Zucchini bread is an underrated but delicious treat that gets a bad rap for being made out of a vegetable. However, its just as good as any other baked good that just so happens to be a bit healthier than most.
Making zucchini bread is quite simple and can be customized to your liking. Once its done and out of the oven, however, you may be tempted to eat the entire loaf.
If youve got any ounce of self-control though, youll want to pack it up and save it for later. Here, we want to make sure you do so properly so that your zucchini bread lasts as long as possible.
Contents
- Storing Zucchini Bread
- Health Benefits of Zucchini Bread
- Zucchini Bread Recipe
- Benefits of Baking with Zucchini
- Keeping Your Zucchini Bread Moist
- Other Types of Vegetable Breads
- Final Thoughts
- FAQs
- How do you make zucchini bread last longer?
- How do you keep zucchini bread from drying out?
- Can you store zucchini bread at room temperature?
- Can I leave zucchini bread out overnight to cool?
- How long can homemade zucchini bread last?
- What can I add to bread to make it last longer?
- When making zucchini bread do you peel the zucchini before shredding it?
- Why is my zucchini bread so wet?
- Why is my zucchini bread gummy?
- Why should you not store bread in the refrigerator?
Storing Zucchini Bread
The best way to go about storing zucchini bread is to wrap it up as tightly as possible in either cling wrap or aluminum foil. To keep it extra fresh, you may even want to throw it into a resealable plastic bag.
Another alternative would be to store your zucchini bread in an airtight container. If you somehow manage to get your zucchini bread to last longer than three days, you should stick it in the fridge to make sure it stays fresh.
If you are planning on making your zucchini bread last longer, you can always freeze it. This is a great way to make more than one loaf at a time to save for later. To freeze zucchini bread, be sure to first wrap it in plastic wrap or foil and then place it inside a resealable bag.
If you would rather store your zucchini bread in slices, be sure to wait until your bread has cooled down before slicing it up and then double wrapping each piece individually before placing it into the freezer. Be sure to wrap your bread as tightly as possible to prevent it from drying out.
When youre ready to eat it, simply thaw it out and eat it as is or heat it up in the toaster and slab on some butter!
Health Benefits of Zucchini Bread
Due to how delicious it can be, it may be hard to believe that zucchini bread can be healthy. But the good news is that it is. Unlike other desserts and baked goods, zucchini bread is low in fat and is healthy for your heart.
This is obviously due to the fact that it has zucchini in it, which has tons of vitamins such as vitamin K, riboflavin, vitamin B6, folate, magnesium, and potassium in it.
While some people may prefer to bake with a peeled zucchini, leaving the peel on is much healthier because youre getting extra nutrients such as lutein and zeaxanthin, which are great for promoting healthy vision.
Aside from the zucchini itself, there are many other ingredients that go into zucchini bread that make it even more healthy. Applesauce for instance, is a great way to keep your zucchini bread moist without it adding any excess sugar to it.
Although many zucchini bread recipes call for the use of all-purpose flour you can always substitute it with wheat flour, which makes for a much healthier alternative. Wheat flour will also add more vitamins and magnesium to your zucchini bread.
Zucchini Bread Recipe
Zucchini bread is quite easy to make and requires about the same amount of work as a regular loaf. The ingredients you will need include flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, vegetable oil, brown sugar, granulated sugar, an egg, vanilla extract, and shredded zucchini.
You want to first start out by shredding your zucchini, preferably with the peel still on it. While doing this you also want to preheat your oven to 350 degrees F as well as grease up your loaf pan.
Take all of your dry ingredients and mix them up into a large bowl. In another bowl youll want to mix in your wet ingredients before combining both bowls together. Be sure that while you are combining the ingredients, you arent over mixing and you are instead lightly whisking them in.
As soon as your batter has been mixed in, you can then pour it into your loaf pan and then place it into the oven for 55 minutes. A good tip to keep in mind is to place a piece of tin foil over the pan to prevent the top of your bread from getting brown.
Cooking times may vary especially toward the end, so keep a close eye when you are baking your zucchini bread. Youll know when its done if you insert a toothpick in and it comes out clean.
Zucchini bread is great because you can customize it to your liking. If you want it to be on the sweeter side, you can add chocolate chips to it. If you want an extra crunch to it, walnuts would also be a great addition.
An important thing to take note of when cooking with zucchini is to make sure you are blotting any excess moisture off of it. However, you dont want to rid the zucchini entirely of it. Blotting it with a paper towel will simply remove any extra water that may have come from washing the zucchini.
If you want something a bit more delectable than just plain zucchini bread, you can also try to make a zucchini crumb cake. It can be eaten for breakfast, dessert, or even just as a snack.
For this recipe, the ingredients youll need include flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, butter, sugar, an egg, salt, vanilla extract, and of course your zucchini.
To make the top of the cake, which should be a crumble, you will need: flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter. Before you start doing anything, be sure to preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease your pan.
You want to first get to work on the crumb topping, so youll need to mix in the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter together. Be sure to mix in the melted butter last and do so slowly to avoid it from getting too floury.
After thats done you can start on the cake portion of the recipe. This involves mixing together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl together.
In another bowl take butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, egg, and vanilla extract along with your zucchini, which should have already been shredded.
Then combine the two bowls dry and wet ingredients, and mix them all together. Pour the batter into your greased pan and add the crumb topping to it. Then, leave it to bake for about 35 to 40 minutes.
Again, youll want to use a toothpick to make sure the cake is cooked all the way through before taking it out of the oven.
Make sure that you let your zucchini cake cool entirely before you dig in because slicing it while its still hot can cause it to crumble. Be sure that you cover your cake if there are any leftover slices. If you want to keep it fresh, store it in the fridge.
