Vegan Zucchini Brownies (Gluten-Free)

You will be amazed by these moist, fudgy, vegan zucchini brownies! No one will know zucchini is hidden in these healthy vegan brownies, but you will be impressed by the moist-fudgy texture it creates!

This chocolate zucchini brownie recipe is gluten-free, refined sugar-free with a paleo option! You won’t ever need to look for a vegan brownie mix anymore!

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I love making recipes with zucchini. It’s a healthy vegetable full of vitamins and nutrients that brings a great texture to baking recipes without any notable aftertaste. I have made for example Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Bread, Vegan Zucchini Muffins, Healthy Zucchini Carrot Bread, or Zucchini Oatmeal Cookies.

What Are Zucchini Brownies?

A Zucchini Brownie recipe is a super moist, fudgy brownie that uses grated zucchini as a trick to add moisture and fudginess to your brownie.

It’s somehow a healthy twist to regular vegan brownies as this adds a boost to your 5-a-day veggie target while enjoying a treat!

All the ingredients in this vegan zucchini brownie recipe are gluten-free.

Ingredients and Substitutions

Let’s see what you need to make these fudgy brownies.

• Grated Zucchini – Grate and drain the zucchini. Baking with grated zucchini requires discarding all the zucchini water, or your brownies will be too wet. Read the paragraph below about how to drain water from grated zucchini perfectly.
• Maple Syrup – Use maple syrup or any unrefined liquid sweetener like coconut nectar, agave syrup, or brown rice syrup. Sugar-free maple-flavored syrup also works for this recipe.
• Coconut Sugar or unrefined cane sugar. You can use any crystal sugar or sweetener you like. So if you want a sugar-free alternative, use erythritol or allulose.
• Almond Flour – Use ultra-fine almond flour for best results. Almond meal is coarse, and it won’t absorb the moisture as well in the recipe. Also, if you like, you can use gluten-free oat flour can be used as a replacement for almond flour, but the brownies will be slightly drier.
• Peanut Butter – Use a fresh, runny jar of peanut butter with no added sugar and oil on top. Using an old jar of peanut butter where the nut butter has dried out will result in a dry, less fudgy brownie. You can also use fresh runny almond butter or tahini for a paleo-vegan brownie recipe.
• Cocoa Powder – I prefer using unsweetened cocoa powder.
• Coconut Oil – you can use refined or unrefined coconut oil.
• Flax Egg – A flax egg is a natural vegan egg made of water and a flaxseed meal. It allows the brownie batter to hold well without using eggs from animal sources. It’s quite easy to make a flax egg. Bring one tablespoon of flaxseed meal, brown or golden, into a bowl and whisk with 3 tablespoons of hot water. Set aside for 15 minutes until it forms a gooey egg-like texture. Use it as an egg in your zucchini brownie recipe.
• Vanilla Extract – to add flavors.
• Salt – to enhance the flavors of the chocolate.
• Baking Soda – or use double the baking powder if preferred. This makes the texture a tad airier.

How To Make Vegan Zucchini Brownies

It’s an easy vegan zucchini brownie recipe made in 1 bowl. However, there’s one important trick to make the best zucchini brownie recipe. The water content in zucchini is so high that if you don’t drain your grated zucchini of their liquid, the brownies won’t hold. It sounds easy, but it can be challenging to squeeze out all the zucchini water by hand.

1. First, I recommend choosing a clean towel. Any tea towel will do. Then, place the grated zucchini into the center of the towel and gather the corners of the towel.

2. Twist the towel to squeeze the grated zucchini into a ball, and keep twisting as hard as you can until no more zucchini water comes out.

3. Finally, measure the grated zucchini required by the recipe. Note that for 1 cup of grated zucchini, you should get around 1/4 cup of water that you can discard or use later for a smoothie or to flavor a curry. Transfer it to a large mixing bowl.

