June is zucchini month, and this (absolutely amazing) Zucchini Bread is one of the best ways to use up your summer produce! Made with hints of spices, chopped walnuts and plenty of shredded zucchini, it’s a hit with everyone!

In June, when all of my retired neighbors gift me with vast amounts of their homegrown zucchini… I bake them into this zucchini bread and each gets a loaf as a thank you. I’m pretty sure that’s why they grow so much of it 😉

I make my zucchini bread with a generous hint of warm spices, chopped walnuts and plenty of shredded zucchini. I have a few special tricks I learned over the years to yield a perfectly fluffy, tender bread with just the right sweetness – simple, but exactly right!

Ingredients you’ll need

Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for quantities!

ingredients for zucchini bread with text labels — Ingredients to make Zucchini Bread: Flour, optional cornstarch, zucchini, brown and white sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, salt, baking powder & soda, oil, sour cream, eggs and walnuts.

Make sure to check the recipe card at the bottom of this post for exact quantities and baking instructions!

Ingredient notes

Cornstarch: This helps with fluffiness and to keep the bread from turning out too heavy. It’s only a small tweak though, so if you don’t want to bother or don’t have any cornstarch on hand – just skip it and add 2 more tablespoons of flour instead.
Sour cream: Greek yogurt or applesauce can be used in place of the sour cream.
Spices: If you don’t keep those individual spices on hand, you can use some pumpkin spice mix, apple spice mix or even gingerbread spice mix instead.
Baking soda: I highly recommend using both baking powder and baking soda in this recipe. They are not the same! The combination of both is what makes this bread rise just right, and it gives it that old-fashioned taste.
Walnuts: Pecans are a great swap, but you can also leave them out if you’re very much against walnuts in zucchini bread.

How to make Zucchini Bread

Before you begin, heat your oven to 360°F and line a 4×8 or 5×9 inch loaf pan with baking parchment.

Tip: How to line a loaf pan easily and quickly

If you’re wondering how to line your loaf pan without angrily stuffing parchment paper into each corner, let me help! I learned this years ago from my home-ec teaching aunt, who taught me so much about cooking and baking:

Please excuse my very un-technical drawing! The green outline is the parchment, and the red corners are where you need to cut. Simply place your loaf pan in the middle of a rectangular piece of baking parchment, then cut away the corners as shown in this picture:

overhead view of loaf pan sitting on baking parchment, with drawing to show how to cut paper

And ta-da! Your parchment now fits into your pan just right:

overhead view of black loaf pan lined with white baking parchment

Now let’s make zucchini bread:

1. Start by whisking together both sugars and the eggs in a large measuring jug, breaking up any brown sugar lumps you see forming. Then, whisk in the oil and sour cream and set aside.

eggs and sugar in glass measuring jug with whisk — blend sugars and eggs

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Using a whisk here makes sure you break up the spices and baking soda/powder and evenly distribute it among the flour. This is essential for a bread that rises evenly!

3. Now stir through the zucchini, making sure it’s evenly distributed throughout the flour mixture. I know this might be counter-intuitive – the zucchini is usually added to the wet ingredients, or folded in at the end.

overhead view of shredded zucchini sitting on top of flour mixture in glass bowl — combine dry ingredients

But I much prefer stirring it through the dry ingredients, because it prevents the area around the zucchini pieces getting soggy and dense. It also helps to keep the zucchini dispersed evenly in the bread, and I just prefer the texture when the bread is assembled this way.

The one caveat here is to not let this flour/zucchini mixture sit for more than a couple minutes – else the flour can get lumpy. So make sure to have your wet ingredients ready to go.

4. Pour the wet over the dry ingredients, then stir just until combined (= until there is no more dry flour left). Fold in the walnuts, and your batter is ready!

egg mixture pouring over flour mixture in glass bowl — add wet to dry

overhead view of zucchini bread batter in glass bowl — add wet to dry

5. Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan, then bake at 360°F for 55-65 minutes, or until the bread is risen, deep-golden on top and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out without any wet batter clinging to it.

overhead view of zucchini bread batter in lined loaf pan — add to loaf pan

overhead view of baked zucchini bread in lined loaf pan — add to loaf pan

Place the pan on a cooling rack for 5-10 minutes, then lift out the bread with the parchment paper and place back on the cooling rack. Once the bread is cool enough to handle, peel off the parchment and let the bread finish cooling on the cooling rack. This ensures that your bread will not get soggy.

We do mostly eat this while still a little warm, so the cooling process is usually quite short 😉 but it’s important to do let the bread cool enough before slicing, else the texture inside can get a little dense from the compression during cutting.

Recipe tips

Parchment overhang: Leaving an overhang of baking parchment on all sides of your pan ensures there’s no sticking at all, and you can easily lift out the bread.
Folding in zucchini: When folding the zucchini into the dry ingredients, you’ll want to make sure you stir quite quickly. Evenly distribute the zucchini throughout the flour to avoid lumping it together. The zucchini should be evenly distributed and lightly coated in flour to make this recipe work perfectly.
Combing wet and dry ingredients: You only want to stir enough to make sure all of the flour has been moistened. Once you don’t see any dry flour anymore, stop stirring. Some lumps are fine, the batter doesn’t have to be smooth. I prefer using a rubber spatula for this.
Baking time and pan: The baking time will vary depending on the type of pan you use and your exact oven. I highly recommend using a metal pan for quick breads, glass pans bake differently. Even metal pans vary – when I use my cast iron pan (like I did for the photos) I will have to turn down the heat a little at some point, else the sides of the bread burn. The recipe instructions are written for a standard metal loaf pan. If you use and love a different pan and know what tweaks you have to make to make it work – feel free to do so!
Storage: Store wrapped in a clean tea towel on the counter for up to two days, or wrapped in plastic wrap in the fridge for up to 4 days.

Extra tip: How to shred the zucchini for best results

shredded zucchini on paper towel next to box grater

To make sure your zucchini work well in this recipe, try to follow these steps for shredding:

Use the coarse side of a box grater
Grate directly onto paper towels to catch any spills – this is what works for me, if you have a different method you like then please just do what works for you!
To avoid getting overly long strips of zucchini, try not angling the zucchini too much (the more you angle it, the longer the strips) and do shorter “strokes” on the grater vs using the entire length. This will give you medium-long strips of zucchini, which are perfect.

And P.S: You don’t have to squeeze the extra moisture from your shredded zucchini in this recipe (it’s what keeps the bread so yummy!)!

Serving ideas

We love zucchini bread for breakfast, as a snack, as a simple dessert… Here’s how I like to serve it up:

Spread with butter or cream cheese
With a side of Greek yogurt and blueberries
With a scoop of vanilla or maple walnut ice cream… such a sweet little treat!

overhead view of slice of zucchini bread with pat of butter on top

More recipes to try

PS If you try this recipe, please leave a review in the comment section and add a star rating in the recipe card – I appreciate your feedback! Follow along on Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram.

Amazing Zucchini Bread