Must-Try, Super-Moist Zucchini Bread
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With its perfectly moist texture, super soft crumb, and brown sugar notes throughout, this is the best-ever (AND easiest!) zucchini bread recipe. The recipe is easily adaptable to mini loaf pans, and the batter can be used for zucchini bread muffins too, too.
This is the best zucchini bread. The original source is unknown, but my mother learned it from her mother, and I’ve been passing it along as well, baking it with my children, who call it “bikini” bread, for years. It’s an oldie but such a goodie, and a hit with adults and children alike.
In essence, its a classic quick bread made with both brown sugar and white, eggs and oil, and a heap of zucchini. The zucchini flavor is nearly indiscernible, but it plays an important roll in ensuring the cake will be super moist. This quick bread, a 2-bowl job, comes together in under 10 minutes and freezes beautifully.
What’s more? It also can easily be turned into muffins, which also freeze beautifully, or baked in four mini loaf pans, which make great holiday gifts. I love serving this zucchini bread when entertaining — it’s as delicious for mid-morning brunch as for afternoon tea all summer long.
Finally, The Kitchn, a favorite website, declared this recipe the best in a contest with four widely adored zucchini bread recipes. I hope you love it, too.
A favorite variation? Chocolate chip, of course. Nuts, too. Truthfully, I love it best with no additions. You can use as much as a pound — yes a pound! — of grated zucchini, and it along with the oil, keep the bread so, so moist.
More Recipes with Zucchini
- Zucchini Involtini
- Zucchini Parmesan
- Favorite Summer Pasta: Zucchini Spaghetti
- Shaved Zucchini & Pecorino Salad
- Zucchini Sauté with Mint, Pine Nuts, & Ricotta
PS: ALL the zucchini recipes right here → Zucchini
PPS: The Best-Ever Banana Bread.
Here’s the play-by-play: Gather your ingredients:
Grate a couple zucchini.
Stir together the dry ingredients. Stir together the wet ingredients.
Toss the zucchini with the dry ingredients.
Add the wet ingredients.
Transfer to a loaf pan.
Bake until golden and cooked through.
Let cool completely before slicing.
You can bake the bread in four mini loaf pans as well, which is so nice for gift giving.
PrintMust-Try, Super-Moist Zucchini Bread
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 1 Standard Loaf or 4 Mini Loaves
Description
Notes:
- Baking by weight is always a good idea. Regarding flour, if you have a scale (this one costs $9!), weigh out 227 g flour. If you are using cups, use 2 cups, but fill them lightly.
- Loaf pans come in all different sizes. I love these Chicago Metallic standard 8.5 x 4.5-inch loaf pans and these Chicago Metallic mini loaf pans, which are so handy to have on hand around the holidays. If you use as much as a pound of zucchini, I highly recommend baking this bread in a 10×5-inch baking pan — it’s only slightly larger than the 8.5×4.5-inch pan, but it makes a difference. My quick breads bake so much more evenly in this larger-size pan.
- To freeze: Be sure to let zucchini bread cool completely. Wrap in foil; then tuck into an airtight bag. Freeze up to 3 months. Thaw overnight at room temperature.
- To make muffins: Simply, line a 12-cup muffin pan with liners or grease with butter or nonstick spray. Fill cups no more than two-thirds full. Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Ingredients
- a scant 2 cups (227 g) flour (see notes above)
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon, optional
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup light (213 g) brown sugar
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- ¾ cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 2½ cups grated zucchini, (12–16 oz.)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Grease a 8.5 x 4.5-inch loaf pan or a 10 x 5-inch loaf pan if using as much as a pound of zucchini (see notes above). For easy removal, line the pan with a sheet of parchment paper that hangs over the edges.
- Whisk together first five ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk remaining ingredients except zucchini. Add zucchini to the flour mixture and toss to coat. Add dry to wet and stir till until combined. Pour into pan. Bake until toothpick comes out clean, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. If you have an instant read thermometer, it should register 205ºF or above. (Note: Every oven is different, and different pans conduct heat differently — be patient with the cooking. It may take 20-30 minutes more. With the longer cooking time, the bread shouldn’t burn, but if you are noticing the bread getting too brown, cover it with foil.)
- Let bread cool for 15 minutes in pan, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before slicing.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Category: Bread
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
666 Comments on “Must-Try, Super-Moist Zucchini Bread”
This is a great recipe! I added some grated carrot, still keeping the 2 1/2 cups total. I made muffins and mini loaves.
Wonderful to hear this, Jo Anne!
I have made this twice now…. first in a 10×5 pan, which wasn’t good , then I split between 2 loaf pans, not good quality either. My breads are not baking in the suggested time frames. Any suggestions?
