This simple zucchini bread recipe is super moist from the addition of sour cream and some extra warm and bright flavor from fresh orange zest and cloves. It’s a staple in the summer months when zucchini is plentiful, but wonderful at any time for a cozy snack! If you love zucchini bread, you might also love my popular Chocolate Zucchini Bread, or this Bundt Cake Version.
Ingredient Notes
You’ll see all the familiar players here: zucchini, flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, etc. It’s the additions that take this bread over the top.
- Spices – A touch of cinnamon and cloves give this bread rich, warm flavor.
- Sour Cream – Sour cream keeps this bread tender and moist. Full fat is best, but reduced fat will work. Avoid fat free.
- Orange Zest – Use fresh zest here (make sure to wash your orange first!), not dehydrated or freeze dried.
- Toasted Pecans – These are totally optional. If you like nuts in your sweet breads, go ahead and toss them in! I personally don’t like the texture they take on once baked, so I prefer to leave them out.
- Topping – This is where the good stuff is. Sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon create a sweet, crunchy crust on top of the zucchini bread that’s hard to beat.
How To Make Zucchini Bread
- Pre-heat oven and line loaf pans with parchment or grease and flour them.
- Place shredded zucchini in a fine mesh strainer over a bowl and set aside to allow and excess moisture to drip off.
- Combine flour, cinnamon, cloves, salt and baking soda in a bowl. Set aside. Combine your topping ingredients in another small bowl and set aside.
- Beat a couple of eggs with with some oil, sugar, brown, sugar, and vanilla. Then mix in sour cream and orange zest.
- Squeeze out any excess moisture from zucchini, then add it to the batter and mix in gently.
- Add dry ingredients.
- Divide the batter between your pans and sprinkle the topping mixture evenly over the tops. Bake until a knife comes out clean, and then allow your loaves to cool in the pans, on a cooling rack, for at least 10 minutes before trying to remove from the pan or it will come out in chunks!
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make this ahead of time? This bread is delicious as soon as it’s cool enough to eat, and perhaps even more delicious the next day! Feel free to make it ahead of time and store, covered, on the countertop until ready to serve.
Can I freeze this bread? Yes! Sweet breads freeze great. Allow your loaf to cool completely, then wrap tightly first in plastic wrap, then in foil. Label the foil with a sharpie, pop in a plastic zip top bag if desired, and transfer to the freezer where it can stay fresh for up to 3 months. A frozen loaf will take anywhere from 2-4 hours to fully thaw on the countertop, so keep that in mind when you are ready to take it out of the freezer.
Related Recipes
If you like this zucchini bread, you will LOVE this Chocolate Zucchini Bread. This Chocolate Zucchini Bundt Cake is another incredible option. Looking for some other sweet breads? Coconut Banana Bread with Lime Glaze and Chocolate Swirled Banana Bread are some other great choices.
Did You Make This?
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Zucchini Bread
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 2 loaves
Description
A sweet, moist quick bread using fresh zucchini and orange zest.
Ingredients
BREAD
2 1/4 C flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup canola oil
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
zest from one large orange
1/2 cup sour cream
3 cups grated zucchini
optional: 2/3 cups chopped pecans, toasted
TOPPING
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 2 smaller (8×4) loaf pans and set aside. Or you can do a larger 9×5 loaf pan and a couple of mini loaves.
Place shredded zucchini in a fine mesh strainer over a bowl and set aside.
Combine flour, cinnamon, cloves, salt, and baking soda in a bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.
Beat eggs, oil, sugars, and vanilla for about 30 seconds. Add sour cream and orange zest and beat to combine. Very gently press down on zucchini in strainer and discard extra liquid. Mix zucchini into batter.
Add dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Divide batter between 2 pans. Sprinkle topping evenly over tops. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.
Make sure to let your loaf rest on a cooling rack for at least 10 minutes before you try to remove it from the pan or it will come out in chunks!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
Questions & Reviews
I am wondering how this would be with Agave instead of sugar and substituting flax meal for some of the flour?
Have you tried this with whole wheat flour? I have a ton, and would like to use it up….
I bet it would be fine with 1/2 whole wheat, but you’d have to try it.
So glad I found this recipe. I used both zucchini and yellow squash in this from my garden and it turned out absolutely delicious. This is a great recipe!
Any chance this could be made gluten-free? If so, do you think I could simply replace the regular flour with a GF all purpose flour? I am also looking for a GREAT zucchini bread recipe and have yet to find one that fits the bill. This one sounds AMAZING!
Could I use whole wheat flour? What would I need to change?
I love zucchini bread. My kids love it too. I’m trying to get them to eat vegetables more. This bread is delicious as well as a little bit healthy with the zucchini. My kids hate zucchini lasagna, but love zucchini bread
I have made this bread twice and i LOVE IT!!!!Thank you! One question though with the coming holidays… do you think i could freeze it before i would bake it?
I wouldn’t–I’d just wrap it tightly and freeze it after baking it.
Hope that helps!
Yummy! I used Greek Yogurt instead of sour cream and all spice instead of ground cloves..*I didn’t have any ground cloves. Wow, this is super delish!
