The BEST Zucchini Bread Recipe

Make the BEST Zucchini Bread ever with this easy old fashioned zucchini bread recipe. It’s moist, delicious and turns out perfect every time! Classic zucchini bread is a terrific way to use up extra zucchini!

If you’re looking for old fashioned zucchini bread recipes, this one is for you! This awesome recipe for zucchini bread comes directly from a former neighbor of mine, Grandma Helen, who was a master gardener.

This sweet lady was very generous, and she would come over nearly every week with a basket filled with zucchini, tomatoes and, sometimes, freshly baked zucchini bread.

Not only did she share her bread with us, but she was also kind enough to share her old fashioned zucchini bread recipe. It’s classic in that there’s no extras — no nuts, no glaze, no chocolate. This moist zucchini bread recipe just has hints of cinnamon and vanilla, and it tastes absolutely wonderful!

This is a quick bread recipe, like Beer Bread or banana bread, so there’s no yeast or rising or anything like that. But, it does take a while to bake.

Ingredients

You only need a few simple ingredients to make homemade zucchini bread:

• Eggs
• Oil — use vegetable oil or olive oil or applesauce if you want
• Sugar
• Zucchini — 2 cups — about 3 small zucchini. Larger zucchini tends to be bitter tasting.
• Vanilla extract
• All purpose flour
• Baking soda
• Baking powder
• Cinnamon
• Sea salt

Do you Peel the Zucchini?

There’s no need to peel the zucchini skin. It softens as it bakes, and it just adds texture. If you try to peel it, it will turn to mush as you grate it. There’s also no need to squeeze excess water out of the zucchini for bread making.

How To Grate

Grate the zucchini using the large holes in a plank grater or standard box grater. Set the plank grater over a large bowl, or set the box grater in the bowl. Just be careful when you get to the end of the zucchini so you don’t scrape your fingers on the grater!

How to Make Zucchini Bread

First, preheat your oven to 325 degrees f. Spray the baking pans with non stick spray or grease with butter.

You only need one large mixing bowl for this recipe — no separating dry ingredients and wet ingredients here! You can use the same bowl you grated the zucchini into.

After you grate your zucchini, add the rest of the ingredients. Then, mix everything together.

The batter will seem dry at first, but as you keep mixing, the zucchini will release plenty of liquid. Then, you pour the batter into your prepared baking pans.

This recipe makes enough for two loaves. It sounds like a lot, but it goes fast. And, it tastes so good that you will probably be tempted to have more than one slice.

The only change that I made from the original recipe is that I used sea salt instead of iodized salt. Also, I used olive oil here, although my neighbor probably used vegetable oil or canola oil.

Cooking Time

The bread takes 1 hour to 1 1/4 hours using 2 standard 8.5 x 4.5 inch bread pans. Bake times vary on your oven and the loaf pans you use.

Zucchini bread is done when a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean and the internal temperature is 200 degrees f, according to a food thermometer.

Once it passes the toothpick test, let the zucchini bread cool sitting on a wire rack at room temperature.

I probably make zucchini muffins or zucchini muffins more often so that I don’t keep the oven on that long in the summer, but this bread is so worth it. To make muffins from this recipe, just use a muffin tin and bake for 20 minutes or until done.

You can also try Zucchini Banana Bread Muffins. And if you want a savory zucchini recipe, you’ll love Easy Baked Chicken and Zucchini or Grilled Zucchini or Sausage Stuffed Zucchini Boats.

How to Store

Store uneaten sliced zucchini bread in an airtight container, zip top freezer bag or wrapped tightly in plastic wrap. You don’t need to refrigerate the bread unless your house is hot.

To save an unsliced loaf for the next day or two, wrap in plastic wrap, then aluminum foil or store in an airtight container. For longer storage, keep in the freezer.

Frozen zucchini bread should be good for 3 to 4 months. Honestly though, this delicious bread lasts 2 days tops around here!

Variations

There are a couple ways to customize this delicious zucchini bread to your liking.

Instead of olive oil, use canola oil, vegetable oil, or coconut oil. You can also use applesauce.

For a little extra sweetness, add some chocolate chips. I like semisweet chocolate chips, but dark chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips, and mini chocolate chips all work great.

Or, substitute half of the white sugar with brown sugar.

Grandma’s zucchini bread recipe is tasty enough for me, but if you want a sweet bread for dessert, top with honey butter, a light glaze, or even cream cheese frosting.

This easy zucchini bread may be an old recipe, but it’s one of the best recipes for late summer mornings with a cup of coffee or a quick sweet tooth satisfier! I hope you enjoy this best zucchini bread recipe as much as my family does!

Please leave a star rating and review. Also check out my bread recipes for more easy baking inspiration!

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Recipe was originally published in 2016. It has been updated in 2022 for clarity and new tips.