Protein Packed Chocolate Zucchini Bread

I already have a zucchini bread recipe sweetened with dates. You can click here for that recipe. But I was out of dates, and I wanted something higher protein so that it would be macro friendly and a great after workout treat.  I only use bananas and liquid stevia to sweeten this bread so it’s more of an every day bread rather than a high sugar once in a while treat. I used my favorite beef collagen to pack in a protein punch.

There are so many benefits to collagen:

• good for your joints
• beneficial against “leaky gut”
• quality protein
• good for your hair and nails
• immune support

I ended up making it chocolate… surprise right?! Over half my recipes are probably chocolate. If chocolate was a “love language” it would be mine. Just give me some chocolate and I’m one happy girl.

Here is my recipe of Protein Packed Zucchini bread.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups (packed tight) oat flour (preferably organic gluten free)
• 1/4 cup beef collagen I buy it at Thrive Market. I have yet to find it cheaper anywhere else.! You can experiment with other protein powders at your own risk. 😉 See notes below ***
• 1/2 tsp baking powder (preferably aluminum free but I make my own. see notes below**)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp sea salt  I buy our Redmonds Real Sea Salt at Thrive Market.
• 4 TBS raw organic cacao powder
• dash of ginger or a bit of fresh grated ginger (I used fresh since I had some on hand)
• 1 TBS cinnamon
• 2 medium size VERY ripe bananas (the riper, the sweeter)
• 1 farm fresh egg
• 2 cups of grated zucchini
• 1 TBS coconut oil 
• 2 tsp liquid stevia (you could also use a couple TBS of organic maple syrup or raw honey) You can buy all these sweeteners on Thrive Market.
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (with no high fructose corn syrup added)

Directions:

I like to blend everything up in my food processor but if you don’t have one just use two bowls. Mix dry ingredients in one bowl and wet ingredients in the other. Then add the dry to the wet and mix until thoroughly blended.

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease Pyrex glass bread loaf pan with coconut oil.
3. Place all liquids into the food processor (zucchini, banana, egg, coconut oil, liquid stevia, and vanilla extract). Blend until smooth.
4. Add all the dry ingredients (oat flour, cacoa powder, collagen, baking soda, baking powder, sea salt, ginger, and cinnamon) and blend with wet ingredients until thoroughly mixed. You may need to scrape some off the side of the food processor from time to time.
5. Pour the blended mixture into your greased loaf pan.
6. Bake for about 45 to 50 minutes (until toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cooked bread).
7. Enjoy!

This bread is not super sweet. I like to add homemade almond butter on top of a slice. Sometimes I also add raspberries (frozen in the photo below) and walnuts. Mmmm… If you have a real sweet tooth (or your are fighting a scratchy sore throat like I am right now) you can add a little raw honey on top of the almond butter. Perfection!

I also like the bread more the next day rather than when it’s fresh out of the oven. I store it covered in my fridge once it has cooled.

I would say you want to eat it in the next 3-4 days, otherwise you can freeze what you don’t think you will eat and save it for later. If I freeze it I cut it into slices and separate them with parchment paper so I can take out a slice at a time to defrost the day before I want to eat it. This bread usually goes pretty fast in my house though so I rarely freeze it.

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**I make my own baking powder and it’s super easy. Just mix 2 parts cream of tartar to 1 part baking soda (for example 2 TBS cream of tartar with 1 TBS baking soda). I usually make a cup of it and store for later.

***UPDATE: Just an FYI. I have often substituted whey protein in place of collagen in recipes and they have turned out great… a little different consistency but good. My friend asked if she could sub her protein powder for the collagen and I said YES! Well, she subbed it out and used a couple of TBS of honey to sweeten in and the bread didn’t rise well. It tasted good… but was a “thin brick” rather than a loaf. So make substitutions at your own risk. 😉