Classic Zucchini Bread

Classic Zucchini Bread
Peter DaSilva for The New York Times
Total Time
1 hour 15 minutes
Rating
5(2,530)
Notes
Read community notes

A quintessential quick bread, zucchini bread blurs the line between breakfast and cake, making it acceptable for both. This version is on the sweeter side, the vegetal flavors mellowed by brown sugar, cinnamon and a bit of browned butter. While not always necessary, squeezing excess water from the zucchini will prevent the batter from being too wet while keeping the end result moist. Since this recipe makes two loaves (if you’re going to grate all that zucchini, might as well make it count), know that one will freeze excellently for at least a month. The recipe can also be halved with great success.

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Ingredients

Yield:2 loaves
  • ½ cup/113 grams unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pan
  • 3½ cups/447 grams all-purpose flour
  • 2teaspoons cinnamon
  • 2teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1¼ teaspoons baking powder
  • 1¼ teaspoons baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (or ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg)
  • 4large eggs
  • ¾ cup/165 grams light brown sugar
  • ¾ cup/151 grams sugar
  • ¾ cup/180 milliliters canola oil
  • 1½ pounds zucchini, unpeeled and grated on a box grater (about 3 medium zucchini)
  • 4tablespoons demerara or turbinado sugar (optional)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (18 servings)

319 calories; 16 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 8 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 41 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 21 grams sugars; 4 grams protein; 257 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 2 8-x4-inch loaf pans with softened butter and line with parchment paper.

  2. Step 2

    Melt butter in a small pot over medium heat. Cook, swirling occasionally, until the butter starts to brown and smell like hazelnuts, 5 to 7 minutes. Use a whisk to scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the pot; set aside.

  3. Step 3

    Whisk together flour, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, baking soda and nutmeg in a large bowl.

  4. Step 4

    Whisk together eggs, light brown sugar, sugar and canola oil in a medium bowl until no lumps remain and eggs are well blended.

  5. Step 5

    Using your hands, squeeze out as much water as possible from the zucchini. Add zucchini and browned butter to the egg mixture, whisking to blend.

  6. Step 6

    Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients. Use a spatula to slowly incorporate until no dry spots remain.

  7. Step 7

    Divide batter among prepared pans, smoothing the top. Sprinkle both with demerara sugar, if using, and place in oven. Bake, rotating once, until bread is golden brown on top, pulls away from the sides and springs back lightly when pressed at the top, 50 to 60 minutes.

  8. Step 8

    Let cool completely on a wire rack before removing from the loaf pan.

Ratings

5 out of 5
2,530 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

Made the recipe as written, with 3 medium zucchinis, squeezed well. There was enough batter for 12 regular sized muffins and 24 mini muffins (lightly greased all muffin wells with softened butter). Baked the mini muffins for 14 minutes at 350, and the regular sized muffins for about 22 minutes at 350. Nice crown, nice crumb, nice color, and excellent flavor. Thank you for the great recipe!

This recipe was wonderful! Used 2 small zucchinis and halved the ingredients to make a single loaf. Substituted the brown sugar with a little less of standard sugar. It was so good we were only able to eat 3 slices before our dog could not resist, jumped on the counter and ate it all. Now I wish I made 2 loaves.

I use lemon zest instead of cinnamon. It really brightens the taste and makes less run of the mill. About a tablespoon.

A couple of other things learned from making this great recipe... When squeezing zucchini to remove excess juice, rather than squeezing into the sink and discarding, save and strain this excess juice...It tastes very much like cantaloupe, and, if your zucchini has been refrigerated, it yields a cold glass of delicious, fresh green juice.

Turned out well. Great use of Zucchini in the garden. But please let us know how many cups of zucchini this translates too. No 2 zucchini are alike! Also, OK to use the Cuisinart instead of hand grating.

Chose over "traditional" versions due to the lesser of amount of sugar compared to other recipes. Followed recipe using 3/4 cup of white sugar and 1 tablespoon of brown. Grated one large zucchini (the point of making this bread; $1 at the Farmer's Market); squeezed the moisture out for about 3 cups to put in the mix. Loafs baked to good height and the crumb was pleasantly lighter than expected. Taste and texture were delightful when fresh and suffered none from being frozen.

I didn't have any cinnamon or nutmeg and I didn't want to risk the grocery store due to the pandemic, so I emptied a packet of chai tea into the mix and the bread turned out stunning! Otherwise made as written. It was even better the next day!

Be warned that while this recipe specifies "kosher salt," it doesn't specify a brand (the reason this matters is because different brands produce their salt with different methods, affecting the size of the crystals). After making the recipe, my guess is that it was formulated using Diamond kosher salt. I used Morton, and even with scant measurements, found the zucchini bread to be noticeably salty. If you try this recipe with Morton's, be sure to halve the listed measurement.

... Also, after grating and squeezing zucchini for recipe, I have ended up with excess squash. This shredded zucch. is delicious quick sauteed in a little olive oil, garlic, onion, butter, and browns up and cooks really quickly. It is a great breakfast substitution for hash-browned potatoes. I prepare it in my cast iron skillet, then cook two eggs easy-over next to squash after browned. Piling squash on plates, then chopping eggs on top make a yummy, less caloric breakfast than potatoes.

