Our Best Ever Zucchini Bread recipe is a MUST TRY! This popular zucchini quick bread recipe is easy to make and has the perfect blend of delicious spices.
This moist zucchini bread recipe is a great way to use up all those zucchini from your garden. This delicious zucchini bread is packed with so many delicious ingredients and it tastes amazing!
Easy Zucchini Bread
Zucchini Bread is the perfect way to use up all that zucchini in the garden! My squash plants have not been as fruitful this year, but even so, I suddenly find myself with a lot of zucchini! As a matter of fact, I look forward to it each year so that I can fill my freezer with loaves of this delicious zucchini bread. I can’t remember where the original recipe came from, but I have changed it over the years. This produces the Best Ever Zucchini Bread. Try it- you will love it.
Moist Zucchini Bread Ingredients
- Sugar: You will need 1 cup white sugar and 1 cup brown sugar to add a bit of sweetness to this bread.
- Eggs: Use 3 eggs to help bind the dough together well for this recipe.
- Vegetable oil: Using 1 cup vegetable oil (you can substitute applesauce for ½ the oil) will help give great moisture to this treat.
- Vanilla extract: You need 3 teaspoons vanilla extract to help enhance all the wonderful flavors.
- Flour: Use 3 cups all-purpose flour for the base of this bread recipe.
- Seasonings: You will need 1 tsp nutmeg, 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon and 1 teaspoon salt for a perfect combination of flavors in this delicious bread.
- Leavening agents: Using 1 teaspoon baking powder and 1 teaspoon baking soda will help the bread to rise properly.
- Zucchini: You need 2 cups grated zucchini for an amazing blend of sweet and savory flavors (you can add a little more, I always do!)
- Nuts: Use 1 cup chopped walnuts for a wonderful balance of crunchy texture in this recipe.
How to Make Zucchini Bread
Prep
Grease two 8 x 4 inch bread pans or 6 mini loaf plans, set aside.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Bread dough
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg and cinnamon.
Next, in a separate small bowl, beat the eggs, oil, vanilla extract, and sugars together.
Then, add the wet ingredients to the large bowl of dry ingredients and stir until combined.
After that, grate the zucchini using a box grater.
Add to the dough mixture, along with the nuts, until well combined.
Proceed to pour the batter into the prepared pans.
Bake
Place bread into the oven and bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. My mini-loaf pans take about 35-40 minutes. Large sized loaves take about 55 minutes.
When done cooking, cool in the pan on rack a for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.
Slice, serve & enjoy! Remember: quick bread is generally EVEN BETTER TASTING the next day! So make a loaf in the evening, then enjoy it for breakfast the next day!
How to know if the bread is done
Your bread should register about 200 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer to ensure that it has been cooked fully. Not only that but the top should appear to be a nice golden brown color and as the bread cools, it shouldn’t sink, but should instead remain well-shaped with a rounded top.
BEST BREAD PAN?
I bake a lot of bread and the pans I prefer are either ceramic, glass or cast iron. These pans will bake bread more evenly and release the bread more easily after baking. I don’t like using dark or nonstick pans because the bread cooks unevenly. It darkens on the outside before the bread is cooked on the inside, so the coloring is uneven. Read more about which bread pan is the best here!
Easy Zucchini Bread
Ingredients
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup vegetable oil you can substitute applesauce for 1/2 the oil
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups grated zucchini you can add a little more, I always do!
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Grease two 8 x 4 inch pans or 6 mini loaf plans. Preheat oven to 325°F.
- In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg and cinnamon.
- Next, in a separate small bowl, beat the eggs, oil, vanilla extract, and sugars together.
- Then, add the wet ingredients to the large bowl of dry ingredients and stir until combined.
- After that, grate the zucchini using a box grater. Add to the bread batter, along with the nuts, until well combined. Let batter sit 5-10 minutes.
- Proceed to pour the batter into the prepared pans.
- Place bread into the oven and bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. My mini-loaf pans take about 35-40 minutes. Large sized loaves take about 55 minutes. (See below for my method on making sure loaves are completely cooked!)
- When done cooking, cool in the pan on rack a for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool. Slice, serve and enjoy!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Easy Zucchini Bread Recipe FAQ
I plan on 1 zucchini for each cup of grated zucchini needed in a recipe. Of course, this varies being as zucchini come in all sizes. Zucchini in the grocery store range from small to medium sized.
