Easy Zucchini Bread Recipe (Moist Summer Baking Favorite)
Every summer my kitchen counter disappears under a pile of zucchini, and this bread is the reason I never complain about it. My mom used to bake a loaf every August, and the smell of cinnamon and brown sugar still feels like the best kind of childhood memory.
This recipe is dead simple, genuinely moist, and comes together in one bowl before you can talk yourself out of baking. It is the kind of loaf you slice warm, share freely, and end up making twice in the same week.
Easy Zucchini Bread Recipe (Moist Summer Baking Favorite)
A tender, warmly spiced loaf that turns your garden zucchini into something magical.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini , about 1 medium zucchini, excess moisture squeezed out
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 large eggs , room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil , or melted coconut oil
- 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt , or sour cream
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts , optional but recommended
Instructions
Tips & Notes
- Squeezing the moisture out of the zucchini is non-negotiable — skip it and your bread will be dense and wet in the center.
- Do not peel the zucchini before shredding. The skin is tender and practically disappears into the loaf.
- Greek yogurt or sour cream adds extra moisture and a subtle tang that makes this loaf taste bakery-level good.
- For a sweeter top, sprinkle a tablespoon of coarse sugar over the batter right before baking.
- The bread actually tastes even better on day two once the spices have had time to settle in.
- This recipe doubles perfectly — bake two loaves and freeze one wrapped tightly in plastic wrap for up to 3 months.
Nutrition per serving · estimated
The One Trick That Makes All the Difference
Ask anyone who has ended up with a gummy, dense zucchini bread and they will tell you the same thing — they skipped squeezing out the water. Zucchini holds a surprising amount of liquid, and if that goes straight into your batter, no amount of baking time will fully fix it.
Taking sixty seconds to wring out the shredded zucchini in a kitchen towel is the single biggest upgrade you can make to this recipe. It sounds like a small thing, but the difference in texture is genuinely dramatic. You want moist from the oil and yogurt, not wet from vegetable water.
Once you get that step right, everything else about this recipe is forgiving and flexible — which is exactly what summer baking should be.
Easy Ways to Make It Your Own
This loaf is a wonderful base for mixing things up depending on what you have on hand. Swap the walnuts for chocolate chips and suddenly it feels like dessert. Add a handful of raisins and a pinch of cardamom for something a little more aromatic and old-fashioned.
You can also make this as muffins instead of a loaf — just divide the batter into a greased 12-cup muffin tin and bake at 350°F for about 20 to 22 minutes. They are perfect for lunchboxes or quick breakfasts and freeze beautifully.
If you want to sneak in extra nutrition, replacing a third of the flour with whole wheat flour works really well without changing the texture much at all.
