Zucchini stays in the batter, juice and all
This is a plain, honey-sweetened quick bread with cinnamon and green flecks from zucchini skin. The recipe weighs the trimmed vegetable and keeps its juice, rather than asking you to squeeze out an unknown amount.
A slice is a tenth of the cooled loaf. Let the center settle before cutting; a very hot slice can look gummy even when the bake is otherwise ready.
Recipe
Honey Zucchini Bread
A honey-sweetened zucchini loaf with the grated vegetable and its juice retained, mild cinnamon and no frosting. Makes ten slices after cooling.
9Ingredients
Yield: 10 servings
- 225 g zucchini, ends trimmed and coarsely grated with skin
- 250 g all-purpose flour
- 10 g double-acting baking powder
- 3 g table salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (2.6 g)
- 1/2 cup clover honey (169.5 g)
- 72 g canola oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (4.2 g)
Ingredient amounts scale; instructions show the original batch. Cooking times and pan sizes may need adjustment. Season to taste. Honey grams use US measures at 20°C and 17.5% moisture, a density estimate; weigh your honey for precision.
Instructions
- 1Prepare the oven, pan and zucchiniHeat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with parchment. Wash the zucchini, remove the ends and weigh 225 g edible zucchini with its skin. Grate on the coarse holes of a box grater and retain all shreds and collected juice; do not drain or squeeze.
- 2Mix the dry ingredientsWhisk flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a bowl until evenly combined, breaking up any pockets of leavener.
- 3Whisk the wet ingredientsIn a second bowl, whisk honey, canola oil, eggs and vanilla until blended. Stir in all the measured grated zucchini and its juice.
- 4Fold and fillAdd the dry mixture to the wet mixture and fold just until no dry flour remains. Scrape into the lined pan and level the surface. Avoid prolonged beating after the flour goes in.
- 5Bake and check the centerBake for about 55–65 minutes, checking at 55 minutes. A skewer inserted into the center should come out without wet batter. If the top darkens before the middle is set, tent loosely with foil and continue checking.
- 6Cool before slicingCool in the pan for 10 minutes, then lift onto a rack and cool for about 50 minutes more. Cut into ten slices. The planning total allows 15 minutes preparation, 60 minutes baking and 60 minutes cooling; a loaf needing more baking or cooling takes longer.
Estimated nutrition per serving
226.68 calories · 8.47 g fat · 34.35 g carbohydrate · 4.17 g protein · 239.64 mg sodium
Serving: 1 of 10 equal portions
Calculated from ingredient weights and USDA FoodData Central: 169291, 168894, 172803, 173468, 171320, 169640, 172336, 171287, 173471. Estimates use ingredient input weights; actual portions, brands and cooking losses vary. Omitted nutrient values are unavailable, not zero.
Weigh before grating and keep the full amount
Choose a small or medium zucchini with tender skin. Wash it, trim the ends and weigh 225 g before grating. If using a very large zucchini with a fibrous center, remove that center before weighing the edible amount.
The formula uses the full grated vegetable and collected juice. Do not replace that with 225 g of already squeezed zucchini: it is a different water balance. Likewise, adding extra milk to loosen the batter changes this recipe.
Baking powder provides the leavening here. Whisk it through the flour, then fold the flour mixture into the wet ingredients briefly. Scrape the complete mixture into the pan.
Get the Honey Buyer's Cheat Sheet (free PDF)
16 varieties on one page — color, flavor, best use and what a fair price looks like — from the 304 honeys we track.
Choose the honey by flavor
Clover honey has a mild flavor, wildflower honey varies with its floral mix, and orange blossom honey brings citrus-floral aroma. Buckwheat honey has a stronger, malty flavor. The baking pairing guide offers more choices.
The chart uses an editorial 1–5 flavor-intensity scale for pairing. Individual jars vary with floral source and harvest.
1 = mild, 5 = bold. Editorial pairing guidance, not laboratory measurements; jars vary.
- Clover
- Mild cinnamon loaf
- Wildflower
- Floral zucchini bread
- Orange blossom
- Citrus-floral aroma
- Buckwheat
- A bolder spiced loaf
Cooling, variations and serving
The timing includes ten minutes in the pan and about fifty minutes on a rack. A center that is still very warm needs more cooling time. Use the parchment sling to lift the loaf without pulling it apart.
Serve plain, toast a slice lightly, or add a separate spread such as honey butter. Nuts, raisins, chocolate chips and frosting are not included in the base. If adding them, treat that as a variation with different nutrition and possibly a different bake time.
Honey banana bread uses mashed fruit; honey pumpkin bread uses puree. Their moisture and flour balances should not be swapped into this loaf by volume.
Store only after it has cooled
Let the loaf cool completely before wrapping so steam is not trapped against the crumb. Refrigerate it covered and use within about four days, or freeze individual slices for longer keeping.
Bring a slice toward room temperature or warm it gently before eating. Discard bread showing mold; cutting around a spot does not make the rest an appropriate serving.
Nutrition and source ingredients
One portion has an estimated 226.68 calories, 8.47 g fat, 0.9 g saturated fat, 34.35 g carbohydrate, 14.64 g sugars, 1.07 g fiber, 4.17 g protein and 239.64 mg sodium.
All 225 g trimmed skin-on zucchini and its collected juice are included. The calculation makes no squeezing or draining deduction. Divide the complete loaf into ten portions; spreads, nuts and other variation additions are extra.
These values sum the USDA reference ingredients and divide them by the stated portions. They are estimates, not laboratory measurements of the finished bread. Baking changes water content; no guessed cooking-loss or recovery factor has been applied.
- USDA FoodData Central 169291: Squash, summer, zucchini, includes skin, raw.
- USDA FoodData Central 168894: Wheat flour, white, all-purpose, enriched, bleached.
- USDA FoodData Central 172803: Leavening agents, baking powder, double-acting, sodium aluminum sulfate.
- USDA FoodData Central 173468: Salt, table.
- USDA FoodData Central 171320: Spices, cinnamon, ground.
- USDA FoodData Central 169640: Honey.
- USDA FoodData Central 172336: Oil, canola.
- USDA FoodData Central 171287: Egg, whole, raw, fresh.
- USDA FoodData Central 173471: Vanilla extract.
