This homemade Olive Oil Zucchini Bread is super moist and delicious! Fresh zucchini is mixed in a simple batter of flour, sugar, eggs, unsweetened applesauce, olive oil and cinnamon. My family’s favorite zucchini bread ever. Yields 2 loaves.
It’s zucchini season.
It’s that time of year where countertops are piled high with zucchini, yellow squash and tomatoes – the best time of year. Our old neighbor Charlie used to have a well kept garden. And around this time of year, we would come home to a bag of onions, tomatoes, and huge zucchini on our front porch. He was the sweetest and most generous guy.
And when life hands you zucchini, you make zucchini bread.
This is my go-to recipe for ultra-moist and flavorful zucchini bread. It yields 2 loaves, so you can enjoy one now and freeze the other for later or gift it away!
To Make This Olive Oil Zucchini Bread You Will Need:
- zucchini – You will need 1 to 2 depending on their size and I prefer to scrape out the seeds.
- unbleached all-purpose flour – Provides the structure for the zucchini bread.
- cinnamon – Lends a distinct warm and woodsy flavor.
- baking soda – Creates a gas while baking which helps it rise.
- baking powder – Reacts with the heat to give a leavening boost while the bread is baking.
- fine salt – Can use sea salt or pink himalayan. Salt enhances the flavors.
- eggs – Besides richness and flavor, they provide structure and help bind all the ingredients together.
- granulated (white) sugar – For sweetening and flavor.
- olive oil – Lends moisture. Other flavorless oils (like grapeseed oil) may also be used.
- applesauce – My little trick for adding moisture without the extra fat.
- vanilla – Adds warmth and enhances all of the other flavors in this recipe.
Preheat your oven to 350° and spray two (5×9) loaf pans with nonstick baking spray.
Trim off the ends, slice the zucchini(s) in half and scrape out the seeds. On the large holes of your box grater, grate the zucchini with the skin on. You should have about 2 cups.
Into a mesh strainer set into a large bowl, measure and add; 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, 3 tablespoons ground cinnamon, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 1 teaspoon kosher salt and 1/4 teaspoon baking powder.
Sift and set off to the side.
In a separate bowl, crack in 3 large eggs, and add in 2 cups sugar, 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce and 1/2 cup olive oil.
Lastly, measure in 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract.
Whisk to combine and then pour it to the bowl with the dry ingredients.
To that, add the grated zucchini.
Switch over to a rubber spatula…
…and mix until all the dry ingredients are incorporated with the wet.
Evenly divide the zucchini bread batter among 2 greased loaf pans.
This averages out to be roughly 3 cups per pan.
Bake on the middle rack of your preheated oven for about 45 to 50 minutes or until a tester comes out clean with maybe a few crumbs attached. Every oven is different so start checking doneness at the 40 to 45 minute mark.
Let the olive oil zucchini bread cool in the loaf pans for about 20 minutes before carefully removing and transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.
I love to see those tiny specks of the green zucchini flesh in the cake!
As you know, there’s only one way to eat zucchini bread. Besides for breakfast 😉
With butter.
And maybe a sprinkle of flaked sea salt. The bread must be slightly warm, so it melts the butter into the bread *drool*.
HOW TO STORE ZUCCHINI BREAD:
Once the bread has completely cooled, double wrap in plastic wrap and store at room temperature.
HOW LONG WILL ZUCCHINI BREAD LAST?
If stored properly, this zucchini bread will last 2 to 3 days. If you don’t plan to eat both loaves in that time frame, I recommend freezing.
HOW TO FREEZE ZUCCHINI BREAD:
Once the zucchini bread has completely cooled, double wrap a single loaf in plastic wrap, then wrap tightly with foil and freeze for up to 6 months. I like to use a sharpie and mark the day and the year on the outside as well.
WANT MORE ZUCCHINI BREAD RECIPES? CLICK HERE!
Enjoy! And if you give this Olive Oil Zucchini Bread recipe a try, let me know! Snap a photo and tag me on twitter or instagram!
Olive Oil Zucchini Bread
Ingredients
- 2 (generous) cups freshly grated zucchini
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 large eggs
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup olive oil, quality
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350° and spray or grease two 9x5 loaf pans.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Once sifted measure and add in the kosher salt. Set off to the side.
- In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs, sugar, applesauce, olive oil and vanilla.
- Once combined, pour this into the bowl with the dry ingredients.
- Add in the grated zucchini and use a rubber spatula to combien, stop once all the flour is incorporated.
- Divide the olive oil zucchini bread batter among the two prepared pans. (about 3 cups per pan)
- Bake on the middle rack of your preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes or until a tester comes back clean with only a few crumbs still attached.
