Healthy Zucchini Bread
This amazing zucchini bread recipe is made healthy with whole grains, honey (or maple syrup) and coconut oil instead of butter. Easily vegan/gluten free.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 29, 2024
My dog, Cookie, is wild for zucchini. Also cauliflower, broccoli, kale, and cabbage. You could say that my pup has a healthy appetite. This morning, I left a slice of zucchini bread on my desk where I thought she couldn’t reach. Then I heard some scuffling, followed by some gobbling. She swiped that slice of bread and ate half before I could grab it.
This dog is my soulmate, I tell you. That was all to say that this zucchini bread recipe is Cookie and Kate approved. It’s fluffy and moist, lightly spiced, and full of confetti-like green flecks of zucchini.
If you’ve enjoyed zucchini bread before, let me point out a few differences between my recipe and standard recipes. Here are five reasons to love this healthier zucchini bread:
- I used one-half cup honey (or maple syrup) instead a full cup of white sugar. It’s not overtly sweet, but you could add another drizzle of honey or maple sweetener to individual slices, if desired.
- I also used white whole wheat flour instead of refined flour, so this bread is made with 100 percent whole grains.
- I used coconut oil instead of butter, which means this bread is easily made without any dairy at all.
- Most zucchini bread recipes call for one cup of grated zucchini, but I liked mine better with one-and-a-half cups. Even then, I can’t say there’s a pronounced zucchini flavor to it, because zucchini doesn’t have a ton of flavor in itself.
- It’s easily made vegan and/or gluten-free, too—just check my recipe notes.
Please let me know how this recipe turns out for you in the comments! Your feedback is so important to me.
If you love this zucchini bread, you’ll also enjoy my banana bread, apple muffins, carrot muffins or banana muffins, you’re going to love this one. Don’t miss the maple-sweetened blueberry muffins in my cookbook!
Watch How to Make Zucchini Bread
Healthy Zucchini Bread
This fluffy zucchini bread recipe is made healthier with whole grains, honey (or maple syrup) and coconut oil instead of butter. It is easily made vegan and/or gluten free (see notes). Recipe yields 1 loaf.
Ingredients
- Optional: ¾ cup roughly chopped raw walnuts or pecans
- ⅓ cup melted coconut oil or extra-virgin olive oil*
- ½ cup honey or maple syrup
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup milk of choice or water
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon + more to swirl on top
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 ½ cups grated zucchini (you’ll need 1 small-to-medium zucchini, about 7 ounces—gently squeeze out excess moisture over the sink before stirring it into the batter)
- 1 ¾ cups white whole wheat flour or regular whole wheat flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 9” x 5” loaf pan to prevent the bread from sticking. If you’ll be toasting the nuts, line a small, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper for easy cleanup.
- Toast the nuts: Once the oven has finished preheating, pour the chopped nuts onto your prepared baking sheet. Bake until the nuts are fragrant and toasted, about 5 minutes, stirring halfway.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the coconut oil and honey. Beat them with a whisk until they are combined. Add the eggs and beat well. (If your coconut oil solidifies on contact with cold ingredients, simply let the bowl rest in a warm place for a few minutes, like on top of your stove, or warm it for about 20 seconds in the microwave.)
- Add the milk, baking soda, cinnamon, vanilla, salt and nutmeg, and whisk to blend. Switch to a big spoon and stir in the zucchini (be sure to squeeze excess moisture out of the zucchini first). Add the flour and stir just until combined. Some lumps are ok! Gently fold in the toasted nuts now, if using.
- Pour the batter into your greased loaf pan and sprinkle lightly with additional cinnamon. If you’d like a pretty swirled effect, run the tip of a knife across the batter in a zig-zag pattern.
- Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the center of the loaf springs back to the touch. Let the bread cool in the pan on a wire rack. Use a serrated knife to cut individual slices.
- This bread is moist, so it will keep for just 2 to 3 days at room temperature. Store it in the refrigerator for 5 to 7 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months or so. I like to slice the bread before freezing and defrost individual slices, either by lightly toasting them or defrosting them in the microwave.
Notes
Recipe adapted from my banana bread and carrot muffins, with references to Once Upon a Chef and All Recipes.
