This simple zucchini bread recipe is super moist from the addition of sour cream and some extra warm and bright flavor from fresh orange zest and cloves. It’s a staple in the summer months when zucchini is plentiful, but wonderful at any time for a cozy snack! If you love zucchini bread, you might also love my popular Chocolate Zucchini Bread, or this Bundt Cake Version.
Ingredient Notes
- Bread
- Grated zucchini
- Flour
- Cinnamon
- Ground cloves
- Salt
- Baking soda
- Eggs
- Canola oil
- Granulated sugar
- Brown sugar
- Vanilla
- Sour cream
- Fresh orange zest
- Toasted pecans (optional) – These are totally optional. If you like nuts in your sweet breads, go ahead and toss them in! I personally don’t like the texture they take on once baked, so I prefer to leave them out.
- Topping
- Granulated sugar
- Brown sugar
- Cinnamon
How To Make Zucchini Bread
- Pre-heat oven and line loaf pans with parchment or grease and flour them.
- Place shredded zucchini in a fine mesh strainer over a bowl and set aside to allow and excess moisture to drip off.
- Combine flour, cinnamon, cloves, salt and baking soda in a bowl. Set aside. Combine your topping ingredients in another small bowl and set aside.
- Beat a couple of eggs with with some oil, sugar, brown, sugar, and vanilla. Then mix in sour cream and orange zest.
- Squeeze out any excess moisture from zucchini, then add it to the batter and mix in gently.
- Add dry ingredients.
- Divide the batter between your pans and sprinkle the topping mixture evenly over the tops. Bake until a knife comes out clean, and then allow your loaves to cool in the pans, on a cooling rack, for at least 10 minutes before trying to remove from the pan or it will come out in chunks!
Storage and Other Tips
- Store cooled bread wrapped tightly in plastic or a sealed container to keep from drying out. Eat within 3-4 days for best results!
- This recipe makes two loaves of bread so you can always keep one for yourself and pass the other along to a friend!
Frequently Asked Questions
This bread is delicious as soon as it’s cool enough to eat, and perhaps even more delicious the next day! Feel free to make it ahead of time and store, covered, on the countertop until ready to serve.
Yes! Quick breads freeze great. Allow your loaf to cool completely, then wrap tightly first in plastic wrap, then in foil. Label the foil with a sharpie, pop in a plastic zip top bag if desired, and transfer to the freezer where it can stay fresh for up to 3 months. A frozen loaf will take anywhere from 2-4 hours to fully thaw on the countertop, so keep that in mind when you are ready to take it out of the freezer.
Zucchini Bread
Equipment
Ingredients
Bread
- 3 cups zucchini, grated
- 2 ¼ cup flour
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- 3 eggs
- ½ cup canola oil
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- ½ cup sour cream
- zest from one large orange
- ⅔ cup pecans, toasted, chopped optional
Topping
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉. Grease and flour 2 smaller (8×4) loaf pans and set aside. Or you can do a larger 9×5 loaf pan and a couple of mini loaves.
- Place shredded zucchini in a fine mesh strainer over a bowl and set aside.
- Combine flour, cinnamon, cloves, salt, and baking soda in a bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.
- Beat eggs, oil, sugars, and vanilla for about 30 seconds. Add sour cream and orange zest and beat to combine. Very gently press down on zucchini in strainer and discard extra liquid. Mix zucchini into batter.
- Add dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Divide batter between 2 pans.
- In a small bowl, combine topping ingredients. Sprinkle topping evenly over each loaf.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.
- Make sure to let your loaf rest on a cooling rack for at least 10 minutes before you try to remove it from the pan, or it will come out in chunks!
Notes
- Nutritional information was calculated for entire recipe/ two whole loaves.
Questions & Reviews
I am wondering how this would be with Agave instead of sugar and substituting flax meal for some of the flour?
Have you tried this with whole wheat flour? I have a ton, and would like to use it up….
I bet it would be fine with 1/2 whole wheat, but you’d have to try it.
So glad I found this recipe. I used both zucchini and yellow squash in this from my garden and it turned out absolutely delicious. This is a great recipe!
Any chance this could be made gluten-free? If so, do you think I could simply replace the regular flour with a GF all purpose flour? I am also looking for a GREAT zucchini bread recipe and have yet to find one that fits the bill. This one sounds AMAZING!
Could I use whole wheat flour? What would I need to change?
I love zucchini bread. My kids love it too. I’m trying to get them to eat vegetables more. This bread is delicious as well as a little bit healthy with the zucchini. My kids hate zucchini lasagna, but love zucchini bread
I have made this bread twice and i LOVE IT!!!!Thank you! One question though with the coming holidays… do you think i could freeze it before i would bake it?
I wouldn’t–I’d just wrap it tightly and freeze it after baking it.
Hope that helps!
Yummy! I used Greek Yogurt instead of sour cream and all spice instead of ground cloves..*I didn’t have any ground cloves. Wow, this is super delish!
Used this recipe last night–yummy! I’ve made zucchini bread over the years and have never been 100% satisfied with other recipes. Other recipes I’ve tried are too greasy, too soggy, too dry, little flavor, but yours is definitely a keeper–thank you! I do have a question, with one batch I left the orange zest out and added chocolate chips. However I noticed the chocolate chips sank to the bottom–how do I prevent this? I thought of using mini choc. chips but that doesn’t give me enough of the choc. flavor I want. Any suggestions? (ps love your website!)
Just toss the chips with a little of the flour first and that will help suspend them in the batter.
This looks so great! I’ve been on the hunt for a zucchini bread recipe. One question: I’ve seen a couple other recipes that say to squeeze out the moisture from the zucchini after it has been grated. Should I do that or no? I didn’t see any indication in your recipe to do so and wanted to be sure. I can’t wait to use the extra zucchini I have for this! 🙂
Nope, no need. Just toss it all in there.