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 *
Zucchini Brownies with 1 minute Frosting!
Ingredients
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 ½ cups white 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 white 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.
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And a couple of zucchini recipes from my friends you’re going to want to check out!
- Zucchini Muffins from Crazy for Crust
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- Blueberry Banana Zucchini Bread from Averie Cooks
I made this yesterday and it is delicious! It is definitely more cake like. I reduced the frosting recipe, used 1/3 of all the ingredients and had enough to cover the top!
Now that the brownies have cooled and I have tasted it I will give my review. I think the texture of these brownies is more like cake than actual fudge type brownies. The recipe was very easy to make and the only thing I did different is that I added 1/2 tsp salt to the batter and cooked the frosting for one minute instead of 30 seconds. I actually like the recipe, but if you are looking for a gooey, fudgy brownie, than this one is not for you. The brownie is moist and has a good chocolate taste. I was a bit worried that the batter was very dry before adding the zucchini, But after adding the gently packed, not squeezed dry zucchini, it was perfect. I did cut the recipe in half and baked in a 9×9 inch cake pan. It took exactly 25 minutes to cook. I would make again.
Brownies were the Best Ever—Frosting -not so good. will make a different frosting next time.
Has anybody tried freezing these?
I am not a baker and I just made these Zucchini brownies and home made frosting and the taste was amazing! Thank you!
I made this today and it was very good, but I would not consider these brownies! It was a cake! I think if you omitted the egg, it would become more of a brownie!
I think this recipe needs more oil or something thats liquid
The batter is very thick, the moisture comes from the zucchini as it bakes. Hope that helps.
Made these today without the frosting, kids love them
These are amazing! My 15 year old daughter made them!
Only question is, how should we store them? In the refrigerator?
Because the zucchini adds so much moisture I keep them in fridge so they don’t mold. I like to take them out about 30 minutes before serving to warm them a little bit.
Word to the wise – let the brownies cool IN THE PAN. I tried to take my brownies out to cool on a wire rack (did not make frosting this batch) and they started crumbling immediately. :(
Delicious and moist. Next time I will add walnuts
This recipe was fabulous! I am not a dessert freak, but my husband loves chocolate. I did swap light brown sugar for white because I was out and added cayenne to the frosting…so moist and would never know a huge zucchini was in it.
I will not mix up this recipe as described in the instructions. Instead, I will add my oil, egg and vanilla to the zucchini, then the sugar and lastly the flour and chocolate mixture. I think that would be much easier and smoother.
Let us know how it turns out, Mary!
Amazing!! My husband is not a big zucchini fan and he is crazy about these. I brought some to my daughters work and they had no idea that they are made with zucchini until after they tried them. They thought they were super good. Passing this recipe around!
I have made these brownies multiple times. Just have to say they are so moist and delicious. My family loves them. I have found if I boil the frosting a little longer than 30 seconds it comes out thicker, which I like. I also prefer Ghiradelli chips. They are so rich and taste sinful.
Definitely cook the frosting for one minute. I use this exact frosting recipe for another recipe called “Chocolate Covered Cherries Cake” and the frosting cooks one minute. Make sure you spread immediately over the warm brownies as it sets up FAST and is hard to spread. I was concerned how dry the batter is, but once I stirred in the zucchini it was perfect.
Its tasty but I really think you need to squeeze out a little moisture from the zucchini. Its almost too moist borderline mushy.. I even cooked it an extra 4 minutes..
Thanks for the tip Nicole! If you try it with squeezing out the zucchini let us know how it turns out.
I did not squeeze the moisture out, but gently packed the zucchini when I measured. My brownies took exactly 25 minutes to cook. Mine turned out perfect
What do you mean by grated zucchini undrained?
This means do not squeeze any excess moisture from the zucchini.
You do mean powdered sugar? Correct?
This recipe uses regular granulated sugar, not powdered sugar. Enjoy Cindy!
Seriously! Wow! I am always looking for good recipes and I know the difference between good and great ones. This is great!! Congrats on blowing my mind :)
You are very welcome Mel! So happy you think it’s great.
I was all excited that there were zucchini brownies hoping for a healthy option for chocolate cravings, until I saw the recipe. I’m sure the end product is wonderful. But if anyone has suggestions for making these more diet friendly (substituting Stevia for sugar; ?? for vegetable oil; ?? for butter; ?? for flour I’d love to hear it. Thanks much.
I hope someone can help you with their variations on this recipe Tara!
I substituted avocado oil and gluten free flour and they turned out fabulous!