Lemon Zucchini Bread Recipe
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Our light, moist lemon zucchini bread is a delicious quick bread that combines fresh lemon, zucchini, and coconut oil for a flavorful snack that makes a perfect summer time treat.
This lemon bread recipe is great for an afternoon snack, brunch table, or party tray. The optional sweet lemon glaze livens the flavor and adds that extra flair that brings it into the dessert realm.
Quick breads are some of our very favorite recipes and we have a large selection on the blog. Zucchini is also one of our favorite veggies to cook with, and we have everything from cakes, savory casseroles, frosted zucchini cookies, and muffins that incorporate this versatile squash.
Do you leave the skin on zucchini when you bake with it?
Yes, most often the skin stays on the zucchini and gets baked right into the recipe. Zucchini is a squash, and like most squash the skin is very soft and won’t be noticeable when it is cooked. It also adds beautiful color to your zucchini breads with bits of green flecks that will bring flavor and texture.
To prepare zucchini for bread, it will be washed and grated into thin shreds. You can mince it smaller if you prefer a less noticeable presence to your cake or bread.
Can you use frozen zucchini for bread?
Yes, using previously prepared and frozen zucchini can be used for various recipes including breads. If you are looking for some simple methods to freeze zucchini, we have a post that shares our tried and true strategies.
Fresh zucchini will be better, so if you can we suggest growing it, sourcing it from a local farmers market, or grabbing some from a gardener friend. But, if only have frozen on hand it can definitely be used for breads and will still yield a scrumptious loaf.
Lemon Zucchini Bread Recipe Notes
This lemon zucchini bread recipes uses cornstarch to help hold the crumb together, so it cuts very clean and presents well on party trays. If you choose to make the lemon zucchini bread glaze it brings added sweetness and a bright lemon bite to the loaf that we find divine.
The glaze is totally optional though, and this recipe is still so tasty without it.
Preparation
These are small things that we suggest to make the preparation easier, and bring the level of the bread up just a bit. It will not ruin the bread if you skip them however, each of these steps has a purpose.
- Grate the zest off the lemon. In a small bowl combine the lemon zest and sugar and mix well. Set aside.
- Add juice of the lemon to the milk in a separate small bowl. Let stand.
- In a large bowl sift the flour, cornstarch and baking powder together. Set aside.
- Zucchini must be shredded and drained of water for a truly light loaf.
The crumb of our lemon zucchini loaf is light and cake like compared to some heavier zucchini breads. This is due to the process of removing as much of the liquid as possible.
Every time you make this bread the zucchini will determine how moist and heavy your recipe is. However, you can adjust the heaviness of the recipe by taking out unneeded extra zucchini juice.
The type of loaf pan can also affect the bake of the bread. We love non stick pans because they insult and protect the bread from burning along the bottom.
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Lemon Zucchini Bread Recipe
Light, moist lemon zucchini bread is a nice variation on the standard zucchini bread. Lemon bread with a lemon glaze for an added pop of sweet flavor. It's perfect for breakfast, lunch box, parties or after school snacks.
Ingredients
Bread ingredients:
- 3 1/3 Cup all purpose flour
- 2/3 cup corn starch
- 4 tsp. Baking powder
- 4 eggs
- 1 Cup coconut oil (softened to almost liquid)
- 2 2/3 Cup sugar
- 1 whole large lemon (you will need the zest and the juice)
- 1 Cup milk
- 2 Cups Zucchini
For the optional Glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 TB lemon juice
- 1 TB milk
Instructions
- Preparation:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Prepare zucchini by grating it.
- and tossing it in a bowl with one tsp. salt.
- Let sit about 30 minutes until water is released. Squeeze the zucchini to release some of the juices. You need to be a bit discerning here. Some zucchini is dryer than others.
- Oil two 9 x 5 loaf pans or two twelve hole muffin tins
- Grate the zest off the lemon.
- In a small bowl combine the lemon zest and sugar and mix well. Set aside.
- Add juice of the lemon to the milk in a separate small bowl. Let stand. (The milk curdles like buttermilk).
- In a large bowl Sift the flour, cornstarch and baking powder together. Set aside.
Make the batter:
- In a large mixing bowl mix together the eggs and coconut oil with a large whisk or electric mixer.
- Add the lemon zest infused sugar and whisk until thick and pale lemon color.
- Pour in the lemon milk.
- Add in sifted dry ingredients slowly.
- Mix until just blended.
- Fold in zucchini.
Baking and cooling Instructions:
- Pour the batter into the greased loaf pans
- Bake 60 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from heat
- Cool on rack for ten minutes and then invert the pans to release the bread.
- Thoroughly cool the loaves on the rack and then glaze with the lemon glaze if desired.
For the glaze:
- Whisk together the ingredients as listed. Adjust the liquid to make the glaze your desired consistency.
- The glaze may be spooned on, poured on or drizzled. To drizzle the glaze put the glaze in a sandwich bag a with a teeny hole cut in the corner so you can better control the glaze if desired.
Notes
Tips For best Results:
Grate the zest off the lemon. In a small bowl combine the lemon zest and sugar and mix well. Let sit to blend the lemon flavor into the sugar.
Add juice of the lemon to the milk in a separate small bowl. Let stand five minutes or more. (The milk curdles like buttermilk).
Zucchini must be shredded and drained of its water for a truly light loaf. Follow the instructions above!
