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This lightly sweet gluten free zucchini bread is made with tons of shredded zucchini and oil instead of butter for the most tender crumb that stays fresh for days. And I've got a trick for making sure every zucchini has the same amount of moisture.
I was famous for my zucchini bread long before going gluten free, fighting to keep up with summer's most pushy vegetable. I perfected this gluten free recipe to keep my reputation strong—and now you can be famous for it, too!
“We’ve made more loaves of this zucchini bread than I can count. Friends and family delight in the rich, moist treat. We like to toss a slice or two in the toaster oven to warm and gently crisp the bread, and eat it as it is, with peanut butter, ghee, or even extra chocolate chips. So yummy!”
My take
Nicole's Recipe Notes
We've all had baked goods made with zucchini and squash that just taste mushy and flavorless and just won't brown in the oven. That's because all zucchini have tons of moisture, and the bigger ones have even more.
The secret is in the preparation. Instead of insisting that you buy special vegetables that look just right and have the same amount of liquid as mine, we remove most of the moisture from the zucchini first. You can even shred it, wring it out in a towel long before baking with it.
We also puree some of the zucchini with oil and eggs. That traps enough moisture to create a tender crumb that still has tons of flavor.
If you have someone in your family that hates vegetables, sneak some in with this lightly sweet, moist and tender zucchini bread. You can't taste the actual zucchini at all, but it's still in there! And since it's made with oil, not butter, it's also naturally dairy free.
what's in it
Recipe ingredients
- All purpose gluten free flour blend – Be sure to use one of my recommended flour blends, including xanthan gum so your bread holds together and stays fresh. You can't use a single ingredient flour like almond flour in this recipe.
- Salt – balances out and complements all the other ingredients
- Baking powder – adds rise
- Baking soda – helps browning in the oven
- Cinnamon – adds a lovely, warm spicy but subtle taste to your bread; optional
- Chocolate chips – optional, but adds some extra flavor
- Sugars – I use both granulated and light brown sugar to give this gf zucchini bread its sweetness, tenderness, and depth of flavor
- Oil – We use a neutral oil (options include canola, vegetable, grapeseed, peanut, safflower, peanut, or avocado oil) to blend with some of the grated, drained zucchini to create an emulsion that adds tons of moisture and tenderizes the bread
- Zucchini – remove as much moisture as possible or your bread will have an unintended bouncy texture and may not bake all the way through
- Eggs – these help provide lift and help bind it together so it slices cleanly
- Vanilla – adds depth of flavor
substitutions
Ingredient substitutions
Dairy free
Since the bread made with oil instead of butter, it's naturally dairy free. If you're dairy free, though, make sure your chocolate chips are, too.
Egg free
Since there are two eggs in this recipe, you may be able to successfully replace each of them with a “chia egg” (1 tablespoon ground white chia seeds + 1 tablespoon lukewarm water, mixed and allowed to gel). A “flax egg” might also work, but tends to add a truly unwelcome flavor.
How to make gluten free zucchini bread
This is a simple recipe that is mixed together beginning with dry ingredients, then adding wet ingredients. But the wet ingredients are prepared a bit differently. Let's walk through the recipe:
Prepare the zucchini
Grate the zucchini on a standard size box grater or in a food processor fitted with the shredder blade. Then, wring out as much moisture as possible.
Whisk dry ingredients, blend wet
Place all the dry ingredients (gluten free flour blend including xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, salt, the optional ground cinnamon, and the sugars) in a large mixing bowl, and mix well.
Toss the chocolate chips in a bit of the dry ingredients and set them aside. Add half the zucchini to the dry ingredients and mix throughout.
Blend the rest of the zucchini with the eggs, oil, and vanilla, and mix the puree into the dry ingredients.
Transfer the raw batter to a loaf pan and bake
Mix in the chocolate chips and transfer the raw zucchini bread batter to a greased loaf pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean, maybe with a few moist crumbs attached. Allow it to cool for a bit in the pan and then transfer the bread to a wire rack to cool completely.
My Pro Tip
Expert tips
Zucchini prep
Zucchini and other summer squash naturally have a ton of moisture, and they grow so quickly (and harvesting the vegetables makes the plant produce even more!).
You can drain the grated zucchini by placing it in in the center of a tea towel (just a kitchen towel with a flat weave that doesn't shed) or an old clean t-shirt. Just wrap the cloth around the grated vegetable, and squeeze until the liquid is all gone.
A strong mesh bag called a nut milk bag also works great. This is my favorite nut milk bag because it's strong and durable.