*A note on oils: I love coconut oil here. I used unrefined coconut oil and can hardly taste it in the final product. Olive oil will lend an herbal note to the bread, if you’re into that. Vegetable oil has a neutral flavor, but the average vegetable/canola oil is highly processed, so I recommend using cold-pressed sunflower oil or grapeseed oil if possible.
Change it up: Use chocolate chips or small/chopped dried fruit instead of the nuts.
Make muffins: Follow this recipe!
Make it vegan: Use maple syrup instead of honey, replace the eggs with flax eggs and choose non-dairy milk (I used almond milk) or water.
Make it dairy free: Choose non-dairy milk (I used almond milk) or water.
Make it egg free: Replace the eggs with flax eggs.
Make it gluten free: I haven’t tried myself, but I have heard from a reader that Bob’s Red Mill’s all-purpose gluten-free mix worked well here.
Make it nut free: Just omit the nuts, and don’t use nut milk.
Make it lower in fat: I would argue that this bread contains a healthy amount of fat, but you can replace the oil with applesauce if you’re following a low-fat diet.
Recommended equipment: I am totally in love with my Fiesta Loaf Pan in turquoise (affiliate link).
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
This was my first time making a zucchini bread and it was simple and delicious. I didn’t have whole wheat flour but used half buckwheat pancake mix and half white flour. I used half honey, half maple syrup. It is moist, tasty and the perfect amount of sweetness. It baked in the amount of time indicated. Thank you so much for this healthy delicious recipe!
I love your recipes! I have printed out the vegan gingerbread ( and made it) so many times, everyone loves it- there are never any leftovers. ( sometimes I juice butternut squash if I don’t have carrots in my fridge).
and now I have discovered this zucchini bread recipe- perfect way to deliciously use up the monster zucchinis growing in my garden.. even if I make this once a week, my kids get so excited
Hello, this is delicious. I have only made it once. Super moist and hearty. I think I will try more cinnamon next time. I like it to pack a little more punch. Thank you for sharing and giving me a healthier version to make at home.
Made my version of this last night using home grown Zucchini. It was a lovely taste but the texture didn’t turn out quite right. I think often an issue with recipes from America that use cups as measurements rather than weights in grams (or ounces). I mean what size of cup? It tastes great but mine came out two solid and I baked it for hour and half waiting for the dry test to work. I might try it again next weekend as I want it to work. Maybe some more descriptive details might help.? I put the right ingredients in but it was really watery mixture and I compared it to the pictures above and no were near the same so I added two extra handfuls of flower to try to get it slightly thicker. Maybe that made is so solid! Any suggestions?
Hi, I’m sorry it didn’t turnout for you. I think you had your measurements off. This conversion chart that may help .
It doesn’t really help that conversion chart as your recipe is in cups. This chart doesn’t mention cups. I can do gramms and ounces that isn’t the problem its the cups that are as I don’t know the sizer of your USA cups in either gramms, ounces or ml (for liquid).
I made this zucchini bread and have put it in my recipe book. It is excellent – moist and delicious, so happy to find such a tasty zucchini bread without white sugar and poor oils. This recipe is perfect for my 3 smaller loaf pans with added dark chocolate morsels and I bake for 45-55 minutes.
Thank you Kate!
Hi, Kate (+ Cookie!) Just found this recipe, I’m eager to try it! PLMK if I can substitute the same quantity of white, all-purpose flour instead of whole wheat? (It’s all I have on hand. Thanks much!
Hi Susan! It should be able to work at the same amount, but there can be some variability in all purpose flour. Let me know how it goes for you!
Thanks for the quick reply, Kate! I’ll try it and let you know. :)
Can you use this recipe with fresh ground wheat flour, and if so, would anything need to be changed? TIA
Hi Jess! I actually don’t have experience with freshly ground flours (cool that you do!). If you generally have success using it, I’d say go for it.
I used 3 cups of fresh ground white wheat flour minis 3 tbls, used Almond milk, honey, and coconut oil substitutions and it was sooo yummy!! Thank you. This recipe is a keeper!
Hi, I just wanted to tell you that I made this today after scouring the Internet for a recipe that I thought would work for me I landed on yours. Specifically because you used maple syrup. So for a doubled recipe I used fresh ground whole meal Spelt for the flour, I didn’t ring the excess water Out of the zucchini and I only used a quarter cup of milk. I poured all of the batter into one 9 x 5 loaf pan for a large loaf. It came out beautifully with a moist tender crumb and perfect sweetness. Next time I make it I’m gonna replace the maple syrup with Stevia as I’m trying to cut my carbs. This is a great recipe!
