This carob zucchini bread makes a delicious AIP dessert. It's easy to make. It's the perfect way to use up some zucchini!
Last week I published a very French recipe, a savory zucchini bread: Zucchini and tuna bread (Coconut free, AIP, paleo). This was pretty new to many of my international readers, more used to sweet zucchini breads recipes. So this week, will be the exact opposite of last week. Those who were intrigued by my zucchini and tuna bread recipe won’t be impressed by this carob zucchini bread, whereas, French people will be intrigued by this sweet zucchini bread. 😂
I love this! That’s the beauty of culture differences!! So much, that, as a French girl, I literally had to do my research on sweet zucchini breads because I've never tried one before creating this recipe. So I really hope that it will be up to your expectations, as I have absolutely no comparison.
Only thing I can tell you, is that I think this recipe is delicious (otherwise, I wouldn’t have published it 😅). But I can’t tell you if it tastes like the real thing. So if you are a “connaisseur” of sweet zucchini breads do not hesitate to let me know what you think about this recipe.
Ingredient notes
Zucchini
Do not peel the zucchini before grating (leave the skin on). And do not drain out, or squeeze out any of the liquid from the zucchini as you will need all the moisture from the zucchini to make the dough.
Tigernut flour
This recipe uses tigernut flour (or almond flour for those who are not on AIP).
If you are on AIP and still in the elimination phase, unfortunately there are no possible substitution for the tigernut flour. Why? Because all the other AIP compliant flours have very different texture and they all need their own amount of liquid. So it is not possible to replace the tigernut flour with another flour without altering the entire recipe.
Arrowroot
Arrowroot is a starch. If you are not cassava intolerant, you can substitute it with tapioca starch (also called tapioca flour). Other possible substitutions, only if you are not on AIP nor Paleo diets: you can use potato starch or corn starch instead of arrowroot.
Maple syrup
If you want to reduce the maple syrup quantity in this recipe, I suggest replacing it by same quantity of oil, water or coconut milk.
Carob powder
Carob powder is an AIP compliant cacao powder alternative. It is made from dried, roasted carob tree pods. It has a lighter flavour than cacao powder. It tastes a little bit like caramel.
How to make this
In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients (tigernut flour, arrow root, baking soda and carob powder).
In a separate bowl, combine all the wet ingredients (maple syrup, olive oil, vanilla extract, apple cider vinegar and grated zucchini). Stir.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix with a spoon until well combined. As you keep mixing with your spoon, the humidity of the grated zucchini will allow you to form a dough.
Line or lightly oil a rectangular 4 x 8 inches (10 x 20 cm) baking tin and transfer the batter into the tin.
Bake for about 30 minutes for the loaf. To make sure that it is cooked, insert a thin bladed knife into the centre of the zucchini bread, the knife should come out clean. And voilà! Wait for it to cool down before removing from the tin. Serve at room temperature.
Can I make muffins instead of a loaf / bread?
Yes! You can make this, either as a loaf or muffins. Just bake the muffins for about 20 minutes (instead of 30 minutes).
Other recipes using zucchini
- Zucchini and tuna bread (Coconut free, AIP, paleo)
- Zucchini and pesto muffins (AIP, paleo, vegan)
- Zucchini and apple juice
- Cold zucchini soup (AIP, paleo, vegan)
- Zucchini noodles with pesto (gluten free, paleo)
- Double chocolate zucchini bread (Paleo, vegan)
Carob zucchini bread (Coconut free, AIP, paleo)
Ingredients
- 200 g grated zucchini
- 150 g tigernut flour (if you are not on AIP nor nut intolerant, you can use almond flour instead of tigernut flour)
- 50 g arrowroot (see notes)
- 4 Tbsp carob powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 60 ml maple syrup (see notes if you want to reduce quantity)
- 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice)
- 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil (or coconut oil)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 360° F (180° C)
- In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients (tigernut flour, arrow root, baking soda and carob powder).
- In a separate bowl, combine all the wet ingredients (maple syrup, olive oil, vanilla extract, apple cider vinegar and grated zucchini). Stir.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix with a spoon until well combined. As you keep mixing with your spoon, the humidity of the grated zucchini will allow you to form a dough.
