Chocolate zucchini donuts are a perfect way to sneak some veggies into your dessert! These are light and fluffy, and so chocolatey! These vegan treats are sure to become a favorite.
One thing that I love about summer is having a lot of zucchini in the garden. There have been some years where I can’t even keep up with our zucchini harvest! Fresh zucchini is great for making salads and zoodles, but it’s also really wonderful for baking delicious desserts.
Adding shredded zucchini to desserts like muffins, chocolate chip zucchini bread, and spice cake is a great way to sneak some extra veggies into your family. The zucchini keeps baked goods nice and moist and usually no one can detect it, which is good news if you have picky eaters.
These chocolate donuts are rich, tender, and so good. I think you’ll love these for a fun summertime breakfast or dessert.
Ingredient Notes
- Flour – You can use white spelt flour, whole spelt flour, or all-purpose flour in this recipe. Any of those should work very well. You could try a gluten free flour blend like Namaste Perfect Flour Blend or 123 Gluten Free if you like – it should work fine.
- Oil – Organic canola oil works well in this recipe, or you could use melted coconut oil or melted vegan buttery spread. I have tried all of these at various times when making donuts, and they all work well.
- Cocoa Powder – We like Hershey’s Unsweetened Cocoa Powder, but feel free to use any brand that works for your particular dietary needs.
- Zucchini – I recommend shredded the zucchini by hand so that it’s nice and fine. That way it will blend into the batter and not be as noticeable.
- Chocolate Chips – We like dairy free chocolate chips by Enjoy Life or PASCHA Chocolate. The mini chocolate chips by Enjoy Life work very well for donuts.
Step by Step Instructions
- Shred the zucchini, and squeeze out any excess liquid.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients, then add the wet ingredients and stir well. Add the shredded zucchini.
- Stir the batter until everything is well combined.
- Spoon the batter into a donut pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 10-12 minutes.
- Allow the donuts to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before turning the pan over and tapping on the bottom to release them. Enjoy!
Variations
Feel free to add dairy free white chocolate chips to this batter, or try topping these with either dairy free buttercream or a rich chocolate frosting.
Storage
Store leftover donuts in an airtight container. They should stay fresh for about 3-4 days.
You could also freeze these. Store in a freezer safe container – they should stay fresh in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
Recipe
Chocolate Zucchini Donuts (Vegan).
Ingredients
- ⅙ cup organic canola oil or coconut oil or melted vegan buttery spread
- ⅓ cup non-dairy milk of your choice I used coconut milk, you could also use water
- ¼ cup shredded zucchini squeeze to remove excess liquid
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- ¾ cups whole spelt flour If you need it to be gluten free, use the GF flour blend of your choice
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ cup coconut sugar or granulated sugar or brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 Tablespoons dairy free mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a non-stick donut pan.
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, coconut sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Add the organic canola oil, shredded zucchini, vanilla, apple cider vinegar, and non-dairy milk. Stir well.
- Spoon the batter into the greased donut pan. Sprinkle the dairy free mini chocolate chips on top.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes.
- Let the donuts cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then turn pan over onto a cookie sheet and gently tap to remove donuts. Enjoy!
kristy
can these be made into donut holes?
Kelly Roenicke
Yes, that should work! The baking time would be shorter, so just keep an eye on them.
Emily
These are hands down the tastiest donut recipe I ever made! I use a half and half Splenda, omit the oil for an egg, and it turned out perfectly. I am now trying a lemon zest, almond, and Raspberry version!
Jamie Orten
Go to recipe for me and Jerry. He loves them. I also go skinny on the sugar and ad lib a bit each time.
Oats help them stick together a little bit.
Hilary
Made this three times so far and it’s a great recipe! Thanks. Second time I used 1/4 tsp of salt.
Kelly Roenicke
So glad to hear that you love it! Thanks for letting me know!
Jenny
These are delicious, and were a hit with the whole family! We did half whole wheat flour, half white flour, and did 1/8 cup honey and 1/8 cup regular sugar instead of the half cup sugar. Thanks for a great recipe!
Kelly Roenicke
Yay! Love your substitutions! Thanks for letting me know!
Carie
When do you add acv?
These look so good!
Kelly
With the other wet ingredients. Thanks for pointing that out, I adjusted the recipe! :)
Debbie
I made these today…… they’re SOOOOOOO good. Thank you
Kelly
Yay! Thanks for letting me know!
Gayle @ Pumpkin 'N Spice
Zucchini in donut form? I’m in! Sounds fantastic!