I currently have a lot of zucchini in my garden. I am picking more than we can eat. Zucchini is one of those things that is cheap to plant and you always get more than you need. It is a very frugal thing to grow in your garden.
Zucchini is nice right now, but in another few weeks my family will be begging me to stop serving zucchini. So, I have to be creative when serving it.
Zucchini bread though is a favorite in our house. I like to make up large batches of the bread and freeze it for use later.
I have tried several zucchini bread recipes over the years. I tried this one several years ago and it was so good that I have not tried another one since. It is my favorite zucchini bread recipe.
There are several things that are different about it that make it so good. First it has yogurt in it. I have found that my favorite quick breads contain either yogurt or sour cream. They just help give it a really good texture.
The other trick that makes this recipe really good is that you drain the zucchini. Zucchini is really moist. If you are not careful the amount of liquid in zucchini will ruin a recipe. So don’t skip the draining step.
One more thing that I do is grate this on the smallest size on my grater. I find that my kids like it better when the zucchini is hardly noticeable.
Zucchini Bread
- 2 small zucchini or 1 med to large = about 1 lb
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 6 tablespoon butter, melted
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup plain yogurt (I have used vanilla and it works fine)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
Grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan. Shred zucchini and squeeze liquid out of zucchini, by squeezing it in a towel or several paper towels. Squeeze well to release most of the liquid.
Whisk together sugar, melted butter, eggs, yogurt, and lemon juice together in a large bowl. Stir in flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Carefully stir in zucchini.
Place in batter in loaf pan and bake at 375 degrees for 50-55 minutes.
Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated
For more frugal ideas see Frugal Fridays and Grocery Cart Challenge.
I love to cook and bake, and it is a good thing, because my family loves to eat. I live with my husband and three kids on 43 acres in Northeastern Oklahoma. Between homeschooling, helping in my husband’s dental office, working on our property, taking care of three dogs, and raising hogs as a side job/hobby, I am constantly on the go like most of you.
I keep saying that I need to use up the zucchini I have in the freezer. Hopefully this week.
I bet the yogurt in it makes it really moist. Thanks for sharing!
~Liz
We love zucchini bread here too. Good recipe. We tried a recipe for stuffed zucchini a few weeks ago that was very good too.
Thanks.
I like the idea of yogurt in the bread. I use yogurt as a fat replacement sometimes, so I wonder if this is a lower fat recipe than most?
I also have a favorite zucchini recipe on my blog if you are interested. You can find it here:
http://bluebarnbulletin.blogspot.com/2008/07/honey-roasted-zucchini.html
I seldom comment but I read your blog every day. It’s great!
I love zucchini bread also. I recently made a chocolate zucchini cake, that’s excellent and also have kefir or sour milk in it, but I am sure it could be subbed with yogurt.
here’s the link if your interested.
http://newlyweds.wordpress.com/2009/06/16/chocolate-zucchini-cake/
Where do you buy Kefir?
One thing you can do is grate and drain the zucchini, then freeze it in one-cup or one-pound packages. Imagine fresh zucchini bread in January!
I had never made zucchini bread until this morning. First I tried a more traditional recipe but it wasn’t as moist as I would have liked so I gave your recipe a try and it is perfect! I added a 1/2 tsp of nutmeg and substituted white flour for white whole wheat flour. Also, I only had to bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees using dark nonstick loaf pans.
Thank you so much for the great recipe!
I am so glad that you enjoyed it. I love making it this time of year with garden fresh zucchini.