- Allow zucchini bread to cool in the pans for 20 minutes before carefully removing, transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.
- Slice and serve with butter.
Notes
How To Freeze Zucchini Bread:
Once the zucchini bread has completely cooled, double wrap a single loaf in plastic wrap, then wrap tightly with foil. I like to use a sharpie and mark the day and the year on the outside as well. Nutrition Disclaimer: All information presented on this site is intended for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and any nutritional information shared on SimplyScratch.com should only be used as a general guideline.Buy the Cookbook: Simply Scratch : 120 Wholesome Homemade Recipes Made Easy Now available on Amazon »
THANK YOU in advance for your support!
That looks delicious as always, and congratulations Auntie. You should link this up @ my open house tomorrow!
What a sweet baby girl! Congrats to your family.
Yum, this looks so good. Gotta save it. Amanda
Congrats on your beautiful niece! the zucchini bread looks delish, its one of my all time favs. Like you I get excited at the thought that my daughter is actually eating a green veggie, muchless at breakfast 🙂 Thank goodness for zucchini bread!
Wow, and here I'd been looking for the best zucchini bread recipe ever! This looks moist and cinnamony. Thanks for the step-by-step on grating zucchinis too – I've baked seeds into things before, but agree, it's better without.
I looooove zucchini bread! I'm excited to try it out using applesauce.:) Beautiful pictures!
-Amanda
http://www.seegirlcook.com
Now I'm craving zucchini bread, I may have to make a run to the store:) Congrats on your beautiful niece, she is such a doll!
I need to get baking!!!! Thanks for the post shout out Laur…LOVE YOU!!!!!
cleaned the zucchini out of my garden the other day and made a TRIPLE batch of this bread…my husband says it's the best ever! I love the cinnamon.
I'm making this for brunch this morning. 49 more minutes in the oven. The wait is torture!!
Okay, i know this comment is a little late but I just linked back here to see the baby pics and saw the beautiful photos of the zuchini bread too. You have Adorable nieces! And the bread photos are sooo pretty! I love zuchini bread. I think I have one last bag of shredded Zuch in the freezer. Anyway, great job on the pics here. I really like how you ended it with bit on the fork- 🙂
I have made this twice since I came across the recipe two weeks ago and it has been a hit! Everyone keeps saying it tastes “just like their grandma’s zucchini bread” and they comment on how moist and flavorful it is. The first time I made it I did cut the sugar to 1 1/4 Cups instead of 2 and then this last time I only used 3/4 Cup and it still turned out great. I would not use the full amount of sugar the recipe calls for – I just think it would be too sweet plus I try to cut some sugar whenever possible. I also did not scoop out the seeds – I just cut off the ends and shredded them as is. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Yay, glad everyone love it! Thanks for sharing the tip about the sugar… I think I’ll give it a whirl with less sugar next time just to see 🙂
Our favorite recipe for zucchini bread! Oops somehow the directions are for your chocolate zucchini bread….
Thanks Jennifer! I think I updated the method after I made the chocolate version. Anyway, it’s fixed! I’m so glad you love the recipe!
I wanted a recipe that did not use vegetable oil. Googled & your recipe popped up! Made it with a zucchini I just harvested from my first garden!! I only have 1 loaf pan. The other 1/2 I added 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder and poured into my muffin pan! Ohmygolly….. love, love, LOVE it. Can’t wait to take to work for our potluck!
Do you have to drain the zucchini?
Wouldn’t it add way too much moisture as is? No where does it mention draining it, I just want to make sure I don’t end up w wet bread. Thanks
you do not. DO scrape out the seeds though!
I suspected that this recipe called for quite a bit of cinnamon, but I wanted to follow the recipe so I added the 3 Teaspoons. It was definitely too much for my taste. I would add 2 next time, should I make this bread again. You would never dream it was so full of zuchinni.
Oops, I meant 3 Tablespoons…anyway, too much.
Still our favorite zucchini bread recipe and we LOVE the 3 TBSP of cinnamon. Have always made the recipe as written and comes out perfectly! This bread remains one of our spring favorite recipes year after year. Thank you, Laurie!
I used the 3 tablespoons of cinnamon, as the recipe stated, seems like A LOT to me! I guess we’ll see when it’s done! I switched out half a cup of regular sugar for brown and added walnuts.
First time making this recipe and it was fantastic. I used one cup of sugar as suggested by someone else, used vanilla Greek yogurt instead of the applesauce and only 2 tablespoons of cinnamon because that’s all I had. One of the best quick breads I’ve ever baked. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I will be making this again in the future for sure.