Classic Zucchini Bread
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Zucchini! Who doesn’t love a fresh zucchini in the summer? By the time September rolls around, I am usually hoping I won’t have to see another summer squash again. Like a hopeless romantic, I plant the seeds every spring and expect to enjoy harvesting them. If you have ever grown zucchini then you will understand where I am coming from. A zucchini plant will just keep producing, often having a squash get away from you until it grows three times the size that it should. What are you to do then, with a giant zucchini?
Make zucchini bread, of course! This bread is probably my first viral recipe… among friends! I shared this recipe with my vegetable Community Supported Agriculture customers years ago, and I had so many wonderful reviews on it. After that, we had people coming into our little farm store saying they loved our zucchini bread recipe, and I watched as word of mouth passed along a little creation that I just absolutely loved. I think that is so cool when it happens!
the history of the zucchini:
Where does the zucchini come from? I had to find out! This vegetable is not something that I envision when I think of early American cooking, though it had to be around at some point. You do not see many recipes in historical cookbooks describing what to do with summer squash.
Zucchini is native to Mesoamerica, specifically central Mexico, Belize, Gautemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. It was first introduced to Western cooks during the initial introduction of explorers and colonists as early as Columbus’ voyage in 1492.
The zucchini that we grow today was bred in Italy during the 19th century. Crazy, right? It wasn’t until the 1920s, only 100 years ago, that zucchini was reintroduced as a choice ingredient to the United States. That blew my mind!
This makes sense, though, as the first recipe for zucchini bread came to the table in the 1930s. You can see where this is going, right? Housewives during the Great Depression were looking for ways to use everything they could in their kitchens to create tasty meals and desserts, when other ingredients were scarce. Zucchini made an excellent quick bread, similar to bananas.
This bread, like banana bread, has an issue with baking soda not reacting well without an acidic ingredient. This recipe has been updated since I first published it to adjust those ingredients and include buttermilk.
I love learning more about where my favorite recipes come from and the resourcefulness of humans over history. Have you made zucchini bread before? Let me know if you give this recipe a try!
xoxo Kayla
Classic Zucchini Bread
Ingredients
- 4 cups (568 g) grated zucchini
- 2 cups (400 g) sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup (240 ml) vegetable oil or coconut oil
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) buttermilk
- 2 tsp (10 ml) vanilla
- 4 cups (520 g) flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375° F (191° C). Grease 2 loaf pans with lard or butter and coat lightly with flour. Set these aside.
- Mix together the grated zucchini and sugar until the sugar is mostly dissolved, about 2 minutes. Add in the eggs, oil, buttermilk, and vanilla and stir until everything is well combined, about 2 minutes.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Fold this into the wet ingredients until a batter forms that is wet and a bit lumpy from the zucchini, about 2 to 4 minutes.
- Divide the batter evenly between the pans and spread smooth.
- Bake the bread for about 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaves comes out clean. Let the breads rest in their pans for at least 10 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack.
- Slice and serve the bread warm or at room temperature. To store the bread, wrap in plastic wrap or an airtight container and leave at room temperature for about 4 to 5 days.
- To freeze the bread, wrap in 2 layers of plastic wrap. Then, wrap in a layer of aluminum foil. Label and date the bread and freeze. It should last one year or more in the freezer. To defrost, simply unwrap the bread and leave on the counter until it is no longer frozen, about 1 to 2 hours.
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