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My lightly sweet gluten free zucchini bread recipe is made with tons of shredded zucchini and oil instead of butter for the most tender crumb that stays fresh for days, even when chilled.
The secret to bread that comes out with the right texture every time is squeezing the extra moisture out of shredded zucchini, then measuring the right amount. No more spongy bread because your vegetables were too big!
“We’ve made more loaves of this zucchini bread than I can count. Friends and family delight in the rich, moist treat. So yummy!”
Why this recipe works
This bread is full of flavor, never mushy, and browns beautifully in the oven.
The secret is in the preparation. Use whatever zucchini or squash you have, since it will always have the same amount of moisture as mine after you get rid of the excess liquid.
Plus, we puree some of the zucchini with oil and eggs. That traps enough moisture in an emulsion to create a tender crumb that still has tons of flavor.
Recipe ingredients
- Gluten free flour blend – Any high quality gluten free flour blend with finely ground rice flour should work here. Be sure to add xanthan gum if your blend doesn't contain it. My favorite blends are Better Batter's original all purpose blend and Nicole's Best with added xanthan gum. If you're using Bob's Red Mill, even though it already has gum, it doesn't have enough so try adding an extra 1/4 teaspoon.
- Salt – balances out and complements all the other ingredients
- Baking powder – adds rise for a light crumb
- Baking soda – helps browning in the oven
- Cinnamon – adds a lovely, warm spicy but subtle taste to your bread; optional
- Chocolate chips – adds rich chocolate flavor to every bite, plus some more sweetness
- Sugars – add sweetness, tenderness, and depth of flavor from the molasses in the brown sugar
- Oil – We use a neutral oil (options include canola, vegetable, grapeseed, peanut, safflower, peanut, or avocado oil) to blend with some of the zucchini to create an emulsion that adds tons of moisture and tenderizes the bread
- Zucchini – after being squeezed of excess water, it adds the right amount of moisture so the bread stays tender but bakes fully
- Eggs – add structure and bind the bread together and help it hold its shape as it cools
- Vanilla – adds depth of flavor
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
Try two “chia eggs” (2 tablespoons ground white chia seeds + 2 to 3 tablespoons lukewarm water, mixed and allowed to gel). A “flax egg” might also work, but tends to add unwelcome flavor.
Step by step instructions
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. We'll walk through the steps here, but please scroll down to the recipe card for exact ingredient amounts:
Prepare the zucchini
Grate the zucchini on a standard size box grater or in a food processor fitted with the shredder blade. Wrap it in a tea towel or paper towels and wring out as much moisture as possible. This is how we standardize the amount of liquid in your zucchini
Combine dry ingredients
Whisk all the dry ingredients (gluten free flour blend including xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, if using, and sugars) in a large mixing bowl so there are no unwanted pockets of leavening.
Coat the chips
Toss the chocolate chips in a bit of the dry ingredients and set them aside to add later. This helps keep the chips from sinking to the bottom of the bread during baking.
Add half the zucchini
Mix half of the shredded and drained zucchini into the dry ingredients. This keeps the zucchini from making the bread too green overall, adds some green flecks to the baked bread, and allows the zucchini to release some moisture during baking to keep the bread moist.
Blend the wet ingredients
Blend the rest of the zucchini with the eggs, oil, and vanilla to create an emulsion. This ensures full distribution throughout the bread of the fat in the egg yolks and oil for a moist, even crumb.
Add wet to dry
Pour the pureed wet ingredients into the bowl of combined dry ingredients. This makes it easy to create a uniform mixture. Don't worry about overmixing the batter here, though, since there's no gluten to overwork which could result in a tough texture.
Finish the batter
Mix the wet and dry ingredients until you have a smooth, uniform batter. It will be very soft and thickly pourable, but shouldn't be runny. Add in most of the chocolate chips with the reserved dry ingredients, then mix until they're evenly distributed throughout the batter. The few reserved chips will go on top for a pretty presentation.
Transfer the raw batter
Scrape the final batter into a greased loaf pan that you've lined with parchment, which will help the bread bake evenly and make it easy to lift it out of the pan. Since the batter is soft, it's easy to spread into a smooth layer for even baking.
Top with chips
Scatter the remaining chips across the top of the loaf. They'll hold their shape best after baking and ensure that every bite has some chocolate.
Bake and cool
Bake at 325°F until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean. Allow it to cool briefly in the pan so the bread is stable enough to move without cracking. Lift the bread carefully by the overhung parchment paper to transfer it to a wire rack to cool completely.
Expert tips
Prep zucchini properly
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, and squeezing it until no more liquid drains.
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 ingredients accurately
Measure your dry ingredients 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.
Storage instructions
Short term
Wrap the bread (or slices) plastic wrap and a zip-top bag and the bread should last about 3 days on the counter.
Longer term
Wrap leftovers 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.
