Photo illustration by Lille Allen; see below for full credits
Zucchini bread is a great way to use up an excess of summer squash, but not all recipes are created equal
There comes a time each summer when everyone begins bemoaning zucchini: There is too much of it!, we say, as though we were not the ones buying it in the first place. (I understand the plight is different for those who grow it or have a CSA membership.) And so, each summer brings with it the search for recipes to use up that zucchini. Since one person can only eat so much Stanley Tucci pasta, that’s where sneaky zucchini recipes, like zucchini bread, come in.
While some people make savory zucchini bread — I grew up eating lots of zucchini cheese bread — the majority of recipes seem to be for its sweet counterpart, which is like a seasonal replacement for banana bread, and flavored similarly. To celebrate the season, I bought a too-big bag of zucchini and chose four popular zucchini bread recipes from around the internet, each of which uses distinctly different techniques, to see which one would be the most worthy of adding to my summer repertoire.
The first thing I looked for when comparing these recipes was ease: like banana bread, zucchini bread is something I should be able to whip up on a whim, using primary pantry staples. I wanted moisture, since the biggest argument in favor of baking with zucchini is its high water content. I also wanted a flavor that was balanced in its sweetness so that I could eat the zucchini bread for breakfast or for dessert. Here’s what I found from my recipe testing.
Zucchini Bread (Better Than Ever!)
Sally McKenney, Sally’s Baking Recipes
I’ve had good luck with recipes from Sally’s Baking Recipes, a cooking blog that dominates Google search results; it’s the top result for zucchini bread, claiming a 4.8 rating from over 400 reviews. The recipe seemed promising immediately. It specifies that, in order to retain moisture in the bread, there’s no need to blot or dry the grated zucchini. And it calls for applesauce, which is also known for keeping baked goods moist. It comes together easily. Though it classifies walnuts as optional, I decided to add them in order to keep comparisons more consistent.
When I cut a slice I found that the finished bread had a nice rise, an even crumb, and an appealing caramel hue, with walnuts clustered around the top and bottom of each slice. The flavor was balanced, thanks to the mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, and a generous amount of vanilla extract. Although this recipe has a lot of sugar (equal parts white and brown), I was surprised to find it was the least sweet and most “healthy” tasting of the bunch.
Another surprise: Despite the zucchini and applesauce, this was the driest of the four breads (perhaps the uneven spread of the walnuts emphasized that). It wasn’t a bad zucchini bread, but it called for a swipe of butter more than the others. It stayed pretty much the same after sitting covered on the counter for a day, but I found that the texture suffered after I froze slices and microwaved them to thaw. I wouldn’t turn this zucchini bread down if I were offered it, but I don’t think it’ll be my go-to recipe.
The Best Zucchini Bread
Holly Nilsson, Spend With Pennies
This recipe had the slimmest ingredients list of the four I tried, yet it promised the most zucchini bread, yielding two standard loaves. That being said, its practicality as a pantry recipe depends on whether you keep nuts on-hand or not: It calls for 1.5 cups of walnuts, the most of any of these recipes. The process is simple and quick.
The loaves that resulted were the squattest of the bunch and the darkest in color, with a caramelized, bubbly top. The texture was more dense than the other recipes but not dry. Given its amount of nuts and its short height, this bread was very walnut-forward. The nuts were evenly distributed throughout and I got one in just about every bite, which gave the bread a nice texture and rich, toasty flavor. The sweetness and spice were pleasant and balanced.
I also really liked that this recipe made two loaves, even if they were shorter. It kept very well in the freezer.
Zucchini Bread
Joanna Gaines
Quantity-wise, this was the biggest recipe of the four, calling for double the amount of certain ingredients used in the other recipes; accordingly, it bakes in a 9-by-9-inch baking dish as opposed to the standard loaf pan. Unlike the previous two recipes, Gaines’s calls for squeezing the grated zucchini in a kitchen towel to get rid of excess water. I wondered if this would result in a noticeably drier texture — isn’t the whole point of the zucchini the water?
Cutting into this bread, I was taken with its sugary top crust. The bread, which was paler than I expected, had puffed up into the tallest of the four with a cake-like texture that reminded me of a muffin top; losing some of the zucchini’s water didn’t hurt it. That greater surface area, combined with the small amount of walnuts relative to the rest of the batter, made this the least walnut-heavy of the breads and there were many bites with no walnut at all. The flavor had a mellow sweetness and though I initially found the cinnamon a little heavy, I got used to it, especially when pairing the bread with coffee.
Between the height of the bread and the size of the pan, this recipe yields a lot of zucchini bread. I’d call it an especially good choice if you need to feed a lot of people or want bread that will last you for a while. The sugar topping lost its crispness as it sat covered, but otherwise the bread kept well, even after freezing.
Easy Zucchini Bread
Claire Saffitz
Claire Saffitz’s zucchini bread recipe was an outlier in that it relies on the flavors of lemon and olive oil instead of warm spices and walnuts. It also includes Greek yogurt, which, as I know from lemon-yogurt cakes I’ve made in the past, tends to be favorable for texture.
Saffitz’s recipe also calls for squeezing the zucchini. This is because, as she explains in an accompanying video, there’s a risk that the zucchini will make the batter too wet, resulting in a “squidgy” texture. Because the zucchini has been squeezed together into one big ball, Saffitz recommends then adding it to the dry ingredients and tossing it by hand to break up any clumps and give the bread an even texture. As another little touch, Saffitz massages the sugars with lemon zest to infuse them with flavor. Then, she reserves some of that lemon sugar as a topping.
I really loved the tender, light texture of Saffitz’s zucchini bread. The flavor was bright and lemony, a nice pick-me-up for a summer day. That being said, this bread has much more of a lemon tea cake vibe. As good as it was, this wouldn’t be my pick if I were craving a more standard zucchini bread. Plus, the ingredients list — particularly the demerara sugar and Greek yogurt — would make this more of a planned-out bake for me than something I could whip together anytime. Again, freezing didn’t hurt it.
The winner: Spend With Pennies
This zucchini bread felt the most classic and satisfying to me, with the best balance of moist crumb and chewy nuts. I appreciated the yield relative to the sparseness of the ingredients, especially given that I consider zucchini bread a practical, use-up recipe. It’s nice to not have to make any extra effort to have another loaf to save for later (in slices in the freezer), or to drop off at a friend’s house.
Additional photo credits: zucchini bread photos by Bettina Makalintal