There’s no need to peel the zucchini prior to grating it for zucchini bread. The dark green peel is very soft so it bakes well and adds vitamins, nutrients and even a bit of color to the bread.
I prefer to grate the zucchini as opposed to shredding it so that bits of green peel remain in tact. They contribute toward the popular look of zucchini bread! Shredding the zucchini causes the zucchini to nearly disappear once the bread is baked. Both will work though! I know when my kids were young, I hid vegetables in baked goods often, so having them disappear was preferable!
Yes, you can squeeze out excess water from grated zucchini before adding it to your batter. Zucchini naturally has a lot of water in it. That becomes quite clear after grating it, if you simply leave it to rest for 5-10 minutes, the water will begin accumulating in the bowl! If I’m using garden zucchini, especially large ones, I like to squeeze as much out as possible before making it into zucchini bread. Store bought zucchini rarely has excess water.
Yes, you can make zucchini bread with yellow squash! You do need to scrape the seeds out since the seeds in yellow squash are much larger. Also, I find the skin to be more tough on yellow squash, so you can either peel the outside to remove the skin, or you can just grate it with a finer cheese grater.
Zucchini Bread should be stored on the counter top in an airtight container or ziplock bag. Keeping it in the fridge can dry it out over time.
Zucchini bread rises as a result of leavening ingredients in the bread recipe being exposed to two things, moisture and heat. We use eggs, baking soda and baking powder as leavening agents. Make sure your ingredients are not past their expiration date as stale ingredients can affect how much the bread rises.
Storing this Moist Zucchini Bread Recipe
After the bread has cooled, store it in a gallon size ziplock bag or similarly sized airtight container. We bake bread often, so I purchased bread bags and love them!
Can this recipe for zucchini bread be frozen?
I love freezing loaves of zucchini bread! How you prepare zucchini bread for freezing really depends on how long you intent to keep it frozen. If you just want to freeze it for a week or two, I’d wrap it in plastic wrap or foil and place the loaf in a large freezer ziplock bag. Most often, when I bake zucchini bread to freeze it, I’ll bake mini loaves so that they fit in the ziplock bag easier. If you want to freeze it for 2-6 months, I’d wrap it more securely, making sure it’s airtight and wrapping it in a double layer of foil or plastic wrap, then place it in a ziplock bag.
How do you make Healthy Zucchini Bread?
If you’d like to make a few changes to my recipe to make a healthier version of zucchini bread, I’ve got great news- this recipe is incredibly versatile! I suggest leaving out the 1 cup of white sugar, replacing half or all of the oil with apple sauce and using half whole wheat flour in place of all-purpose. Then you’ll have a traditional healthy zucchini bread recipe!
Can zucchini bread be made into muffins?
Zucchini bread muffins are our favorite muffins! Simply use my recipe above, then spoon 3 tablespoons of batter into each greased or lined muffin cup. Bake for 18-20 minutes. There are several benefits of making zucchini bread into muffins. First, I like that they cook faster! Where a full loaf of zucchini bread bakes for up to an hour, zucchini muffins bake for only 20 minutes, which is a fraction of the time. They’re also easy to freeze! I like to bake a batch of zucchini muffins and then freeze them just in a layer in a large ziplock freezer bag. I pull them out one or two at a time for breakfast. You can let them thaw on the countertop, or you can microwave them or toast them to heat them up. Yum!
Why does my zucchini bread fall in the middle?
Here’s how to help your zucchini bread not sink in the middle after it’s baked. This happens to me occasionally too! Often it’s because I’ve over mixed the batter. Quick bread (referring to a bread recipe that doesn’t use yeast) does not like to be stirred too much, so try to just barely mix all the ingredients together. Another culprit could be overfilling the pan. The bread pan should be only half full each time. The recipe below makes 2 loaves of bread, or you can make 1 loaf of bread and 3 mini loaves… or 6 mini loaves. As always, make sure your baking soda isn’t too old- it should only be on your shelf for 6-9 months before purchasing new. Lastly, make sure your bread is fully cooked. Uncooked batter in the middle of the loaf will cause bread to sink.
Your bread should register about 200 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer to ensure that it has been cooked fully. Not only that but the top should appear to be a nice golden brown color and as the bread cools, it shouldn’t sink, but should instead remain well-shaped with a rounded top.
