These easy zucchini brownies come out rich and chocolatey and stay moist for days (although they don’t last that long in my house). They’re topped with a quick and easy homemade 1 minute frosting for a perfect dessert!
Every year I end up with tons of zucchini which is great for me because I really love it! It’s perfect grilled on it’s own or breaded to make oven baked zucchini fries but I do think it’s especially good in baking. It just adds so much moisture and it seems that baked items with zucchini are even BETTER the next day!
These brownies are super moist and delicious… and you’d never know they have zucchini in them (nor will your kids)! They are rich and chocolatey and just perfectly delicious! Of course these Zucchini Brownies are great the day they’re made but they’re even better on the second day.
One thing you need to know about this recipe is that when you get the flour/sugar combined… just before you add the zucchini the consistency will seem quite dry. Don’t worry, this is expected. Stir in the zucchini and your batter will moisten and as the batter bakes the zucchini releases moisture keeping these brownies amazing. You’ll want to make sure you don’t squeeze or drain your zucchini, you want all of the moisture in there (and no peeling required either)!
I top this with a 1 Minute Frosting recipe that I’ve been using for years! It works perfectly on any cake or brownie recipe that is contained in a pan and requires just a few ingredients you likely already have on hand!
Items you’ll need for this recipe:
* Vanilla Extract * Zucchini * 9 x 13 pan *
Ingredients
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 ½ cups grated zucchini undrained (about one large)
1 Minute Frosting
- ⅓ cup milk
- ⅓ cup butter
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Grease and flour a 9×13 pan.
- Combine oil, sugar, egg and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder and baking soda. Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture and stir well. (It will appear quite dry). Gently stir in the zucchini and spread the mixture into your prepared pan.
- Bake 25-30 minutes.
1 Minute Frosting
- While cake is cooling, combine butter, milk and sugar in a small pan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Allow to boil vigorously for 30 seconds. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips. Immediately pour over warm brownies. Let cool completely before cutting.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Here are some more recipes you’ll love
Lemon Zucchini Cupcakes
Pumpkin Zucchini Bread with Cream Cheese Glaze
And a couple of zucchini recipes from my friends you’re going to want to check out!
- Zucchini Muffins from Crazy for Crust
- Zucchini Cream Cheese Muffins from Wine & Glue
- Blueberry Banana Zucchini Bread from Averie Cooks
These were delicious! Our family favorite zucchini recipe!
So good! Keep the recipes coming!
Thank you! Of course we will!
Oh my gosh these were incredible! The brownie was moist and not too sweet. The frosting gave it the proper sweetness. These were amazing!
You’re making it sound so delicious, we want to make a batch right now! Thank you! :)
These brownies were moist and delicious!
Hello. Is it possible to substitute a different vegetable for the zucchini in these recipes? If so, what substitutes would work best?
I’ve only made this recipe as written.
What a fabulous idea. Love the idea of incorporating zucchini into the recipe. I’ve been craving brownies and came across your recipe. Will be making these today…. can I use butter in place of oil? Thank you ☺️
I haven’t tried butter in place of the oil in this recipe. If you try it, I’d love to hear how it works for you!
Oh my, I followed the recipe exactly as written. These are the BEST brownies ever. So chocolatey, and moist. You can’t tell that they have zucchini in them. Next time I make them I’ll use butter in place of the oil just to see if it make a difference in taste. This will definitely by my go to recipe. Doing my happy dance
I’m so glad you loved them Christina! I’d love to hear how the butter works out for you!
Husband is diabetic and wants me to use stevia or Splenda in place of the white sugar. Will this work for these brownies and what would be the conversion of either for the white sugar?
I haven’t tried it with Splenda or stevia so I can’t say if it would work. If you do try it the package likely has a conversion chart for baking.
This is a great recipe. I am making it for the second time for a family dinner. Thanks for adding that the batter would be dry as I would have probably added liquid and it wouldn’t have turned out. The frosting was so good!
I’m so glad you loved it Karen!
These sound delicious. I have always enjoyed zucinhini bread. I can’t wait to try the brownies and some of your other recipes.
Enjoy Donna!
If I’ve shredded and frozen my zucchini before hand and I want to use it for this recipe there is a lot of water in the bag. Should I still add this water to the recipe or should I drain it out first?
I generally do not drain the liquid.
I would like to know this also. I have some frozen and shredded.
Hi Paulette, we generally do not drain the zucchini before adding to the mixture. If you feel it is an excessive amount of liquid you could drain some off if you prefer. Let us know how it turns out!
What is the best way to store these? And how long will they stay?
We leave them covered on the counter for about 2 days. If it’s going to be longer I would suggest storing them in the fridge as the zucchini makes them very moist.
Very late to the zucchini brownies train, atleast I am about to try bc I reallly want zucchini brownies!!; So would 1\4 cup of butter work bc i dont use vegetable oil !?
While I haven’t tried it I think butter would work fine in this recipe.
Instead of oil use apple sauce
Followed the recipe, but added in some chocolate chips to the batter. Turned out excellent! I took some into work, and everyone loves them!! Will most definitely make these again, and keep this recipe on hand. Thank you so much!! Out of curiosity, what would the calorie count be? I cut mine into maybe 1 1/2 inches by 1 1/2 inches.
I’m so glad you (and your co-workers) loved them! :)
Hmm, not sure why these didn’t work for you. Did you drain your zucchini first? The moisture in the zucchini is needed to keep the recipe moist.
Can I use Organic Brown Sugar instead of regular white sugar?
I have only tried the recipe as written.
I used frozen zucchini that I had in my freezer, and this definitely turned out to be a cake. Still delicious!!!
That’s interesting, I’m glad it was still delicious! I wonder if it had to do with the water lost during freezing. Did you defrost your zucchini first (and did it lose a lot of water)?
I have made these before and they are simply wonderful! I was going to try making them in muffin cups this time so that they are easier to transport (via mail-I mail care packages to my son at school)…has anyone tried that? Wonder how it will change the baking time?? Any suggestions?
Thanks!
I have never tried a zucchini brownies, but that frosing has got me hooked!
Zucchini brownies are a great idea in the summer too, when I have an abundance. YUM.
Love this recipe. Have made chocolate zucchini bread before, the frosting looks decadent and QUICK! Woo hoo!!!