Prep ahead
Grate and drain fresh zucchini, and freeze it to use another time. Just let it defrost at room temperature, gently squeeze out any remaining moisture you didn't remove the first time, and then proceed with the recipe as written.
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
My favorite gluten free flour blends are Better Batter's original blend gluten free flour and Nicole's Best multipurpose blend. Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten Free Baking Flour should work if you add 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum. Cup4Cup changed its formula and doesn't seem to work as well as it has in the past, so I don't recommend it. To make your own blend using one of my “mock” recipes, please see the all purpose gluten free flour blends page.
Grate at least one large or two smaller zucchini. Placing it in in the center of a tea towel (just a kitchen towel with a flat weave that doesn't shed), wrap the cloth tightly, and squeeze until there's almost no liquid left. The shredded and drained zucchini will clump and not feel wet, only damp, to the touch. Now, measure it on your digital kitchen scale. Grate and drain more zucchini as necessary to reach the proper amount of zucchini for this recipe. If you have any left over, freeze it in a freezer-safe bag or other container and defrost as needed.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
FAQs
No! The taste of zucchini does not come through at all, even though you can see the green flecks of the vegetable that wasn't pureed.
Yes. Feel free to add walnuts, raisins, shredded coconut, and other dry mix-ins in place of the chocolate chips, by weight.
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.
If your bread sank in the middle as it cooled, it wasn't baked all the way through. If your oven runs hot, the outside will bake too quickly and the inside will remain raw. 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 gummy texture.
Thank you Nicole. I’m struggling with the diagnosis. I ended in ICU before they figured out what was wrong. I am a ER nurse and we are fixers. That I can’t fix myself is frustrating. But I’m pulling up my bootstraps and taking control where I can. My past with gluten free products was well…YUCK. But I have picked out several of your recipes to try. My family is on board and will to even go gluten free with me. I am lucky and blessed and sometimes need to be reminded. That you go to so much trouble and work to bring these recipes …I can’t say enough. I am a Texan and remember my grandmother saying that no one should ever leave your house hungry. Not family, friend or even enemy for that is a true shame on you. I hope to still never have that shame. Only now they might not get what they think lol. Again thank you for your work. Food is blessing and should be enjoyed!
Newly diagnosed with celiac and lupus. Made this tonight and it was great! Family even enjoyed and didn’t know it was gluten free. I am so glad for this site. Makes me feel like this new food lifestyle might not be so bad.
I’m so glad you found me, and that you already made this recipe and that it gave you some hope of normalcy. That’s what we’re all about here—bringing back what’s familiar, so you don’t have to miss a beat. :)
How many plants did Brian H. plant this year?
Good question, Donia! You know, I’m not 100% sure. I think it might even be 3 or 4!! Too too many, for sure. :)
I have a bunch of zucchini in the fridge, so I think I will try this today. I like that you eliminated the banana. I like my banana bread and zucchini bread as separate (but equally delicious) entities. Thanks!
Me too, Michelle. It seemed like the right thing to do. :)
yum!
Made this tonight, and it was AMAZING!!! I don’t have a scale, so I used 1 cup of chocolate chips. Not sure how that compares to what I was *supposed* to have used, but for the previous poster who wanted it more “chocolately”, I thought it was a pretty strong chocolate flavor! YUM!!! Sent some home with our babysitter so I wouldn’t eat a whole loaf!! Other loaf is going with us to a playgroup tomorrow ;)
Very generous of you, Gabrielle, all that sharing! Good thing the recipe makes 2. :)
xoxo Nicole
Hi again! Made this as soon as I saw you posted it:) Everyone loved it, big time. I make everything gluten free for me, and then just share with my whole extended family. Sure haven’t had any complaints about your recipes yet. Can’t wait for more from the new book.
Thanks, Kristy, for letting me know how it turned out. So glad!
xoxo Nicole
Ah, finally, a way to get my daughter to eat something green – throw some chocolate chips in there, brilliant! Will try soon, maybe after hitting the farmer’s market this week. Personally, I’d like to be Zuked since I live in a Brooklyn apartment and have no place to garden. Any extra zucchinis are welcome my way!
Don’t tempt people, Dana! People like me. No community garden down there in Brooklyn? I don’t even think zucchini has much nutritional value, to be honest. It’s all water! I guess I could in fact look that one up, especially since my kids ask me about that all the time allthetime.
xoxo Nicole
I bet this would taste amazing with a smear of cream cheese on top! Definitely bookmarking this recipe to use in the near future. I love the addition of the chocolate chips instead of the more traditional walnuts! More chocolate= more better :)
Oh, yes, Kowa. Everything is good with a schmear! And more chocolate is more better, no doubt.
xoxo Nicole
So, could I use your mock Better Batter flour mixture here? Or would you suggest another GF flour mix here?
Can’t wait to make this!!
Of course, Dana. That definitely qualifies as a “high-quality all-purpose gluten-free flour.”
xoxo Nicole