This is a classic vegan zucchini bread recipe that you can make with your choice of white, whole wheat, or gluten-free flour. This may be the most delicious way to eat zucchini! It's moist and delicious with just the right amount of sweetness and spices.
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❤️ This recipe is
- easy to make.
- free of all major allergens like milk, nuts, and soy, and can easily be made gluten-free.
- full of healthy zucchini.
- great for freezing and eating later!
- tastes amazing warm with some homemade vegan butter!
🧾 Ingredients and substitutions
- Zucchini - 1 1/2 cups shredded or chopped in a food processor.
- Sugar - to sweeten the bread. You can reduce it to suit your taste.
- Oil - for rich moist bread. Any neutral-flavored oil. (Not virgin olive oil).
- Ground Flax Seeds - mix with water to make a flax egg. (You can also use another vegan egg substitute equal to 2 eggs see my post on how to substitute an egg in any recipe for all of your choices).
- Vanilla Extract - for flavor.
- Flour - you can use white, whole wheat, spelt flour, or a gluten-free flour mix.
- Baking Soda - to help it rise.
- Cinnamon - for flavor.
- Powdered Sugar - for the lemon glaze. (optional)
- Lemon Juice - for the lemon glaze. (optional)
🔪 Helpful tools
- Food processor - to chop up the zucchini or a cheese grater to grate the zucchini.
- Large Mixing Bowl - to mix the ingredients.
- Bread Loaf Pan - to cook your bread in. (You can also make vegan zucchini muffins instead).
🥄 How to make vegan zucchini bread
Step 1 - Preheat the oven to 350° F.
Step 2 - Mix ground flax seeds with water in a small bowl and set it aside to make make a flax egg.
Step 3 - Shred zucchini or chop it very tiny in a food processor and put it in a medium-sized mixing bowl then add sugar, oil, flax mixture, and vanilla, and give it a stir.
Step 4 - Add flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and stir it again until it forms a thick batter.
Step 5 - Pour it into a greased bread loaf and bake it for 50-55 minutes. Then allow it to cool before removing it from the loaf pan and drizzling it with lemon glaze.
For the Lemon Drizzle
Step 6 - Mix together 1/2 cup of powdered sugar with 1 tbsp lemon juice and stir until creamy.
Step 7 - Drizzle over the top of the cooled zucchini bread or muffins. (optional)
📖 Variations
Gluten-Free Vegan Zucchini Bread
This recipe comes out well with most general gluten-free flour mixes. (I don't recommend gluten-free mixes that contain garbanzo beans (because it can have a funny aftertaste) or sorghum flour (because it gives the bread a chewy texture. I usually use the gluten-free flour mix from Trader Joe's and I actually prefer it to regular wheat flour in this recipe.
Vegan Blueberry Zucchini Bread
Add 1 cup of fresh blueberries to the batter. (It may need about 5 extra minutes of cooking time due to the extra moisture).
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread
Add 1/2 cup of mini vegan chocolate chips to the batter and sprinkle a few tablespoons on top of the bread before baking.
Vegan Lemon Zucchini Bread
Use lemon extract instead of vanilla extract and add the zest of a lemon to the batter. Make sure to drizzle with the lemon glaze too!
Lower Fat Zucchini Bread
You can reduce the oil to 1/4 cup instead of 1/3 cup but any less than that changes the consistency. I've tried swapping out the oil for apple sauce, but I found the consistency to be very chewy.
See my full instruction on how to make vegan zucchini muffins.
👩🏻🍳 Pro Tips
- Use a room temperature zucchini. If you store your zucchini in the fridge allow it to come to room temperature before making the zucchini bread. Cold batter will not rise as well.
- Be sure to allow your flax egg to sit for at least 5-10 minutes before adding it to the rest of the wet ingredients. They have to rehydrate fully to work correctly as a binder.
- Be sure to mix the shredded zucchini with the sugar. There is no extra liquid in this recipe and it relies on the liquid from the zucchini which is released when it's sprinkled with sugar.
- Measure the flour carefully by spooning it into your measuring cups. The only time I have seen people mess up this recipe is when they pack the flour and get too much.
🌟 More recipes that use zucchini
- Healthy Vegan Muffins with Hidden Veggies
- Veggie Brownies
- Creamy Vegan Zucchini Soup
- Vegan Bolognese with Hidden Veggies
- Zucchini Fries
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins
📌 Be sure to follow me on Pinterest for new vegan recipes!
📋 Vegan zucchini bread recipe
Vegan Zucchini Bread
Equipment
- food processor (helpful to quickly cut the zucchini)
Ingredients
For the zucchini bread
- 2 tablespoons ground flax meal
- 1/3 cup water
- 1 1/2 cup zucchini shredded (about 1 medium zucchini)
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup oil any neutral-flavored oil of choice.
