This moist, delicious Zucchini Bread with walnuts, cinnamon, and vanilla, is made healthy and light with applesauce – a great way to use up that summer zucchini!
Zucchini Bread
This easy zucchini bread recipe was modified from my Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread with lots of cinnamon, walnuts, and vanilla. I love how this came out!! It’s a classic zucchini bread recipe made lighter, not overly sweet – just enough to be perfect for enjoying with your morning coffee for breakfast or as an afternoon snack. To make it healthier I used half whole wheat flour with the all purpose flour which turned out great. Some zucchini recipes you can bake this summer, try this Chocolate Zucchini Bread, Banana Zucchini Cake, and Pineapple Zucchini Cupcakes.
Why This Works!
- Light in calories: For a healthier take on zucchini bread that doesn’t compromise on flavor, but reduces the amount of butter and sugar, this is the best zucchini bread recipe!
- Healthy! Most zucchini bread recipes add a lot of sugar and butter. This recipe is lightly sweetened and swaps out most of the butter for apple sauce.
- Delicious – My daughter Madison loves this quick bread!
- Make it ahead – you can make this ahead for the week and refrigerate or freeze the rest.
Ingredients
- Shredded Zucchini: from about 1 1/4 large zucchini, not packed, not squeezed as the moisture from the zucchini helps keep the bread moist.
- Flour: I utilized a mixture of all-purpose flour and white whole-wheat flour. However, ordinary whole-wheat flour would be a suitable alternative, or you could opt to use solely all-purpose flour.
- Sweetener: Light brown or dark brown sugar, not packed.
- Spices: Vanilla, ground cinnamon and salt
- Leavening agents: baking soda and baking powder, to make the bread rise (make sure they’re not expired)
- Nuts: Chopped walnuts or pecans. You can also omit.
- Egg: 1 large egg, added for texture and taste
- Fat: melted unsalted butter, or dairy-free butter for moisture and helps with leavening
- Apple sauce: This helps reduce the calories and replaces some of the butter.
How To Make Zucchini Bread
- Prepare pan: Preheat oven to 325°F. Spray a 9×5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.
- Combine dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. Mix well.
- Add nuts: Add 1/2 cup walnuts and gently mix to combine.
- Wet Ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk egg, vanilla, melted butter, apple sauce then mix in the grated zucchini.
- Combine: Add to the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and stir until just blended.
- Add batter to pan: Pour batter into the prepared 9×5-inch loaf pan and top with remaining nuts.
- Bake: Bake the bread 45-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let cool: Cool the bread for about 10 minutes in the pan. Remove loaf from pan and let it cool further before slicing.
Variations
- Sweetener: If you want to use monk fruit brown sugar sweetener instead of brown sugar, it will work fine.
- No applesauce? Swap it for banana but know it will change the flavor.
- Nuts: Sub pecans for walnuts or omit them.
- Spices: Add some nutmeg with the cinnamon for a variation.
- Muffins: Make zucchini muffins instead of a loaf – bake for about 25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Dairy-free: Swap butter for coconut oil
- Gluten-Free: Zucchini Bread: Swap both flours for Cup4Cup flour.
- Yellow Squash: You can use yellow squash in place of zucchini if you prefer. Avoid using the seeds.
How to Shred Zucchini for Bread
You can grate the zucchini with a box grater or in a food processor using the shredding attachment. Grating zucchini by hand gives you a finer texture, whereas shredding results in long strands.
How to Store
To store, slice and wrap each piece in plastic wrap. Store bread in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. See directions below to freeze.
FAQs
Do you peel zucchini for zucchini bread?
No, there’s no need to peel zucchini for this recipe, but if you want to hide any green stuff from your kids, you certainly can.
Do you squeeze water out of zucchini for bread?
Don’t squeeze the water out – it’s what makes the bread so moist.
Can zucchini bread be frozen?
Leftover zucchini bread is perfect for freezing. You can even double the recipe and freeze half for later. I like to slice it and store the pieces in a bag with parchment paper in between so they don’t freeze together. Individually wrapping the slices in aluminum foil is another option. Thaw the bread overnight in the fridge or microwave it straight from the freezer.
How can you tell when zucchini bread is done?
The easiest way to determine if zucchini bread is ready is to insert a toothpick into the center of the loaf. The bread is done if it comes out clean with minimal crumbs and no wet batter.
