A healthy zucchini bread made with whole wheat, flax meal and coconut oil as well as dark brown sugar for a more caramel flavor. Additional sweetening ingredients include chopped medjool dates and applesauce.
I’ve been toying around with my own healthy zucchini bread recipe (that’s also vegan!) for some time and I think I’ve finally landed on what I think is the perfect bread for snacks, dessert – even breakfast. It’s a delicious bread like apricot bread – so I think you’re going to love it.
Here’s Why This Recipe is A Health(ier) Recipe
- Zucchini is naturally rich in folate, potassium and vitamin A, but I like it to meld with whole wheat, flax meal and coconut oil.
- I use dark brown sugar for a more caramel flavor and replace much of the sugar with chopped medjool dates and applesauce for sweetness.
- I fold in chopped cashews! Cashews? Yep. They are so tasty in this bread!
My youngest son is allergic to all nuts except cashews and it has really livened up how I cook. You can certainly use pecans, walnuts or go nut free, but I encourage you to give baked cashews a try! I think I’m starting to sound like a cashew salesman now too. Ha!
How to Make Healthy Zucchini Bread
Are you ready to make some delicious healthy zucchini bread with me? Come on in to my kitchen!
First of all, let’s make our flax eggs. I demonstrate how to do this here. Mix 2 tablespoons of ground flax meal with 5-6 tablespoons of water. Set it aside to thicken like eggs while you move on to the next step. Because of this step, we’ve made this a vegan zucchini bread recipe.
As with most quick breads, we need a dry bowl and a wet bowl. Our dry bowl includes whole wheat flour, white flour, nutmeg and other ingredients. Fresh ground nutmeg makes such a difference! Whisk it all together and set aside.
Using a food processor or grater, shred room temperature fresh zucchini. If you don’t have a garden (and I am not your neighbor 😀) be sure to select the freshest zucchini you can. Summer farmers markets are a great place to buy zucchini.
In your wet bowl, mix together the shredded zucchini, unsweetened applesauce (room temperature), dark brown sugar, melted coconut oil and other ingredients.
**Tip: Try to avoid using cold zucchini or cold applesauce because they will drop the temperature in your bowl and harden the coconut oil. Room temperature zucchini and room temperature applesauce is best.
What Do You Put In Zucchini Bread
Now for our fillers! Medjool dates are a super replacement for sugar. They have a natural sweetness and a soft texture when baked. Chop up 5 of them into bit size pieces and also chop up roasted cashews. Toasted pecans or walnuts would work too!
Combine your wet mixture into your dry bowl and stir just until mixed. Fold in the dates and nuts and spread it all into a standard size greased loaf pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 50 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Keep in mind the color of the bread will be a little darker than most other zucchini breads because of the whole wheat flour and dark brown sugar.
Remove the bread immediately from the pan and let it cool before slicing. I can’t wait for you to taste the flavors in this bread!! I may not be your neighbor convincing you to take my zucchini, but I can assure you with this recipe that most anyone can appreciate the amazing vegetable.
The very first zucchini was the result of a mutated squash plant from Italy in the 1800’s! Now we know why it has an Italian sounding name! Once the zucchini hit stateside, it was fried, baked, pickled, and pureed until it found itself in the quick bread craze of the 1960’s. Over fifty years later, zucchini bread is still a favorite in American homes.
“Zucchini, zucchini, get your zucchini!” I shout this out in my neighborhood as I stand over our copious bush. “Better get them before they turn into whiffle ball bats!” 😉 With another successful year of gardening about to wrap up, I find myself playing the zucchini salesman to all my neighbors. Even the pickiest eater can find a use for this squash – it’s truly an amazing, yet relatively new food. I hope you enjoy this healthy zucchini bread recipe!
More Homemade Bread Recipes
- Lemon Blueberry Poppy Seed Bread With Lemon Glaze
- Grandmas Nut Bread Recipe
- Homemade Strawberry Bread Recipe
- Pumpkin Harvest Cornbread Recipe
Healthy Zucchini Bread
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons ground flax meal
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini room temperature
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce room temperature
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
- 5 medjool dates pitted
- 1/2 cup roasted cashews or other nut optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- Mix 2 tablespoons of ground flax meal with 5-6 tablespoons of water and set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix together 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 cup white flour, 1 ½ tsp. baking soda, ½ tsp. baking powder, ½ tsp. salt, 1 ½ tsp. ground cinnamon and ¼ tsp. fresh ground nutmeg.
- Using a food processor or grater, shred 1 ½ cups of zucchini.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the shredded zucchini, ½ cup unsweetened applesauce, ½ cup dark brown sugar, ¼ cup granulated sugar, 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract, your thickened flax eggs and ¼ cup melted coconut oil.
- Pour your wet ingredients into the dry bowl and stir until just combined.
- Chop up 5 medjool dates and 1/2 cup of roasted cashews. Fold them into your batter and spread the batter into a greased standard size loaf pan.
- Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes clean.
- Remove the bread from the pan immediately and allow it to cool before slicing.
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