Used this recipe last night–yummy! I’ve made zucchini bread over the years and have never been 100% satisfied with other recipes. Other recipes I’ve tried are too greasy, too soggy, too dry, little flavor, but yours is definitely a keeper–thank you! I do have a question, with one batch I left the orange zest out and added chocolate chips. However I noticed the chocolate chips sank to the bottom–how do I prevent this? I thought of using mini choc. chips but that doesn’t give me enough of the choc. flavor I want. Any suggestions? (ps love your website!)
Just toss the chips with a little of the flour first and that will help suspend them in the batter.
This looks so great! I’ve been on the hunt for a zucchini bread recipe. One question: I’ve seen a couple other recipes that say to squeeze out the moisture from the zucchini after it has been grated. Should I do that or no? I didn’t see any indication in your recipe to do so and wanted to be sure. I can’t wait to use the extra zucchini I have for this! 🙂
Nope, no need. Just toss it all in there.
I just made this yesterday and it turned out great! So moist and flavorful, perfect sweetness (I did cut the granulated sugar by 1/4 cup though and didn’t put the topping on). I loved the spiced flavor that the cloves lent to this bread. I couldn’t quite detect the orange zest flavor but I did use a small/medium sized orange because I didn’t have a large one, so I’ll use more next time. I love how this recipe uses sour cream to sub for some of the oil and add to the moisture. I also used light sour cream to reduce the fat content even more. Mine ended up yielding one 9×5 loaf bread and 10 standard sized muffins. I had to dramatically reduce the baking time on the bread though. I had it in for 33 minutes total, but had to cover it for the last five minutes or so because the sides were done but not the center. The muffins were done after 15 minutes though. I would definitely make this recipe again! I’ve been searching for a good zucchini bread recipe and this is definitely it! Thanks so much!
Thanks! Just what I needed today.
I was a bit short on zucchini, so I popped in a ripe banana. It went over really well with the kids. (And so did the sugary top!)
My muffins needed 20 minutes. My small loaves needed 40.
Ladies,I have been looking for a delicious zucchini bread recipe since the dawn of the Cretaceous!! I’m always tweaking recipes–rarely do I ever follow a recipe the same way twice. But after making this, I could NOT find anything to change about it. Not a DARN THING! Perfect the way it is. I’ve also used this batter in paper-lined muffin cups–sprinkle about 1 tsp. topping only on each one, and reduce time to about 15 minutes. THANK YOU!!!!!!! (Tip: I line the bottom of my bread pan with a rectangle of parchment paper for easy removal.)
Waiting for this to come out of the oven and it smells GOOD. The print only version of the recipe does not specify when to put on the topping but the web version does. I have zucchini coming out my ears. Chocolate version is up next…
I totally loved this and so did my husband! It’s just the two of us though, what is the best way to store the extra loaf?
I’m glad you liked it Emee! If it’s wrapped up well, you can pop it in your freezer. Otherwise, just put it in an airtight container so it doesn’t dry out.
you're not an idiot! Apparently I am for not specifying! You put it on before, so you're all good!
okay maybe I am an idiot but do you put the topping on before you bake it or after. It does not say and I jsut made them and realized I probably needed to put the topping on before I baked it. Ahh. It smells so good and the batter tasted awesome some I am really excited to eat it. Thanks again for helping my family add on the pounds and be happy. Just kidding.
Just pulled these out of the oven a few minutes ago (I did the muffins). Just had a taste, and YUM!!!!! They're for a mom's brunch tomorrow morning. Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for the info! I'm hoping my son will eat a muffin for lunch at school. He's been very picky lately, his lunches have gone uneaten, and I figure this is a way to get at least one veggie in him. I just hope I can leave them alone long enough for him to try one …
Muffins work great. Cook at the same temp, just watch the time. I made the chocolate zucchini bread recipe into muffins last night and I think it took about 12 minutes- but that's just an estimate, so keep an eye on them! I also used papers. It makes a whole bunch too- so plenty for eating and sharing!
Hello, I love this site and have found quite a few keeper recipes, and can't wait to try others. I do have one question about this: If I want to make muffins, do I need to adjust the cooking time and/or temp? If so, what would the new info be? Thanks!
Looks beautiful! I loved the chocolate zucchini bread, so I'm sure I will love this, as well!
oooh, I love Kate's idea of peach dumplings!
Beth, I've read of people making the apple dumplings with peaches and having FANTABULOUS results! That's the only thing I can think of off the top of my head, besides peach jam and peach pie and peach ice cream…yum.
Thanks Sara, I will have to give this one a try. I did make the chocolate version without the chocolate and my family liked it. Also, do you have any good peach recipes? I have tons to use.
I'm hungry–I want a slice now. Thanks for sharing another yummy recipe.
I made your yummy chocolate version and was thinking about adapting it without chocolate. Glad to know it was great!
i looooove zucchini bread! and making it chocolate is even better.
I love how you only have 1/2 cup of oil in the recipe and 3 cups of zucchini, so many recipes call for a cup of oil and 2 cups of zucchini. I'm making this to take to our church picnic tomorrow! Thanks for the recipe.
I love zucchini bread. I never get sick of it!