Everyone knows that time of year when gardens are producing crazy amounts of zucchini – whether it’s your own garden or the neighbor is dropping off zucchini to you every other day. Zucchini Bread is a summer-time staple, and put our own spin on it. Some of the changes happen to amp up the nutrition, but what it really does is provide the perfect zucchini bread that is guaranteed to be super moist every time. Take a loaf to your neighbors as a thank you for the zucchini they keep leaving on your porch, or enjoy it yourself without any sugar regret.
Want to try your hand at some other quick breads? Check out our master recipe for quick breads where you can learn to make ANY flavor.
Why Our Recipe
- Have your cake and eat it too – this bread is like cake!
- The combination of honey and applesauce guarantees a super moist bread that’s never oily.
- A little whole wheat flour is added in to give a little structure that can hold up that soft, moist, perfect crumb.
Our Super Moist Zucchini Bread is an easy recipe that can be mixed together in 10 minutes before popping into the oven. This is the perfect recipe to let your kids help you make by tasking them with grating the zucchini (careful of fingers!) and mixing the batter. They won’t believe they won’t be able to taste the veggies in this masterpiece. Top a warm slice with a little butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar for the ultimate dessert-like experience!
Ingredient Notes
- Applesauce: The first all-star ingredient that keeps the bread super moist while adding a natural sweetness and helping bind everything together.
- Honey: All-star ingredient #2. A natural sweetener that helps retain moisture longer than regular sugar, while contributing to a denser, more tender texture (cake anyone?).
- Flour: We use a combination of white all-purpose and whole wheat flour. The whole wheat is what gives the bread a cake-like texture. You can use all white flour but the result will be a lighter, less dense bread. But still delicious!
All About The Zucchini
How many zucchini do you actually need for this recipe? This is difficult to answer because all zucchini are different sizes, but 1 medium-sized zucchini should yield about 1 cup of grated zucchini.
Zucchini have a high water content, but don’t worry. This recipe accounts for the extra liquid that the zucchini provides. Please don’t squeeze your grated zucchini or attempt to wring the water out of it.
It’s really as simple as grating the zucchini and adding it to the mixing bowl. That’s it!
To Peel or Not to Peel
No, you do not need to peel your zucchini. Yes, you can if you really want to or if you have someone in your house who will be weirded out by tiny green bits in the bread, but really, it’s just added time and effort. Grated zucchini gets softer when you bake it, so the skin won’t have any bite when the oven is done with it.
Storage and Reheating Instructions
Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and place in an airtight container or resealable plastic bag. Store at room temperature or in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Freeze a loaf by wrapping it tightly with plastic wrap and placing it in an airtight container or resealable plastic freezer bag. Thaw on the counter. It will take approximately 3 to 4 hours for the bread to thaw.
Warm slices in the microwave on high in 10-second increments if you’d like to enjoy a warm slice.
Should the recipe have 1 1/2 cups applesauce? The list says 1/2 cup only. Thanks!
Nope, just 1/2 a cup.
I had to add yogurt and oil to make this even remotely moist and stirrable in the bowl – are you perhaps missing a wet ingredient in your list?
No, but it sounds like you may have missed something. There’s 1 1/2 cups of flour in the recipe and 1/2 cup of applesauce and 1 cup of honey to moisten things up. Then you also have an egg and vanilla extract so it should be plenty moist. There’s actually more moisture in the recipe than there are dry ingredients.
I followed the recipe and it was very moist.
Thank you from France for this soooo nice recipe
I did it as cup cakes … and the family enjoyed it a lot
I can’t get apple sauce where I live. Can I leave it out?
You can use oil instead, but you can’t just leave it out.
Use pumpkin puree or mashed sweet potato or mashed banana. Several substitutes
Make applesauce easily. Chop a peeled apple and cook down in a bit of water. Puree for smooth applesauce. For use in baking don’t add sugar. To eat, taste and add sugar or cinnamon to taste. Golden Delicious apples make a good applesauce.
Straining the water from the zucchini is a must!
I don’t and don’t have a problem.
I made this and it turned out to be a winner. I didn’t have enough honey, so used 1/2 cup honey and 1/4 cup molasses. I added a 1/2 tsp or so ginger with the cinnamon. My zucchini was pretty big I guess and I had more than a cup, grated fine, but I let it sit in a strainer for awhile and then pressed out most of the moisture. After all that, at 55 minutes the loaf was still VERY wet, so I checked again in 15 minutes (still wet) and another 15 minutes (seemed ok) so I took it out and let it cool in the pan to firm up before removing it. It is the next day now and the loaf is still moist and delicious (but mostly gone!). I am keeping it wrapped in foil.
The reduced sweetener was just right. I also added about 3/4 cup chopped walnuts for a little crunch and flavor. I have zucchini on my shopping list to make again, and I will add more spices next time to complement the molasses.
Thank you!
Is there an alternative to the 1 cup of honey in the Zucchini Bread recipe?
1 cup of sugar
Hi! I’ve never made, nor had zucchini bread and this looks amazing! Do you think I can sub agave for the honey?
Yes.
Very excited to try out this healthier alternative to zucchini bread!!
Looking forward to the zucchini bread recipie and others.