Best Zucchini Bread Recipe (2024)

Home » Breakfast » Best Zucchini Bread Recipe

posted by Jenniferon Mar 20, 202315 comments »

Our best zucchini bread recipe is the ultimate comfort food, packed with the perfect blend of warm spices and zucchini.

This zucchini bread is a quick bread recipe that is made with grated zucchini, flour, sugar, eggs, applesauce, orange juice, and cinnamon. It has a moist and tender texture with a slightly sweet flavor perfect for breakfast or even a healthier dessert.

So go ahead and indulge in a slice (or two) – you won’t be disappointed!

Best Zucchini Bread

Zucchini bread is a great way to use up all your zucchini from your garden and here is why everyone loves this bread.

• It’s easy to make, you only need 1 large mixing bowl and 2 loaf pans. Also, if you don’t want to get your mixer out, you can just stir all the ingredients easily by hand.
• I love that you can add nuts, and chocolate chips or make my pineapple zucchini bread for a delicious twist.
• The zucchini and applesauce make this bread super moist and soft. And it’s one of those quick breads that are even better on the second day.
• Just like other quick bread recipes like banana bread, pumpkin chocolate chip bread, and lemon poppyseed zucchini bread, this zucchini bread also freezes well so you can enjoy it year-round.

Ingredients for Zucchini Bread

• Sugar: I like to use granulated sugar but you could also use brown sugar.
• Vegetable Oil: I just use regular vegetable oil but you could use coconut oil, sunflower oil, or grapeseed oil. I wouldn’t use olive oil.
• Eggs: I like to make sure my eggs are at room temperature before I start baking but if you forgot to get your eggs out of the fridge, no worries.
• Vanilla extract: My all-time favorite vanilla extract is Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract, it’s the best of the best!
• Zucchini: No need to peel the skin off the zucchini, just grate it using a box grater or food processor.
• Applesauce: I used regular applesauce but you can use unsweetened or even cinnamon applesauce for extra cinnamon flavor.
• Orange juice: This is my family’s “secret” ingredient and that’s why it’s truly the best zucchini bread recipe.
• Dry ingredients: Simply whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Also, always make sure your dry ingredients are not expired. Using expired ingredients will result in the bread not baking properly.
• Spices: A dash of nutmeg and cinnamon gives this bread an amazing flavor. But if you don’t like cinnamon and/or nutmeg, feel free to leave it out.

How To Make Zucchini Bread

1. Mix. Using a mixer or a mixing spoon, mix sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla extract together until combined.
2. Add. Grated zucchini, applesauce, and orange juice and stir well.
3. Whisk. In a bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.
4. Combine. Add flour mixture to zucchini mixture and stir.
5. Bake. Pour batter into prepared loaf pans and bake for 1 hour.

Expert Tips

• Medium zucchini. I like to use small or medium zucchini for this bread. If they are too big the skin is tougher and they would need to be seeded.
• Add-ins: I love adding dried cranberries, raisins, and of course, chocolate chips.
• Cooking times. They can vary slightly so make sure to check the bread often. If the top is starting to brown but the middle isn’t baked yet, just make a tin foil tent and place it on top of the bread to prevent the top from browning further.

Recipe FAQs

Storing and Freezing

Store. I like to wrap my bread in plastic wrap and then aluminum foil and place it on the counter/pantry. It will stay fresh for up to 3 days. If your house is humid, I would just place it in the refrigerator so it doesn’t get too moist, it’s already super moist.

Freeze. You can freeze zucchini bread, just make sure it is completely cooled first. To freeze, wrap each loaf in plastic wrap. Place in a freezer-friendly ziploc bag and keep frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight.

For more bread recipes, check out my sweet cherry bread, blueberry banana bread, unicorn bread, and my delicious apple bread recipe!

Some of the links above are affiliate links, which pay me a small commission for recommending my favorite products at no extra cost to you! Thank you for supporting Deliciously Sprinkled.

published on Mar 20, 2023

15 comments Leave a comment »