A little bit cake… a little bit brownie… a whole lotta chocolate! That’s how I would describe these delicious gluten-free zucchini cake brownies! You can’t taste the zucchini in baked goods like this – it just lends the moisture needed to make these have a great texture and also be a little healthier. These gluten-free dairy-free egg-free brownies are a hit wherever I bring them every summer! We currently are harvesting several HUGE zucchini every week so I’m often in the kitchen making new gluten-free zucchini recipes to help use it up. My family would be happy if I made my gluten-free zucchini bread every week, but I like to change it up a bit! In developing this recipe, I searched online and found that pretty much everyone uses the exact same zucchini brownie recipe, some with frosting, some without. I started with the obviously tried and true zucchini brownie recipe that I found all over the internet, making substitutions to make it be gluten-free, healthier and tastier! The result is a super moist, very chocolatey, cake-like gluten-free zucchini brownie! I’ve now made this more than a dozen times. The first time I made these, I used an 11″ x7″ glass pan. This made for a gluten-free chocolate zucchini cake with tall and delicious pieces, but very hard to cut nicely and make for a nice presentation. If I cut carefully, I could get some pieces that looked like this: So if you want yours more like a cake and don’t mind if they’re messy when cut, then feel free to use an 11×7″ pan or similar. If you use a 9×13″ pan then they will be much thinner and will bake quicker. The second time I made these, I decided to use my new brownie bar pan from Pampered Chef (you can get one here). My hope was that the brownies would turn out just as tasty, but would be in perfect servings that would be easy to get out of the pan. It worked beautifully! Now I always use the brownie pan for making these chocolate zucchini brownies. This Wilton Brownie Bar pan is very similar and a much cheaper alternative to the Pampered Chef pan. And this champagne gold brownie cake pan is so pretty and would definitely work well for this too! Here’s a look at them before baking: And here’s a look after they bake for 15-18 minutes at 350 degrees: I use my brownie pan for making these gluten-free baked oatmeal squares also. My friend Kim just used that same pan to make my gluten-free carrot cake in and it worked very well too for individual cakes. I’m sure many more of my recipes can be adapted for pampered chef brownie pan recipes too. Here’s a look at what you’ll need for this recipe: While these do have a decent amount of sugar and chocolate in them to make them sweet and yummy, the zucchini and applesauce is enough I think to justify calling them healthy zucchini brownies. If you’d like to play around with sugar substitutes to replace the white sugar, feel free to experiment and come back and tell me of any successful substitutions you made. I hope you can make this soon and enjoy! Happy gardening, harvesting and baking! If you make these and love them, please come back and give this recipe a 5 star rating in the recipe card! Feel free to comment with tips or to share any successful substitutions you made. A little bit like cake... a little bit like brownies... a whole lotta chocolate in these gluten-free zucchini brownies! Shredding the zucchini is the hardest part of making these - and that's made easier with a food processor that has the shredding attachment. *I've tested this with King Arthur Measure for Measure Flour, gfJules Flour, and Gluten Free Mama's Almond Flour Blend and all worked well. *If you want yours to be dark like mine, use a mixture of part Hershey's Dark Chocolate, and part regular cocoa powder. If you need these gluten-free zucchini brownies to be dairy-free, make sure to use dairy-free chocolate chips like Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mini Chips , or omit the chocolate chips. Please see blog post for ingredient suggestions and substitutions. As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases. Pin these to your gluten-free treats board on Pinterest: old pin from August 2013! Yes, this recipe was from my first year of blogging! Enjoy these gf zucchini brownies!Tips for shredded zucchini:
Notes on ingredients and substitutions for these gluten-free zucchini brownies:
, or omit the chocolate chips.
Gluten-free Zucchini Cake Brownies Recipe:
Gluten-free Zucchini Cake Brownies
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
*If using a flour blend that already includes xanthan or guar gum, then omit the xanthan called for in the recipe.Recommended Products
Yield: 18-24 brownies
Prep Time
30 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Additional Time
5 minutes
Total Time
50 minutes
Wilton Brownie Bar Pan
OXO Large Cookie Scoop #20
Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract, 4 oz.
Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Vegan Mini Chocolate Chips
Hamilton Beach Food Processor 8-Cup
Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa Can - 8 oz - 2 pk
SACO Pantry Premium Cocoa, Natural and Dutched Blend, Gluten-Free, Nut-Free, Pack of 2
Terri
Tuesday 18th of August 2020
These were amazing! I used MiYoko's European Style Cutured Vegan Butter Unsalted. I also reduced sugar by using half Xyla and half organic coconut sugar. This is a must make recipe.
Susan
Sunday 16th of August 2020
Delicious! I cut the recipe in half and they still turned out fine. This is a keeper and a healthy one too. I used gfJules flour, have always had good results with it. Thanks for a great recipe.
Susan
Saturday 27th of October 2018
I baked it in the toaster oven for 35 minutes in an 8x8 pan and it still did not bake in the centre. Very disappointing.
Michelle Palin ~ My Gluten-free Kitchen
Thursday 14th of May 2020
Baking in a toaster oven is tricky. And baking in a smaller pan like an 8x8 would mean they'd be much thicker and need more baking time than 35 for sure. If you're going to do that, keep on baking longer until they are done.
Toshia
Tuesday 16th of October 2018
The batter was super dry once I mixed everything together. I tossed in three free range organic eggs and the batter looked about the right consistency. I baked for 45 min they turned out amazing!
My daughter has celiac and she misses out a lot on treats made with wheat. These will become a staple in our house.
Tammi
Saturday 23rd of June 2018
These turned out great - super moist and nice flavor but not too sweet. I used Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 Gluten Free Baking Flour and baked them in a mini bundt pan. No trouble getting them out of the pan either. Will definitely be making these again with our abundance of zucchini from the garden this year!