The BEST Zucchini Bread Recipe

Hey, I’m John Canel and today we’re making an easy delicious zucchini bread. So, let’s get started.

Preparation

First off, set your oven to 350 so it’s nice and hot and grab two 8×4 inch loaf pans.

Adding Walnuts for Texture

Now, we have a tiny bit of prep to do. The zucchini bread is so soft and melt in your mouth, but adding walnuts to it gives you a lovely crunch and play of textures. So, grab 1 and 1/2 cups or 180 g of walnuts. If you want some extra flavor and crunch, give them a toast. But either way, they’re going to need to be chopped. So, nice coarse chop.

Using Garden Zucchini

In the summer, I have zucchini growing in my garden, and that just means that I am up to my ears in zucchini and squash. And this is a great way to use that up. Makes an excellent gift, an excellent snack, and you can freeze these and keep them for later, too. Set that aside.

Optional Chocolate Chips

Today I’m just using walnuts, but chocolate chip zucchini bread is delicious. I would have the walnuts and add about half a cup of chocolate chips max. You could also use chopped chocolate instead.

Grating the Zucchini

And now we want to have about 3 cups or 390 g of grated zucchini. Two large to medium zucchini should be fine, but measure it out because if you add too much, your zucchini bread is going to be watery and it won’t have that lovely texture. Grate this up.

Zucchini’s Role in the Bread

The zucchini basically melts when you bake it. It is so high in water content. Not a ton of flavor is going to be coming through compared to the spices and the sugar. You’re not going to get a ton of zucchini flavor like in a zucchini fritter. What you will get are the notes of brown sugar and cinnamon and vanilla. It’s going to be really lovely. Let’s measure this out. Perfect. Set your zucchini aside. Wipe your counter down.

Mixing the Dry Ingredients

And now we’re going to grab a large bowl for the dry ingredients. Into a large bowl, I’m adding 3 cups or 360 g of all-purpose flour. And I’m using a scale again so it gives me nice, accurate results. If you don’t have a scale, that’s totally fine. Just sprinkle the flour into a measuring cup and then level it off. Never scoop. That’s too much flour. Perfect.

Seasonings and Leaveners

For some contrast, one teaspoon of salt. For some spice, two teaspoon of cinnamon. If you want to add some delicious things like a little bit of ginger or some allspice or some cardamom, 1/4 teaspoon of any of those would be delicious. To puff things up and counteract all the liquid from the zucchini, I want one teaspoon of baking soda and one teaspoon of baking powder. Now it’s time to grab a whisk. Your scale is done. Give this a nice mix.

Family Favorite

My mom loved this zucchini bread, so this was like a regular treat when I was growing up. It is just a great way to use zucchini to get some into kids diets if they’re not big fans of it. And it’s plain delicious. It’s a perfect little snack. So, you want a little bite of something, you grab a slice.

Storage Tips

By the way, this zucchini bread keeps really well. If you wrap it in plastic, 3 days on the counter, fits in the fridge, a week, or you could freeze it well wrapped for up to 2 months. Three if you want to push it. Our dry ingredients are done.

Mixing the Wet Ingredients

One more medium bowl for the wet ingredients. Into this bowl, we’re going to add three large room temperature eggs. To the eggs, we’re going to add one cup of brown sugar. It could be light or dark brown, 220 g. And 1/2 cup of granulated sugar, 100 g. We’re going to mix this really well until it’s smooth and lightened in color. You could do this by hand like I am or use an electric mixer for this part. Here we go. Really just takes 30 seconds. Smooth and light.

Oil and Vanilla

One cup of vegetable oil or really any neutral oil you want to use. We want our zucchini bread to be super soft, even if it’s coming right out of the fridge. About four teaspoons of vanilla. That’s going to give you a really beautiful flavor to complement the brown sugar. Whisk this up to combine. Beautiful. Look at that.

Combining Wet and Dry

Add the grated zucchini in. Fold together until nicely combined. And I’m using my spatula for this part. Time to fold the wet into the dry.

Butter or Plain?

I have a question for you. Do you eat zucchini bread just as is, or do you have it with a slather of butter on top? I’m plain, but my husband always adds butter. I’m curious where are we at on this time to fold this together until it is almost combined. Meaning you’ll have a few streaks of flour. There we go. Definitely see some streaks of flour, but it’s mostly combined.

Final Add-ins

Our final step is to add the walnuts and fold those in. This is ready.

Preparing the Loaf Pans

Grab your two loaf pans. This really isn’t going to stick, but for safety, little baking spray. Divide your batter equally.

Baking

And we’re going to pop these into the oven. These could go into the oven now, but you could also add a sprinkling of sugar on top. I’m using Demerara sugar, but it could be granulated, sanding, whatever.

Muffin Option

By the way, you could also make this as muffins. The same recipe will make 24 muffins. Bake at 350 for 15 to 20 minutes. These loaves, however, are ready to bake. 350 for 55 to 60 minutes or until the centers are set. In you go.

Cooling and Serving

Once baked, allow your zucchini bread to cool for 5 to 10 minutes. Then, invert it onto a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, give your zucchini bread a slice. And just like that, it’s ready to enjoy.

It really is perfectly sweet and I love those crunchy walnuts pairing with the super soft zucchini bread. I hope you get a chance to make this easy recipe.