Banana Zucchini Bread Recipe

This Banana Zucchini Bread Recipe makes a yummy, moist bread, perfect for using up your excess garden bounty!

 

What do you do if you have a bounty of zucchini on your hands, but your kids tend to look askance at it?

You make this Banana Zucchini Bread!

In fact, this might become one of your family’s favorite quick breads! 

I can attest that my kids can’t stand the sight of zucchini, but they enjoy this bread! I didn’t plant any zucchini this year, but I think I will next year because of this bread.

Okay, let me show you how to make my easy zucchini banana bread recipe!

 

Here’s a video tutorial for you in case you learn better that way! The written tutorial is below!

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Ingredients:

Here’s everything you’ll need:

Wet Ingredients:

• 1 cup mashed brown bananas: 1 cup is about 3 medium bananas, but I recommend that you go ahead and measure out the mashed bananas for accuracy. You’re going to want to make sure to use overripe bananas here. Wait until your bananas are quite darkly speckled. The banana flavor will be more intense, and the final bread will be sweeter. 
• 1 cup shredded zucchini: I’ll discuss how to shred your fresh zucchini and whether or not you should squeeze out the excess liquid below. I’ve only used medium or small zucchini for this recipe, but I’m guessing a large zucchini would work as well. 
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup maple syrup: I like to use maple syrup for the sweetener, but feel free to substitute brown sugar if you prefer! White sugar should work as well, but won’t have as deep of a flavor. How much sugar or maple syrup you use will depend on how sweet you like your quick breads. 1/3 cup is about the right amount of sweetness for me, but you might want to bump it up to 2/3 or 3/4 cup of sweetener. If you’re using maple syrup, you may need to increase the baking time if you use the higher amount of sweetener.
• 1/4 cup sour cream: You can use yogurt instead of sour cream if that’s what you have on hand, but I do like the richness the sour cream lends to this bread.
• 6 tablespoons oil: You can use avocado oil or olive oil. I’m partial to the olive oil personally. You can also use melted butter or coconut oil instead. Keep in mind that the bread won’t be as soft once it’s cooled if you use butter. But if you eat it fresh, of course the butter gives it a wonderful flavor. I avoid canola oil, vegetable oil and other seed oils for health reasons. 
• 2 large eggs: I use pasture raised eggs. You don’t need to bring them to room temperature first. 
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract: Please use pure vanilla extract, NOT imitation vanilla flavor! 

Dry Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour: You could try to substitute up to half of the flour with white whole wheat flour (sometimes called whole wheat pastry flour), but the final bread won’t be as light.
• 2 teaspoons baking powder: I use homemade baking powder.
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda: I like the baking soda from Thrive Market.
• 1/2 teaspoon salt: I use unrefined sea salt, so if you use regular table salt, you may want to reduce the amount slightly.
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon: This is optional, but does lend a lovely bit of spice to the flavor profile.
• 1 cup chocolate chips or chopped nuts: This is also optional. You may need to increase the baking time a bit to account for the increase in volume of the batter. If you choose nuts, I highly recommend toasting them before adding to the batter to enhance their flavor.

How to Make Banana Zucchini Bread

Okay, let’s get into actually making this yummy bread!

Grating the Zucchini:

I like to use a box grater and grate the zucchini by hand. Zucchini is actually pretty soft and therefore easy to grate by hand. 

You could use a food processor if you prefer, but I really don’t find it necessary.

There’s no need to peel it first, BTW!

To Squeeze or Not to Squeeze?

Now the burning question is: Should you squeeze out the grated zucchini?

I made this recipe using squeezed and un-squeezed zucchini, and I found that it didn’t make much difference in the final texture.

So I personally don’t bother squeezing it out.

However, if you have extra zucchini that you’d like to freeze, I recommend squeezing out the excess liquid before putting it in a freezer safe bag.

I also recommend flattening the zucchini out in the zipper-top freezer bag before placing in the freezer.

I like to use the frozen zucchini in smoothies! It’s another great way to disguise zucchini. 😈

Mashing the Bananas:

I like to mash the bananas with a mini potato masher (it’s out of stock on Amazon right now, but hopefully it will be restocked!). But if you don’t own one you could use a hand mixer or a fork to mash it up. 

 

Mixing the Batter:

This is a really easy batter to mix up since it doesn’t require you to cut butter into flour or do any other fussy steps. 

Place the bananas, zucchini, maple syrup, sour cream, oil, eggs, and vanilla extract in a large or medium bowl.

Mix until very well combined. 

In a separate large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and chocolate chips or nuts if using.

Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and gently fold together just until combined and there are no more dry bits of flour.

Scrape the batter into a parchment lined 8.5 by 4.5 inch loaf pan (here’s the one I used). Make sure to watch the video tutorial to learn how to neatly line the pan!

Baking Time:

Bake the loaf in the center of an oven that’s preheated to 360 degrees Fahrenheit (182 Celsius) for 50-60 minutes,  or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Start checking around 45-50 minutes.

The cooking time will vary based on your oven, the size of your baking pan, and the material of your baking pan.

If you find that the loaf is browning too much before it’s done baking, you can always tent it with aluminum foil. 

When the loaf is done baking, transfer the pan to a wire rack. Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes.

Transfer the loaf onto the wire cooling rack, and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing.

Serving:

You can serve this bread as-is fresh from the oven, or you can spread it with some good quality grass-fed butter.

This would make a great afternoon snack!

Or you could put a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of caramel sauce on top to make this into a dessert. 

Storing:

Store any leftovers in a zip-top bag or airtight container in the refrigerator for about 5-7 days. 

You can reheat the zucchini bread in the toaster if you like the butter to melt!

You can freeze, well wrapped, for up to 3 months. 

So that’s my zucchini banana bread recipe! Make sure to check out my other quick bread recipes below:

More Delicious Quick Bread Recipes:

• Sourdough Banana Bread Recipe
• Seed Cake Recipe
• Maple Apple Pecan Bread
• Easy Cinnamon Bread
• Coconut Flour Pumpkin Bread