This Healthy Zucchini Bread is moist, fluffy, and made healthier with whole wheat flour, Greek yogurt, shredded zucchini and zero butter or refined sugar. Perfect for breakfast or an easy snack!
Note: This post first appeared on March 17, 2016. It has been updated with bright new photos, but it’s still the same delicious recipe you all love!
With summer coming to an end, baking bread or muffins are a great way to use up all that leftover zucchini from your garden! You’ll love baking with zucchini because not only does is make this bread so moist and flavorful, but it’s a great way to sneak in veggies for those picky eaters because you can’t taste the zucchini at all. You could also mix in other fun additions like chocolate chips, chopped nuts and fresh or dried berries. This recipe also makes delicious muffins or even mini loaves to share with friends!
Enjoy this delicious zucchini bread for breakfast with your morning coffee or serve it to your kids as a great after-school snack!
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Whole wheat pastry flour – I love baking with whole wheat pastry flour as it has all the nutritional benefits of whole grain flour while giving this bread a light and fluffy texture. I highly recommend using this, but if you don’t have any on hand you could use white whole wheat flour or regular all-purpose flour
- Baking soda – acts as a leavening agent to help the bread rise
- Zucchini – adds nutritional benefits and makes this bread nice and moist, just make sure to really squeeze out the water from the zucchini after grating
- Eggs – adds protein and gives this bread its structure and height
- Maple syrup – sweetens this bread without using any refined sugar, but you could also use honey or regular sugar
- Coconut oil – for additional moisture and fluffiness! Feel free to sub with another type of oil if you prefer or even butter
- Greek yogurt – this helps to reduce the amount of oil we need to use and helps keep the bread moist. You could also use applesauce, mashed banana or pumpkin puree as well
- Milk – I used almond milk, but any type of milk will work in this recipe
- Cinnamon + vanilla – warm boost of flavor!
How to Make Healthy Zucchini Bread
This particular recipe makes one standard loaf of bread, but you could also make 3 mini loaves (your neighbors will thank you!) or even muffins! See below for the different baking times depending on how you choose to make this.
- Grate zucchini. Using a box grater, shred the zucchini and remove all the moisture using a cheesecloth or paper towel, squeezing all the liquid out into the sink.
- Mix ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the whole wheat pastry flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt, then set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, maple syrup, Greek yogurt, milk, melted coconut oil, vanilla and shredded zucchini, mixing until all combined.
- Make the batter. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix with a spatula until just combined, being very careful not to over-mix the batter. Pour the batter into a 9×5-inch loaf pan sprayed with nonstick spray.
- BAKE! Bake the zucchini bread at 350 degrees F for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Leave the bread in the pan for 10 minutes before carefully inverting it onto a cooling rack. Slice and enjoy!
Tips, Tricks and Substitutions
- Make sure you DON’T over mix the batter. This results in super dense bread which we don’t want. We’re going for fluffy and soft!
- It’s important to squeeze as much water out of the shredded zucchini as you can. No need to peel the zucchini.
- Feel free to sub the whole wheat pastry flour with 1:1 gluten-free baking flour or even all-purpose flour. I don’t recommend using almond flour or coconut flour in this recipe.
- You can easily swap out the Greek yogurt for pumpkin puree, mashed banana or applesauce.
- Mix in other fun additions like chocolate chips, chopped nuts, coconut flakes, dried fruit or fresh berries!
Other Baking Methods
- If making three mini loaves, bake at 350 degrees F for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. When making for friends and family, I like to double this recipe and make 6 mini loaves!
- This recipe also makes delicious zucchini muffins. Simply distribute the batter into 12 muffins cups sprayed with nonstick spray (or muffin liners) and bake at 350 degrees F for 18 to 22 minutes.
- Alternatively you can make 24 mini muffins! Just bake these at 350 degrees F for about 15 to 17 minutes.
Prepping and Storage
To Store: This zucchini bread can be stored in an airtight container or wrapped in plastic at room temp for up to 3 days, but make sure to refrigerate after that to keep this longer. This bread will last up to a week in the fridge.
To Freeze: This bread freezes really well too! You can either wrap the entire loaf in plastic wrap, aluminum foil or a freezer-safe bag or freeze individual slices. When ready to serve, allow to thaw out overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before slicing. This bread will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months.
More Zucchini Recipes You’ll Love
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 50 mins
- Total Time: 60 mins
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1/3 cup almond milk (or milk of choice)
- 3 Tbsp coconut oil, melted and cooled
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups grated zucchini, water squeezed out
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, maple syrup, Greek yogurt, milk, coconut oil, vanilla and shredded zucchini until all combined. Add wet ingredients into flour mixture and mix with a spatula until just combined, being careful not to over-mix! Pour mixture into prepared loaf pan.
- Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Leave the bread in the pan for 10 minutes before carefully inverting it onto a cooling rack. Slice and enjoy!
Nutrition Facts:
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 186
- Sugar: 11.6 g
- Sodium: 212.9 mg
- Fat: 5.5 g
- Saturated Fat: 3.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 28.5 g
- Fiber: 3.1 g
- Protein: 5.8 g
* Please note that all nutrition information are just estimates. Values will vary among brands, so we encourage you to calculate these on your own for most accurate results.
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