Once those monstrous green zucchini start to dominate the gardens and farmers markets, it’s zucchini bread season! Though honestly, we eat it any time of year. This nostalgic recipe is a total classic: sweet, moist, and scented with cinnamon and brown sugar. What could be more comforting, cut into a thick slice and slathered with salted butter? Here’s our favorite base recipe for this popular quick bread, and a few of our top variations (dark chocolate and iced lemon, if you must know!).
Ingredients in this zucchini bread recipe
This zucchini bread recipe is straightforward and classic: no secret ingredients or tricks! However, there are a few things that make this one stand out. A combination of butter and olive oil make a moist bread with an even crumb, and a mix of brown and white sugar gives nuance in the flavor. Here’s what you’ll need:
Zucchini All-purpose flour Unsalted butter Neutral oil Brown sugar and granulated sugar Eggs Milk Vanilla extract Baking powder and baking soda Cinnamon Salt
Tips for baking zucchini bread
This zucchini bread is simple to make and requires little technique: mix up the wet and dry ingredients, combine, and bake! However, there are a few things to make a “perfect” loaf that we’ve found over the years:
Use an aluminum baking pan for best results. Ceramic and glass pans don’t cook as evenly for quick breads. Use aluminum if you can! We recommend a 9-inch loaf pan, but you can use an 8-inch pan too: just increase the bake time slightly. Don’t overmix! This is extremely important with a zucchini bread. Overmixing a quick bread batter leads to holes in the texture of the crumb. Mix until the batter is combined and there are no dry spots remaining. Don’t overbake. Overbaking makes for a dry bread. Pull the bread just when a toothpick comes out clean, about 55 to 65 minutes. The internal temperature should be between 200°F and 205°F.
Mix-ins
Want to add some texture to your zucchini bread? You can mix in up to 1 cup of mix-ins. It’s also nice to sprinkle a bit of the mix-ins across the top, if you have enough. Here are a few ideas:
Chocolate chips, semi sweet or dark chocolate Walnuts, toasted if possible Pecans, toasted if possible Dried cranberries
Zucchini bread variations
There are so many ways to mix up zucchini bread! While we love the classic version, there are a few that we love even more. Here are our top zucchini bread variations:
Chocolate Zucchini Bread: It’s dark, rich and moist, with generous sprinkles of chips! Go to Chocolate Zucchini Bread recipe. Lemon Zucchini Bread: Zingy and bright, it’s topped with a citrusy lemon glaze. Go to Lemon Zucchini Bread. Chocolate Zucchini Muffins: Bake up that chocolate bread into muffins in half the time! Go to Chocolate Zucchini Muffins. Zucchini Muffins: Try the bread recipe below as muffins: pour into 12 lined muffin cups and bake at 375°F for 20 to 25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Or try these Easy Zucchini Muffins or Apple Zucchini Muffins.
How to store zucchini bread
What’s the best way to store zucchini bread? Here are a few different ways:
Room temperature (up to 3 days): If you think you’ll eat the bread quickly, store it at room temperature and cover it with aluminum foil. Refrigerated (1 week): Refrigerating the bread helps it to stay fresher longer. You can eat it cold, or let it come to room temperature before serving. Frozen (up to 3 months): To extend the life even further, pop your sliced bread into the freezer in a sealed container. It can last at least 3 months, or maybe more. We like doing this with half of the loaf, and keeping the other half out at room temperature.
More zucchini recipes
There are so many fun ways to eat this green vegetable! Here are a few more zucchini recipes to try:
Go for Stuffed Zucchini Boats Bake up a Perfect Zucchini Lasagna or or a pan of Zucchini Brownies Mix up Creamy Zucchini Pasta Make Grilled Zucchini Whiz up a Zucchini Smoothie
This zucchini bread recipe is…
Vegetarian. No reviews
