5 Reasons Why People Love Zucchini Bread
This is my favorite zucchini bread recipe, my friends! Don’t you love baking zucchini bread? In the summer, it seems we all have a lot of zucchini plants growing in the garden. I will be honest: a few years ago, I struggled to grow zucchini plants after moving to the desert. I have to laugh because NO one has trouble growing zucchini, right? Right. I’m updating this recipe from June 2017, which seems like such a long time ago, but I wanted to introduce new readers to this great recipe. I have hundreds of recipes on my website, and I think this is the best zucchini recipe for my readers.
Well, luckily, I had a few plants that produced so many that year that I dragged out my bread loaf pans to make some zucchini bread. I used a cheese grater today for the zucchini and then let it drain in a strainer. A box grater works great, too. Then, I squeezed out the excess moisture with a clean hand towel. I’ve updated this post today because I hope all of you have zucchini from your garden this year!
5 Reasons Why People Love Zucchini Bread
1. It’s Soft and Moist
If you grow zucchini, you can make zucchini bread every single week. It tastes so good! I like the small to medium zucchini for cooking since they don’t have a mushy texture, don’t have a lot of seeds to deal with, and have a special sweetness in flavor.
2. Freeze Shredded/Grated Zucchini
You can shred or grate the zucchini and freeze it in a freezer bag. Just thaw and drain it before you use it to make zucchini bread. We love to grab a bag to make loaves throughout the year.
3. Dress Up The Loaf
You can frost your zucchini bread with a bit of cream cheese frosting to “dress it up.” It looks beautiful enough to take to a party; sprinkle it with chopped nuts like the walnuts called for in the recipe.
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 8-ounce pkg. of cream cheese, softened
- 3-3-1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
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Combine the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Beat the ingredients until smooth. This makes enough for one cake or 36 cupcakes.
4. You Can Make It For Neighbors
Every neighbor loves zucchini bread delivered to their home, right?
5. You Can Add So Many Ingredients To The Recipe
Add chocolate chips, mashed bananas, your favorite nuts, and shredded carrots.
Other Zucchini Recipes
- Zucchini Muffins
- Zucchini Cake: I did an updated post on this recipe last week. I love making zucchini cakes.
- Baked Zucchini Bites
Perennial Salvia Plants
Here we are a few years later and I have my gardens working great with a better soil mixture. I realized we needed more bees and I was tired of hand pollinating my plants. I planted several perennial Salvia plants, not Stevia. The bees have been swarming around the purple flowers for the last few years so I no longer have a shortage of any vegetables. Yay for bees!! Salvia Seeds
This recipe is from a neighborhood cookbook printed when I lived in Sandy, Utah. It looks like the date on the cookbook may say 1980. Don’t you just love old cookbooks where you recognize the names of neighbors who meant a lot to you when you lived near them?
I think several people in this cookbook are probably deceased by now. Wow, this cookbook is 37 years old (in 2017) and it still brings me joy, even if the cover is missing.
Zucchini Bread Recipe
Items You May Need In Your Kitchen
- Mixing Bowl or Stand Mixer
- Spatula
- Cheese Grater
- Measuring Spoons
- Measuring Cups
- Bread Pans
- Fat Daddio Bread Pans (7.75 x 3.75 x 2.5 Inch).
Zucchini Bread Recipe
Step One
Gather the ingredients as shown below. The ingredients include vanilla extract, sugar, flour, shredded zucchini, vegetable oil, eggs, baking powder, baking soda, and spices like cinnamon.
Step Two
Preheat your oven to (350°F) = (176°C) degrees. Cream the sugar, oil, and eggs until smooth. Grease your bread pans and set them aside.
Step Three
Combine the spices, vanilla, zucchini, and flour with the creamed mixture.
Step Four
Mix thoroughly until combined. This recipe is so old that it says to sift the flour, but I didn’t.
Step Five
Scoop or pour the batter into two greased bread pans, I use a smaller size bread pan for my sweetbreads and my regular bread making. These are the size I use: Fat Daddio Bread Pans (7.75 x 3.75 x 2.5 inches).
This size pan works better for me for two reasons: my bread doesn’t have any preservatives, so it may spoil faster, and we can eat smaller loaves much easier.
I don’t put my bread in the refrigerator because it dries it out. So, I prefer making smaller loaves! Life is so good with homemade bread of any kind. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Final Product
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family does.
Zucchini Bread Recipe
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup oil (I used vegetable)
- 3 eggs
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 2 cups grated zucchini with skins and all (wring out the wetness)
- 3 cups flour (I use bread flour)
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Preheat your oven to (350°F) = (176°C) degrees.
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Cream the sugar, oil, and eggs.
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Combine the spices and vanilla, the zucchini, and the flour with the creamed mixture.
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This recipe is so old it says to sift the flour, but I didn't.
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I filled TWO one-pound greased loaf pans. I bake my smaller loaves for about 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
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Let the loaves cool on a rack for about ten minutes until removing the zucchini bread from the pans.
This is the size bread pan I used to make my bread and this zucchini bread. My favorite size bread pan.
Add-ons for zucchini bread:
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/2 cup of grated carrots
- 12-ounces chocolate chips
- Extra cinnamon
- Extra vanilla
- Nutmeg, a little sprinkle
- 1 cups raisins
- 1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
- 1 cup of blueberries
How do I store the baked loaves?
I store the loaves in bread bags or ziplock bags.
Can I freeze the loaves of zucchini bread?
Yes, you can freeze the loaves after baking. Place the loaves in an airtight bag wrapped tightly and freeze for 2-3 months.
Final Word
Please tell me the add-ons you like to add to your zucchini bread, I’d love to hear from you. Thanks again for being prepared for the unexpected. May God Bless this world, Linda
I love this recipe Linda! It is the same base of my go-to zucchini recipe. My recipe has a few changes that give the bread a different flavor. It uses 1 cup white sugar and 1 cup brown sugar instead of all white sugar, uses almond extract instead of vanilla, plus adds in 1/2 tsp nutmeg. You might want to try this variation of your great recipe. Thank you for sharing it with everyone!
Hi Kay, thank you for the 5 stars, my sweet friend! Now I want to make it with white and brown sugar, great idea! Yummy! I just shredded a whole zucchini and I’m freezing it in 2 cup portions. Linda
I do my blueberry zucchini bread in my Sun Oven to avoid heating up the kitchen (and then having to run the AC to cool it down).
Hi Ray, thank you for the 5 stars my sweet friend! Oh my, I need to add blueberries to my zucchini bread! We are lucky we have Sun Ovens, they work so great! Linda