More Healthy Quick Bread Recipes You’ll Love:
Zucchini Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- cooking spray
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, I used unbleached
- 1 cup white whole-wheat flour, regular whole-wheat flour would work*
- 2/3 cup brown sugar, not packed
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 2 tablespoons melted butter, or dairy-free butter
- 1 cup apple sauce
- 1 ½ cups shredded zucchini, not packed, not squeezed (from about 1 1/4 large)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Spray a 9×5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.
- Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. Mix well.
- Add 1/2 cup walnuts and gently mix to combine.
- In a medium bowl, mix egg, vanilla, melted butter, apple sauce and zucchini.
- Add to the flour mixture and stir until just blended.
- Pour batter into the prepared 9×5-inch loaf pan and top with remaining nuts.
- Bake 45-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool for about 10 minutes. Remove loaf from pan and let it cool before slicing.
This is delicious. My husband and I got sick and so many people brought us food-including lots of zucchini! We wanted to put something in the dishes we returned, so we made many loaves of this zucchini bread. We loved it ourselves and several have asked for the recipe. We ended up cooking it at least 15 minutes more before a toothpick came out clean. But after it cooled and was sliced, it was fine. It makes a very moist loaf.
This is the best recipe for zucchini bread. I’ve followed this many,many times now. Comes out perfect each time. So moist and delicious. Thanks!!
Was absolutely lovely, the calories was higher per slice for some reason… however it’s so yummy.
My zucchini bread came out both heavier and less moist than I would have hoped for. Can you tell what I have done wrong?
Did you squeeze the water out? It should not have been squeezed, the water is needed here.
Loved it just as is. I will make it again 😍
Gina, this bread looks delicious! I plan on making this tomorrow. My question is….do you know what the adjusted WW points would be if I use the monk fruit brown sugar sweetener instead of the regular sugar?
This is so delicious! The problem is…I can’t stop eating it. Lol! Thank you Gina. I love all your recipes. I bought many of your books too. I only make meals from your recipes. 😊
More accurately I would rate this 4 1/2 stars. It’s a fine recipe but I think it needs just a little more zip so next time I plan to add some lemon zest. Also, I used small zukes rather than large. The large ones tend to be juicier and the smaller ones had no excess juice after shredding. The other variable is applesauce because some brands have more water than others or your own homemade. I also think that my own homemade would have added flavor, if I had any left on the shelf. No issues with gummy result. Really glad these arthritic fingers have found a good recipe that doesn’t need to be squeezed!
This was so good! It was moist and just slightly sweet. I’ll be making this again.
I made this with gluten free flour and it turned out moist and amazing!
Correction to my review: took 57 minutes to bake. I also used a thermometer to check. You want 200 degrees.
Delicious & easy to make! Very moist! The apple flavor from the applesauce comes through nicely. I added freshly grated nutmeg to the batter. I did not add extra nuts on top instead I sprinkled Swerve brown sugar. Took 48 minutes to bake in a metal loaf pan.
I am going to make this weekend. I love all your recipes. I have a hard time cutting 16 slices, so I cut in half lengthwise. Then I cut 8 cross wise. Thanks for your recipes.
This recipe made delicious and moist zucchini bread! I made muffins (19) and baked them for 22 minutes. I will try 20-21 minutes next time. Thank you Skinnytaste for another great recipe!!!
Thanks for noting the time on muffins. I may do that next time
Since it is not specified, I assume the applesauce is sweetened? Looking forward to making this. Thanks.
Unsweetened
Can this be made in a muffin pan? If so, standard 12 or mini for equivalent nutrition?
I really love your recipes!
But……..I live in Germany where we use the metric system and it’s sometimes hard to find out how many grams 3/4 cups of sugar or flour are.
There are american recipe pages where you can choose between metric or US system when printing.
Do you think adding this tool might be an option for you in the future?
Me and many other fans from outside the US would really appreciate it!
Kind regards
Claudia
Thanks Claudia
You can ask Siri. That’s what I do when I want to convert something.
This sounds delicious and I would really love to make this but my son is allergic to eggs. What can I replace the one egg with?
You can replace 1 egg with 1/4 cup of applesauce!
Everyone loved it even the picky teenagers. If I add a banana do I need to change any other ingredient amounts?
I wanted to plug in the ingredients to see what the WW PP value was,, but it wouldn’t let me. It says oops, the Carbohydrates value can’t be lower than the sugar, which it isn’t. So I don’t know what the PP value should be. I like to write it on the recipe.
I measured carefully but my bread was not moist. I was disappointed.