Hi Kaye! I would just cook them a little bit longer. Does your oven run cool do you know? Mine consistently is 25 degrees cooler than what it registers. Another commenter was able to cook her loaves for much longer without experiencing any burning. If you have an instant read thermometer, it should register 195ºF-205ºF.
Hi Alex, I just made for the fourth time plus I purchased your suggested pan…..Turned out much better but after 1 hour and 15 minutes I got scarred that I might burn it so I removed it from the oven… Turns out I could’ve cooked five more minutes but it is an absolutely delicious bread.
So nice to hear this, Kaye! You can always cover with a bit of foil toward the end of cooking, if you are worried about burning.
Wow! This really was a “must-try” recipe! Your applesauce yogurt cake and this zucchini bread have easily been my favorite sweet treats from your blog over the past year. I’m not sure which one I like better 😍 To any reader who prefers slightly less sweet things: I reduced both types of sugar by 25% with no negative effect. I always worry about making baked goods dryer when I play around with reducing the sugar. It wasn’t a problem with this recipe at all—still super moist! To compensate for less sugar, I doubled the cinnamon and vanilla. Thank you, Ali 😊
So nice to hear this, Erin! I, too, like things less sweet. Will try this next time. Thank you 💕💕💕💕💕
Wow so amazing love the this recipe
Wonderful to hear this!
Excellent recipe! Used scale to weigh out flour and zucchini. Also squeezed some of the moisture out of the zucchini. It was the most moist yet perfectly done bread I’ve ever made. Thank you!
Wonderful to hear this, Ann!
Hello! I am loving your recipes! Thank you so much for sharing them! Can I ask if you have any special tips or advice on how to deal with that ‘goopy’ center middle that quick breads develop when baking them? They crack nicely along the center but then that batter, right below the surface, just never finishes off nicely for me. Anything you do that combats this? Thank you so much!
Hi Elizabeth! I think the key is to not over-fill the pan. So, no matter what pan you use, next time, try filling the pan only half way. Pour the remaining batter into ramekins or muffin cups or mini loaf pans, again filling no more than half way.
So often, I think over-filling is the the issue — it doesn’t allow the loaf to bake evenly/properly.
What size loaf pan are you generally using?
Literally the only thing I changed was I omitted a bit of sugar, since my husband is Type 1. I did the full amount of zucchini along with the optional cinnamon, and it’s just perfect and moist!! Do not despair if you need to cook a bit longer than an hour, the internal temp is your guide. Honestly, I usually mess around with recipes to the point of why even bother reading one, but this one is just right. Now, husbando and myself have to do our best to not eat this in one sitting!
So wonderful to hear this! And I know: a loaf never lasts long in your house 🙂 🙂 🙂 Thanks for writing!
Easy and moist and full of flavor!
Great to hear, Doris!
Such a forgiving recipe, easy to put together quickly. I added chocolate chips. We are on vacation so I did not have a suitable bread pan. I used a grocery store one time use aluminum bread pan, filled to the rim. I knew it would overflow so I put a cookie sheet under it. Baked in 90 minutes to perfection, moist and delicious. And, we are the extra overflow crispy bits from the cookie sheet too.
So nice to hear this, Stephanie! Thanks for writing 💕💕💕
I halved the sugar so take my review with a grain of salt! I had started pouring the sugar and got alarmed with how much the recipe called for. Anyways, the bread is plenty sweet (to my taste) but too moist and tastes a bit eggy. I clearly threw off the ratios and next time will try with one egg to see if I can create a reasonable, less sweet version. Thanks for the original, Alexandra! Delicious crust.
Wonderful to hear this, Leah! Keep me posted on your experiments 🙂 🙂 🙂
This is the most moist delicious zucchini bread I’ve ever tasted. I subbed chia for the egg and it was delicious
So wonderful to hear this, Priti! Great to hear chia worked as an egg substitution.
I made the recipe last week with a standard loaf pan and it came out a little too moist. The family said it was delicious but it seemed a little underdone. I ordered a larger loaf pan and I’m still waiting for it so today I made the recipe into 12 muffins and baked them about 25 minutes. I used one cup of coconut sugar in place of the brown sugar and olive oil just cause that’s what I had in the house. They turned out beautifully, will try with the larger loaf pan next time.
So nice to hear all of this, Lisa! So often, I think the amount of batter relative to the size of the baking vessel truly makes a difference in the final product. Hope you love your new pan!
Wonderful recipe! I added 1/4 cup chocolate chips and 1/2 cup coconut. The family absolutely loves it!
Wonderful to hear this, Robin!
I made this recipe and it was the best zucchini bread recipe I have tried. I shared it with others. Of course, I added chocolate chips because Of my husband.
Yay! Wonderful to hear this Annette!
