Zucchini Bread

This is by far everyone’s most favorite zucchini bread recipe! It’s filled with shredded zucchini, carrots, and we prefer adding crunchy walnuts—just like mom used to make!

This is the version of zucchini bread I make most often, but if I want a lighter version, I’ll whip up this Healthy Zucchini Bread. Or if I want a little citrus twist, Lemon Zucchini Bread is another favorite.

sliced zucchini bread on a cooling rack

Mom’s Famous Zucchini Bread

The other day I was fixing for something semi-healthy to make… sans chocolate. So the first thing that came to my mind was zucchini bread. It’s one of my favorite breads to bake other than banana bread.

Growing up, my mom would make zucchini bread for us all of the time and it was definitely something I always looked forward to eating. It has a great texture thanks to all the grated vegetables, and a subtly sweet flavor with the perfect hint of cinnamon. My favorite was when she would make it into muffins—the perfect snack!

After I had put the loaves into the oven I sent her a text to let her know what I was baking. She replied with, “made some yesterday.” Great minds?

Ingredient Tips

Carrot: The addition of carrot in this recipe adds a little extra texture to the batter. You can omit the carrot, however, and add an additional ¼ c of zucchini. 

Flour: All purpose flour works better than bread flour for this recipe. You can try using whole wheat flour to make it a little healthier, but you might have to leave more moisture in the zucchini so that it balances out the drier flour.

Walnuts: The nuts are totally optional, and you can choose to either incorporate them in the batter or sprinkle them on top before baking 

all the ingredients needed for zucchini bread recipe

Baking with Zucchini

How to shred zucchini? A lot of people prefer to grate the zucchini with a simple box grater. This is effective and simple enough to do.

How many zucchini? There are about 1.5 cups of grated zucchini in each zucchini. 

Do you peel zucchini? Since you’ll be grating the zucchini it isn’t necessary to also peel it, you want those green specks in your bread. Its what makes zucchini bread, zucchini bread!

Can I shred zucchini in a blender? It isn’t recommended that you use a food processor or blender because it blends it up too soft and won’t give the bread the structure it needs. 

Using frozen zucchini? You can use frozen zucchini, you just need to let it defrost completely and then again squeeze all of your excess water out. It doesn’t have the same fresh taste that fresh zucchini has, so be aware of that.

Squeezing water out of zucchini? Zucchini naturally has a lot of water which gives this bread a moist consistency. It is a good idea, though, to squeeze out any excess moisture after shredding the zucchini. You can either let the zucchini sit in a bowl for a couple of minutes and watch the water seep out, or you can place it in a cheesecloth/thin towel and squeeze the extra water out.

zucchini bread batter in a mixing bowl

How to Make Zucchini Bread

PREP. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 8X4 loaf pans (I prefer PAM baking spray) or line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.

BATTER. In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs. Mix in sugar, oil, zucchini, carrot and vanilla. Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt. One cup at a time, gently fold into wet ingredients and stir.

(Note: Add nuts to mixture or divide batter and pour into pans, sprinkling nuts on top.)

BAKE. Bake loaves for 60 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean (muffins take 20-25 minutes).

mom's zucchini bread recipe in a loaf pan and muffin tin

Additions/Variations

There are so many ways to change this recipe up…

  • Chocolate chips: Add in 1-2 cups of chocolate chips. Any type of chocolate chips will do just fine.
  • Chocolate zucchini bread: You can add in ⅓ cup cocoa powder to the batter. We prefer using Dutch-process cocoa because we like that flavor the best.
  • Gluten free: Use gluten free all purpose flour.
  • Lemon: Incorporate 2 tsps of lemon zest to get that bright and fresh lemony flavor.
  • Blueberry: Add in a cup of fresh blueberries and gently fold them in before baking.
  • Pumpkin: Add in 1 cup of canned pumpkin puree and 3 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice.

What’s your favorite way to change up this delicious bread recipe?

zucchini bread muffins on a cooling rack

Troubleshooting & Storing

Why does my zucchini bread sink in the middle? Sometimes bread sinks in the middle because the batter was over-mixed. Breads without yeast need to be just combined. Another culprit could be how much batter is inside the pan. If the pan is overfilled, the bread will sink in the middle; you should only half fill the pans.

How do you fix soggy zucchini bread? If your zucchini bread is too soggy its probably because you left too much liquid in the shredded zucchini. You want to make sure that you squeeze out the zucchinis well enough so that your bread can cook thoroughly.

How to make it moist? The tricky thing with zucchini bread is that you want it to have enough moisture from the zucchinis, but not too much that it makes the bread too wet. I suggest making sure that you remove the excess water in the zucchini but don’t let the zucchini be terribly dry.

You can STORE zucchini bread at room temperature for 2-3 days with it being totally fine. You need to place it in the fridge if it is still around after day 3. Either way, make sure it is tightly wrapped and covered.  

closeup of mom's zucchini bread

For more delicious zucchini recipes, try:

Did you try this recipe? Leave a ⭐️ rating below and share it on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest!

Zucchini Bread Recipe

This is by far everyone's most favorite zucchini bread recipe! It's filled with shredded zucchini, carrots, and we prefer adding crunchy walnuts—just like mom used to make!
5 from 1 vote
Pin Rate
Course: Bread
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings: 24 slices
Calories: 228kcal
Author: Andrea
Print Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 cup sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 cup zucchini - grated
  • 1/4 cup carrot - grated (optional)
  • 3 tsp vanilla
  • 3 cup flour
  • 1 tbsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 cup walnuts - optional

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Grease two 8X4 loaf pans (I prefer PAM baking spray) or line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.
  • In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs. Mix in sugar, oil, zucchini, carrot and vanilla.
  • Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt. One cup at a time, gently fold into wet ingredients and stir.
  • Add nuts to mixture or divide batter and pour into pans, sprinkling nuts on top.
  • Bake loaves for 60 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean (muffins take 20-25 minutes).

NOTES

You can leave out the carrot and add an additional ¼ of grated zucchini.

Nutrition

Serving: 24serving | Calories: 228kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 20mg | Sodium: 159mg | Potassium: 66mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 17g | Vitamin A: 273IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 13mg | Iron: 1mg

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About the Author

Andrea

Hi I'm Andrea!

Hotelier turned Food Blogger to help make your life simple, one recipe at a time.

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