Super moist, tender and full of flavor, this Best-Ever Zucchini Walnut Bread will soon become your favorite!
I apologize in advance, but I am ALL IN for fall.
I know some of you are clutching your bikinis in mock horror at the idea of pumpkins and cinnamon and boots in August, but you also probably live in a state where it’s a breezy 80 degrees every day. I live somewhere where the temps sometimes exceed 100 degrees and it’s no bueno.
So I’m slooooowly going to start transitioning my recipes to reflect the weather – but before I do, hear me out.
We bloggers kind of operate like magazines in that we have to produce content for holidays a month or two in advance in order for it to get traction on sites like Pinterest. If I posted Halloween recipes the day before Halloween, I wouldn’t be a successful blogger. Get it? Got it? Good. 🙂
But the good thing about this is that my fall-inspired recipes are ready when you are. And I’m going to kick it off with a fall-ish recipe. I say “fall-ish” because zucchini is primarily a summer ingredient, but the spices in this loaf are abundantly fall-inspired.
This Zucchini Walnut Bread is so moist, tender and soft and is bursting with amazing spiced flavor and crunchy bits of buttery walnuts. I loved toasting slices of this bread and slathering the warmed bread with gooey butter, but this is just as amazing straight-up.
The best part is you can customize this loaf to suit your tastes. Want it a little spicier? Add more cinnamon and nutmeg. Don’t like walnuts? Substitute pecans, which would be equally delicious.
Now grab your coziest sweater and get ready for the influx of fall (and fall-ish) recipes!
Best Ever Zucchini Walnut Bread
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 1 cup oil
- 1¼ cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 3 eggs
- 2½ cups grated zucchini
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Liberally grease a 9" loaf pan with cooking spray, or two smaller loaf pans as you do not want to overfill one pan with batter. Place the loaf pans on a rimmed baking sheet to catch any possible drips. Set aside briefly.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and spices. In a separate large bowl, combine the oil, sugars, vanilla and eggs until blended. Gradually add the flour mixture until just barely combined - you should definitely still see patches of flour streaked throughout. Gently fold in the zucchini and walnuts and just barely mix in. You do NOT want to over-mix the batter as this will lead to tough bread or bread that's sunken in the middle after baking.
- Spoon the batter evenly among the pan(s). Bake for approx. 50-60 minutes or until the top is light golden brown and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean or with moist - not wet - crumbs. Cool completely before serving.
I love the spice level in this fabulously moist zucchini bread, and the crunchy bits of walnuts swirled throughout are such a nice touch!
Have a super sweet day!
xo, Hayley
Katryna says
Any idea if you can sub the regular flour for gluten free at a 1:1 ratio? Looks so delicious!
thedomesticrebel says
It should work if you use a 1:1 flour!
Linda says
I made this recipe using all-purpose flour and it came out with white streaks. I made sure it was all mixed in before cooking. What would cause the white streaks?
cakespy says
I love zucchini bread. This one looks awesome – I love to eat it with peanut butter!
Rose says
Can I add cocoa powder and how much would you recommend?
Dalia Vara says
This zucchini bread recipe was delicious, I actually added Chocolate Chips instead of Walnuts and it did not last.
Debbie says
Do you think I could make muffins with your recipe- sounds much better than mine!!!
thedomesticrebel says
Yes, I think that’d work!
Cathy says
The recipe was as easy as making chocolate chip cookies. But zucchini bread taste so much better?
Jill says
What kind of oil do you use?
thedomesticrebel says
Canola or vegetable!
Niki louca says
Can I add 3 bananas please please?
I am making it now.
Thank you.
thedomesticrebel says
Hi Niki, I would add maybe one banana.
Nadia says
Can I substitute Greek yogurt instead of oil?
thedomesticrebel says
Hi Nadia, I have not tried that substitution so I’m not certain, but I would give it a try and let me know!
Nadia says
I googled it and every link said yes you can but it’s not a 1:1 ratio. It’s more like 1 cup oil to 1/2 cup Greek yogurt.
I made it and it turned out just wonderful. Everything else stayed the same. Thanks a lot for sharing ??????
Verna Sue says
Hello made this recipe and its awesome. Do hav a question though, my husband is Diabetic but he loves this would you by any chance have the nutritional facts for it. Really need to know the carbs more than anything, so he knows how much insulin to take.
Thank you for the great recipes
thedomesticrebel says
Hi Verna, no I do not have nutritional info on it. Sorry about that!
Caren Lyell says
This was delicious. I definitely needed 2 pans for all this batter. Next time I will add chocolate chips as well. Thanks for sharing this recipe
Jay says
Hi! I love this recipe. Could I use walnuts and chocolate Chips together, or should I out Just One of the two? What kind of chocolate chip shoul I use? Thank you!!!!!
thedomesticrebel says
Hi Jay! You certainly can use both walnuts and chocolate chips! I’d start with about 1/2 cup of each, and make sure the walnuts are chopped up. As far as chocolate chips go, I’d recommend semi-sweet or milk!
Teresa says
Hi I made this tonight instead of using a loaf pan i put it in a bundt cake pan turn out beautiful
Lauren says
Do you think this would freeze well? I am up to my neck in zucchini from the garden! Also, could yellow zucchini be used instead of green?
thedomesticrebel says
Hi Lauren! I don’t see why not!?
