Healthy Zucchini Bread
A delicious, healthy zucchini bread recipe that is made with half the amount of sugar, half whole wheat flour, greek yogurt and coconut oil. A healthier zucchini bread you can enjoy without the guilt!
I just finished reading the best book! Have you read Ready Player One? I’m a little late to the game on this one, but it might be my favorite book I’ve read all year. And this summer, I am reading a lot of books.
IÂ spent the entire weekend lounging around reading it. Could not put it down! It’s set in the future, and this billionaire who dies leaves his entire fortune to whoever can solve this gigantic mystery puzzle. If you solve it first, you win all of his money.
I finished the book last night, but then I couldn’t go to bed because I started fantasizing about what I would do if I won a billion dollars. Can you even imagine? I’d be as rich as Oprah!
I decided the first thing I would do would be to buy a brand new Tesla. Because I must have a Tesla. Never having to buy gas again? Yes please. And I’m sure there’s a long wait to get one, so I should get that done first. And we’ll get a Shawn a new 4Runner, because his 1997 is getting…old. And that’s putting it nicely.
Then I would pay off our house, my parent’s house and sister’s house, and take us all to Hawaii on the best vacation ever.
After that, I got stumped. I wouldn’t really want to move, because I love our little ranch house so much. Maybe fix it up some. But I can’t imagine buying a huge mansion. I like living small.
And I’d still want to do our wedding videography business. Just about 10 weddings a year. I can’t imagine spending the rest of our lives just “hanging out”. We would need a little something to make us feel like we have a purpose. And of course I would want to keep sharing recipes here.
It made me realize that I am basically living my dream life. Just without the Tesla. Haha!
While I Â don’t have a billion dollars, I do have a billion zucchini’s. We planted 3 zucchini plants and 2 yellow squash plants in our garden. And now I have more zucchini than I know what to do with. It’s the best problem ever!
One of my favorite ways to make zucchini is to shred it and bake zucchini bread. My previous go to zucchini bread recipe was from America’s Test Kitchen. Their recipes always turn out perfect, every time. They also taught me the great tip of squeezing all the juice out of the shredded zucchini in a dish towel so the bread doesn’t get too dense and soggy.
But that recipe used 1-1/2 cups sugar, 6 tablespoons butter, and all white flour. I would feel guilty eating it, because it was essentially just cake with zucchini in it. And sadly, I knew all that zucchini didn’t cancel out all that sugar.
I started tweaking the recipe to make it even healthier. I cut down on the sugar a ton. Now, there is only 1/2 cup white sugar, and 1/4 honey. Much better. And it still tastes sweet and delicious. Compared to 1-1/2 cups sugar, this was a much healthier amount.
When I tried using all whole wheat flour, it was too dense and thick and just didn’t taste right. Then, I experimented with half white flour, half whole wheat flour. I liked it even more than when it was made with all white flour. The whole wheat flour gives it a nuttier and fuller bodied flavor.
I’m making a loaf of this healthy zucchini bread once a week, and Shawn and have toast a slice of it for dessert. But now that I’ve made it so much healthier, I really shouldn’t even call it dessert. More like “healthy after dinner treat.”
Healthy Zucchini Bread
Ingredients
- 1 cup white unbleached all purpose flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 medium zucchini about 1 pound, will be about 2 cups once shredded
- 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/2 cup plain non fat greek yogurt
- 2 large eggs
- 6 tablespoons coconut oil melted and cooled
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees, with the oven rack in the middle position. Line 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with 2 sheets parchment paper, 1 running the length and 1 running the width, both cut to fit. This will make it extremely easy to lift the zucchini bread out of the pan. I use binder clips to clamp down the parchment paper so it stays in place.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flours, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Whisk to combine.
- Shred the zucchini using the coarse holes on a box grater, both peel and flesh. Place the shredded zucchini in a clean dish towel (or strong paper towels), and squeeze out any extra moisture. Set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the shredded zucchini, white sugar, honey, greek yogurt, eggs, and coconut oil. Stir to combine.