- Line or lightly oil a rectangular 4 x 8 inches (10 x 20 cm) baking tin and transfer the batter into the tin. Or choose a muffin pan if you want to make muffins instead of a loaf.
- Bake for about 30 minutes for the loaf (or for about 20 minutes for the muffins). To make sure that it is cooked, insert a thin bladed knife into the centre of the zucchini bread, the knife should come out clean (see notes for further tips). And voilà! Wait for it to cool down before removing from the tin. Serve at room temperature.Bon appétit !
Notes
- Although I spend quite a lot of time converting all my recipes to cups (yes, manually, in my kitchen!) I highly recommend using a scale and measuring for weight rather than using cups. The reason for this is, apart from the whole debate on accuracy, the density of certain gluten free flours and starches differ a lot from one brand to another. Also keep in mind that all cups are not the same size all around the world which makes another good reason to use a scale so you won’t get this issue.
- If you are not cassava intolerant, you can use tapioca flour instead of arrowroot. Both are AIP compliant. If you are not on the AIP diet you can use potato or corn starch instead of arrowroot.
- If you want to reduce the maple syrup quantity, I suggest replacing it by same quantity of oil, water or coconut milk.
- Tigernut flour has the tendancy to dry out when overcooked. Just a few more minutes in the oven can change your carob zucchini bread texture. So I recommend being careful not to overcook it. Personnaly, I like it when it is just a tiny bit undercooked. But as usual, it's a question of personal preferences.
- Please keep in mind that the nutritional information is calculated using a nutrition facts calculator. It is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
Rupa
Can we skip maple syrup for this recipe? I want to keep it on low sugar.
gohealthywithbea
Bonjour Rupa! Yes, you can substitute maple syrup with the same quantity of water. Though, you might want to add a pinch of cinnamon or a little bit more carob or vanilla to compensate the lack of flavor given by maple syrup.
K Linderman
The best baked AIP recipe I’ve tried. It actually tastes like chocolate cake.
gohealthywithbea
Oh thank you for taking the time to tell me that you loved it. I'm so happy to hear that!! 🥰
Rupa
Can we omit maple syrup in this recipe? Or do we need to substitute for unsweetened coconut milk?
gohealthywithbea
You can substitute maple syrup for any kind of liquid (unsweetened coconut milk, water or oil).
Casey
This was very easy to make and super delicious!!! It will definitely be a regular for me, especially now since I’ve got so many zucchini ripe from the garden. I wonder if it would freeze nicely! Thanks for the wonderful recipe!
gohealthywithbea
Bonjour Casey. I’m very happy to hear that you loved my recipe. Thank you so much!!! To answer your question, yes you can freeze it. Whenever I bake banana or zucchini bread I slice it, put it in a freezer bag or container and put it in the freezer so I can take a slice whenever I want.
Julie
Thank you for this recipe - I'm doing AIP without coconut or avocado, so finding recipes for baked goods can be a challenge! I'm looking forward to making it again with zucchini.
I tried it using plum flesh instead of the zucchini (because I have loooots of plums and can only eat so much jam!), thinking it'd be a similar water content, and the flavor seemed a good fit (also subbing cassava flour for the arrowroot, another no-no-for me)... however, after two hours in the oven only the first 1/4-1/2 inch all around was 'baked'... and it flattened totally. It's tasty, though! (although next time I'd add a few more spices to balance the plum).
So I'm just slicing thinly and 'toasting' each one to try to finish 'cooking' the middle of the slices, and it's working well enough, and a nice treat in the afternoons. I'm looking forward to trying some of your others, like the tuna-bread, what an awesome idea!
If you have an idea how to tweak it (or another recipe) to make a 'plum bread', I'd be delighted - I have lots more plums!
gohealthywithbea
Bonjour Julie. Thank you for reaching out ! I'm alsways happy to hear about my readers' experience with my recipes.
First of all, if you can't have arrowroot, you should use tapioca starch (also called tapioca flour) instead of arrowroot. Not cassava flour.
Then, if you want to use plums, you could probably make my gingerbread muffins recipe. Although I have never tried it, I think it could work to use plum flesh instead of pumpkin purée.
You could also try to make a French plum pie (or tart). For this, you can check my apple pie recipe. Instead of the applesauce and apples, just put plums. Cut the plums in half, remove the seed and place the plums halves cut side down on the crust.
