My grandmother used to make zucchini bread every fall when the zucchini in her garden started getting big and there were enough to overtake her kitchen. For years, I refused to eat bread with squash in it; as soon as I saw the little green flecks in a slice of the bread, I ran the other direction. If you’ve never had zucchini bread, just think of zucchini as a mild squash like pumpkin: it adds moisture and texture to the bread but very little flavor. Eventually, I came around and learned to love zucchini bread, and I am so glad I did. It’s one of the best ways to use up surplus zucchini if you have a garden, or take advantage of low seasonal produce prices if you don’t. My grandma always made her zucchini bread with cinnamon, but I have included a second recipe that omits the cinnamon and uses chocolate chips in case you’re looking for something a little sweeter.
Start by using a vegetable peeler to peel the skin off of the zucchini, then use the large holes on a cheese grater to shred it. It goes pretty quickly. You’ll need about 2 average size zucchini to get 3 cups grated.
Next, mix sugar, oil, eggs, vanilla, and zucchini in a large mixing bowl.
In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. To make cinnamon zucchini bread, add the cinnamon at this point.
Pour the flour mixture into the zucchini mixture and stir together to make a batter. If you’re making chocolate chip zucchini bread, add the chocolate chips now. Grease five mini loaf pans and set them on a cookie sheet (it’s easier to take them in and out of the oven this way). I didn’t have five, so I used what I had on hand. You can always use a different size loaf pan; just adjust your baking time accordingly (larger pans take longer). In the photo below, you can see I did half the batch with cinnamon and half with chocolate chips.
Bake at 350 for 35 to 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. You can munch on this bread for a snack or dessert, but if you’re like me, you’ll be eating these for breakfast.
These are the chocolate chip loaves. Below is the cinnamon zucchini bread. Yum! You can do half and half like I did, or make a full batch of each and see which one is your favorite.
Zucchini Bread, Two Ways
zucchini (peeled and grated)
sugar
vegetable oil
eggs
vanilla
flour
baking soda
baking powder
Salt
cinnamon (for cinnamon zucchini bread only)
chocolate chips (semi-sweet (for chocolate chip zucchini bread only))
Preheat oven to 350. In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, oil, eggs, vanilla, and zucchini.; In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon for cinnamon zucchini bread (omit if using chocolate chips).; Add dry ingredients to wet mixture and stir well. Stir in chocolate chips if making chocolate chip zucchini bread.; Grease or spray five mini loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray and fill about 2/3 full with zucchini bread batter. Bake 35-45 minutes, until golden brown. To test, you may insert a toothpick in the center of the loaf; if it comes out clean, the bread is done.
Thanks.