- Use tender, ripe, fresh zucchini
- Cut out the seeds and grate it.
- Frozen grated zucchini can also be used if thoroughly drained.
If your Zucchini breads tend to be heavy:
Make a lighter loaf this way:
- Beat together the eggs, sugar and oil until they are pale and thick like yellow cake batter.
This step improves the texture and flavor of the loaf. Just follow the recipe instructions and your loaf will have a light lemon flavor and delicious texture.
Loaf Removal TIP: If the bread sticks to the pans after cooling 10 minutes run a knife around the sides of the loaf to release the bread form the bread pan. If the loaf still sticks on the bottom use a spatula to slide under the loaf to release it.
For Muffins:
This recipe makes about 24 muffins. Bake muffins 20 minutes at 350 degrees F. They are done properly when a toothpick inserted into the middle of the muffin comes out clean.
Cool ten minutes and then remove from tins to cooling racks until room temperature.
Freezing Instructions:
- Freeze without the glaze after the bread is cooled completely.
- Wrap the bread in foil (or plastic wrap)
- Wrap the foil in tightly in plastic wrap, a plastic grocery bag or heavy ziplock freezer bags for long term freezing. (over two months)
Nutrition Information
Yield
24Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 283Total Fat 10gSaturated Fat 8gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 1gCholesterol 32mgSodium 101mgCarbohydrates 45gFiber 1gSugar 27gProtein 3g
More Zucchini Inspired Recipes
After you have made this lemon zucchini bread, be sure to check out these recipes for more scrumptious and creative ways to use zucchini.
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Recipe Adapted from: Lilluna.com
Your Zucchini Lemon Loaf sounds delicious, Diane. I really like the addition of the lemon! Stumbled and shared. Thank you so much for being a part of the Hearth and Soul hop.
Boy does this look yummy! I’m so glad you made the party and came over to share at #TryaBiteTuesday! What a delicious treat!! Pinned & shared!!
Me too Debra! So many fun posts to enjoy at your party! Thank you for sharing!
I love that you added lemon to the zucchini loaf! I can imagine that they would have smelled amazing! 😀 Plus it qualifies as veggies – so a big slice will be part of my 5 plus a day? 🙂
Thank you for sharing this with us at #saucysaturdays!
Absolutely Dini. Enjoy!
I could eat a dozen of these and not feel guilty because they have veggies in them!!
HaHa!, Jennifer. Exactly!
This looks so moist and delicious! Thanks for stopping by #TryaBiteTuesday and sharing your delicious recipe! Pinned and shared – hope to see you back this week!
Thank you Debra, I plan to attend!
What a great way to sneak some extra veggies into the kids!
Absolutely Lauren, Actually my kids love zucchini bread in all it’s forms. This zucchini lemon loaf is especially attractive to kids in mini muffins! A great lunch box choice!
What a great combination – I need to try this – think I’ll make it in the form of muffins.
These make great muffins Carole! thanks for stopping by!
Such a great way to use up fresh, in-season zucchini!
For sure it is Jillian. Frozen zucchini works fine for this recipe.This bread is a bit lighter textured, though, when fresh zucchini is used.
I love lemon loaf but I have never tried it with zucchini as well. Sounds like a great idea!
It really is, Nicole!
Wonderful combination. Truly, I have no idea why I never thought of putting these two together before. YUM.
It’s a good flavor combination Michelle. Great texture for a quick bread also.
Zucchini and lemon is such a wonderful combination!! Your loaf turned out beautifully and I bet your house smelled amazing as it was baking!!
Yes it did Becky. This loaf is amazing!
What a beautiful loaf…I remember not letting my zucchini drain once. Talk about soggy mess. Your step by step instructions will definitely prevent this from happening to others, so excited to try this out.
Let me know how you like it Sandi!
I love baking with zucchini it is healthy and so delicious! I bet this cake is lemony and so tasty!
Thank you Katerina, It is!
I love the idea of a lemon bread with zucchini—genius!
It’s a good combination Justine!
Yum! I love zucchini and lemon but have never tried them together. Pinning and adding to my grocery list!
You will enjoy this bread Meredith. it’s a nice combination to textures and flavors
This zucchini bread looks and sounds amazing. This would make a terrific afternoon snack…like right now! 🙂
It is a great snack KC. Take some on your bike trips!
I love the combo of zucchini and lemon. This loaf looks so moist.
The wonderful thing about this loaf is, it IS moist but is also LIGHT. I have had trouble in the past with zucchini bread being too heavy. This bread is just right!Thank you for the visit Janette!
Not sure why I’ve never thought to combine these flavors. Must have some NOW!!
It’s a great flavor combination, Diana. If you make it let me know what you think. It’s very popular here. Two batches in one week!
Your zucchini are huge! I covet your garden so shamelessly. This bread sounds so great. I’m seeing lots of zucchini breads and muffins these days but yours is the first with lemon! Love it.
Thank you Christine. We love our garden, but this year it might be a bit too much for our shrinking household!
This sounds really good! I’d like to say that I have some home grown zucchini, but sadly the drought conditions here (and it being a very hot summer) was not conducive to anything growing this year. I’ll have to pick some up at the market to make a batch of this bread.
I’m so sorry to hear the drought is still hanging on down there Renee. We have had a dry year as well but it’s inconceivable that we would have several years ongoing like your area has. This bread will be fine with some good quality store bought zucchini. Enjoy!