I cut the sugar down by a third and it still came out delicious! I think the key is the brown butter. I also used half regular flour and half whole wheat to give it a nuttier flavor. It gets better with age 2!

I used gluten free flour - 2 cups brown rice flour, 1 cup Bob’s Red Mill gluten free all purpose and 1/2 cup almond. I also put it into a single Bundt cake. Turned out GREAT!

I've made this recipe as loaves, muffins, and Bundt style. It works every time and is easy to modify. Add citrus zest, grated ginger, and/or nuts for variety.

I like to bloom the spices to the brown butter while it's still hot, rather than adding to the dry ingredients. Maybe it doesn't make a difference in the finished product, but I sure love to treat my nose to the combination of brown butter and spice (swoon!). Great recipe!

We had an overgrown zucchini from the garden, so I made this. It was perfect! I love my zucchini bread without too many add-ins (nuts, dried fruit, chocolate, etc.) Though, I did add some ground cardamom and vanilla extract. Just perfect!

Just tried a slice, delicious! I made the alteration of coconut oil instead of canola because i didn't have any canola, worked great. Honestly i was sloppy with the measurements and this still came out great. For a topping i mixed oats, brown sugar and coconut oil and crumbled it on top, worked out really well! i did have to do the full 60 mins in the oven :) I used one GIANT zucchini and I wouldn't stress too much about the amount as long as the water is strained well.

I used grapeseed oil instead of canola and gluten free flour and it came out fantastic

Made with 1/2 cup applesauce in pace of 2 of the eggs. Made with vegan butter, which does brown after quite a while at high temp. Really need to foam it. Used 1 tsp vanilla and zest from one lemon instead of cinnamon and nutmeg. Will try cinnamon and nutmeg next time, flavor was a little lacking. Forgot to add the canola oil and didn’t miss it. Baked muffins 22 min Mini bundts 25 min Loaf of bread 50 min

Very good recipe. Made muffins. Reduced sugar. Added chopped roasted walnuts and raisins. Yum!

I found this a bit dry as well. I used a Bundt pan one very large zucchini (all I had) and one finely grated carrot. I agree with others that it would be helpful to have the zucchini in cups or by weight. The zucchini bread is not dense in texture- which is good. The addition of butter on the slices helps with the dryness. Will probably eat it for breakfast.

Any suggestions on how to turn this into chocolate zucchini bread? Perhaps take out 1/2 cup of flour and sub with cocoa powder?

Made this with the lemon zest instead of Cinnamon. I realized after I baked it that I had forgotten the canola oil. So glad i omitted it. It was so delicious! I can’t see how oil could have improved it.

I made this recipe last night with one huge zucchini from the garden. I used the cuisinart as suggested for grating and that worked perfectly. I put five pecans on top and the roasted flavor was amazing. Highly recommend putting pecans on top. Next time I will add more than five!

I made this more savory. None of the spices in the receipe, instead I used 1/2 tsp thyme, onion powder, garlic powder. I kept the browned butter & cut the oil in order to 1/2 C fine (fresh) shredded parm. Also added finly chopped baby scallions from my garden & (shelled) pumpkin seeds, that I toasted first. I get them from a small farm in New York. Used 2 loaf pans per the receipe for 1 hr & these were amazing. I wanted some savory bread to use like sandwich slices for my grilled eggplant

Totally forgot to add the vegetable oil, and no one noticed. So I think the butter in the beginning was plenty. Tender crumb, super light, excellent flavor from the spices (I used cinnamon and a whiff of cardamom, splash of vanilla). It was gone in a night. I'll definitely be making this again!

This makes a truly wonderful tasting bread. The recipe made one large loaf, one mini loaf, 12 cupcakes and, with the leftover batter, some amazing tasting zucchini pancakes (only had enough batter for 3 small ones). Chopped pecans were added to half the batter which gave the bread a nice texture. As a professional baker, I always use coconut oil in my baked goods. I also added 2 teaspoons vanilla extract. The recipe, as written, is perfect, however. I was just experimenting a bit.

Orange zest and a dash of Triple Sec.

Used coconut oil instead of canola because that was all I had in my pantry. The batter was enough for one loaf that I made for my aging parents (they don’t eat much but love when I make them breads such as these) and twelve muffins. I think the best part of this was the crust that formed on the top so you end up with a bite of soft with crunch with every mouthful. Chef’s kiss!

4 mini loaf pans and 12 muffins

Very forgiving recipe. My substitutions based on what I had: 2 c einkorn stone-ground flour (Lani's farm) for 2 c of the reg flour. Cut sugar by 1/2 c. Cut butter down to 3 T and added a handful of coarse chopped hazelnuts and all browned together. Came out flavorful, good texture and still quite sweet. I did wring my zucchini and drank the green water as someone suggested and I already feel like Popeye or at least Olive Oyl.

I had a large zucchini languishing in the fridge and a long holiday coming up so I had to get perishables out. I made this to quickly deal with the veg, and everyone loved it. I thought browning the butter would be a bridge too far but its so simple and really amps up the flavor. I also ran out of normal oil so I used peanut oil and peanut butter and it tasted great. Next time I'll make it with regular neutral oil.

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