If you are trying to make it healthier, skip the coconut oil. Go with olive, avocado or canola. Coconut oil has 40% more saturated fat than butter. It may be okay for some, but if you are predisposed for high cholesterol, stay away from it.
I made this recipe as is with a slight change. I doubled the recipe and after adding the zucchini, I split the batter into two separate bowls of equal amounts. In one bowl, I added 1.75 cups flour and 3/4 cup walnuts (as recipe states). In the other, 1.5 cups flour, 1/3 cup cocoa powder, and 3/4 cup chocolate chips. I had two loaf pans so I alternately added scoops of each batter to each pan then used a butter knife to swirl the batters around (not too much!). This made for a lovely marbled loaf. I used the same cooking time. I wish I could add a picture! Thank you!
Hi there!
Loved the zucchini bread, not too sweet and it’s so great that it’s whole grain.
Now I have an abundance of green tomatoes. Do you think I could substitute grated green tomatoes for the zucchini?
Hi Lesle! I love the idea, but they are two very different ingredients and the tomatoes have too much moisture. Likely wouldn’t have a good result.
I just ate (too much) of this recipe. I love it. I did everything you listed. I used all olive oil, no coconut oil. Half honey, half maple syrup. Not too sweet! Perfect. Thank you!
Hi Kate,
Great recipe! Made it for the second time, this time with an abundance of rock hard green tomatoes I wound up with after a very short growing season. Used a food processor to finely chop up tomatoes and drained them until about the same moisture as my zucchini. Because they were so green, there wasn’t too much extra water to drain. The loaf turned out great! Not as sweet because I ran out of maple syrup and had to sub honey half and half but still quite tender and moist.
So it did work!
Again, this has become a house fave!
Thanks again and keep up the good work!
Leslie
This is the best not dessert recipe I have found. I reduce the honey a bit more (3/4 cup for 2 loaves) and usually end up with close to 4 cups of zucchini. It come out lovely, moist, not too sweet. Perfect toasted for breakfast with some peanut butter.
Made it. Not sweet enough. Had no taste. Could not taste the spices. I used the syrup instead of the honey. The overall result was not good.
I have to guess that I did something wrong because this was god awful! My husband didn’t think it was so bad – just tasteless. The only thing I can think is that the honey I used wasn’t a good fit – I used Manuka honey (expensive so disappointed to know I’ve wasted a cup of it) which has a unique taste beyond traditional honey. This is the first recipe from Cookie and Kate that I haven’t loved.
I made this with 1/2 cup chocolate chips and no nuts. It was decadent! Texture was perfect! squeezed out as much water as I could. I recommended going by weight (5 oz) for the zucchini. Will definitely be making this again.
Ups – just saw the recipe actually calls for 7 oz zucchini. Lol. I’ll add that next time.
Outrageously good! I doubled the recipe and did not squeeze out the zucchini. Baked it in a large loaf pan. Came out moist and not too sweet which was perfect for my husband who has to watch his sugar
Question – can I substitute apples to make a honey apple cake
Hi! That’s a great idea, but I don’t think you would get the expected result. Take a look at my apple muffin recipe and I believe some have tried it in a loaf (although I haven’t tried it myself).
Can I use stevia instead for sweetener? My family don’t care for honey and I don’t have maple syrup on hand. Or anything else for an alternative for sugar?
Hi Marsha! I don’t recommend changing the wet sweetener in there as it helps with the sweetness and aids in the final product result – meaning it helps it to rise.
Thank you so much for the recipe. This is my first time preparing this kind of bread and I actually added to mine almonds and cranberries, also mine took 65 minutes to bake. It is delicious!!! I always asked my friends to do it for me and I can not believe how easy it was. Thank you again!!
You’re welcome, Pily! I’m happy you enjoyed it.
I’ve made this 3 times this month. Perfect recipe. Today was the first time I had to drain excess water from the zucchini, perhaps because it was very ripe and had been put in the fridge. I also prefer regular whole wheat flour instead of white whole wheat flour.
