Fast Easy Zucchini Bread Recipe

This is a family-favorite recipe for homemade zucchini bread. One slice and you’ll taste why! It’s made with brown sugar, pure vanilla extract, cozy cinnamon spice, and summer’s favorite vegetable. See my recipe note for turning this batter into zucchini muffins, or try this similar zucchini muffins recipe.

Adapted from an award-winning family recipe. My husband grew up making this zucchini bread with his family, who entered it into the Maryland State Fair. And guess what? IT WON. You know a recipe is good if it’s winning state awards, right?

Now slightly scaled up to yield a taller 9×5-inch loaf (more zucchini, 1 extra egg, and a touch of applesauce for moisture), the quick bread is better than ever and ready to place 1st in your own kitchens too!

Ultimate Zucchini Bread

A beginner baker can easily make this quick bread, and it’s a wonderful recipe if you have eager young bakers ready to help!

Zucchini is one of my favorite ingredients for baking and I have a lot of published zucchini recipes on my website. My recipes for chocolate zucchini bread and zucchini muffins are both incredibly popular with readers. We use an entire zucchini in my healthier greek yogurt zucchini bread and you’ll find a whopping 3 cups of it in my chocolate zucchini cake (you can’t taste it!).

One new addition is the applesauce. This, along with the oil, keeps the bread moist. You can use sour cream, Greek yogurt, or mashed banana in its place if needed. All you’re doing is whisking the dry and wet ingredients together separately, and then combining everything. Honestly, it’s as easy as pumpkin bread and uses a few of the same ingredients.

Easy & Moist Zucchini Bread Recipe

Today’s zucchini bread comes together in just 5 minutes with simple kitchen tools including a couple bowls, a whisk, and a 9×5-inch loaf pan.You also need a grater to shred the zucchini. If you’re looking for recommendations, I own and love this box grater because it’s easy to use, grates quickly, and has held up well with regular use. It’s what I use when makingzucchini fritters, too.

Zucchini is like a chameleon and takes on the flavor of whatever’s nearby. Have you ever tried this peanut chicken zucchini noodles dish? The zucchini is basically a vehicle for the delectable savory peanut sauce.

Today’s zucchini bread includes cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and brown sugar so expect a lot of cozy, comforting, sweet flavors. In terms of texture, it’s not quite as dense as banana bread but not as light as white cake either. It’s soft and moist and actually reminds me of apple cinnamon bread, which is a favorite during the fall months.

Healthy Zucchini Bread

And let’s not forget optional add-ins like chocolate chips, chopped nuts, raisins, or even blueberries. Some readers have turned it into dessert with vanilla icing or cream cheese frosting (I’d halve the cream cheese frosting recipe). Honestly, this quick bread welcomes a bounty of tasty extras!

Reduce either or both, but understand that sugar and oil help produce a moist, tender loaf; altering the ingredients may have disappointing results. Or for an option without refined sugar, you may enjoy this Greek yogurt zucchini bread instead!

This zucchini bread recipe yields 1 9×5-inch loaf. With brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and a little applesauce for added moisture, the quick bread is flavorful, moist, and a great way to use summer’s favorite vegetable!

Mom's Zucchini Bread Recipe

Sally McKenney is a professional food photographer, cookbook author, and baker. Her kitchen-tested recipes and thorough step-by-step tutorials give readers the knowledge and confidence to bake from scratch. Sally has been featured onThis easy zucchini bread recipe is moist, flavorful, and perfect, just like the way mom used to make it. You can also easily customize it to suit your taste and it only takes 15 minutes to whip up.

I remember my mom growing zucchini in our backyard when I was a kid. We would always get an abundance at once and before you knew it, it was zucchini everything. From stir-fries to soups, my favorite was always my mom’s zucchini bread. It was simple, not too sweet, and even better the next day.

