When zucchini showed up in my CSA this week, I wasn’t quite sure how to prepare it, but I also knew that I didn’t want it to meet an untimely demise in my refrigerator, as enigmatic produce sometimes has a tendency to do. That means: zucchini bread.
Despite the presence of a green vegetable, zucchini bread is usually loaded with the usual suspects: oil, butter, sugar, et al. This bread, however, would probably fall somewhere between Ellie Krieger and Paula Deen on the Food Network spectrum.
Though I adapted this recipe from the latter domestic diva, this bread is absent of her signature stick of butter.
I took the recipe and modified each ingredient, line by line, until I had a simple, kind-of-healthy zucchini bread recipe that I can freeze in portions for weekday breakfasts.
The recipe yields two loaves of bread but I turned one of the batches into muffins.
If you think that grating zucchini is time consuming, just set yourself up in front of the TV with a grater and a large mixing bowl.
Time will fly, and the rest of this recipe will only take minutes.
- 3¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup pumpkin
- 4 eggs, beaten
- ⅓ cup water
- 2 cups grated zucchini
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional; I did not add)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar.
- In a separate bowl, combine pumpkin, eggs, egg whites, water, zucchini and lemon juice. Mix wet ingredients into dry, add nuts and fold in.
- Bake in 2 standard loaf pans, sprayed with nonstick spray, for 1 hour, or until a tester comes out clean. If you're short on time and only have one loaf pan, you can use one loaf pan and 12-cup muffin tin.
21 Comments
Jenn McGuire
May 31, 2010 at 3:54 pmGreat recipe! I’m going to try it with the pumpkin! I’ve used one similar to this but with half the sugar (used brown sugar instead) and put some fat free vanilla yogurt in it to make sure it’s still sweet, just a thought. LOVE reading your blog. I’m going to try this with the pumpkin!
grace
May 17, 2010 at 5:32 pmi don’t really have any use for zucchini unless it’s shredded and baked as a bread or cake. cream cheese frosting helps too… 🙂
kim
May 17, 2010 at 2:25 pmIt’s interesting how you incorporated pumpkin into the mix as well. Your recipe looks great.
E.P.
May 15, 2010 at 1:15 pmYUM! Not only does it look gorgeous, but it looks tasty, too. And I have some zucchini in the fridge right now…
Tanya
May 14, 2010 at 6:53 pmThis recipe looks so simple and delish! Love the pumpkin addition.
Michelle @ Give Me the Almond Butter]
May 14, 2010 at 11:51 amThis looks like a great recipe…except for the sugar. Are there any substitutes that I could use?
AuntieM
May 14, 2010 at 2:02 pmI am going to point this out and see how much it is. Looks yummy.
Beth @ DiningAndDishing
May 14, 2010 at 12:16 pmlooks lovely! i always go for banana bread but zucchini bread is such a good way to slip in some veggies. thanks for the recipe 🙂
kalli@fitandfortysomething
May 14, 2010 at 11:34 amthis looks absolutely wonderful! wish i could have a slice…..thank you for stopping by my blog home 🙂
Elina
May 14, 2010 at 11:16 amOoh, I love the muffin version since I could easily polish off the whole loaf… or have one too many “generous” slices 🙂
Tracey @ I'm Not Superhuman
May 14, 2010 at 11:04 amI love this! Zucchini bread is my favorite but I’m so glad to find a recipe without tons of butter. I never make it for that reason. And the reason that I’ll eat the entire thing.
Maris
May 14, 2010 at 10:42 am@Kristin – yes, it does seem high and thank you for pointing that out. I actually did cut it down (and edited above) to 2 cups of sugar. I’m surey you could pare it down to 1.5 with similar results.
Kristin
May 14, 2010 at 10:30 am3 cups of sugar seems a bit high for a healthy food. Do you think cutting that in half would dramatically affect the taste?
Sophie
May 14, 2010 at 7:07 amWhat a georgous zucchini bread, this surely is!!
Looks so appetizing too!
Joanne
May 13, 2010 at 8:10 pmI love that your method of healthification was to add pumpkin! Talk about squash on squash goodness.
kat
May 13, 2010 at 11:40 amSounds good even without all that butter
Kelly
May 13, 2010 at 9:53 amI LOOOOVE zucchini bread. It’s probably my favorite quick bread. I’m definitely giving this recipe a shot. I have some pre-grated frozen zucchini begging to be used. Thanks for the recipe!
Heather (The Single Dish)
May 13, 2010 at 9:48 amI love your muffin cups, they are so cute! Homemade bread is one of my favorite things to eat and make. Yum!
Daryl
May 13, 2010 at 8:57 amreally looks incredible. Would it be possible to substitute applesauce instead of the oil?
Bethany
May 13, 2010 at 7:25 amIt looks lovely! Our landlord grows zucchini… I know that sometime mid-summer we’re going to end up with a bunch waiting for us on the back porch! This recipe will definitely come in handy then 🙂
steph anne
May 13, 2010 at 2:15 amThat really looks good! I should try and make this some time for my parents.