Judy says
Yes. I freeze mine. And I freeze banana nut bread.
Victoria says
I followed the recipe exactly and the bread collapsed and was definitely not baked through. ? It really should call for 2 smaller pans!
thedomesticrebel says
You could definitely do two smaller pans!
Kristin says
This was my first time making Zucchini bread! We had zucchini from the garden that needed to be used up so I thought why not! I only had one bread pan, so out of the leftover batter I made 6 regular sized muffins and 16 mini muffins. The mini muffins were done in about half the time, the regular muffins just a few minutes after that. I just kept checking everything with toothpicks. It turned out great! Didn’t get flat in the middle because I was careful to follow your tips about not stirring too much. Thank you for your tips and this wonderful recipe! I forgot to add vanilla and it was still delicious! All the spices and sugars were enough flavor that no one could even tell it was missing. I’d call this an absolute success! Saving this recipe for next year’s harvest!
thedomesticrebel says
Kristin, I am so happy to hear you had such success with this zucchini bread recipe! Glad you got so many muffins out of it, too!
Sue says
I put raisins in it and it was really good, Can’t eat nuts.
thedomesticrebel says
Sue, raisins sound like a tasty substitution! Glad you enjoyed! Instead of nuts, feel free to also add chocolate chips.
Shelby says
Mine sunk in the middle after it completely cooled. I followed directions exactly. I’m not sure what I did wrong?
thedomesticrebel says
Hi Shelby, there are several reasons why your bread may have sank in the middle. Overmixing the batter and incorporating too much air is very easy to do unfortunately and can cause the bread to rise and fall. Opening the oven door too much can also cause the bread to sink. And lastly, if the bread was underbaked, it could also cause the bread’s middle to fall. For best results, I like using a light metal loaf pan which I find yields the best, most accurate results. Sometimes glass pans can over-bake and under-bake at the same time which can be tough to gauge.
Debra says
Absolutely delicious! I made a mistake and added all dry ingredients at one time, but it still turned out amazing. Try it still warm from the oven with butter. Crazy Good!!!! Oh yes, I also didn’t have a bread tin but did have 4 of the mini and filled 3/4 of the way. Baked for 47 minutes at 350 on a rimmed baking pan. Came out beautifully!!!!
Shirlie says
I KNOW this recipe is delicious, as it is pretty much spot-on to my mom’s recipe that I’ve been making for MANY years! The only exceptions are that we add 1/2 c. raisins and 1/2 c. chopped nuts (instead of just 1 c. nuts), and use 1c. butter instead of oil. Also, I’ve never tried adding ground cloves to the recipe, but I’ll definitely give that a try. ??
Irina says
Hi, I’m very keen to try this recipe today. May I please ask if you recommend getting rid of liquid from zucchinies? I’m planning to grate them. Thank you
thedomesticrebel says
Hi Irina! I just grate the zucchini onto a paper towel and then squeeze the liquid out of the paper towel. Hope this helps!
Arwen says
I just made this! I messed up and only put in a teaspoon of cinnamon, oops… still tasty. I substituted unsweetened apple sauce for the oil (a trick I learned from Weight Watchers, even though I fell off that wagon a long time ago). Also used two loaf pans, and glad I did! WOW this is a lot of bread. Not that it’s gonna last long around here. ::grin::
Sarah says
Way too much for one 9 inch loaf pan!! Really should call for two pans. Mine is cooked on the outside, but runny in the middle. A total waste of ingredients and time. Also way too sweet.
DAVID says
I used half the amount of sugar and added 1/4 cup of unsweetened applesauce. I used 2 9″ pans. Otherwise it’s an excellent recipe. Thanks.
Oktavia says
It’s definitely to dry . I made cupcakes out of this recipe and I need to add cream cheese frosting. Sorry not a fan of this recipe ?
Mary says
Excellent recipe. I followed it exactly but added 1 cup chopped walnuts. I chose to make muffins. The first batch stuck in the muffins cups on the bottom eventhough I sprayed them with Pam. On the next batch I used paper liners. It took 22 minutes for them to bake. Will make again.
vv says
solid recipe, i make two loaves with this amount. nice to see a recipe use 2.5 cups of zucchini instead of 2, as my garden is pumping out zucchini like crazy rn. the first time i made it i found it too sweet, so i have another batch in the oven now where i used 3/4 cup of white sugar and 1/2 cup of brown, instead of 1 1/4 and 1 cup, respectively. we’ll see how it turns out!!
Teresa Briones says
I just baked this bread for the first time. It is so moist and delish! I used a Pyrex loaf pan & didn’t fill it. It also made 6 regular muffins. Is there any way to cut down sugar amount?
Overall besides it being very sweet,I highly recommend this recipe!!!
Margaret says
Why did you mention using two tins (pans) to avoid overfilling – I now have two disappointingly small in height overcooked over-sweet cakes. My 9×5 tin would have been more than adequate, and next time I will reduce sugar by one-third
Sue says
CAN WE DO 1/2 OIL AND 1/2 SOUR CREAM. I Hope that I can get the answer today. Thanks URGENT