I tried measuring the zucchini in ounces. Twelve ounces was 4 cups so it doesn’t measure up to 21/2 cups listed. Maybe my brand new scales is off!?
Hi Annemarie! I think it probably all depends on how tightly you pack the cups … go with the weight measure of 12 ounces as opposed to the cups. The weight is accurate.
I did go with the 12 ounces and it turned out perfectly moist. I reduced the sugar a bit and added almond extract. This is now my go to zucchini bread recipe. Thanks Alexandra!
Wonderful to hear this, Annemarie!
Made this today and substitued Cardamon for the Teaspoon of cinnamon and it came out
sooooo good. Another winning recipe from Alexandra!
Wonderful to hear this, Cindy! Cardamom sounds lovely.
The flavor is great, but my bread wasn’t completely cooked even with another half an hour added.
I checked back to the ingredients and I had everything right.
Maybe a little less oil next time. And I will try one egg.
Great to hear Marianne! I think being patient with the cooking time is key — a number of other commenters have similarly had to cook their zucchini breads for 20-30 minutes more. Every oven is different, and pans conduct heat differently, too. But your idea in regard to reducing the moisture is a good one, too! Report back if you make it again. Thanks for writing!
Very good recipe! My zucchini had a lot more liquid than the one in the video so I added a bit more flour. Turrned out great!
Wonderful to hear this, Grace!
This is by far the best zucchini bread! Being a Vegan who uses GF flour I substituted the eggs with flax eggs and the flour for a gluten free flour mix that I love by King Arthur. I even added raisins, walnuts, coconut flakes and a small banana (for moisture). I needed to increase bake time. This recipe was super easy! My guess is that it’s awesome without the modifications too! Enjoy!
Wonderful to hear this! Great to know a vegan-gluten-free version worked out so well. Thanks for sharing!
I didn’t actually make the recipe to make a loaf but muffins instead.First batch I used muffin papers in a 12 muffin pan. (Made 21) They were so incredibly moist and a huge hit. The second batch I used a silicone 20 count Mini muffin pan. (Made around 40) Just suits our family better! SO SO delish!
Oh yay! Love this idea. So nice to hear this, Sheryl! Thanks for writing.
SO GOOD. I can see myself making this all the time now, maybe more often than my banana bread. Made 1 batch now qll my family is asking for some. Made a second batch and threw in some carrots and raisins (leftover ingredients from a carrot cake I made). Anyways this recipie is so easy and so good. Must try.
So nice to hear this, Samantha! My family adores this one as well 🙂
Outstanding flavor and texture. Mine needed about 65 minutes, thanks for the temp tip! Next time I may reduce the sugar a bit as it was almost too sweet. Hot out of the oven with good butter and hot coffee…. I’m the most popular person at home today! Thanks we use your recipes weekly and am grateful to have found you.
So nice to hear this, Michelle! Thanks for writing and thank you so much for the kind words 🙂
I’m no master baker but I love baking sweets in my free time. I’ve never made bread before but I have always wanted to. Today I decided to make this recipe (in muffin form) and it is absolutely delicious!! I’m so happy with how my first time baking bread turned out! Thank you 🙂
Wonderful to hear this, Kaylah! Thanks for writing 🙂
I absolutely loved this recipe. It was very easy and very good. I did not changed a thing. After trying two other recipes and not being very successful, I decided to give this one a try. My 4 year old help me along the way. I divided the mixture and did two breads one with chocolate chips and one with walnuts.
Wonderful to hear this, Lismary!
Phenomenal! Tastes exactly like my Nans did. It is sooo moist and yummy!! I kept going back for one more tiny slice and then POOF I had eaten the whole loaf!! I had to rush to make another before my boys got home. Amazing recipe! Thank you for sharing ☺️
Wonderful to hear this, Audi!
Made this today and used the larger pan. Wonderful – baked up perfectly. I added walnuts but it would be very tasty without. A keeper for sure.
Wonderful to hear this, Nancy!
I have made this twice now, it bakes up beautifully! Thank you for sharing. The second time around I added pecans and chocolate chips for my chocolate loving husband, I also substituted a little applesauce for some of the oil. Love it!
Wonderful to hear this, Deena!
I have made this wonderful zucchini bread four times this season because my whole family loves it! I recently found out I am not supposed to have egg yolks so instead of two full eggs in the recipe I used three egg whites. It was still delicious!
Wonderful to hear this, Sallie! Thanks so much for sharing this — so helpful for others.
Made this in small loaf pans this week to rave reviews from the entire family and our neighbors. Yum! I finally have something to do with all that zucchini.
Oh yay! So nice to hear this, Darcy 🙂 🙂 🙂
This recipe is easy and the bread is fantastic. The texture and how moist it is makes you want more!
Wonderful to hear this! Thanks for writing 🙂