“OMG made this yesterday and it’s the best zucchini bread recipe I’ve had in a long time. I added 1 cup of chocolate chips cause we all love it with them in it. Thank you so much. I will be making this again.” – Marie

Banana Zucchini Bread ⋆ Real Housemoms

“I had made zucchini bread before but this recipe is by far the best one! My entire family even my husband who wasn’t a fan of the other loved it! Thanks so much for sharing!” – Jessica

Select small to medium size zucchinis. The super large ones won’t produce that moist and tender loaf you want since they tend to be drier. Also, grate the zucchini with the peel on and don’t drain the excess liquid. Most of the vegetable’s nutrients are in the skin and the liquid from the zucchini keeps the bread moist.

Feel free to add in a cup of chocolate chips, chopped nuts, dried fruit or berries if you wish. My favorite mix-ins are semi-sweet chocolate chips, walnuts, and blueberries.

Healthy Zucchini Bread Recipe

Zucchini bread can be placed in an airtight container or tightly wrapped in saran wrap and stored at room temperature for 2-3 days or in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Once completely cooled, double wrap in plastic wrap or aluminum foil and store in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight on the counter to bring to room temperature before serving.

This easy zucchini bread is soft, moist, and keeps well. The taste is sweet and lightly spiced. It serves as an excellent everyday zucchini bread recipe, yet it can be easily elevated to make it into a special treat.Always popular, zucchini bread is one of easiest recipes you can make. No mixer required! Enjoy this moist, flavorful quick bread recipe any time of day. Customize it with your favorite nuts, spices, or dried fruits.

Easy Zucchini Bread With Cake Mix

Elise founded Simply Recipes in 2003 and led the site until 2019. She has an MA in Food Research from Stanford University.

I still remember the first time I encountered zucchini bread as a teenager. I had a hard time getting my mind around the concept. At the time, zucchini was something my mom made me eat, and not anything you would bake into something sweet.

Fortunately, the pathway into my naturally resistant-to-new-foods teenage mind had already been cut with carrot cake. Heck, if you could get something that good out of carrots, why not zucchini?

Chocolate Zucchini Bread Recipe

After one bite, I was sold forever. Grated zucchini, mixed into the batter, brings moisture and tender texture to what is essentially a spice cake.

It's basically our zucchini muffin recipe in a bread form. It's a standard quick bread recipe that starts with grated zucchini, about 3 to 4 cups of it. It is pretty forgiving. If you use 4 cups, it will result in a more moist and dense bread.

Note that different zucchini can really vary in their moisture content, depending on if they were garden picked in season or store-bought off season.

Easy Zucchini Bread

A tip I learned from my grandmother is if I grate zucchini and it is on the dry side, to sprinkle water over it, and then let in drain in a sieve.

After grating, place the grated zucchini in a sieve over a bowl to drain any excess moisture while you prep the other ingredients.

Walnuts and pecans are especially good in zucchini bread, and so is dried fruit. I like raisins or dried cranberries, but you can also add shredded coconut or a handful of mini chocolate chips. A bit of orange zest would work too, or grated apples or carrots.

The Best Zucchini Bread

This bread will keep at room temperature in an airtight container or wrapped in plastic wrap for several days. If you would like to freeze it, let it cool down all the way first, wrap it in plastic wrap, and then wrap it tightly in aluminum foil.

Frozen zucchini bread will taste best if you eat it within 3 months. Thaw it on the countertop, still wrapped, or in a low oven. (More freezing and thawing advice in this post.)

Our readers have shared a plethora of ways they have tailored this recipe. While we haven't tested these substitutions ourselves, we wanted to highlight some here in case you'd like to give them a try.

Easy Eggless Zucchini Bread

You can use anywhere from 3 cups to 4 cups of freshly grated zucchini for this recipe; 4 cups will yield a slightly more dense, moist zucchini bread.

Don't pack flour into the cup when you're measuring it, or your bread will be too dense. Fluff up the flour, scoop into it with a measuring cup, then level it off with a flat knife.

*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2, 000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. In cases where multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.

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