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Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Bars (Dairy Free)

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These moist gluten free Chocolate Zucchini Bars are perfect for lunch box snacks and they are a fun way to use late summer zucchini. Our zucchini bars have delicious warm spices like cloves, and are made with whole grains, are naturally sweetened, and are top 8 free.

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photo collage of gluten free chocolate zucchini bars

We’re getting close to back to school time, or if you’re in some areas of the country, your kids may have already started school 😮 We have the perfect recipe for lunchbox snacks that use up your late summer harvest of zucchini: gluten free Chocolate Zucchini Bars!

These allergy friendly zucchini bars are a reimagined version of our Chocolate Zucchini Bread and our Zucchini Muffins, but these are made into moist cake-like bars that you can pack for snacks or lunches.

Our chocolate zucchini bars are a fun way to add veggies into your baked goods, and these are naturally sweetened, whole grain, and are top 8 free. Plus they have superfood ingredients as well thanks to the Cacao Bliss powder we included in this recipe!

These healthier snack bars are:

  • Gluten free
  • Dairy free
  • Top 8 free
  • Vegan
  • Soy free
  • Peanut free
  • Tree nut free (except for coconut sugar)
hand holding a chocolate zucchini bar in front of a cooling rack

How to make gluten free chocolate zucchini bars

Our lightly spiced zucchini bars are pretty easy to make with just a few steps, let us show you how they are made (don’t forget the full recipe card is at the end of this post):

  • Preheat your oven and line an 8×8-inch baking pan with parchment paper and set aside. I like using glass baking pans since they seem to cook more evenly.
  • Wash your zucchini and leave the skin on, then shred it and measure 1 cup of shreds (not packed) and place in a medium bowl. I like saving some dishes by shredding the zucchini directly into a glass batter bowl that has measurements until I have 1 cup. Set aside.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients and set aside.
  • To the zucchini shreds in the first bowl, stir in the maple syrup, oil, dairy free milk, and vanilla.
  • Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and allow the batter to rest for 3 minutes to thicken a bit.
  • Stir the batter again, and pour into the prepared baking pan.
  • Bake for 28 to 30 minutes, checking the center with a toothpick. The toothpick should come out mostly clean, but since these bars are moist, there might be some moist crumbs that come out with the toothpick even when these are fully cooked. You just don’t want wet batter on the toothpick.
  • Allow the bars to cool before cutting. These bars cut the best once they’ve cooled completely, but if you’re impatient to try them, let them cool for about 15-20 minutes before cutting.
  • Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. These should also freeze well just like our zucchini muffins.
photo collage of steps to make zucchini bars

If you have a very large garden zucchini with bigger seeds in the middle, I recommend getting rid of the seeds before grating. Cut it in half, scoop out the seeds, then shred the rest of the zucchini so you don’t end up with seeds or hard seed bits in your bars.

Most small zucchini squash you won’t have to worry about seeds, just the garden zucchinis that can get very large.

Can I make these zucchini bars lower in sugar?

Since we used maple syrup in this recipe, finding a good low sugar or sugar free sub is going to be more difficult than a granulated sugar substitute.

But you should be able to use a liquid sweetener like liquid allulose instead of maple syrup, or using half maple syrup and half allulose. There are also options like NuNaturals Simple Syrup, or the Wholesome Yum keto simple syrup. Just choose something that is more natural and avoid sugar alcohols if you have IBS.

stack of chocolate zucchini bars on parchment paper

Because we have not tested this recipe with other liquid sweeteners besides maple syrup, we can’t guarantee the results if you make this with a sugar free syrup. If you do try it, let us know how it turned out in the comments!

Cacao Bliss by Earth Echo Foods

We made our chocolate zucchini bars with the Cacao Bliss powder from Earth Echo Foods. Cacao Bliss is a multipurpose powder blend that combines cocoa powder, cacao powder, and superfood ingredients like turmeric, black pepper fruit, lucuma, and mesquite powder.

bag of cacao bliss powder on a black cooling rack

Cacao Bliss powder is great for making things like drinks (think hot cocoa or healthy frappes), protein bites, smoothies, and baked goods like these zucchini bars.

If you have food allergies, Cacao Bliss is a great option since it’s not only USDA organic and non-GMO, but it’s also gluten free, dairy free, soy free, vegan, and keto friendly!

Want to try Cacao Bliss yourself? Get 15% off Earth Echo Foods with code COOKIE.

image with text and coupon code for cacao bliss: get 15% off earth echo orders with code COOKIE

Check out our other recipes made with Cacao Bliss:

Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Bars (Dairy Free)

These moist gluten free Chocolate Zucchini Bars are perfect for lunch box snacks and they are a fun way to use late summer zucchini. Our zucchini bars have delicious warm spices like cloves, and are made with whole grains, are naturally sweetened, and are top 8 free.
Gluten free, vegan; Free of: dairy, soy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts (except coconut sugar)
3.67 from 3 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Snacks
Cuisine: American
Keyword: chocolate zucchini bars, gluten free zucchini bars
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Servings: 9 servings
Calories: 239kcal

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8×8-inch baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.
  • Shred a zucchini and measure 1 cup of shreds (not packed) and place in a medium bowl (save some dishes by shredding directly into a measuring bowl until you have 1 cup). Set aside.
    If you have a very large zucchini with bigger seeds in the middle, cut it in half, scoop out the seeds, then shred the rest of the zucchini so you don't end up with big seeds in your bars.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together the sorghum flour, quick oats, ground flaxseed, Cacao Bliss, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and cloves. Set aside.
  • To the zucchini shreds in the bowl, stir in the maple syrup, oil, dairy free milk, and vanilla.
  • Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and allow the batter to rest for 3 minutes to thicken a bit.
  • Stir the batter again, and pour into the prepared baking pan.
  • Bake for 28 to 30 minutes, checking the center with a toothpick. It should come out mostly clean, but since this is moist, there might be some moist crumbs that come out with the toothpick.
  • Allow the bars to cool before cutting. For best cutting results, allow to cool at least 20 minutes before cutting.
  • Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Nutrition

Calories: 239kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 1g | Sodium: 138mg | Potassium: 181mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 16g | Vitamin A: 41IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 66mg | Iron: 1mg
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4 thoughts on “Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Bars (Dairy Free)”

  1. 1 star
    I really wanted these to be good. They were chewy but not really in a good way. And not very tasty I ended up putting frosting on them to give them some flavor. I was disappointed.

    Reply
    • I’m sorry these turned out chewy for you Linda, can I ask what kind of flour you used or if you made any substitutions to help us pinpoint what might have gone wrong? If you used a flour with xanthan gum in this recipe (rather than the sorghum flour or brown rice flour) they might end up gummy/chewy in texture.

      Reply
        • Thank you for sharing that info, it might be the combination of flaxseed and oats in this recipe then. I don’t mind it in recipes but some people really dislike it in our recipes so it might be a good idea to reduce the amount of flaxseed in this recipe. I tested this recipe multiple times before posting, but I’ll try this again and see if I can replicate the chewiness you mentioned.

          Reply

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