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Cut loaf of zucchini bread with slices, white background

Best Zucchini Walnut Bread

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

5 from 5 reviews

Moist and delicious, this is a quick bread recipe with a healthy dose of grated zucchini, pineapple, and whole wheat flour. It's very easy to make, keeps really well, and can be frozen. It has walnuts for crunchiness and can be adapted into muffins or a tube cake.

  • Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
  • Yield: 2 medium loaves

Ingredients

Units
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour or white whole wheat flour
  • 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (superfine)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 3 eggs, room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cups organic sugar (or coconut sugar)
  • 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup vegetable oil (I use coconut oil or light olive oil)
  • 3 cups grated zucchini (about 2-3 medium) see Notes
  • 1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
  • 1 cup walnuts, chopped

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF/180°C.
  2. Grease two 9- by 5-inch loaf pans. I like to line them with a strip of parchment paper (aluminum foil works too) covering the bottom and two short sides. It'll be easier to remove the loaf from the pan by lifting the ends of the paper.
  3. Grate the zucchini. I recommend using a large-holed microplane grater or coarse box grater. Do not use small hole graters because the zucchini clumps and doesn't distribute well in the batter.
  4. Stir together flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl.
  5. Lightly beat together eggs, sugar, vanilla, and oil in a medium bowl.
  6. Add the shredded zucchini to the wet ingredients and mix well. If they released liquid between the time you grated and added them to the batter, squeeze them out before adding. 
  7. Add the flour mixture and stir *just* until combined. Do not beat or mix too much. 
  8. Stir in the chopped walnuts and pineapple and mix well.
  9. Pour batter into the prepared loaf pans. Smooth top.
  10. Bake for about 50 minutes until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean, and the loaf springs back when lightly touched.
  11. Cool on a wire rack before removing from the pans.
  12. Refrigerate leftovers covered in plastic wrap or in an airtight container. 

Notes

Zucchini: grate them at the last moment possible to avoid them from releasing liquid. Do so with a coarse grater (large holes) or in the processor, as I do. But be careful not to make a zucchini paste if processing them. But make sure they are minced. This recipe doesn't work well if you coarsely chop the zucchini.

Flour: you can use only all-purpose or cake flour, but I think that adding a part of whole wheat flour makes it richer. Make sure it's superfine flour for best results. I use one that is almost as fine as all-purpose. If you use a coarser whole wheat flour the bread will have a denser texture.

Alternative flours: you can use a small amount of oat flour or almond flour to add more texture. About 1/4 cup that you need to substract from the white flour. 

Pineapple: I tried this recipe both with canned and fresh pineapple. The former gives better results, but, if you want to use fresh fruit anyway, the bread will still be very good but less sweet and with less depth of flavor. Make sure it is finely chopped.

Nuts: walnuts are perfect for this recipe, but pecans work just as well. I haven't tried it with any other nut, though I think macadamias and hazelnuts would probably work.

Keeping: this bread keeps for one day at room temperature. But be careful if the room is hot since fruits ferment and ruin the bread, especially pineapple. If that is the case I suggest you keep it in the fridge, well wrapped. You can also freeze it, well wrapped, for a month. I like to cut it before freezing and take out as many slices as I need. Then warm it in the oven or toast it.

Making zucchini pineapple muffins: follow the recipe and use regular muffin tins with or without paper liners. Fill them 3/4 full. It yields a lot, like 24 regular muffins, so consider halving it or be prepared to freeze some. Eat them plain or with a sprinkling of powdered sugar if you enjoy a sweeter muffin.

  • Author: Paula Montenegro
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 45 minutes
  • Category: Quick bread
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: American

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1/16
  • Calories: 337
  • Sugar: 18.4 g
  • Sodium: 167.5 mg
  • Fat: 19.8 g
  • Carbohydrates: 37.5 g
  • Fiber: 2.1 g
  • Protein: 5.1 g
  • Cholesterol: 34.9 mg