A simple way to use up all that garden zucchini
Soft, cinnamony zucchini bread made with fresh garden zucchini.
If you grow zucchini, you already know how this goes. One minute you’re waiting impatiently for the first one to grow, and the next you’re standing in your kitchen wondering what exactly you’re supposed to do with all of it.
I had a few zucchini from the garden that needed to be used, and zucchini bread seemed like the obvious answer.
And honestly, I think zucchini bread might be one of the best things to come out of growing way too much zucchini.
This recipe is gluten-free, really easy to make, and incredibly moist. You don’t need anything fancy, and you definitely don’t need to be good at baking. It’s basically grate, mix, pour, bake.
Which is exactly my kind of recipe.
Straight From the Garden
These were straight out of my garden, and as usual, I let a couple of them get a little bigger than I probably should have.
But that’s one of the reasons I love making zucchini bread. Those zucchini that hide under the leaves and suddenly become absolute monsters don’t have to go to waste.
They are perfect for shredding.
You don’t even have to peel them. I leave the skin right on, cut them into manageable pieces, and grate the whole thing.
Grate Your Zucchini
I used my grater to make this part faster, but a regular box grater works perfectly fine too.
You want about 2 cups of shredded zucchini for one loaf.
One important thing: don’t squeeze all of the moisture out of your zucchini. That moisture is part of what makes zucchini bread so soft. If your zucchini is absolutely dripping wet, you can lightly blot it, but there’s no need to wring it completely dry.
🌿 Gluten-Free Zucchini Bread
Soft, moist zucchini bread with cinnamon and fresh shredded zucchini. An easy way to use up zucchini straight from the garden.
Prep: 15 minutes
Bake: 50–60 minutes
Makes: 1 loaf
Ingredients
- 2 cups shredded zucchini
- 2 cups gluten-free 1-to-1 baking flour
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup oil
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- Optional: chocolate chips, walnuts, or pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease or line a loaf pan with parchment paper.
- Grate the zucchini. Don’t squeeze it completely dry; that moisture helps keep the bread soft.
- In a large bowl, mix the eggs, oil, brown sugar, and vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, combine the gluten free flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Fold in the shredded zucchini.
- Pour into the prepared loaf pan.
- Bake for 50–60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
- Cool in the pan for 10–15 minutes before removing.
Notes: Gluten-free flour blends can behave a little differently from one another, so start checking the loaf around 50 minutes.
A Good Problem to Have
One of my favorite parts of growing food is figuring out what to do with whatever the garden decides to give me.
Sometimes that means planning dinner around what’s ready to harvest.
Sometimes it means preserving things for later.
And sometimes it means realizing you have entirely too much zucchini and deciding that zucchini bread counts as a perfectly reasonable solution.
Because if my garden is going to keep producing zucchini, I’m going to keep turning it into bread.
Seems fair to me.
💚 Save This Recipe
If your zucchini plants are currently producing faster than you can eat them, save this recipe because there’s a very good chance you’re going to need it again.
And if you grow your own zucchini, I’d love to know what you make when you inevitably end up with way too much of it.