Oil Free Healthy Zucchini Bread
Oh my goodness guys. This Healthy Oil Free Zucchini is the best. thing. ever. I mean look at those gorgeous green speckles of zucchini sprinkled throughout the bread and those beautiful creases drawn out across the top of the loaf.
I am in L O V E.
Are you a zucchini bread fan? I know some people simply don’t get the idea of vegetables in baked goods. If you are a skeptic you’ve gotta give this Healthy Zucchini Bread a chance. The zucchini is completely undetectable in the final result. The zucchini adds such moisture to this bread and the result is a super soft, moist, perfectly spiced bread with hints of cinnamon, nutmeg and dark brown sugar.
I’ve been on the hunt for an awesome zucchini bread for awhile. A lot of the oil-free recipes I’ve been experimenting with and testing so far leave a lot to be desired leaving me less than content with a chewy bread on my hands OR a gloopy mess with a bread that won’t even cook from all the liquid in the zucchini. I have had SO many zucchini bread fails in my kitchen coming up with this recipe to the point where I scratched zucchini bread off my list for a good few months until coming back to the drawing board.
AND guys I am SO glad I came back to recipe testing zucchini bread because this soft and scrumptious Healthy Oil Free Zucchini Bread is something else. Soft, moist, sweet, perfectly spiced and tastes kind of amazing as a mid-afternoon snack slightly warmed up slathered in almond butter or homemade cream cheese frosting. YUM.
A few tips from my Kitchen to get the perfect moist + soft vegan Zucchini Bread:
Grate the zucchini on the small grater: The big grater leaves zucchini chunks in the bread (not what we want!) and the super teeny tiny side just ends up grating the zucchini into a watery mess. The small side of the grater grates the zucchini into just what we want for the ultimate moist healthy zucchini bread! (see picture)
Pack the zucchini and drain it off a bit: Now don’t go draining off all the liquid from the grated zucchini but you will want to drain a bit to avoid a swampy mess of a zucchini bread that won’t even cook because there is too much liquid in it. #Fail
My trick to doing this is grate your zucchini and pack it into the “1 cup” measuring cup. This should be the amount you get from one normal sized medium zucchini – packed. Pack the zucchini down with your hand and drain off the excess liquid that comes up when you pack it down.
*Note: I know a lot of recipes swear by leaving in all the liquid from the zucchini but as I’ve said I have never any had luck going this route. Do not squeeze out all the liquid either or else you will get a super dry bread. Some liquid is good to get a moist bread but too much liquid will basically cause a zucchini bread disaster.
Use dark brown cane sugar: Dark brown sugar is basically regular cane sugar spiked with molasses which makes this bread SO darn soft. Dark brown sugar adds a ton of rich and deep undertones to this bread.
Lemon Juice: Helps this healthy zucchini bread fluff right up and rise in the oven. Plus lemon in all baking = win.
Oil Free Healthy Zucchini Bread
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 mins
- Yield: 11 slices 1x
Description
This Oil-Free Healthy Zucchini Bread is soft, moist and speckled with delicious green zucchini. Tastes even better the next day once the flavors have had time to “mingle” in the bread.
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups light spelt flour
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg
Wet Ingredients
- 2 flax eggs (2 tbsp ground flax seed + 6 tbsp water)
- 1/2 cup applesauce
- 1/2 cup dark brown cane sugar, medium packed*
- 1/4 cup cane sugar*
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 cup shredded zucchini (from 1 medium size zucchini) *see notes
- 3/4 cup chocolate chips or walnuts (optional)
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350F/180C. Grease a loaf pan with coconut oil or non-stick cooking spray OR line with parchment paper for an oil free option.
- Mix the ground flax seed with the water in a large mixing bowl. Stir and leave it to thicken while preparing the dry ingredients.
- In a medium size bowl, mix together the spelt flour, sea salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir together until the spices are evenly distributed throughout the flour.
- Grate the zucchini (see notes for how to grate, measure and drain the zucchini – very important!). The flax “eggs” should be thickened by now. Add the applesauce, dark brown cane sugar, cane sugar, vanilla extract, lemon juice and grated zucchini to the flax “eggs”. Whisk together. Stir in the chocolate chips or nuts (optional).
- Slowly add and fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until they are combined. *Do not over-mix*.
- Pour the zucchini bread batter into the loaf pan. Bake for 37 – 45 minutes. The amount of time your zucchini bread takes to bake will depend on your oven and pan – mine took 42 minutes. Your bread is ready when the top is golden and an inserted toothpick comes out clear. Leave to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack. Leave the bread to cool before slicing into it. Enjoy!
Notes
1) An important step in making this bread is how you prepare the zucchini. Grate the zucchini on the small side of the grater (not the super tiny, just the small side). Pack 1 cup of the grated zucchini into the measuring cup and drain off the excess liquid. Do not drain off all the liquid just the excess that pours out of the cup as your pack it into the cup.
2) Replace light spelt flour with white whole wheat or all purpose flour.
3) If you don’t have dark brown cane sugar on hand, replace with regular cane sugar and add 1 tsp of molasses.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American
If you try this Healthy Vegan Zucchini Bread, I LOVE seeing your amazing #CearasKitchen creations. Share your photos with me on Instagram @CearasKitchen (and remember to tag #CearasKitchen so I don’t miss it!) or share it on my Ceara’s Kitchen Facebook page. Happy Baking!
