You're going to love this old fashioned zucchini bread. Made with fresh zucchini and cinnamon, this classic zucchini bread is one recipe you'll keep handy for years to come.

Whether you have a garden full of fresh zucchini outside or just caught a few good sales at the grocery store, this is a summer favorite perfect for using up fresh zucchini.
This is the best old fashioned zucchini bread recipe. Made with simple ingredients and steps, this bread turns out well spiced, tender, and moist. Perfect for snacking.
For more zucchini bread recipes, be sure to check out my Snickerdoodle Zucchini Bread, Zucchini Bread Mini Loaves, and Amish Zucchini Bread.
Why This Recipe Works
- Simple ingredients. One of the best reasons to make this old fashioned zucchini bread recipe is that it uses basic ingredients to make a delicious slice of bread. You may find most of the ingredients needed in your pantry right now.
- Easy to follow steps. We don't need any fancy ingredients or steps to make this bread. A cheese grater, a mixing bowl, a whisk, and loaf pans are pretty much it!
- Perfect for garden zucchini. One of the easiest things to grow in abundance is your own backyard zucchini. With this recipe, you can easily turn them into something tasty. Now you'll want to grow zucchini every year.
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🥘 Ingredients
Zucchini- To get the bread batter consistency just right, you'll need zucchini that has been shredded on a cheese grater. You do not need to peel the zucchini first as the green skin will be soft and add nice color to the bread.
Flour- The gluten structure and base of this recipe is all-purpose flour.
Leavening agents- To help the bread rise up nicely, you'll need to use a combination of baking soda and baking powder.
Salt- This is a natural flavor enhancer.
Cinnamon- Adding ground cinnamon to this bread is what gives it such a wonderful spice and warm flavor.
Eggs- These are the binding agents used to hold the bread together.
Vegetable oil- For added fats, use vegetable oil. This will keep the bread soft, moist, and tender in texture.
Vanilla- Another flavor enhancer.
Sugar- You will need granulated sugar to make the bread sweet and tender. Sugar helps to give the bread a softer crumb.
For specific quantities, see the recipe card below.
🍽 Equipment Needed
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🔪 Instructions
Check out how to make Old Fashioned Zucchini Bread with these simple step-by-step instructions:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Shred your zucchini and place it onto a paper towel to allow some of the moisture to be absorbed. Set aside.
Grease your 9x5 bread loaf pan and set it aside.
Add the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon to a large mixing bowl.
Whisk well to combine. Set aside.
In another large mixing bowl, add the eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, and sugar.
Whisk well until combined.
Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ones until no flour streaks remain.
The batter will be very thick at this point.
Add in the shredded zucchini.
Stir until the zucchini is well distributed. You will notice that the batter doesn't seem as thick anymore, thanks to the moisture in the zucchini.
Add the batter to your prepared bread loaf pan.
Bake at 325 degrees F for 80-90 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted into the center and come out clean.
Let cool for about 20 minutes in the pan before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.
Slice, serve, and enjoy!
🧾 Substitutions
Vegetable oil. You can use melted (cooled) butter in place of the vegetable oil, but the bread will be a little denser as a result.
Mini Loaves Instructions
Prepare the bread batter as directed and portion it out into 5 mini loaf pans. Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted and come out clean.
🍴 Recipe Tips
Fun tip, since not every zucchini is exactly the same size as another, if you need to, you can increase the zucchini amount to 3 cups of shredded zucchini instead of just 2.
You may notice that every time you make the recipe that the baking time may vary slightly. This is because the moisture in zucchini is not consistent with every zucchini.
Zucchini holds a lot of water and once baked, the heat helps to release the water. Underbaked loaves of zucchini bread will sink in the middle as a result. While the timer may have gone off, using a toothpick to check the center is the best way to determine if the loaf has fully baked. If there's dough on the toothpick, extend the cooking time by 5 minutes and try again.
👩🏻🍳 Storage
The Zucchini bread recipe can be frozen, and this recipe is perfect for making a loaf for now or later. Wrap or cover your cooled loaf in plastic wrap well and then place it in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Thaw it on the counter and enjoy your bread once it becomes soft again. If properly stored in an airtight container, zucchini bread can last up to 5 days at room temperature.
💭 FAQs
You do not need to peel the zucchini for your zucchini bead. This is because the skin of zucchini is soft enough that it's virtually unnoticeable in texture once shredded and baked in the batter.
This depends upon the zucchini used. Regular green zucchini usually contain soft small seeds that are fine when left alone, while large gray zucchini have thicker larger seeds that should be removed. Sometimes you may get a regular zucchini with firmer or larger seeds, in which case they should be removed.
You will need roughly 1 large or 2 medium sized zucchini to get 2 cups worth of shredded zucchini from them.
More great quick bread recipes to check out soon
📖 Recipe
Old Fashioned Zucchini Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups Zucchini, shredded (about 2 medium) ($1.62)
- 2 cups All-purpose flour ($0.24)
- 1 teaspoon Baking soda ($0.01)
- ¼ teaspoon Baking Powder ($0.01)
- 1 teaspoon Salt ($0.01)
- 2 teaspoons Ground cinnamon ($0.20)
- 3 large Eggs ($0.24)
- 1 cup Vegetable oil ($0.48)
- 1 Tablespoon Vanilla extract ($0.04)
- 1 ½ cups Granulated sugar ($0.33)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
- Shred your zucchini and place it onto a paper towel to allow some of the moisture to be absorbed. Set aside.
- Grease your 9x5 bread loaf pan and set it aside.
- Add the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon to a large mixing bowl.
- Whisk well to combine. Set aside.
- In another large mixing bowl, add the eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, and sugar.
- Whisk well until combined.
- Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ones until no flour streaks remain.
- The batter will be very thick at this point.
- Add in the shredded zucchini.
- Stir until the zucchini is well distributed. You will notice that the batter doesn't seem as thick anymore, thanks to the moisture in the zucchini.
- Add the batter to your prepared bread loaf pan.
- Bake at 325 degrees F for 80-90 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted into the center and come out clean.
- Let cool for about 20 minutes in the pan before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.
- Slice, serve, and enjoy!
Notes
Substitutions
- Vegetable oil. You can use melted (cooled) butter in place of the vegetable oil, but the bread will be a little denser as a result.
Mini Loaves Instructions
- Prepare the bread batter as directed and portion it out into 5 mini loaf pans. Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted and come out clean.
Recipe Tips
- Fun tip, since not every zucchini is exactly the same size as another, if you need to, you can increase the zucchini amount to 3 cups of shredded zucchini instead of just 2.
- You may notice that every time you make the recipe that the baking time may vary slightly. This is because the moisture in zucchini is not consistent with every zucchini.
- Zucchini holds a lot of water and once baked, the heat helps to release the water. Underbaked loaves of zucchini bread will sink in the middle as a result. While the timer may have gone off, using a toothpick to check the center is the best way to determine if the loaf has fully baked. If there's dough on the toothpick, extend the cooking time by 5 minutes and try again.
Storage
- The Zucchini bread recipe can be frozen, and this recipe is perfect for making a loaf for now or later. Wrap or cover your cooled loaf in plastic wrap well and then place it in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Thaw it on the counter and enjoy your bread once it becomes soft again. If properly stored in an airtight container, zucchini bread can last up to 5 days at room temperature.
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