Very nice bread, not too sweet. I used skinny taste homemade applesauce that was a bit on the chunky side. I subbed Fage nonfat greek two tabs for the melted butter, I cut the walnuts back to one ounce which was a bit stingy of me, and next time would add more. Used swerve brown sugar, I guess I cut out calories where I can) I did measure zucchini and then did squeeze it out a bit in a paper towel as it was more wet then the usual zucchini. Sometimes zucchini are not too moist, but sometime they are very moist and that was the case this time. I did bake in a loaf pan maybe 10 more minutes till the tooth pick came out “cleaner.” Next time I might play wth the spices–maybe some nutmeg, cloves or a spice blend–one tab was fine of cinnamon though.
Didn’t you use to do WW points for all your recipes? Did you stop doing that?
Well, it tasted okay, but the texture was gummy. We toasted the slices because there too many good things in the bread to toss it out. So, I’ve been trying to decide what might have contributed to the excess moisture — I am assuming that was the issue. I had only a 1/2c whole wheat flour so I had to fill the rest of the cup with all purpose flour, so that’s one issue. I was using an extra large egg, so that’s another possibility, although that wouldn’t add a great deal of extra liquid. My zucchini pulp seemed particularly moist. I considered squeezing it some but instructions said not so, so I didn’t. Everything else I did exactly as directed. It certainly looked pretty, even after an additional 30 minutes of baking in an effort to get that toothpick to come out not gooey. Just looked like a big wet sponge when I cut into it. Any suggestions??
Since this worked great for me and others, my guess is you had too much zucchini? It sounds like it was too wet.
Best zucchini bread ever!! At least according to my three friends who tried it and myself!
I used a combination of bananas and applesauce, added a shake of cloves and 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg and a 1/2 cup of raisins and by gosh, this bread is so good! Second loaf in the oven now.
I deleted the nuts, and added raisins. Yum!
Is one Tablespoon of cinnamon correct ? That seems like a lot of cinnamon
Ellen, it is not too much, it tastes great! I even added a shake of cloves and 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg.
yes
I’ve been weighing my ingredients for baked goods for quite a long time now so was surprised that gram weights for the flours & sugar, (and yes, walnuts) weren’t included. I normally convert volume measurement to weight using King Arthur’s Weight Ingredient Chart, which is lower than most food bloggers. Would you share what your grams-per-cup standard is?
I agree with you, Barbara. I always convert to gram weights. It would be super helpful if recipes were written that way. The weight of the zucchini might vary according to its moisture level which will affect the outcome. I would appreciate it if Gina provided the weights of all ingredients.
Could I make muffins instead? Should I decrease the baking time?
Bake for about 25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
i followed the recipe except i added a few chocolate chips, cause chocolate makes everything better! they turned out good – even the hubs liked. and used up a garden zucchini and homemade applesauce i had stashed in the freezer
I definitely want to make this bread but my son is allergic to eggs. Is there any way to substitute this?
hard to say without testing it, but maybe add a little more apple sauce in its place
I. Have recipes for a chocolate cake and a spice cake. No eggs needed.
Wow! This looks wonderful! Making tomorrow. Thank you Gina
Could I use regular flour ,I can’t have whole wheat or whole grain flour.
Tks peggy
Sure!
Loved this!!
My niece is allergic to apples and bananas, is there anything else I can use to substitute for the applesauce? Thank you Gina. Your recipes are GREAT!
Maybe pumpkin, but I haven’t tested it. Let me know if you do!
This turned out amazing! My son and I love it!
I’m making it this week, would Almond flour work as a gluten free option?
I am so glad!
Yummy !! I have a ton of zucchini’s from my garden… this recipe is just as moist and good as the recipe I’ve used over the years and I can enjoy it on my WW plan:) thanks again Gina all your skinny recipes are delish and does not feel like a diet but a healthy choice to eat normal food.
Glad you enjoyed it Bev!
What does the 2 TBS of butter do? I’d leave it out. I also never use the entire amount of sugar. I use half of what a recipe calls for and use agave for the remaining:recipe- 2/3 cups…I use 1/3 cup brown sugar + 1/3 cups agave.
Swoon!!! Zucchini not packed or squeezed!!! Making this this week! I hate squeezing the grated zucchini. One of the main reasons I always avoid making zucchini bread. All your recipes are great and I’m sure this will be the same!
My lady is trying to avoid gluten, and I don’t know if they make a gluten free wheat flour. I’m new to this whole gluten-light thing, but we have a bunch of zucchini and I know she would love this. Any advise?
this works great with cup4cup in place of the both flours
Wow! The universe somehow knew that I’ve been having a craving for zucchini bread, and delivered this recipe to my inbox! Thank you, and I will be making some this week.