Lemon Zucchini Bread is moist and loaded with bits of zucchini and lemon with a delicious lemon icing. Perfect for the freezer and to have anytime of year!
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If you haven't had zucchini bread yet, you're in for a real treat. You don't actually taste the zucchini in the quick bread recipes. The grated zucchini
helps add moisture and is an easy way to add some hidden veggies to your bread loaves. You can make Classic Zucchini Bread, Chocolate Zucchini Bread, or even Pineapple Zucchini Bread.
Why This Lemon Zucchini Loaf Works
This Lemon Zucchini Bread recipe is more like a cake with the sweet lemon glaze. It can be served as dessert, you can enjoy a slice for breakfast, brunch, or a midday afternoon snack. Plus, it goes nicely with a mug of hot tea or cup of coffee.
Grating zucchini is easy to do and is a great way to make sweet treats slightly healthier! Making this lemon loaf and other baked goods, like Double Chocolate Zucchini Brownies, is just what you need to make when you need to use extra summer zucchini.
Ingredients
- Flour: I used all-purpose flour.
- Pudding: Instant lemon pudding mix
- Baking powder and baking soda: use fresh leavening agents for best results
- Sugar
- Large eggs: a binding agent to help hold the bread together
- Lemon: fresh lemon juice and fresh lemon zest
- Shredded zucchini: it's easiest to use a box grater to grate your garden zucchini
- Loaf wet ingredients: milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract
- Powdered sugar: used with some more lemon juice to make the lemon icing
How To Make Lemon Zucchini Bread
- Step 1: In a large bowl, combine the all purpose flour, lemon pudding mix, baking powder, soda, and salt.
- Step 2: In a separate bowl, combine sugar, eggs, milk, oil, lemon juice, and vanilla extract together using a whisk.
- Step 3: Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients and stir until just moistened. Do not overmix.
- Step 4: Use a box grater to grate the zucchini.
- Step 5: Use a wooden spoon to fold in the lemon zest and grated zucchini.
- Step 6: Line a loaf pan with parchment paper, leaving extra overflowing on the sides to act as handles once the bread has baked. Pour bread batter into the lined baking pan.
- Step 7: Bake lemon zucchini cake and let cool before removing from the baking pan to finish cooling on a wire rack.
- Step 8: In a small bowl, make the simple lemon glaze by mixing the lemon juice with the powdered sugar. Drizzle the icing on the cooled loaf, serve, and enjoy.
Recipe Tips
- No grater box with a shredding side? Not a problem. Just use a food processor instead.
- There's no need to remove the skin from the zucchini before shredding.
- Sprinkle a few poppy seeds on the bread batter before baking for a nice twist.
- Leftover bread should be stored at room temperature in an airtight container. Freeze individual pieces by flash freezing them, then wrapping with plastic wrap and aluminum foil before placing them in a freezer safe container.
- Fresh lemon juice and lemon zest are a necessity to make the perfect loaf. Don't use bottled lemon juice it doesn't even compare to fresh lemon flavor.
Recipe Faq's
The water from the zucchini is what keeps this bread so moist. The only time I suggest squeezing out any excess liquid is when you have an extra large, very watery zucchini. Once you've shredded your zucchini, you can place the pile of grated zucchini in a few paper towels and wring out any excess water. I try not to use larger zucchini for this reason and because sometimes they have a bitter taste.
This usually happens when your bread loaf hasn't finish baking all the way. Use the toothpick test to make sure your moist Lemon Zucchini Bread is baked properly before removing it from the oven. Don't forget that the center of the bread will take the longest to bake, so check the loaf there before pulling it from the oven.
More Zucchini Recipes
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Lemon Zucchini Bread
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups of all purpose flour
- 1 3.5 ounce instant lemon pudding box
- 3/4 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup shredded zucchini
- zest of one lemon
For the lemon icing:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 1 9x5 metal loaf pan with nonstick spray. Or add a piece of parchment paper in the pan for easy removal.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, pudding mix, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- In another bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, milk, oil, lemon juice, and vanilla.
- Stir into the dry ingredients until just moistened.
- Fold in the zucchini, lemon zest
- Pour batter into 9x5 metal loaf pan.
- Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool for 15 minutes before removing from pan to cool completely.
- In a small bowl, mix powdered sugar and lemon juice until well blended. Drizzle icing over cooled loaf. If you have icing leftover just store in a container in the refrigerator.
Has anyone frozen this ?
Fantastic Lori! It is my all-time favorite 🙂
A coworker made this for staff meeting it was delicious everyone asked her for the recipe, I will be making for myself. Delicious and so moist and lemony.
I've never baked this in a bundt pan. However it will work but the cooking time would change.
I have very little kitchen space. I do have a Bundt pan but no loaf pan. Would this work baked in a bundt plan so I don’t have to buy a new pan I don’t have space for?
Hmmm...My first thought would be too much leveling agent which can make it rise too quickly and collapse in the center. Feel free to shoot me an email and we can troubleshoot 🙂
Hello, followed this recipe to a T, baked in Wm. Sonoma goldtouch pan in a newer oven. The taste was great, however, it sunk in completely in the middle. When tested for doneness only crumbs on tester. I can’t imagine what went wrong. Any thoughts?
Fantastic Rebecca! So happy everyone loved it 🙂
OK......made this and my entire family went crazy over it. It's PERFECT. I've tried other Lemon/Zucchini bread recipes and.........NO way compares to this one, I put this recipe in a safe spot. I'll never use another recipe besides this one. In fact I baked ours just a few days ago and ITS ALL GONE. Went and bought more ingredients today for another loaf. THANK YOU BUNCHES 🙂
Yay Lisa! Thanks for the great review, it's my FAVORITE zucchini bread!