Benefits of Baking with Zucchini
Many people may scoff at the sound of zucchini bread, but in actuality zucchini bread doesnt actually taste much like zucchini at all. In fact, zucchini bread can be sweet and nutty depending on the kind of ingredients that you use in it.
A lot of bakers like to use zucchini when baking because of the amount of moisture it has in it without having to sacrifice flavor. Zucchini is mild in flavor as it is, and that flavor is further muted when its baked in with other more powerful ingredients such as nutmeg and cinnamon.
Zucchini can also be found in excess during the summer months when it is at its peak, so some people may get carried away when purchasing it. If you find youre running out of ways to use it, simply mix it into your bread!
Keeping Your Zucchini Bread Moist
As mentioned earlier, zucchini is a great way to add in extra moisture to your baked goods. If you want to ensure extra moisture in your bread, however, simply use shredded zucchini instead of slicing it up with a knife or throwing it into a food processor.
If you want to do the opposite, however, you can always put the shredded zucchini into a strainer or colander and lightly squeeze it to make sure you get rid of any excess water. Dont forget to pat it dry when thats done.
Other Types of Vegetable Breads
Zucchini bread isnt the only type of bread that you can make using vegetables. Perhaps one of the other more common forms of vegetable bread is carrot cake or bread. This is made in a similar way as zucchini bread but uses slightly different ingredients.
Like the zucchini, carrots tend to offer up a lot of moisture in cakes, which is why a lot of bakers use it in their recipes. If youre looking for a great carrot cake recipe, let it be this one.
For this recipe you will need two eggs, a cup of sugar, vegetable oil, flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, carrots, and walnuts.
Be sure to start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees and then you can begin to beat your eggs. Once the eggs are done, you can mix in the sugar, vegetable oil, flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt and continue to mix well.
Your shredded carrots and walnuts should be the last thing that go into your mix. Pour the mixture into a greased loaf pan and then place it in the oven to bake for about an hour. Again, the best way to find out whether or not your bread is done is to insert a toothpick into it.
If the toothpick comes out clean, its done cooking. If not, you need to place it back into the oven for a few more minutes, being sure to check on it every once in a while. Be sure to leave your cake to cook before cutting into it.
In terms of storing, follow the same instructions given to store the zucchini bread. It can be left out for a couple of days but if you still have bread leftover, be sure to wrap it up tightly before placing it in the fridge.
Although not technically a vegetable, avocados are also a great ingredient to throw into your baking to make it healthy. Thanks to the consistency of avocados, your brownies will end up tasting decadent and fudgy, which is always a good combination when baking.
For this particular recipe, you will need an avocado, two eggs, coconut sugar, maple syrup, unsalted butter, vanilla extract, unsweetened cocoa powder, almond flower, espresso powder, baking soda, kosher salt, and semisweet chocolate chips.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and line a pan with parchment paper. The avocado, eggs, coconut sugar, maple syrup, butter, and vanilla will then need to go into a food processor where they will need to be blended together. When the mix is smooth, add in the chocolate chips, cocoa powder, almond flour, espresso powder, baking soda, and salt.
When your batter is ready to go, pour it into the pan that you lined with parchment paper, and add in a few chocolate chips to the top of the batter. Then, put it in the oven to bake for about half an hour.
Final Thoughts
Whether it be zucchini bread, carrot cake, or avocado brownies, it is safe to say that the best method for storing involves a lot of plastic wrap or aluminum foil, a resealable plastic bag, and your fridge or freezer.
For the most part, baked goods can stay on your counter for a few days, but after that, they should be stored in the fridge to keep them fresh for as long as you can.
FAQs
How do you make zucchini bread last longer?
The easiest way to store zucchini bread is to wrap it up in aluminium foil or cling wrap as firmly as you can. You could even place it in a resealable plastic bag to keep it extra fresh. 2. You could also keep your zucchini bread in an airtight container as an alternative.
How do you keep zucchini bread from drying out?
To maximize the shelf life of zucchini bread, cover with foil or plastic wrap or place in a plastic bag to prevent drying out. Properly stored, freshly baked zucchini bread will last for about 1 to 2 days at normal room temperature.
Can you store zucchini bread at room temperature?
Zucchini bread will keep for about 3 to 4 days stored at room temperature in a tightly sealed container (or plastic bag).
Can I leave zucchini bread out overnight to cool?
Does Zucchini Bread Need to Be Refrigerated? If your zucchini bread is pretty moist, which is what most recipes produce, you should keep it in the fridge. It’s okay to leave zucchini bread at room temperature only if it’s a relatively dry baked good, similar to regular bread.
How long can homemade zucchini bread last?
If you’d like your zucchini bread to last longer, it can be stored in the refrigerator for up to one week. If you would like to store your zucchini bread for a longer period of time, it can be frozen for up to three months.
What can I add to bread to make it last longer?
*If making your own bread, choose recipes that include fats like butter, oil or eggs. These ingredients will help the preserve the bread and keep it softer for longer.
When making zucchini bread do you peel the zucchini before shredding it?
Don’t peel the zucchini – Yes, it’s tempting to remove the zucchini’s skin, but there is no need to do that. Zucchini melts into the bread, so peeling is just an unnecessary step.
Why is my zucchini bread so wet?
If your zucchini bread is too soggy its probably because you left too much liquid in the shredded zucchini. You want to make sure that you squeeze out the zucchinis well enough so that your bread can cook thoroughly.
Why is my zucchini bread gummy?
A lot of zucchini bread is packed with brown sugar and oil that makes a more gummy texture (almost like banana bread).
Why should you not store bread in the refrigerator?
The reason a refrigerator is bad for bread: When bread is stored in a cold (but above freezing) environment, this recrystallization, and therefore staling, happens much faster than at warmer temperatures. Freezing, however, dramatically slows the process down. So that’s the science in a nutshell.