More Zucchini Bread recipes:
- PINEAPPLE ZUCCHINI BREAD
- LEMON ZUCCHINI BREAD
- ORANGE ZUCCHINI BREAD
- PUDDING ZUCCHINI BREAD
- ZUCCHINI BANANA BREAD
- ZUCCHINI SHEET CAKE WITH BROWNED BUTTER ICING
- EASY ZUCCHINI CAKE
- LEMON ZUCCHINI MUFFINS
- ZUCCHINI BREAD CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
- LEMON ZUCCHINI BREAD COOKIES
More amazing quick bread recipes that we love:
- Easy Banana Bread
- Sweet Coconut Quick Bread
- Easy Lemon Quick Bread
- Yogurt Banana Bread recipe
- Dutch Apple Quick Bread
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Quick Bread
- Caramel Banana Nut Bread
- Best Ever Pumpkin Bread
- Lemon Buttermilk Quick Bread
- Caramel Apple Quick Bread
- Cinnamon Raisin Quick Bread
- Peppermint Chocolate Quick Bread
- Cranberry Orange Quick Bread
- Cinnamon Roll Quick Bread
This recipe for easy zucchini bread has been in my family for years, it’s easy to make and you’ll love the blend of spices used. Read the reviews- it’s popular for a reason! It really is the perfect zucchini quick bread recipe.
Peggy Harvey says
At first I thought it seemed a bit dry, but honestly this recipe is really delicious and it freezes great! I wasn’t sure if I should pack the zucchini or just kinda place it in the measuring cup, which is what I did. I’m going to make it again tomorrow and pack the zuchinni. It may be a little more moist with even more zucchini flavor. Yum!!
Jessica says
Peggy, if you let the zucchini bread batter sit for 15-20 minutes, more moisture will release from the zucchini and it will be more moist too! 😉
Lindsay Ott says
Great recipe! Made muffins and had to add about 10 minutes to the suggested time. But I also made the “healthier” changes so that could have affected the baking time. Will use this recipe often!!!
Jessica says
So glad you like it Lindsay!
Jennifer says
Excellent! I’ve been using this recipe for the past 2 years. I’m celiac so I use Namaste Gluten Free flour instead and I put a brown sugar crust on top. All my friends and family love it and they’re not even celiac/gf.
Alison says
Thank you so much for sharing, Jennifer! It is always good to know which recipes work when being made to be gluten free! I’m so glad you can enjoy this one!
Christine Eastman says
Best ever zucchini bread. My family said I’ve never a better bread!! Thanks for the recipe! The brown sugar makes it great.
Alison says
Thank you so much Christine! I hope you and your family continue to enjoy it!
TF says
I think I did a booboo! I’ve never had a recipe mess up on me so badly as with this one. It’s probably because I used demerera sugar instead of brown sugar. Post-fiasco I finally researched the differences between all the sugars only to find out that demerera sugar not only has larger crystals, which makes a cup of it less sweet than a cup of brown sugar, it also has much less moisture content than brown sugar. That all probably explains the cookie dough batter I ended up with when I combined the wet and dry ingredients and the less than stellar tasting loaf that resulted.
Wait, how’d you manage to make it a loaf you ask? Well, I took a risk and loosened the whole thing with almost a cup of water to make it easiernto work with. I’m not sure how much of a no-no that is in baking as I’m not a big baker but it ended up working out. I also didn’t squeeze any of the excess water out of the zucchini so all that meant texturewise, the loaf was on point! It just tasted so terribly bland so I ended up doing a sugar glaze to help boost the sweetness.
So any one thinking of using demerera sugar, be aware you could end up with cookie dough batter. Also probably add in some of the white sugar from the recipe as I cut that out completely.
I won’t give a rating since I don’t think it would be fair considering I messed up the recipe. But I thought I’d leave this review for anyone considering demerera sugar instead of brown sugar. Approach with caution!
Jessica says
Wow, sounds like quite the adventure! : )
Alyssa says
This is a solid recipe and I like that it calls for a lot of zucchini (I had an oversized one that was hiding and evading harvest, as zucchinis tend to do). I’ll definitely be making it again. The only deviation I made was to cut the sugar by half – I usually find that quick bread recipes call for too much sugar for my taste – and it was still quite sweet!