Chuck Thailand
I’ve still to try it but I’m sure its good
Excellent! Very moist. I added 1/4 cup cocoa powder and 2/3 cup chocolate chips.
Yes, this zucchini bread made my day! It’s my first ever zucchini bread recipe from this site and I absolutely loved it! It’s a keeper! I added walnuts, pecans and blueberries. I first, I had doubts but the combination was perfection! My bread took about 1 hour and 10 minutes to cook, the center. I will try and use half the recipe, into a loaf pan and the remaining into muffin cup pan. Thank you for sharing. Oh, I did add some pumpkin spice, too!
We loved this recipe. It is very gently sweet. I used prune puree for the oil. To make prune puree use equal parts boiling water and dried prunes, allowing them to soften, and then blending thoroughly. It works well as an oil substitute (use an equal amount of prune puree as oil) in quick sweet breads like this one. Prune puree keeps a surprisingly long time in the back of your fridge or freezer. It adds a little sweet, but I doubled+ the recipe and put in 4 c of shredded zucchini. Mine came out of the pans easily right after baking. It was a real hit with all of us, especially the grandkids. I’ll be making this again.
Hey, can you try replacing the egg with some greek yogurt instead?
Hi! See the notes on making this vegan/egg free.
I made this recipe with my toddler, and it was easy and turned out to be delicious! The only problem is that my toddler wanted to eat her weight in the zucchini bread :)
Hi Kate. I make your apple muffins all the time and love them. So I’m excited to try this recipe. But can I use self rising wholewheat flour? That’s what I have in the pantry. :/
Hi Audrey, I don’t typically recommend that as there can be variations by brand and baking is so precise. Sorry I don’t have a clear answer!
This zucchini bread is so delicious. I think I might eat the whole loaf myself!! YUM!!
Delicious!! I used gluten free flour, 1/2 cup toasted walnuts (toasting them makes them taste so much better!), and 1/4 cup dried cranberries. My husband is not usually a fan of zucchini bread, but loves this one.Thanks for another great recipe Kate!!
Can I use oatmeal instead of all-purpose flour?
Hi! You could try oat flour here. I haven’t tried it but it works as a replacement in some of my other recipes. Be sure to follow my guide on how to make oat flour.
Loved this recipe! It is especially good with almond butter on top of a warm slice, and I added chocolate chips to the batter. Thanks for a great recipe!
I love your recipes, and many of them are favorites (like your Mango Burrito Bowl with Crispy Tofu and your Mediterranean Cauliflower Rice). I’m not sure what I did wrong but my zucchini bread came out quite dry and it did not rise like yours. I did remove the extra moisture from the zucchini. I used whole wheat flower, the walnuts and maple syrup (but only half of the quantity of maple syrup). Perhaps that’s it. Can I replace the other quarter cup with applesauce? I was considering adding cranberries. And, finally, should I add baking powder to help it rise? Will any of these changes mess too much with the chemistry of the recipe? Thanks.
Hi! I’m sorry this didn’t turn out. Baking is quite precise so cutting out the maple syrup will impact your results as you found out. It helps with moisture and for it to rise properly. The baking soda listed will help to make it rise along with the sugar.
I love the recipe, it make me happy when I can try the recipe out
Hello! I read a bunch of the reviews before trying the recipe. Made it for the first time and it is delicious! Some common mistakes I’ve made in the past that I learned from:
The zucchini is really watery- paper towels are not enough. I used my hands to make balls of zucchini and squished the water out of them. I added the zucchini to my mix only before I was ready to mix the dry ingredients with the wet and then put them in the oven… I was afraid that if I put the zucchini in and the baking pan sat on the counter too long before baking, then more water would come out of the zucchini… which could lead to it not cooking properly or being too watery after cooking for a really long time.
I put the baking soda in the dry ingredients separately and only mixed the wet and dry ingredients after my oven was pre- heated. This is because I’ve read that the reaction with the baking soda starts as soon as you mix it so doing it this way delays it. Also, overmixing takes out the air from the baking soda reaction … so I mixed only as little as needed.
Thank you for sharing how you made this and happy to hear what you did worked so well for you, Bandna.
These were delish! They definitely tasted healthy, which after I made them I realized I wanted them a bit sweeter. Next time I think I’d just add a little brown sugar to sweeten them up a bit.