4. Prepare the flax egg in another bowl by combining the flaxmeal (1 tablespoon) with water (3 tablespoons) in a bowl. Set it aside for 15 minutes until it forms a sticky, gooey texture resembling an egg.
5. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). You can either line a 9-inch x 5-inch baking tray with parchment paper or a 9-inch x 9-inch square brownie pan. Read my tips below for the baking time because it won’t cook as fast.

6. In the large mixing bowl with grated zucchini, add the runny peanut butter, flax egg, vanilla, maple syrup, and coconut sugar.

7. Combine the ingredients until the batter is consistent, liquid and shiny.

8. Pour the cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and melted coconut oil (not hot, just liquid). Stir until the cocoa powder is well integrated into the other ingredients.

9. Add the almond flour and stir until it becomes thick and difficult to combine.

10. Transfer the vegan zucchini brownie batter to the prepared pan of your choice.

11. Bake the brownies for 30 minutes at 350°F (180°C) until the top and sides start to crackles and a toothpick or skewer inserted in the center comes out clean of crumbs or with just a few. Adjust the baking time to the side of the pan with my tips below.

17. Like with all brownie recipes, it is crucial to cool down brownies in two steps. First in the pan and then on a cooling rack. The first step takes 10 to 12 minutes. The second step takes 30 minutes at least. This 2-step cooling process allows the brownie texture to form gently, getting firm and crispy outside and moist inside.

Tips for Perfect Brownies

• Fresh Peanut Butter – Whether you choose to use peanut butter, almond butter, or sunflower seed butter in this recipe, the key to success is to use a fresh jar. In fact, old peanut butter gets dry and hard. As a result, it creates dry and crumbly brownies. That is why I recommend using a freshly opened jar with that little layer of oil on top. Stir the jar to combine the oil with the peanut butter and then measure. Also, make sure you are using peanut butter with no added sugar and no added oil. These two potential additives in peanut butter also impact the taste and texture of your zucchini brownies.
• Baking Time – The brownie’s baking time depends significantly on the baking dish’s size. The 30 minutes recommended in this recipe is for a 9-inch x 6-inch brownie pan. If you are using a larger pan, your brownie will be thinner and bake faster. If the pan is smaller, your brownie will be thicker and require more baking to set.
• Cool Brownies – My trick is to pop the lukewarm brownie in the fridge for 10 minutes to give it an extra fudgy texture. If you love super fudgy brownies, then try this! You will be impressed by the result!

Step-by-Step Video

Why You’ll Love Healthy Zucchini Brownies

You are probably wondering how zucchini brownies can be healthy. Compared to a regular brownie recipe, this vegan zucchini brownie recipe is definitely a healthy twist to your favorite dessert. It’s a great way to enjoy a chocolate brownie without guilt.

Below are a few reasons why this zucchini brownie recipe is a healthier alternative to your regular brownie recipe or to your brownie mix.

• Refined sugar-free – this recipe uses the best sugars; coconut sugar has a lower GI than white sugar, and maple syrup contains many nutrients like potassium that you won’t have in a regular brownie recipe.
• Gluten-free 
• Boosts your vegetable intake
• Plant-based fat – the recipe works with almond butter and healthy oils like sunflower seed oil if you want to decrease the saturated fat of this vegan zucchini brownie recipe.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Vegan Brownie Recipes

You may also like my other healthy vegan brownie recipes

Vegan Brownies

Vegan Gluten-Free Brownies

Yogurt Brownies

Breakfast Brownies

More Vegan Zucchini Baking Recipes

Vegan Zucchini Muffins

Zucchini Oatmeal Cookies

Zucchini Carrot Bread

Healthy Banana Zucchini Bread

Vegan Zucchini Brownies

Moist, fudgy vegan gluten-free brownie recipe with zucchini.