- Transfer the shredded zucchini and wet ingredients into the flour mixture. Fold until combined.
- Transfer the batter to the parchment lined loaf pan. Bake for 60-70 minutes, or until a wooden inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs attached. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then lift it out of the pan using the parchment paper and cool on a wire rack for another 10 minutes. Slice and serve.
- Wrap bread in plastic wrap and store at room temperature for 3 days.
Nutrition
Nutrition facts are calculated as a courtesy and not guaranteed.
adapted from America’s Test Kitchen
More Sweet Breads and Muffins
Moist Blueberry Muffins with Greek Yogurt
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63 Comments on “Healthy Zucchini Bread”
I just made this and it is delicious!! I subbed all whole wheat flour for half while flour bc I didn’t have any. I also subbed brown sugar for the white sugar. What a divine recipe, thank you!
Yea! I’m so happy to hear that! And that your substitutions worked! This will be so helpful for other readers!
Made this with my two year old today. Lovely texture & flavour. We are really enjoying it.
I could probably have it a little less sweet (¼ cup sugar less), & will try that next time.
I’m so happy to hear you liked it Louise! Thank you! And what fun to make it with your 2 year old! I love that. Baking with kids is so fun. You can definitely use less sugar. Or even coconut sugar. Thanks for taking the time to let me know you liked my recipe! Big hugs!
Hi,love your recipe….want to try..but egg substitute pls..
Thanks! I would think maybe a vegan flax egg would work as a replacement? I’ve never tried it, so can’t say for sure. If you try and it works let me know!
Excellent didn’t change a thing, did bake in an 8×8 dark coated pan, however, took 45 minutes, thanks for sharing this keeper recipe!!
Yea! So glad you liked it Barbara! Thanks for letting me know you liked my recipe, this made my day!
Would anyone happen to know the calories per slice on this zucchini bread?
You can calculate the calories at myfitnesspal.com!
I made your Zucchini Bread recipe to take to a game night. Your recipe is fantastic and fairly foolproof. I had not read the recipe carefully. I used the fine side of the grater so I had grated zucchini instead of shredded. I put it in a colander layered with paper towels and let it drain a bit before squeezing. Since the finer grated zucchini automatically releases more moisture than shredded, I didn’t squeeze entirely dry. That was lucky because I accidentally baked at 350″ instead of the correct 325 which I didn’t realize until the next day. Did I mention I was rushing? I baked for 40 minutes in a 8-9 inch, 8 cup Bundt pan that was coated with baking spray containing flour. It turned out perfect! The ladies commented that it was moist. It wasn’t oily or sickly sweet – perfect amount of sweetener. I added 3/4 cup chopped walnuts and 1/4 tsp nutmeg and1/4 tsp cloves just because my family likes them. The bread cut well and wasn’t crumbly. it was even better the next day. Thank you for the lovely recipe.I will make this one again.
Question…I already shredded my zucchini into 2 cup increments. Is that how much your recipe calls for roughly with 2 med zucchini? :)
This recipe is amazing the taste was spot on I did use all whole wheat flour for the entire recipe and it was perfect.
I’m so glad to hear that! I should try using all whole wheat flour next time, will make it even healthier. Thanks for letting me know! Hugs!
I tried your zucchini bread recipe this morning, and it was really delicious! I used 3/4 cup cane sugar and no honey and added 1 tsp vanilla to the wet ingredients. I found the batter to be a bit dry, so I ended up adding about 6 Tbsp milk to get it to a batter consistency. I put some foil over the top of the bread after baking for one hour to keep it from browning anymore and I cooked an additional 20 minutes. My husband and I enjoyed this very much! Thank you for sharing your recipe!
So glad you liked the recipe! Thanks for letting me know Kara. Hugs!