Hope this will be helpful. Let me know if you try any of these.
Chrissy
I just made these and the flavour is great! I will definetly make it again. I made my recipe into muffins and it made 12. My only complaint /question is that these turned out super crumbly. They fall apart when I touch them. I used my kitchen scale to make the recipe. Perhaps a gelatin egg or applesauce/banana could be used as a binder? Or maybe add a bit more oil?
I'll play around with the moisture as I'm sure I'll make these again.
Diane
Loved it! Deliciousness all wrapped up in a quick bread that doesn’t taste like AIP. It tastes real! Warmed it up a bit in toaster oven and topped with fresh berries for a great dessert.
gohealthywithbea
Bonjour Diane! OMG!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you! ❤️❤️❤️ I’m so happy to hear that. That’s what keeps me motivated.
Lisa
thank you so much BEA!!! I make these as muffins and they make AIP bearable. YUM!!! My non AIP friends even like them.
gohealthywithbea
Bonjour Lisa. Thank you so much for telling me this! You made my day. I just wish you could see the huge smile on my face right now ❤️❤️❤️
Lorie
What an unexpected treat! I was looking for a recipe to use up my tigernut flour and zucchini and came across your recipe. The texture is wonderful with just the right amount of sweetness. Didn’t feel like I was sacrificing at all. Thank you!
gohealthywithbea
Bonjour Lorie. Thank you so much for taking the time to write this wonderful comment!! You would'nt believe how much this means to me ❤️
RICHELLE HAWLEY
Bea! I've made a couple of your recipes so far but I think this one is my favorite! SO delicious and I even substituted a little bit of water for the maple syrup and it was still so good.
Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to come up with all of these!
gohealthywithbea
Bonjour Richelle. Happy to hear from you again! Thank you for taking the time to tell me this. It’s so motivating!! 🥰
Amy
I know in some recipes with grated zucchini, the extra water needs to be squeezed out of it. Do I need to do that with this or leave all the extra moisture in the grated zucchini?
gohealthywithbea
Bonjour Amy. Do NOT squeeze the extra water off the zucchini, you absolutely need the extra moisture from it. Let me know how it turns out for you, I’m always happy to hear about your experience. Bon appétit!
Lizzie
Tasty, but really crumbly! Maybe will try in lined muffin cups next time
Lisa
It’s so good! It is AMAZING eaten warm with a little drizzle of canned coconut milk poured on top. Yum!!! I’ve made this twice now. 1st time was crumbly & dry but still so good I ate it all! This time I added an extra 1/2 tsp baking soda which helped it to rise more. I added about 2 oz of unsweetened apple sauce to hold it together & added some moisture. I had to cook it an additional 15 minutes then left it in the hot oven door open. So 45 minutes in a glass loaf pan. Thank you for the recipe!!
gohealthywithbea
Bonjour Lisa. Happy to hear from you again. Thank you for your feedback! ❤️ Take care
Lisa
Hi,
I really want to try and make this recipe because i have a lot of zucchini and this is the only recipe i can find without coconut. The only problem is I don't have a scale that measures in grams and i cant get this page to switch to the cups option. I have tried many different ways to get it to work: on my phone, restarting my phone, on my laptop...it's just not working.
While i'm at it, is there another flour I could substitute for the carob? I'm all out at the moment and none of my stores sell it so i can't just go pick it up.
Thanks!
gohealthywithbea
Hi Lisa.
Thank you very much for reaching out. Apparently there is a bug that I discovered thanks to you! I can't open the cups conversion on my phone either. But I can open it on my computer, using chrome browser. I just contacted the support desk of my recipe card so hopefully they will be able to help me solve this. In the meantime here are the cups measurements :
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup + 1/3 cup tigernut flour (if you are not on AIP nor nut intolerant, you can use almond flour instead of tigernut flour)
1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp arrowroot (see notes)
4 Tbsp carob powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup maple syrup (see notes if you want to reduce quantity)
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice)
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil (or coconut oil)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Carob powder here is used for flavor not as a flour. So I guess instead of carob powder you can use apple sauce or mashed banana to give your zucchini bread some flavor. Or you can try some of my savory zucchini breads (you will find all the links to my other zucchini recipes right above the recipe card). Let me know what you decide!