I e made this several times using it as a formula. I use shredded winter squash instead of summer squash and change up the flavorings, sometimes orange blossom water and a citrus zest while skipping the vanilla. I add raisins to increase the sweetness that I lose from swapping date paste for the sugar, winter squash has the same affect. I put the date paste in a leash ring cup and fill it to one cup to get to the needed liquid (honey and milk) ratio. I also use whole wheat pastry flour instead of the white wheat flour. It is a fantastic formula to fit any flavor profile I want. Thank you!
I followed this recipe and had a giant zucchini which came out to 2 cups and used it all. It was a dry zucchini, almost no water came out of it. The texture is amazing, so moist inside but it has a nice crust. However, 1/2 cup of maple syrup is not sweet enough, and so the flavor is a little bland. Next time, I’ll try 3/4.
Your muffins call for baking powder. The bread does not. Is that correct? I’m JUST about to measure and make your bread (the bread I’ve been making for 40 yrs has so much oil and sugar I thought I’d try yours.
Hi Deborah! These are just slightly different recipes. The muffins call for both.
Best zucchini bread I’ve ever had. Not so overly sweet and the whole wheat flour gives it a nice, hearty texture. I added an extra 1/4 c flour to make it a bit less wet. Also, I use a high protein milk, which adds a few extra grams of protein to make this bread perfect for a healthy breakfast. The whole family loved it. This will be our standard recipe from now on. Thanks!
My grandkids love the bread and I do too as it’s healthy for them. I preferred the time I made it without squeezing the zucchini water
Thank you for sharing!
I don’t know why everyone keeps mentioning they needed to add extra flour. I followed the recipe with very minor changes and it turned out perfect! It’s so moist and tender and full of flavor. I did not add walnuts but they would have been great. I did half honey and half maple syrup. And used a splash of almond extract in addition to the vanilla, and regular table salt, And I pureed my zucchini instead of shredding it. Although I did need to reduce cooking time by 5-7 minutes. It’s so yummy! Thanks so much for the recipe! & happy new year :)
Thank you for sharing, Jess!
I just did the banana bread according to your wonderful recipe and really happy to know that you also have the zucchini bread one. Will definitely try it next time.
Tasty and healthy recipe!
Thanks a lot!
LIN
This turned out really well. Made without the nuts and used whole wheat flour, and just under the specified amount of zucchini. Was done in about 40 mins for me. Quite moist for a wheat flour bread.
This is THE BEST. Thank You!!!
You’re welcome, Patti!
This was delicious! I liked that it wasn’t too sweet. I used whole wheat pastry flour because that’s what I had on hand and it came out perfectly as written.
Thank you, Dana! I’m happy to hear that.
I’ve seen lots of people asking for grain-free flour alternative. Although almond or coconut flour are not good as a 1:1 sub, a great paleo/grain free flour sub is to make a mix of almond flour, tapioca starch and coconut flour in the ratio 3:2:1 (via weight). I make a big batch of the flour and keep it in a jar in my fridge. That way it’s always within reach when I get want to adapt a gluten-free or glutinous recipe to meet my family’s dietary restrictions.
I haven’t tried this recipe yet but will use my AP blend and some frozen grated zucchini from this past summer. Which, speaking of! If you want to bake with zucchini, I HIGHLY recommend freezing grated zucchini when it’s in season. Freezing breaks down the zucchini a bit and when it’s defrosted, it will release its water much, much easier.
Do you press out the liquid from zucchini before or after you measure it?
Do you measure coconut oil before or after you melt it?
Thank you,
Judy
Hi! It’s measured before squeezing out the excess. Coconut oil is measured melted, but it should be similar either way. I hope this helps!
Made recipe. Finishing up the last slices for breakfast. Yum!
Question: Zucchini, do you shred coarsely or fine?
I shed fine and came out great! Awesome!
Hi Kate – love all of your recipes! Thank you for sharing. I have made this one before, but am coming back to it – have a zucchini bread craving! I was wondering… Do you think I could add shredded carrots?
Thanks!
Nicole
Hi Nicole! Thank you for making this recipe and reviewing. As for using carrots, baking is so precise and the moisture levels vary I don’t know if it will work. But, try my Healthy Carrot Muffins if you haven’t yet!