4.71 from 41 votes

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Prep Time: 15 minutes mins

Cook Time: 25 minutes mins

Cool Down Time: 20 minutes mins

Total Time: 1 hour hr

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: 16 squares

Calories: 123 kcal

Author: Carine Claudepierre

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Ingredients

US Customary – Metric

Flax egg

• ▢ 1 tablespoon Flaxseed Meal - + 3 tablespoons lukewarm water

Brownie

• ▢ 1 cup Zucchini - finely grated, drained from their juice in a clean towel, (about 2 large zucchini, skin on, end trimmed)
• ▢ ½ cup Peanut Butter (Unsalted) - runny, no added sugar
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• ▢ ¼ cup Maple Syrup - or agave syrup or rice syrup
• ▢ ½ cup Coconut Sugar - or unrefined cane sugar of choice
• ▢ ½ cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
• ▢ ½ cup Almond Flour - see note for options
• ▢ ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
• ▢ ½ teaspoon Salt
• ▢ 2 tablespoons Coconut Oil

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a 9-inch x 5-inch baking tray with parchment paper. You can also use a 9-inch x 9-inch square brownie pan, but the recipe will cook faster, and the brownie will be thinner. Set aside.

Step 1: Prepare the flax egg

• In a small mixing bowl, stir 1 tablespoon of flax meal with 3 tablespoons of hot water. Set aside 15 minutes until gooey and an egg-like texture appears. Use in step 3 when the recipe calls for flaxseed egg.

Step 2: Prepare the grated zucchini

• Finely grate 2 large zucchini, skin on, with their ends trimmed, with the thinner grater option on your hand grater, or using the thinner grating blade of your food processor.
• Bring all the grated zucchini into the center of a clean towel. Gather the extremities of the towel and twist to encase the zucchini into the towel and form a ball.
• Twist as hard as you can until ALL the zucchini water is removed. This is extremely important or too much water will make the brownie too moist and fragile.
• Measure 1 cup of packed, drained, grated zucchini and transfer into a large mixing bowl.

Step 3: Make the brownie batter

• In the same mixing bowl, add runny peanut butter, flax egg (the one made in step 1), vanilla, maple syrup, and coconut sugar.
• Stir the ingredients together until consistent. It is liquid and shiny.
• Stir in the unsweetened cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and melted coconut oil, making sure all the cocoa is incorporated, and no lumps are left.
• Now, stir in almond flour. The batter is getting thick and more difficult to stir. It is what you want.
• Transfer the brownie batter into the prepared baking pan.
• Bake for 30 minutes or until the top and sides are set, crackle, and a skewer inserted in the center of the brownie comes out clean or with few crumbs. Note that if you are using a wider pan, your brownie will bake faster. On the other side, a smaller pan will take longer to bake.
• Remove the pan from the oven and cool down in the pan for 12 minutes.
• Use a knife to loosen the sides of the brownies in the pan then use the parchment paper pieces to lift the brownie from the pan to a cooling rack.
• Cool for 30 minutes, then, to make it easier to slice and to make it even fudgier, pop it 30 minutes in the fridge! I know it sounds left field, but this will set the brownie to perfection, slice without breaking, and the fudgy texture will be enhanced.

Notes

Nut-free option:

• Swap almond flour for the same amount of oat flour or sunflower seed flour or sesame flour.
• Replace peanut butter with sunflower seed butter, the same amount, use fresh seed or nut butter, runny and drippy! 

Other flour options: you can use the same amount of fine oat flour in this recipe, but the brownies will be less moist and slightly denser. I didn’t try all-purpose flour, it should work but may create a very dense and less fudgy result.

Flaxseed meal replacement: you can use ground chia seed if desired to create a chia egg.

Storage: Store in the fridge in an airtight box or zip-lock bags or freeze individually. Defrost 3 hours before on a plate, on the counter at room temperature. It can be rewarmed in 2 minutes to serve lukewarm.

Equipment

9-inch x 5-inch Loaf Pan

Parchment Paper

Mixing Bowl

Measuring Cups and Spoons

Food Processor

Cooling Rack

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Nutrition

Serving: 1square | Calories: 123kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Sodium: 155mg | Potassium: 128mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 16IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 22mg | Iron: 1mg