Hello Natalie,
Your zucchini bread recipe is so delicious. I love the texture of the bread. I couldn’t stop eating it. The zucchini bread is very moist and looked exactly like the picture. I have been looking for this type of zucchini bread for years. I followed your recipe to the letter but substituted the greek yogurt with almond milk yogurt, added 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract and substituted the granulated sugar and honey with 3/4 cup of packed dark brown sugar. Thank you for sharing your amazing recipe!
I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for letting me know Callie! And happy to hear this worked with almond milk yogurt. Big hugs!
If I store this in the fridge will it be safe to eat longer than 3 days ?
Yes! Or you can freeze it too for 6 months.
I”m a big ZB fan and have even entered mine in the State Fair. I”m going to try using coconut oil but love my own recipe using golden raisins, mincemeat and 3 tsp. of cinnamon. I had already reduced sugar, but will try even more and sub honey. Can’t wait for our Z crop to burst forth!
Oooh, entered in the State Fair? So fun! You’re going to love coconut oil. Gives it a little sweetness. Your version sounds good too. I’ve never had it with mincedmeat. Yum!
I made the zucchini muffin batter and found it dry too. I added some coconut milk, (unsweetened).until the wet and dry ingredients mixed and the batter was a nice consistency.
Hi Emily! Yes, the batter does look dry. That’s what gives it such a light and fluffy crumb. Other batters are really wet, and when they get baked are dense and heavy and thick. But if you like denser muffin, adding coconut milk is a great idea! Hope you enjoyed them : )
Just wondering if anyone have ever tried to make these as muffins or mini muffins? If so would you recommend or not? How long would you bake? Thanks.
Hi Lauren! I have used this exact recipe to make muffins, and I baked them for 30 minutes and they were perfect. It makes exactly 12 regular size muffins. I fill my muffin trays almost to the top, because I like big, dramatic muffin tops that spill over. Like you can get at a bakery. So be sure to spray the top of the muffin tray with non-stick spray so they don’t stick. I haven’t made these for mini muffins yet. But the recipe would work for that too! I would think bake them for 15 minutes? Check then, and see if a wooden skewer inserted has dry crumbs attached. If wet batter comes out, bake another 3ish minutes and check again. Hope you love them when you make them! They’re a favorite in my house. Can’t wait for summer when my garden is full of zucchini’s!
Hi! I’ve never made zucchini bread before but I want to for a family friend – she’s watching what she’s eating though, so I plugged in your ingredients to a foodtracker to see what the output is for the total loaf.I’m not sure how many slices you get out of a loaf, but here’s the output overall:
Calories: 2532
Carbohydrates: 381g
Total Sugars: 187g
Added Sugars:160g
Fiber: 26g
Protein: 59g (9% of kcals)
Fat: 98g (35% of kcals)
Cholesterol: 424mg
Sodium: 3262mg
Just so now you have a nutritional breakdown! Thanks for sharing your recipe :)
This is so great! Thanks for sharing Sarah!
Hi, can I use another Tye of oil instead of coconut and maple syrup instead of the honey? Also add Walnuts?
Sure! Zucchini breads are often made with vegetable oil, so you could use that if for some reason coconut oil doesn’t work for you. And yes, maple syrup, honey or coconut sugar are great substitutes for the sugar. And for adding nuts, I like using 1 cup of chopped walnuts. Hope you like it when you make it!
I made this recipe today with a leftover zucchini the size of a baseball bat lol and there’s still a lot left of it. I made everything the same but I was out of yogurt so used a homemade applesauce instead and added a handful of mini choc chips. Mmm just swallowed my first bite. Delicious!
Kelley! You’re so nice! I can’t thank you enough for take the time to tell me you liked my recipe. You just made my day! And those huge zucchini’s are perfect for this bread. Gotta use it up somehow! And great idea using applesauce instead of yogurt. I’m going to try that next time! Hugs to you friend!