One of my favorite cozy breads is this Cinnamon Zucchini Bread. This bread is perfectly soft, crumbly, cinnamony, lightly sweet, walnut crunchy and zucchini-packed. It is the perfect coffee sidekick, midday munchy, or post-dinner sweet treat.
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What You’ll Love About this Zucchini Bread Recipe:
Low in oil – only 2 Tbsp of heart-healthy olive oil. Applesauce replaces the majority of oils, keeping this bread deliciously moist without all the fat.
No refined sugars – this bread is sweetened with applesauce and maple syrup baby, which eliminates refined sugars and lends a hint of apple and maple flavor to this bread. Yum!
Equal parts whole wheat and all-purpose flour – this bread is perfect for sneaking in some whole wheat flour. The result is moist, crumbly, delicious bread. #noregrets
Walnuts pack a crunch – chopped walnuts give this bread a surprising nutty crunch.
Hidden veggies – what’s the best way to eat veggies? By hiding them in things! Veggies are better not seen, am I right? Plus zucchini is loaded with tons of healthy vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Two cups of shredded zucchini keeps the doctor away??
Fall-licious spices – cinnamon and nutmeg–some of the BEST fall spices–are featured prominently in this zucchini bread.
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How to Make Cinnamon Zucchini Bread
Step 1: Prepare the Zucchini
In zucchini bread, it’s no surprise that zucchini is sort of the star of the show. The difference between okay and fabulous zucchini bread is proper preparation of the zucchini.
First, shred the zucchini. This is where I like to deploy my food processor. In literally 10 seconds, you’ll have perfectly shredded zucchini. It definitely beats hand shredding, although that is definitely doable as well. Before my food processor days, I used this box grater with a built in cup to reduce mess.
Once you’ve shredded the zucchini, press out as much excess liquid as you can. Begin by pressing the zucchini with paper towel. Then place paper towels inside a colander and place the zucchini on the towels and place the colander in the sink. While you prepare the rest of the bread, the zucchini will slowly drain. Just before adding the zucchini to the mix, pat dry it one last time.
Why go to such great lengths? Zucchini has a TON of moisture, which is released when cooked. This can make your bread mushy instead of moist. And it affects the bake time of your bread.
Step 2: Combine Wet Ingredients
Preheat your oven to 350F. Lightly mist a bread pan with cooking spray.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine your eggs, applesauce, olive oil, almond milk, and vanilla. Whisk thoroughly. Set aside.
Step 3: Combine Dry Ingredients
In a large mixing bowl, combine whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Set aside.
Step 4: Combine Ingredients and Bake
Incorporate the zucchini into the wet ingredients. You’ll want to wait until now in order to maximize the draining time. Mix to combine.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Mix to loosely combine. Fold in the walnuts. Be careful not to over-mix the batter. You can leave a few floury streaks in the batter.
Pour the batter into the bread pan. The batter will be fairly thick and chunky due to the zucchini. Smooth the batter with the back of a spoon to spread it out evenly.
Bake the bread for approximately 40 to 50 minutes, or until a knife comes out of the center cleanly. During the last 10 minutes of baking you may want to cover the top of the bread with foil to prevent the top from crisping too much.
Step 5: Cool Bread
Once the bread is done baking, allow it to cool in the bread pan on a wire rack about 15 to 20 minutes. Turn the bread out onto a wire rack to finish cooling. Allowing the bread to cool on the wire rack will keep the bottom of the bread from getting soggy.
Give the bread plenty of time to cool, as this will trap moisture inside of the bread, keeping it deliciously moist for a longer time.
When the bread is cooled, slice into thick pieces. Serve with apple butter, cinnamon butter, or almond butter. Any combination is sure to be delicious!
If you enjoyed this recipe for Cinnamon Zucchini Bread, try these other baked goods recipes:
- Lemon Loaf Cake with Strawberry Lemon Glaze
- Chai Spiced Scones with Cinnamon Glaze
- Hearty Morning Harvest Muffins
- Avocado Brownies
- Apple Cinnamon Oat Muffins
Cinnamon Zucchini Bread
Ingredients
- 2 c grated zucchini
- 2 large eggs
- ½ c unsweetened applesauce
- ½ c maple syrup
- 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 Tbsp vanilla unsweetened almond milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 c whole wheat flour
- 1 c unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- ½ c walnuts, chopped
Instructions
- Grate the zucchini. Press out as much moisture as possible. Line a colander with paper towel and set zucchini on towel to drain further as you prepare the rest of the ingredients. Set aside in sink.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly mist a bread pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
- Combine the wet ingredients. In a large bowl, mix together eggs, applesauce, olive oil, maple syrup, almond milk and vanilla. Whisk. Set aside.
- Combine the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, combine whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Set aside.
- Fold the zucchini into the wet mixture. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Mix to incorporate loosely. Fold in the walnuts. Be careful not to over-mix. You'll have a few streaks of flour in the batter. The batter will also be very thick, but that's okay!
- Spoon batter into greased bread pan. Use the back of a spoon to even out the batter in the bread pan. Cook approximately 45 to 50 minutes. During the last 10 minutes of baking, you may want to cover the top of the bread with foil to prevent the crust from browning too much. Remove from oven once a knife comes out of the center of the bread cleanly.
- Cool the bread inside the pan on a wire rack for about 15 to 20 minutes. Turn the bread out onto the wire rack and let cool completely before cutting. Once the bread has fully cooled, cut into thick slices and enjoy with apple butter, cinnamon butter, or almond butter.
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