Zucchini Bread

Zucchini Bread — Super moist, tender, loaded with chocolate chips, and so EASY to make!! One bowl, no mixer, and THE BEST zucchini bread you’ll ever try!!

The Best Ever Zucchini Bread 

I have a family who doesn’t like zucchini, but they sure loved this zucchini bread. If you know any zucchini haters, trust me — they won’t even be able to taste it. There’s so much chocolate in every bite, which is what dominates the flavor profile.

It’s so incredibly moist, tender, and just melts in your mouth. Between the oil, sour cream, and natural moisture from the zucchini, it’s impossible to have a dry loaf of this quick bread recipe.

I actually think this bread is so scrumptious, it could be considered cake, but baked in loaf form. So if it’s bread, it’s automatically a bit healthier than cake, right? Yes!

Save this original recipe for when your garden, your neighbor’s garden, or the markets are exploding with summer fresh zucchini.

Zucchini Bread Ingredients

This is such a simple recipe and other than the zucchini, you will likely have everything in your pantry and fridge to make this recipe right now! I made this homemade zucchini bread with sour cream, but note that full-fat plain Greek yogurt may be substituted. 

You will need:

• Egg
• Vegetable or canola oil
• Sour cream or Greek yogurt
• Vanilla extract
• Granulated sugar
• Light brown sugar
• All-purpose flour
• Ground cinnamon
• Baking soda
• Baking powder
• Salt
• Zucchini
• Chocolate Chips, optional but highly recommended

Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.

How to Make Zucchini Bread

Full instructions for this recipe can be found in this recipe card at the end of the post. Here’s a quick overview of the baking process: 

1. To a large bowl, simply add the wet ingredients (egg, sugars, sour cream, vanilla, sugars) and whisk to combine them. 
2. Add the dry ingredients (flour, cinnamon, baking soda and powder, salt) and stir to combine. 
3. Add the shredded zucchini, chocolate chips, stir to combine, and turn the mixture out into a greased 9×5-inch loaf pan.
4. Bake until done! The batter is fairly thick and dense, which is a good thing, so that when the zucchini releases its juices as the bread bakes, the dough started out sufficiently thick and can handle absorbing that extra liquid volume.

Recipe Variations to Try

Muffins

It is perfectly fine to use the batter to make muffins. Muffins will probably take about 20 to 25 minutes baked at 350F. Keep an eye on them; they’re done when they’re cooked through and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean from batter, although it’ll have chocolate on it.

Cake

The batter would be fine for an 8×8-inch cake or a small Bundt cake. It will depend on what you choose to bake it in, but I estimate it taking about 35 minutes for either. I haven’t tested either of these options personally, so watch your baking times.

How to Store Zucchini Bread

Store leftover zucchini bread on your counter, wrapped tightly or sealed in an airtight container, for up to five days. The zucchini keeps the bread incredibly moist! After five days, any additional leftovers must be frozen.

Freezing Instructions

Let the bread cool completely and then seal inside a freezer bag. Alternately, you can wrap the entire loaf in a few layers of plastic wrap and a final layer of heavy duty aluminum foil.

Frozen zucchini bread will last up to three months. To thaw, place on the counter overnight. You can also freeze individual slices of zucchini bread. 

Save Saved Review Print

4.50 from 46 votes

Zucchini Bread

By Averie Sunshine

Super moist, tender, loaded with chocolate chips, and so EASY to make!! One bowl, no mixer, and THE BEST zucchini bread you'll ever try!!

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes minutes

Cooling Time: 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Servings: 10

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Ingredients  

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• ▢ 1 large egg
• ▢ ½ cup vegetable or canola oil
• ▢ ½ cup sour cream or Greek yogurt, I used full fat sour cream
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ ½ cup granulated sugar
• ▢ ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
• ▢ 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ▢ 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ▢ ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon salt, or to taste
• ▢ 1 ½ cups freshly grated zucchini, blotted, and fairly firmly packed in measuring cup (see Notes)
• ▢ 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate Chips, optional but highly recommended; with a few reserved for sprinkling on top of the loaf

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Instructions 

• Preheat oven to 350F, and spray a 9×5-inch loaf pan with floured cooking spray, or grease and flour the pan; set aside.
• To a large mixing bowl, add the egg, oil, sour cream, vanilla, sugars, and whisk to combine.
• Add the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and stir to combine; don't overmix.
• Add the zucchini and fold to combine, don't overmix.
• Add the optional chocolate chips, stir to combine, and turn batter out into the prepared pan, sprinkling a few reserved chips over the top of the loaf.
• Bake the bread for about 50 minutes (start checking earlier), or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean from any raw batter. There will likely be chocolate on the toothpick though. I highly recommend draping a sheet of foil, i.e. tenting the pan, at the 25 to 30-minute mark while baking to reduce excessive browning on the top and sides of your loaf. See Notes for baking tips.
• Allow the bread to cool in the pan for about 30 minutes, or until it's cool enough to remove. Bread will keep airtight at room temp for up to 5 days, in the fridge for up to 8 days, and in the freezer for up to 4 months.

Notes

1. Grating, Wringing Out, and Measuring The Zucchini  – Place the grated zucchini in doubled up paper towels and wring it out. You don’t have to wring like you are trying to wring out a wet swimsuit, but you want to blot up some of the moisture, if I were guessing, I’d say wring out 50% of the moisture.

Then place it in a 1-cup measuring cup fairly firmly. Don’t hard-pack it into the cup, but use more pressure than if you were just laying it in the cup.

You want 1 1/2 cups total of grated, blotted, semi-packed zucchini.

2. Baking Tips – It is very important to bake your bread though, and approximately 50 minutes should do the trick, but that is not written in stone so you need to watch your bread and not the clock when evaluating doneness. Do not be afraid to bake your bread for 70 minutes if that’s what it needs in order to get it cooked through.

Because of the moisture content of your particular zucchini, exactly how much water you blotted out, your oven, you climate, the brand of flour used, and so forth, will all effect baking times. The bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out free from any wet batter.

I recommend draping a sheet of foil, i.e. tenting your pan, at the 25 to 30-minute mark to avoid excessive browning on the top and sides of your loaf.

Nutrition

Serving: 1, Calories: 287kcal, Carbohydrates: 47g, Protein: 6g, Fat: 10g, Saturated Fat: 5g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g, Cholesterol: 26mg, Sodium: 165mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 30g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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