This is a classic, easy Zucchini Bread recipe filled with shredded zucchini, cinnamon and nutmeg, and lightly sweetened with applesauce and brown sugar, for a simple and flavorful Summer breakfast.
Is there such a thing as too much cinnamon when baking?
Especially when it comes too Zucchini Bread?!
Okay, there really is such a thing as too much cinnamon, but I’m from a family where there is never enough cinnamon, and this bread is a great example of that.
I don’t know about you, but to me Zucchini Bread needs to be filled with cinnamon flavor, have a hint of nutmeg, plenty of shredded zucchini, be moist, quick and easy to make.
This recipe has all that! And it’s lightly sweetened with less sugar (using applesauce), making this loaf a bit healthier too!
This recipe has a few options too, so you can make it gluten-free, dairy-free and in a high altitude. You can also trade out the brown sugar for maple syrup if you prefer, and you can add nuts and/or chocolate chips if you’d like too!
Questions about this Zucchini Bread…
This Zucchini Bread can be made regular or gluten-free?
Yes. Similar to my Banana Bread recipe, this Zucchini Bread can be made with an all purpose flour or with a gluten-free all purpose flour. For a gluten-free all purpose flour, I’ve used and recommend Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free 1-to-1 baking flour, Pamela’s gluten-free Baking and Pancake mix, and King Arthur Measure for Measure.
To make this bread dairy-free, simply switch the butter out for either coconut oil or a dairy-free butter alternative stick (like Earth Balance).
To make this bread more naturally sweetened, you can swap out the 1/2 cup of brown sugar with 1/3 cup of maple syrup instead.
What do I do with my zucchini?
First, you’ll need to shred it with either a food processor (which I highly recommend) or with a hand grater.
Next, you’ll take your shredded zucchini and pat it till it’s mostly dry, either between paper towels or dish towels. Because all zucchini are different, and some may be more full of moisture than others, I recommend patting it dry for the most consistent results.
Let’s talk mix-in’s too: You can add about 3/4 cup or so of your favorite chocolate chips (milk, semi-sweet, dark, dairy-free, cinnamon, etc.) and/or walnuts for a fun extra addition to make this bread even tastier!
And wait, I can also bake this bread at high altitude?!
Yes!! No collapsing bread that’s mushy in the middle here. You’ll need to:
- Omit the baking powder
- Reduce the baking soda to a rounded 1/4 teaspoon
- Add 1/4 cup of additional flour
- Lightly “cream” your butter, brown sugar and applesauce together
If you cream things together too long in high altitude (in ANY recipe for high altitude) you can create unnecessary air pockets in your baked goods that will actually change the outcome in texture and appearance.
This is the best easy Zucchini Bread recipe to break out when you have extra zucchini from your garden, the store, your neighbor.. or just cause you wanna make some Zucchini Bread! 🙂
I hope you enjoy this simple, moist bread, whether you eat it gluten-free or not, topping-filled or topping-less, and high altitude adjusted or not!
Looking for other classic breakfast recipes? Check out my gluten-free Dark Chocolate Chunk Cherry Bread, Zucchini Bread Breakfast Cookies, and Peach Pecan Oat Muffins.
- 1/2 cup butter, softened (or coconut oil or dairy-free alternative butter)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar (or 1/3 cup maple syrup)
- 1/2 cup applesauce (sweetened or unsweetened)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour* (or gluten-free all purpose flour)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda*
- 1/2 tsp baking powder*
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1 1/2 cup shredded zucchini (patted between two paper towels, to remove excess moisture)
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To begin, preheat your oven to 350 and line a bread pan with parchment paper with two sides sticking out for easy removal (or spray with non-stick spray).
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To a large mixing bowl, add your butter, brown sugar and applesauce and beat together with a mixer till creamy. Add your vanilla and eggs and beat again briefly to lightly incorporate them into your batter.
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To the same bowl, add your flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir the dry ingredients lightly together on top, and then stir everything together till you have a thick bread batter. Add your zucchini and gently fold it in.
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Pour the batter into your bread pan and spread out evenly. Bake in the oven for 45-55 minutes, or till the top of the bread is set and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
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Let cool for at least one hour. Then remove from your pan, slice and devour!
Hello Chelsea! I live at 7500′ and just five miles east of Durango. I baked your gluten-free, high-altitude zucchini bread today, and it is both easy to make and Delicious!!! Yours is the Best zucchini bread I’ve ever eaten or baked. I made both a loaf and cupcake-size muffins. Both are moist and flavorful, and the texture is excellent. I’ve looking forward to making more of your high altitude recipes; it’s a huge help to me when a recipe is also gluten free.
Thank you!!!
Well, it’s in the oven. I’d hoped to have gotten a response from you in terms of the “corrected” recipe —
needed to know if there were further adjustments. but there wasn’t anything there — nor my comment either, so I’m taking a chance. It’s a good friend’s b-day and I promised her I’d be bringing it by this afternoon. Fingers crossed. Seems to me the temp might be too high for high altitude?
Hi Elena. I’m so sorry that I didn’t get this comment sooner, I was actually out of the country all of last week. Yes, the recipe was re-tested and corrected. I hope that if you made it that it turned out well for you!
Exact same thing happened to me. What a waste of ingredients.
Pamela and Lorena, I’m so sorry to hear that this happened to both of you. After a few bad reviews, I’ll be removing the recipe from my site and will be testing it again to be sure it turns out well every time. Thank you for your input!
I’m confused by these comments and your reply. for some reason, “Pamela and Loreena’ had a negative experience with this recipe. Back in 2020. You apologized in your reply and said you’d take it off your site and re-testing the recipe. I am VERY interested in making this – TODAY, for a friends birthday tomorrow. So, my question is : what’s on the site now; is that a corrected/adjusted recipe? Thanks so much for your reply!
I read through the unhappy comments and decided to go for it anyway. I live at 6,600’ and needed gluten free for my guests so I took a chance.
This recipe came out better than any of the others I tried. The loaf rose and was beautiful. I didn’t add the extra flour because I forgot, but I did reduce the leavening as recommended. I also added raisins and pecans, increased the vanilla and the nutmeg and decreased the cinnamon, just personal preference. I then made the receipe 3 more times with whole wheat flour and another gf and it’s just bomber. So happy to have found a recipe that works at my elevation.
Don’t worry about the consistency when you add the applesauce, just trust the process. It works. Thank you!!
Great to hear that, Stephanie! Thank you for leaving the comment 🙂
Hi Lorena. I’m so sorry to hear that!! I hate it when recipes don’t turn out right and you end up wasting money. That’s very weird that it didn’t bake through after all of that time.
Skip the applesauce and use more brown sugar. The recipe isn’t great, and needs adjustment. Adding the applesauce makes the butter clump up instead of creaming. I started over twice, and now I’m moving on to a better recipe. Im glad I didn’t waste any of my very expensive gluten free flour. What a waste of time.