Healthy Zucchini Bread

Note: This post first appeared on March 17, 2016. It has been updated with bright new photos, but it’s still the same delicious recipe you all love!

With summer coming to an end, baking bread or muffins are a great way to use up all that leftover zucchini from your garden! You’ll love baking with zucchini because not only does is make this quick bread so moist and flavorful, but it’s a great way to sneak in veggies for those picky eaters because you can’t taste the zucchini at all. You could also mix in other fun additions like chocolate chips, chopped pecans, chopped walnuts and fresh or dried berries. This recipe also makes delicious muffins or even mini loaves to share with friends!

Enjoy this delicious healthy zucchini bread recipe for breakfast with your morning coffee or serve it to your kids as a great after-school snack! You can also easily adjust this recipe and make zucchini banana bread by substituting the greek yogurt for mashed banana or even zucchini pumpkin bread by using pumpkin purée. This recipe is easily customizable with so many variations, but I promise you’ll get moist, delicious bread every time!

Ingredients You’ll Need

Whole wheat pastry flour – I love baking with whole wheat pastry flour as it has all the nutritional benefits of whole grain flour while giving this bread a light and fluffy texture. I highly recommend using this, but if you don’t have any on hand you could use white whole wheat flour or regular all-purpose flour
Baking soda – acts as a leavening agent to help the bread rise, you could also use baking powder
Zucchini – you’ll need one medium zucchini and this not only adds nutritional benefits, but it also makes this quick bread nice and moist, just make sure to really squeeze out the water from the zucchini after grating
Eggs – adds protein and gives this bread its structure and height
Maple syrup – sweetens this bread without using any refined sugar, but you could also use honey or regular sugar
Coconut oil – for additional moisture and fluffiness! Feel free to sub with another type of oil if you prefer or even butter
Greek yogurt – this helps to reduce the amount of oil we need to use and helps keep the bread moist. You could also use applesauce, mashed banana or pumpkin puree as well
Milk – I used almond milk, but any type of milk will work in this recipe
Warm flavors – a delicious combination of cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla extract

How to Make Healthy Zucchini Bread

This particular recipe makes one standard loaf of bread, but you could also make 3 mini loaves (your neighbors will thank you!) or even muffins! See below for the different baking times depending on how you choose to make this.

Grate zucchini. Using a box grater, shred the zucchini and remove all the moisture using a cheesecloth or paper towel, squeezing all the liquid out into the sink.
Mix ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the whole wheat pastry flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt, then set aside. In a medium bowl, stir together the eggs, maple syrup, Greek yogurt, milk, melted coconut oil, vanilla and shredded zucchini, mixing until all combined.
Make the batter. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix with a spatula until just combined, being very careful not to over-mix the batter. Pour the batter into a 9×5-inch loaf pan sprayed with nonstick spray.
BAKE! Bake the zucchini bread in the oven at 350 degrees F for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Leave the bread in the pan for 10 minutes before carefully inverting it onto a wire rack to cool. Slice and enjoy!

Tips, Tricks and Substitutions

Make sure you DON’T over mix the batter. This results in super dense bread which we don’t want. We’re going for fluffy and soft!
It’s important to squeeze as much water out of the shredded zucchini as you can. No need to peel the zucchini.
Feel free to sub the whole wheat pastry flour with 1:1 gluten-free baking flour or even all-purpose flour. I don’t recommend using almond flour or coconut flour in this recipe.
You can easily swap out the Greek yogurt for pumpkin puree, mashed banana or applesauce.
Mix in other fun additions like chocolate chips, chopped nuts such as walnuts or pecans, coconut flakes, dried fruit or fresh berries!

Other Baking Methods

If making three mini loaves, bake at 350 degrees F for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. When making for friends and family, I like to double this recipe and make 6 mini loaves!
This recipe also makes delicious zucchini muffins. Simply distribute the batter into 12 muffins cups sprayed with nonstick spray (or muffin liners) and bake at 350 degrees F for 18 to 22 minutes.
Alternatively you can make 24 mini muffins! Just bake these at 350 degrees F for about 15 to 17 minutes.

Prepping and Storage

To Store: This zucchini bread can be stored in an airtight container or wrapped in plastic at room temp for up to 3 days, but make sure to refrigerate after that to keep this longer. This bread will last up to a week in the fridge.

To Freeze: This bread freezes really well too! You can either wrap the entire loaf in plastic wrap, aluminum foil or a freezer-safe bag or freeze individual slices. When ready to serve, allow to thaw out overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before slicing. This bread will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months.