Jessica says
Glad you adjusted it to fit your liking Alyssa! : )
Jessica Giddings says
This is my go to recipe for zucchini bread. I mistakenly made a different one, and tossed all three loaves out.
The only thing I adjust, is the cinnamon. I add 2 tablespoons.
It truly is the very best, and I get consistent results.
Thank you for sharing it . I’m not skilled in the baking department,
And with this recipe, you wouldn’t know .
Jessica
Jessica says
So glad to hear you love it Jessica!!
Ellen says
Can you use almond flour in place of regular flour and use butter in place of oil to make it keto friendly ?
Jessica says
I’ve not tried your suggestions, but let me know how it turns out!
Lori E Aronson says
I made the absolutely BEST ZUCCHINI BREAD ever. To date 20 loaves. It is wonderful – just like the recipe says. My adult daughter and husband – as well as I – love this bread. I have furnished it for Sunday School and to friends. Everyone loves it. Thank you sooo much. It’s on the top of my recipe pile.
Alison says
Lori, 20 Loaves?! That is fantastic! I’m so glad you and your loved ones enjoy it as much as we do!
Tina says
I was very disappointed din this zucchini bread. There is way too much cinnamon in it and it seems dry to me.
I like a very moist bread.
Jessica says
Did you read my instructions about the water content of zucchini? Each one is fairly different, so I gave suggestions in the post.
Leslie Rogalski says
I have made this recipe three times and it remains the BEST! I follow it exactly (I use all vegetable oil not applesauce, no nuts) but use at least a cup more of grated zucchini. Peel the zucchini, scoop inside seed core, then food processor grate. Definitely squish out excess moisture from the zucchini, which is not stated in the recipe. I make 3 loaves from a single batch, filling 8 inch foil loaf pans a little over half way. It rises just fine to the rims with a nice crown. YUMMMMMMMM!!!!! PS: My muffin attempt was a tad drier, I may have overbaked a bit…but still good. And– it freezes well.
Tatiana says
The best I have ever baked !!!! Thanks!!!
nataliya Roberge says
made it. so loved that I will keep this recipe above the others!!
Brittney says
This recipe was very dry and unfortunately I wasted time, money and ingredients. 😢
Jessica says
Sounds like something didn’t go quite right Brittney. : (
Susan says
Best zucchini bread is Correct. My granddaughter is a VERY picky 2 yr old eater. She doesnt even eat normal toddler foods like nuggets or spaghetti. And she flip flops back and forth between the few things she DOES like.
Well, a few months ago, I discovered that she consistently likes this homemade Zucchini bread. I started to add more and more healthy ingredients to it to try to sneak some nutrients into her.
This last batch includes: Zucchini, broccoli, carrots, eggplant, blueberries, strawberries, banana, apple sauce, raisins, and walnuts. My girl has been begging for more all night. I added two Tb extra flour to compensate for extra moisture. Delicious. I have made it with green beans (finely chopped) , corn, etc. thanks for your delicious recipe that I now tweak.
…..the woman is a damn genius.
Sandy says
We just ate the loaf that I froze when I first made this bread and it is just as moist and tasty as when it was fresh baked. My husband has said several times while munching both loaves how much he really likes this recipe and to only use this one in the future. We made it exactly per your instructions. Thank you
Brenda says
Hello, Can I substitute regular sugar with coconut sugar?
Nellie says
I’ve never tried that, but I’m guessing it would work!
december says
Hello my name is December. I just made the classic zucchini bread and I am so happy to say it was the easiest and the most moist bread i have ever made. It really was so good. Thank you for sharing it with me. I am throwing away my old recipe that i used to use.
Amanda Fedor says
This recipe was great! Taste yummy and I added mini chocolate chips as shown above! My only fail is I may have left in a few minutes too long as the top was very crispy when I took it out. I made 2 total, 1- 8.5×5.5 glass loaf pan and 1 loaf tin. To help the crispness I wrapped both loaves in plastic wrap and stored in a ziploc bag and it does feel like it softened, but will test when my husband comes home tonight!
janice holden says
hey, I was going to make it, but after my zucchini was thawed out, it seemed like there wasn’t even 2 cups there, so i’m wondering what else can I put it it, to make the 2 cups. I can’t think what would be good to compliment the zucchini.
darn!!
Jessica says
Add a banana next time!