocolate chip zucchini bars are great for a healthy dessert or snack.
There’s NO oil required for these chocolate chip zucchini bars ♥
It’s a safe bet that if you invite me over, I won’t show up empty-handed.
The reality of being someone who makes desserts for a living is that I always have way too much food in my apartment, and there’s no possible way I can eat it all by myself (although I do a pretty good job!).
On Saturday morning, I made four batches of these chocolate chip zucchini bars, playing around with the ingredients until I came up with the perfected recipe that yielded bars with a deliciously soft and gooey blondie texture.
Leftover Zucchini? Make Chocolate Zucchini Bread
The zucchini adds moisture to the recipe, enabling one to cut back on the fat without sacrificing flavor.
With batches of zucchini bars now threatening to take over my kitchen, I was happy for an excuse to carefully package them and take some with me to a Halloween party.
Using up leftovers + finding a large group of taste testers for my recipe free of charge + making people happy with a homemade dessert = win win win.
This year I went as a biker chick, complete with a faux leather jacket, spikey stilettos that I grew to abhor as the night progressed, and an adorable chick hat handmade by a sweet lady on Etsy.
(And now I am just a little obsessed with Etsy…)
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays because it involves three of my favorite things: puns, costumes, and eating copious amounts of chocolate.
Not that I don’t already do that last one every other day of the year…
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bars
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup finely shredded zucchini (I used a food processor) (120g)
- 1 cup almond butter or allergy-friendly sub
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp flour (I had success with spelt, white, sorghum, almond, and ww pastry)
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar of choice or xylitol
- 1/4 cup or more chocolate chips
InstructionsÂ
- Zucchini Bars Recipe: Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan and set aside. In a medium bowl, gently heat the nut butter if it is not already stir-able, then stir in the zucchini and vanilla. Set aside. In a separate mixing bowl, stir together the flour, salt, baking soda, sugar of choice, and chocolate chips. Pour dry ingredients into wet and keep stirring—it may seem dry at first, so be sure to break up the nut butter and stop occasionally to scrape it off your spoon. It will eventually get gooey like cookie dough. Transfer the batter into the pan, and smooth down evenly. Press chocolate chips into the top if desired. Bake for 10 minutes. When you take the bars out, the top will look set but underneath they will still be quite undercooked. This is good! Leave the bars to cool for at least 20 minutes, and they will firm up during this time. They taste even sweeter the next day!View Nutrition Facts
Notes
Recipes Of The Day:
Chocolate Peanut Butter Popsicles
Do you think apple butter would work as an alternative to the peanut?
I need a receipt foe a eggless pumpkin pie do you have onespn
Eggless Pumpkin Pie:
https://lett-trim.today/2013/11/04/healthy-pumpkin-pie-recipe/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Made this yesterday for a party – huge hit! I am the only one who needed allergy-friendly and it’s a critical group but huge success!!! I did cook for extra10 mins to get them to firm up more. Fabulous recipe! Looking forward to experimenting with the sugar now to see how stevia would be….
Hi Katie, I made these bars last week and they were soooo good. You don’t feel the zucchini at all. I think this recipe is great for kids :).
Thanks for sharing!
Thank YOU for making them!
I must have mucked up the proportion of ingredients because I ended up with a gooey mess. It was delicious though. I doubled the quantity and baked it for quite a bit but something went wrong. I just couldn’t cut it in squares because it was just too soft. On a brighter note, I’ve purchased your book and waiting for it to be delivered.
Unfortunately some recipes just do not work correctly when doubled in exact quantities, especially if using the same baking time. But all is not lost for yours… just let them sit in the fridge overnight and they will probably still firm up. Be sure to report back with results if that works for you!
Got your new book and love it. Have made a few things so far. Recipes are quick and easy to follow and I appreciate that I can make and eat something healthier since I don’t do dairy,refined sugar or gluten.
Thank you for your work of art.
I made them today and they were fantastic! I used creamy peanut butter, all purpose flour, regular sugar and dark chocolate chips so probably not the healthiest way to make them but it’s what I had on hand and everyone loved them.
I squeezed the zucchini juice out prior to reading the comments about not doing that, but it worked fine.
I bought all the ingredients…well only the zuchini and going to make them in a bit. I love how this recipe is so simple 🙂
these look amazing! Do you like a low carb flour substitute would work? Like almond flour or coconut flour? And if so how much?
Thanks!
I haven’t tried them yet, the pan is in the fridge until the oven is clear of a roast… Are they supposed to be super thin? I always end up doubling your recipes and, it still seems like not enough. I have a 9×11 pan and for the depth of blondie I am used to, only got 3/4 of the pan. Do they rise? Should I flatten it out to fill the pan?
I also used oat flour. We’ll see!
Made these today and they turned out so good! I used some shredded zucchini I had in my freezer from last summer and it worked just fine?
I am looking for the recipe for the regular choc chip zucchini bars, not the blonde choc chip zucchini bars. Somehow I can’t find it. Are they one and the same?
Same recipe!
Would it be possible to use coconut oil or butter in place of the peanut butter?
Just made these today and they were delicious! I added some crushed walnuts on top which added a perfect crunchy element to these gooey bars. I have been loving all of your recipes and I’m so inspired to eat healthier:)
I made these bars, i love baking with zucchini, thought these were good, a little too underdone. Baked for 10 mins and after 40 minutes of cooling they are extremely too soft to cut into a bar, will make again but add few mins to baking time. Thanks for new recipe!
If underdone next time, you can also place the tray in the fridge overnight and they’ll firm up!
Katie, I have followed your blog for a long time and have tried many different recipes by you! I have loved them all but last week I tried the zucchini blondie bars and was amazed at how delicious they turned out!!!! I used half peanut butter and half crunchy almond butter and it was amazing! My husband and I have made them three times in less than a week and have shared with friends who also loved them!!!