Paleo Zucchini Bread – moist, tender, and naturally sweetened. Enjoy along side a cup of coffee or as a light snack any time of day! Gluten Free + Dairy Free
I learned to bake a young age. I don’t remember how old exactly, just that it was sometime in elementary school. My mom used it as a way to teach me fractions – 3/4 cup white sugar + 1/4 cup brown sugar equals one whole cup. Pretty basic, but extremely helpful since I’ve always been more of a kinesthetic learner.
What started off as a math lesson quickly became a lifelong passion. ‘Life long passion’ may sound a little cliché but, I mean, there are cookies involved so it’s pretty true. Once I realized that I could actually make chocolate chip cookies at home in less than 45 minutes I was sold. What can I say? It doesn’t take much to convince me.
Lucky for me my mom has always had decent sized collection of cook books. Before long I was pouring over pages of all the different Taste of Home cookbooks looking for different ways to satisfy my cravings. One of my favorite recipes that I would always go back to was a recipe for zucchini muffins. They were moist, spicy, and soooo delicious. Just thinking back on them makes my mouth water. Those muffins were my first introduction to baking with zucchini – something I’ve grown to love even more over time.
So far I’ve shared cakes, cookies, and muffins – we’re just scratching the surface here. Now it’s time to add a paleo zucchini bread to our collection.
Paleo Zucchini Bread
The base for this particular recipe comes from the banana bread that I shared ages ago. Essentially I just swapped the bananas for zucchini and increased the sweetener to make up for it. The end result leaves you with a moist and tender loaf. It’s sweet, but not overly so. Zucchini bread and coffee is one of my favorite ways to start the day. As is mentioned in the title this is a paleo zucchini bread which means that it’s free from grains, refined sugar, and dairy. However, if you want, feel free to use a good quality butter. Depending on my mood and how much I want to taste coconut I’ll make this with either coconut oil or butter. Both are delicious, but it’s up to you which you’d like.
So in case you’ve got any extra zucchini hanging around (as we all do this time of year) here’s a little something you can try for yourself!
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Paleo Zucchini Bread
Paleo Zucchini Bread - moist, tender, and naturally sweetened. Enjoy along side a cup of coffee or as a light snack any time of day!
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 6 tablespoons honey or maple syrup
- 1/2 cup | 105 grams coconut oil , melted
- 1 1/2 cup shredded zucchini, squeeze out as much of the liquid as you can before adding to the mix
- 1/2 cup | 48 grams almond flour
- 1/2 cup | 56 grams coconut flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F/178°C. Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan, or line with parchment. Set aside.
- Beat the eggs in a medium sized bowl. Add the vanilla, the maple syrup, and the oil to the eggs, mixing thoroughly.
- Mix in the shredded zucchini.
- Mix the dry ingredients together in a small bowl, remove any clumps. Pour the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth. You can do this by hand, but I find it easier using an electric mixer.
- Scoop your batter into the pan and smooth over the top and sides.
- Place in the oven and bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a knife going into the center comes out clean.
- Place in the oven and bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a knife going into the center comes out clean.
Chris says
If I add 1/2 cup walnuts, 1/2 cup dried cranberries, and 3 tbsp matcha powder, would I need to increase any of the wet ingredients to compensate? Thank you!
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Chris! That should be totally fine! I don’t have much experience baking with matcha powder, given the amount I don’t think it would end up changing much here.
Helen says
Can you double this recipe and bake in a bundt pan?
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Helen! I’m afraid I’m not too sure if/how it would come out doubled without first trying it out myself. I wish I could be more help here, but I’d hate to steer you wrong!
Jess says
Lovely and easy recipe and turned out delicious. A staple zucchini bread recipe to keep around. I made a few changes – two eggs plus 1/2 cup applesauce, increased the cinnamon and added some cardamon because I love it, and used an 8×4 pan, which I’m glad I did as it didn’t rise much, if at all. Very nice, thank you so much!
Sarah Nevins says
Ooh that’s great to know about the applesauce in place of the two extra eggs! So glad you enjoyed it – thanks so much for coming back to leave a comment!
Elliott says
Can I substitue almond or olive oil for the coconut oil? And can I substitute tapioca flour for the coconut flour?
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Elliot! Sorry It’s taken me a few days to get back to you – your comment got stuck in my spam filter.
I’m not sure about almond oil but if you’re interested in trying this with olive oil you can check out my recipe for lemon olive oil bread (you don’t have to add the lemon zest). It’s based on this recipe but with olive oil in mind. Essentially you’ll want to cut the amount of oil in half if you’re using olive oil, but other than that it’s not too different.
When it comes to swapping out the coconut flour for tapioca that’s a little trickier. Coconut flour isn’t an easy ingredient to substitute 1:1 because it’s extremely absorbent. I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to confidently give you any recommendations without trying this using almond flour/tapioca flour myself first
Emily says
Hey thanks for the recipe! I loved it- I substituted zucchini for carrot pulp and seemed to work great. I made mine in a normal standard bread pan. The top 2/3 cooked REALLY nice, the bottom third was a bit soggy and kind of eggy…what could account for this? Looking forward to your reply and thank you!
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Emily! Did you make sure to squeeze out all the excess water from the carrot pulp before adding it? That can make a huge difference in recipe like this.
Coconut flour baked goods do have a reputation for being very moist and are often described as ‘eggy’. Since it’s such an absorbent flour you need to use a lot of moisture rich ingredients (like eggs) to keep it from feeling too dry. One thing I often do with my coconut flour baked goods – after it’s done baking, turn the oven off, open the door and let the bread sit and cool down in the oven. This helps take away some extra moisture without overcooking and drying out the top.
Hope that helps!
Alyssa says
Hi Sarah! I am allergic to both almonds and tapioca. Is there any way I could use cassava flour?
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Alyssa! I wish I could help here but without trying it out myself I’m just not sure about using cassava in place of almond and tapioca
Kishawnie says
Hey!!! I finally found the perfect GF/Vegetarian recipe!!! Thank you! Lol I’m deleting the others that I saved. Anyways question! Am I able to use an egg substitute like flax egg? I’m vegetarian but I don’t eat eggs (lacto-vegetarian). Thanks!
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Kishawnie! I’m afraid I’m not too sure about egg substitutes here. Without testing it myself first I couldn’t really say how well egg substitutes would work. Coconut flour is a tricky one to work with without using eggs as it can be a very drying flour if not enough moisture is used. If you end up trying this with a substitute could you let me know how it goes?