Olive Oil Zucchini Bread
- Total Time
- 1½ hours
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:One 8-inch loaf
- Butter, for the pan
- 1½cups/185 grams grated zucchini
- ⅔cup/140 grams light brown sugar
- ⅓cup/80 milliliters olive oil (or other oil such as safflower or canola)
- ⅓cup/80 milliliters plain Greek yogurt
- 2large eggs
- 1teaspoon/5 milliliters vanilla extract
- 1½cups/190 grams all-purpose flour
- ½teaspoon/3 grams salt
- ½teaspoon/3 grams baking soda
- ½teaspoon/2 grams baking powder
- 1½teaspoons/4 grams ground cinnamon
- ¼teaspoon/1 gram ground nutmeg
- 1teaspoon/2 grams finely grated lemon zest
- ½cup/55 grams chopped walnuts (optional)
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch loaf pan.
- Step 2
In a large bowl, use a rubber spatula to mix together the grated zucchini, sugar, olive oil, yogurt, eggs and vanilla extract.
- Step 3
Whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, lemon zest and spices in a separate bowl. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Fold in the walnuts if using.
- Step 4
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 40 to 55 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking. The bread will be done when a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
- Step 5
Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove the bread from the pan and cool on a rack completely before cutting and serving.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Ju
Hi Melissa,
I am nine years old, I live in Brazil and I love your recipes. I enjoy a lot watching your videos.
My favorite vegetable is zucchini.
Thank you
Ju
RLIZA
I divided the batter in a 12-cup greased muffin pan so it's done faster at 18 minutes. Don't have walnuts, used choco chips instead. Perfection -moist and yummy.
Susan
I reduced the sugar to 1/2 cup, and added 1/2 tsp each ginger and/or cardamom. It added a nice complexity to the flavor.
Helen
This is a lovely treat, with strong flavors of spices and citrus. I made this recipe with buttermilk instead of yogurt, and extra walnuts and dried sour cherries, then baked it in a 12x4" loaf pan.
Jodi Fortner
Ding, ding, ding!
You win the award for the only comment I've read so far that seemed not to make any changes to the published recipe.
Now I know IF I FOLLOW THE RECIPE it will work and be delicious, no costly time or ingredients down the drain. Thank you!
Joanne
I have made this bread several times now and it is delicious. I love its lightness and the hint of lemon and spicy flavor is delightful. I found it best to follow the recipe as written. The addition of chocolate chips, as others have suggested, overwhelms the citrus flavor and warm spices. Thank you Melissa!
Jacqueline
This is a nice, tasty loaf. I bake it regulalry now, especially when I have a few zucchini left from something else. (Sometimes I add a handful of raisins.) It goes well with a young goat's cheese or a Stilton. But I do think it is important to drain the grated zucchini first, so that it holds its shape and does not become slush.
Alex S
You can substitute carrots for zucchini and get great results too!
cstennis
Lovely bread. I decreased sugar to a 1/2 cup, which was sweet enough; used half regular flour and half almond flour to cut down a bit on the carbs; 1/2 (instead of 1/3) cup yogurt; substituted almond oil for the olive oil; threw in a handful of unsweetened coconut and a half cup of chopped dates.
I think this bread lends itself to many substitutions and variations - all of which are probably pretty wonderful!
Becca
Made with no substitutions, everyone loved it.
Andrea
Used yellow zucchini instead of green (I think yellow flecks are more summery than the green) and coconut sugar instead of regular. This was incredibly easy, the top gets a beautiful, deep brown sheen, it looks and tastes like you worked a lot harder than you did. A keeper.
Leslie
Made it in muffin tins.... enough for exactly a dozen. Baked for 10 minutes, rotated, then baked for 10 minutes more and they are delicious. Also substituted vanilla yogurt for the plain and left out the vanilla extract.
