Makes one 8 x 4 loaf (10 slices)
Total time: 90 minutes || Active time: 20 minutes
This bread answers so many questions. Like, “What am I going to do with all this zucchini?” And “What am I going to do with this overripe banana?” And before you know it, the gentle scent of cinnamon is wafting through the house and you pull this beauty from the oven.
Zucchini bread as it should be, at least in my world. A toothsome crust and tender moist crumb. Studded through and through with raisins and walnuts and laced with delicate spice. Sweet, but not too sweet, and sturdy enough to dunk into a mug of coffee if the need arises.
And don’t worry, I’m not gonna say that thing that people ALWAYS say when discussing zucchini bread. You know the thing I mean. Don’t make me say it!
Fine, I’ll say it: and there’s a vegetable in it so it’s good for you! Har har. ::the sounds of the entire internet groaning::
Anyway, I know it’s hot and you don’t want to turn on your oven. But just bake this when the sun has gone down and then you’ll have a perfect morning treat when you wake up.
Notes
~Many zucchini breads call for you to drain the zucchini prior to baking. I say “YEAH RIGHT NO WAY!” Instead, this recipe uses the moisture from the zucchini in the bread, instead of adding any additional liquid, saving you a very annoying step. You’re welcome!
~Obviously, you can play around with the add-ins in the recipe. Choose pecans or hazelnuts instead of walnuts, dried currants or chopped dates instead of raisins. Have a blast with the ingredients you have on hand!
~Sometimes on my quickbread recipe posts, people report that theirs came out flat. It’s ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS because they’ve used a different sized bread pan than I do. I use an 8×4 metal bread pan for all of my quickbread recipes. Many people have a 9×5. You can use that, but yes, it will be wider and flatter than mine is, and it will bake a bit faster.
~If you don’t have the correct sized pan, I would just suggest making muffins. Bake for only 22 minutes or so.
Ingredients
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup grated zucchini1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup raisins
Directions
Sift in 1 cup of the flour, the cinnamon, allspice, baking soda and salt. Mix to combine. Add the walnuts, raisins and final 1/2 cup of flour, and mix just until no visible flour is left.
Transfer batter to the prepared pan and bake for 50 to 55 minutes. Test for doneness with a toothpick or knife. If it needs more time, turn heat down to 325 F and bake an additional 10 to 15 minutes.
Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Slice and serve!
Hi from Augsburg, Germany,
I made muffins with your recipe this morning and brought them along to our festival…they were gone within 10 min.!
Since I didn’t have bananas around, I used the dates with water. They turned out sooooo fantastic, even all of the non-vegan friends gobbled them away in no time ;))
Thank you so very much for this great recipe and keep experimenting – I’ll look up your site as often as I can!
Have a great day,
und schöne Grüsse,
Patricia
I just made this zucchini, banana bread and it’s delicious! I found it needed an extra 5-10 min at the lower temperature to fully cook the inside but it’s remains moist and tasty. Thanks for the great recipe I will definitely be making this one again with my current glut of zucchinis.
Marry me. I did half chocolate chips and half raisin and pumpkin seeds.
I just made 4 loaves of this today and that was using just 1 zucchini. I think I found a winner! I added chocolate chips instead of raisins. Thank you so much for posting this awesome recipe.
I increased the applesauce to 1/2 cup and left out the oil.
I am a huge fan of this recipe and have made it many times as muffins (never as bread). I make these gluten-free, add an extra 1/4 cup gf-flour and use chocolate chips instead of raisins. I have tons of zucchini from the garden and love banana bread so this is one of my favourite recipes and it always turns out amazing! I once was running low on zucchini, so I used parshnip as a subsitiute! Carrot I believe can be susituted for zucchini too!
This came out absolutely perfect! I’ve always been too intimidated to try making bread, but this one looked irresistible. I brought it out to a table of farmers, and showed them where their massive zucchini harvest would be going, and it was a total hit! Thank you!!
I can’t wait to make this quick bread! 🙂
Thanks.
I double the recipe, leave out the oil, decrease the sugar, add more bananas and applesauce, bake in a bunt pan and give this to my 6-year-old for his school lunches. It’s a big treat and I know that he loves it and I can feel good about sending him to school with it.
I made this recipe today (as muffins) and substituted 1/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips for the walnuts and raisins. They are delicious! So moist! I think these muffins are going to be the new favourite in my kid’s lunches.
Do you think I could take out the banana next time and just add another 1/2 cup zucchini?
Oh. My. God. I just made it today. I made it as muffins, a dozen of them. Changed a few things, added frozen blueberries as it was on hand, instead of raisins, and cut back on sugar, I added only a cup, had no allspice so I added a big pinch of nutmeg and it came out perfect! Actually, purrfect… I had eaten a quite a few delicious muffins in my life, but this one…! Award winner. Thank you!
I like to call this ” bacchini bread.” Making my second batch this week. My kiddos love it!
I’ve baked this 5 times in two weeks now! I use just 1/2 cup of sugar though – it’s still really sweet with the raisins in 🙂
This sounds really good ! Banana bread is my favorite!
Hey, another greetings from Germany.
May I ask how big your cup is?
This bread is the solution to that weekly problem- over ripe bananas and so, so, so many zucchini in the CSA box. I foresee this being my go-to all summer long. I had no raisins, but otherwise followed this exactly. This bread was not too sweet, but definitely still tasted like a treat! Thanks for the great recipe!
Could I cook them into muffins instead of a loaf and how long and what tempature would you suggest?
@Maris: Since I’ve just baked muffins, I’ll answer your question: the temperature of course the same as in the recipe but the time I baked them – I’m not sure exactly but I think it was 45 to 50 minutes, so surprisingly almost as long as the big loaf. They are quite brown on the top after that though… I wanted to make sure they won’t be raw inside… I’m not a great baker and that’s happening to me all the time. :/ Will see in the morning how I succeeded this time…
This is an amazing recipe; totally delicious! I’ve made it as muffins and bread. Both awesome. The last time I made it, though, I got what I call the “goo band” (it’s a technical term) on the bottom of the bread. It looks like a raw spot, but it’s not raw. It’s almost gelatinous. Any thoughts on what I’m doing wrong in mixing or baking to get this “goo band”? I’ve had a similar issue when making muffins with flax “eggs,” but clearly, there is no flax here. Thanks!!
Yum, I love your thinking! I made with all bananas, cut down the sugar and used dried cherries and pumpkin seeds because that’s what I had. Delicious.
OMG! These just came out the oven. The smell is heaven sent. Can’t wait wait for coffee tonight!!
USA, I can always depend on you. My husband loves the pancake recipe, we both adore the Chickpea piccata, and Chickpea cutlets and on and on and on…..