Orange Zucchini Bread combines a classic zucchini bread recipe with a ton of orange flavor, all in one delicious quick bread recipe!
We love zucchini bread and last year I tried a recipe for zucchini bread that had bananas in it which ended up being amazing. I thought it might be fun to try some other variations as well and this Orange Zucchini Bread is absolutely incredible. The orange flavor pairs so well with the zucchini!
Ingredients in Orange Zucchini Bread
Eggs – Lots of eggs needed to bind this bread together. You’ll need 4 of them! I always use large eggs in recipes.
Sugar – Granulated sugar adds most of the sweetness that we love in zucchini bread.
Oil – You can use vegetable oil or canola oil, but I like to use coconut oil in recipes. Make sure the coconut oil is liquefied before adding to the batter. You can swap all or part of the oil with applesauce, but the consistency of the bread will be different. Still delicious though!
Orange juice – Adds a lot of the liquid and tons of orange flavor to the zucchini bread. I usually use whatever orange juice I have in the fridge, but you are welcome to squeeze it fresh if you want to!
Shredded zucchini – You can just leave the skin on the zucchini before grating. After you grate the zucchini, squeeze out the extra water if you can so you don’t add too much liquid to the recipe.
Flour – The recipe calls for 2 cups all-purpose flour and 1 cup whole-wheat flour. You can change up the ratio a little bit, but the more wheat flour you swap in for the all-purpose flour, the more dense the bread will be.
Salt, baking soda and baking powder – Make sure the baking soda and baking powder aren’t old or expired or the bread will not rise properly.
Ground cinnamon and ground cloves – Both spices add a ton of flavor to this recipe, so don’t forget them!
Orange zest – The recipe calls for 2 teaspoons of orange zest. I usually just use all of the zest from one medium sized orange and it works great! The zest adds so much flavor, so don’t leave it out!
How to make Orange Zucchini Bread
Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour two 4″X8″ pans.
In a large bowl, beat eggs in place until thick and lemon colored. Gradually beat in sugar.
Add the oil, orange juice, shredded zucchini, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ground cloves and orange zest. Mix just until well combined. Pour the batter into prepared pans.
Bake for 45-55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool for about 10 minutes and then remove loaves from pans to cool on wire racks.
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 3/4 cup oil
- 2/3 cup orange juice
- 2 cups shredded zucchini
- 3 1/4 cups flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 2 tsp grated orange zest
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour two 4"X8" pans.
- In a large bowl, beat eggs in place until thick and lemon colored. Gradually beat in sugar.
- Add the oil, orange juice, shredded zucchini, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ground cloves and orange zest. Mix just until well combined. Pour the batter into prepared pans.
- Bake for 45-55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool for about 10 minutes and then remove loaves from pans to cool on wire racks.
Nutrition
DO YOU HAVE TO PEEL ZUCCHINI TO MAKE ZUCCHINI BREAD?
No you do not have to peel zucchini before making zucchini bread. The peel on the outside of a zucchini is a lovely dark green and very tender. I just wash the zucchini, cut off the ends and then grate the entire vegetable. It’s very simple to do and I love seeing the tiny flecks of green in the bread after it’s baked.
SHOULD I SQUEEZE EXCESS WATER OUT OF MY ZUCCHINI BEFORE MAKING ZUCCHINI BREAD?
Yes, you should 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! I like to squeeze as much out as possible before making it into zucchini bread. Interestingly enough, each zucchini is a bit different when it comes to water content. I find zucchini straight from my garden has quite a bit more water in it than zucchini from the grocery store. Both work well in this recipe! I say use what you’ve got!
CAN I USE FROZEN GRATED ZUCCHINI TO MAKE ZUCCHINI BREAD?
Yes you can use frozen grated zucchini to make zucchini bread. Just defrost it, then squeeze out as much water as you can before mixing it in. Personally, I’m not a fan of how frozen zucchini tastes, so I like to bake several loaves of bread, then after cooling completely, I wrap them in plastic wrap and freeze them in a ziplock bag until we’re ready to eat it.
HOW TO MAKE THE BEST QUICK BREADS
There are a couple of tips that will help you to get the perfect pineapple quick bread every time!
- Make sure to use the right bread pans! The recipe for this quick bread is two 4″X8″pans. You can use regular bread pans (9.5″X5″) if you’d like, but your loaves will be a little flatter and you’ll need to adjust the cooking time to about 40-45 minutes.
- If you use non-stick pans, you won’t want to use any cooking spray, but if you are not using non-stick pans, make sure to use a baking spray like this one or line the pans with parchment paper so your bread doesn’t get stuck to the pan! There is nothing worse than making a beautiful loaf of bread and having the whole thing fall apart when you try to get it neatly out of the pan!
- Make sure to test the middle of the bread at the end of the cooking time – I like to use one of these for that! If your bread is still gooey in the middle, bake for a few more minutes. If the edges and the top are starting to look too brown and the middle isn’t done yet, go ahead and put some foil over the bread for the last few minutes of baking until the bread is done in the center. This will prevent the outside from burning, but still allow the middle to cook all the way through.
AVOID SUNKEN BREAD
The easiest and best way to avoid sunken bread is to use a cooking thermometer to check the inside of the loaf. Fully cooked bread will register 200°F on a thermometer. My all-time favorite thermometer is the Thermapen. It’s super fast and incredibly durable. Another great cooking thermometer is the ThermoPop which is a more basic version that works just as well!
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!
IS QUICK BREAD HEALTHY?
Quick breads generally have a high sugar content, but there are things you can do to make the bread a little bit healthier.
- Reduce the sugar.
- Swap all or part of the flour with whole wheat flour. This swap is one that will be noticeable, especially if you swap all of the flour. The consistency will be different and the flavor will change, but it will still be yummy!
- Replace some of the oil with applesauce. The consistency will be a little more dense, but the taste isn’t affected at all!
MORE AMAZING QUICK BREAD RECIPES THAT WE LOVE:
- Sweet Coconut Quick Bread
- Best Zucchini Bread recipe
- 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
- Glazed Strawberry Quick Bread
Orange Zucchini Bread combines a classic zucchini bread recipe with a ton of orange flavor, all in one delicious quick bread recipe!
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