Stan
I felt that something was missing e.g. ginger or cloves-something to heighten flavor. I also think raisins would be good to add. Good idea to squeeze the zucchini to reduce the wetness.
Jessie
This was very moist and tasty. I don't like nutmeg so eliminated that and added cardamom and ginger instead. Threw in a handful of raisins. It was sweet, but not too sweet, to my taste.
Allie
Love this recipe--my new go-to for zucchini bread. As my husband said, it feels like a "grown-up" zucchini bread, while still being comfort food. The combination of the lemon + cinnamon/nutmeg is subtle, unexpected, and wonderful.
Noelle
Perfect mild quick bread. Used a little extra nutmeg for a little punch. Would also be good with addition of cloves and cardamom.
Rena S.
Made today. Came out really moist and delicious.
geteb
This was delicious! Doubled the recipe & made 2 loaves. Halved the baking powder as I live at 5,000'. Used the grater on my Cuisinart - worked like a charm & FAST. Think I'll try mini loaves next time to be able to spread the joy...
Jane
I'm looking forward to making this. But I do have a question. Am I the only one who looked at Melissa's photo above (it's actually a video) and wondered, what are those strings on the top of the bread? I'm guessing it's zucchini, but are they decorative for the top? The instructions state to grate the zucchini. Whatever it is, they make for a beautiful presentation! Do you all agree that it's zucchini?
Jennifer Falvey
The strength of a photo! Me: Another Zucchini Bread recipe [yawn]. {catches sight of the elegant and intriguing photo by Julia Gartland.} Me again: Hey let's look at this recipe--it looks great! I always had the same reaction to Romulo Yanes's beautiful photos for Gourmet.
SusanW
Decorative strands per Dan E’s post 5 yrs ago: "Before you do any short zucchini shredding for the batter, make a few long strands of the zucchini skin. I use a French mandoline with a 2mm comb inserted and a cutting blade thinness that matches the 2mm (you’ll get thin, bendable square ribbons). Just pass the zucchini lengthwise down the blade, turning the zucchini with each pass (remember, you want the dark green outer skin/peel only). Toss them in a little OO before adding."
Rhona
I just made these exactly as written. I made them in my mini loaf shaped muffin pan. They are terrific — light, not too sweet with flavor you can savor. My problem is I watched the video — her batter was way thinner than mine, and it looked like she used more than 1/3 cup oil. My muffins didn’t get the color or shine of her loaf — near the end of baking i did brush them with some melted butter trying to get a little better color. I baked 8 and they are almost all gone.
William C
Made this bread on Saturday and it went moldy on the counter on Wednesday (5 days). Didn’t realize until I took a but and it tasted gross and the zucchini hides the mold :( just a heads up. Was great in its prime tho and added vanilla yogurt (sub for plain yogurt and vanilla) and chocolate chips and was delicious!
Heidi
Made exactly as written except for lemon peel which I didn't have so substituted cardamom in addition to other spices. Delicious!
FoofDet
What is with the photo here? The garnish of zucchini strips making the bread look like an Italian salumi!? The video shows a pretty straightforward loaf. Just curious ...
JoAnn
Just curious....What are the green strands on the bread ?? Zucchini ??
Linda
Looking at the photo, wondering what the greenery on top is. Looks like rosemary. Is it?
Maria
Not clear if grated zuchini should be drained, squeezed dry, or left wet. Will attempt with the middle ground option of drained!
Rhona
Just made them and didn’t squeeze or dry the zucchini. They are really good.
Maria
The grated zuchini was not wet enough to drain, I just mixed it right in and the loaf turned out great! Had to bake longer due to using 9 inch loaf pan, and I did sub chocolate chips for the nuts.
Heidi Hutton
Can use date sugar and add dates. Chinese 5 spice for other spices. More walnuts. Sub half of flour w almond flour
Heidi Hutton
Sub half flour w almond flour. Sub sugar w date sugar. Add dates. Increase toasted walnuts. Chin 5 spice for soices
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