Measure by weight whenever possible
For consistent results, measure by weight with a simple digital kitchen scale whenever possible, and ignore the volume measurements. And be sure to measure the shredded zucchini after you've drained it, not before.
Really wring out that zucchini
If it's too moist, the bread will collapse as it cools and turn out gooey inside with no browned edges. You may be able to save it by baking longer, but there may just be too much water to bake off before the loaf burns.
Gluten Free Zucchini Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups (210 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend, (See Recipe Notes)
- ½ teaspoon xanthan gum, omit if your blend already contains it
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, (optional)
- ⅔ cup (4 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips, (dairy free, if necessary)(can omit or replace with chopped nuts)
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (109 g) packed light brown sugar
- 2 ⅛ cups (215 g) drained grated zucchini, (weight is zucchini as drained of liquid; See Recipe Notes)
- 2 (100 g (weighed out of shell)) eggs, at room temperature
- ¼ cup (56 g) neutral oil, (like grapeseed, canola or vegetable oil)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 325°F. Grease a standard 9-inch x 5-inch loaf pan and set it aside.
- In a large bowl, place flour, xanthan gum, salt, baking soda, baking powder and optional cinnamon, and whisk to combine well.
- Place the chocolate chips in a small bowl, add about 1 teaspoon of the dry ingredients to the chips and toss to combine. Set the chips aside.
- To the flour mixture, add the granulated sugar and light brown sugar, and whisk to combine (working out any lumps in the brown sugar).
- Add 1 1/4 cups (125 g) of the grated zucchini to the dry ingredients, and mix gently to combine. Set aside the dry ingredients.
- Place the remaining 7/8 cup (88 g) of grated zucchini, the eggs, oil and vanilla in a blender, and pulse until well-blended and beginning to emulsify.
- Create a well in the center of the bowl of dry ingredients, and add the wet ingredient mixture. The batter will be very wet.
- Add about 1/2 cup of the chocolate chips and reserved dry ingredients to the batter and mix until the chips are evenly distributed throughout the batter.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan, and smooth the top with a wet spatula. Scatter the remaining chocolate chips on top and press down lightly to adhere.
- Place the loaf pan in the center of the preheated oven.
- Bake, rotating once, until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of each loaf comes out with a few moist crumbs attached (about 50 minutes).
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes in the loaf pan before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely before slicing and serving.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
make ahead/leftovers
Storage instructions
Wrap the bread (or slices) plastic wrap and a zip-top bag and the bread should last about 3 days on the counter.
For longer storage, wrap it tightly in freezer safe wrap and store in the freezer for about 3 months. Defrost at room temperature. To refresh, sprinkle lightly with lukewarm water and place in a 300°F toaster oven for about 5 minutes.
You can also prep the zucchini ahead of time. Just grate and drain extra zucchini and then freeze it to use another time. Just let it defrost, gently squeeze out any remaining moisture you didn't remove the first time, and then proceed with the recipe as written.
FAQs
No! If you're not a fan of veggies, you'll be thrilled to know that the taste of zucchini does not come through in this recipe for gluten free zucchini bread.
Instead, the zucchini adds a ton of moisture to the batter so that you end up with a bread so tender, it's almost like a dessert.
Yes. Feel free to add walnuts, raisins, shredded coconut, and other mix-ins to your zucchini bread. So as not to mess around too much with ingredient ratios, I suggest sticking with one cup or less of mix-ins.
You can use frozen grated zucchini—but only if you had removed most of its moisture before freezing it. Otherwise, frozen zucchini with all its moisture would become mushy as it defrosted.
I don't like this recipe as muffins, instead of a quick bread. Instead, use this recipe for gluten free zucchini muffins instead. It's perfect! And don't miss our superfood muffins, made with almond flour, grated zucchini, and grated carrots.
If your bread sank in the middle as it cooled, it wasn't baked all the way through. That may have been because your oven runs hot (most ovens do, including mine), which is why I always recommend baking with a standalone oven thermometer that you replace often. In addition, if you didn't wring enough moisture out of your zucchini, the extra moisture won't be able to bake all the way out, leaving you with a sunken middle and most likely a gummy texture.
We’ve made more loaves of this zucchini bread than I can count. Friends and family delight in the rich, moist treat. We like to toss a slice or two in the toaster oven to warm and gently crisp the bread, and eat it as it is, with peanut butter, ghee, or even extra chocolate chips. So yummy
So glad to hear that this is such a favorite, Sam! Thanks for sharing that.