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/2 cup flour (white, wheat, or gluten-free mix)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
For the lemon glaze (optional)
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
For the zucchini bread
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C)°.
- Mix 2 tbsp ground flax seeds with 1/3 cup water in a small bowl and set aside to make make a flax egg.
- Shred zucchini or chop it very tiny in a food processor and put it in a medium-sized mixing bowl.
- Add 3/4 cup sugar, 1/3 cup oil, flax mixture, and 1 1/2 tsp vanilla to the zucchini and give it a stir.
- Add 1 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1 tsp cinnamon then stir it again until it forms a thick batter.
- Pour it into a greased bread loaf and bake it for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle. Then allow it to cool before removing it from the loaf pan and drizzling it with lemon glaze.
For the Lemon Drizzle
- Mix together 1/2 cup of powdered sugar with 1 tbsp lemon juice and stir until creamy.
- Drizzle over the top of the zucchini bread or muffins. (optional)
Video
Notes
- Use a room temperature zucchini. If you store your zucchini in the fridge allow it to come to room temperature before making the zucchini bread. Cold batter will not rise as well.
- Be sure to allow your flax egg to sit for at least 5-10 minutes before adding it to the rest of the wet ingredients. They have to rehydrate fully to work correctly as a binder.
- Be sure to mix the shredded zucchini with the sugar. There is no extra liquid in this recipe and it relies on the liquid from the zucchini which is released when it's sprinkled with sugar.
- Measure the flour carefully by spooning it into your measuring cups. The only time I have seen people mess up this recipe is when they pack the flour and get too much.
Nutrition
*This was originally posted on Aug 5, 2019, and updated on May 11, 2021, to include new images and more detailed instructions.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Click the stars above or leave a comment! I'd love to hear from you!
I made this bread for the first time yesterday and it was delicious! I followed the recipe exactly, including the lemon drizzle (great addition BTW). My family loved it and are already asking me to make it again! Thank you for this delicious and easy recipe.
I'm so happy that you liked the recipe, Beverly! 🙂
We are trying to go oil-free… slowly trying. Any thoughts on applesauce or banana for the oil?
I think that apple sauce would work to replace the oil, but I have not tested it. Let me know if you try it.
Tried two super ripe bananas and I decreased the sugar to 1/2 cup. Perfect!
Glad that it worked well for you, Kristina! 🙂
I made this yesterday into muffins and they are delicious! This is a quick recipe and it turned out great. I added walnuts to mine as well.
I'm so happy that they turned out well for you, Vickie! 🙂
Thank you. Many recipes for a vegan gluten free zuchinni bread asked for non-dairy milk. Without having to run to the store or make any I searched for one without.
The only two things I changed on your recipe is I used Bob's Red Mill egg replacer (it is my cheat when I do not want to grind the flax). I also added raisins as my family loves them in this bread. (Bobs Red Mill 1 to 1 was used)
I made two loaves and one is completely gone already (the next day) the other will be gone by tomorrow.
Thank you for posting a good recipe.
I'm so happy that you liked this recipe as much as we do. The original recipe came from my husband's grandmother who is currently 100 years old. I think it may have been a depression version that never called for milk. Enjoy! 🙂
Delicious! I was happy to find this Vegan version! I added Walnuts and my kids inhaled it!
I'm so happy that you and your kids liked it, Sheena! 🙂
Lovely recipe. My kids gobbled it up. Made it in a 9x9 silicone mould and baked it for 35 mins.
Hi! I made this recipe but I tweaked some things and it turned out like a light, fluffy bread and not dense at all.
It needed more rising agent or it will be too heavy and dense.
I shredded my zucchini by hand, but took some of the seeds out. I used aluminum free baking powder instead of baking soda but not 1/2 tsp, I used one tablespoon.
Turned out perfect!
This will be my go-to for my overflow of zucchini! Thank you!
I'm not sure, but this recipe doesn't say to squeeze out the water from the zucchini before mixing into batter. Every recipe I have used my entire life says to do this. This is the first time I am making zucchini bread vegan, but I'm pretty sure it would apply here. Of course, all zucchini have different water content so maybe that makes a difference for the recipe writer and you. I've also heard that the longer zucchini sits in the store the dryer it becomes. Really fresh zucchini has more water in it. I don't think that you can go wrong by squeezing out the water first before adding to the batter.
I do not squeeze the water out of the zucchini. It is part of what makes the bread very moist. You can if you want, but the bread with be drier.
I have tried this recipe twice now; the first time was a disaster so let’s move on, the second time the zucchini bread tasted great but the texture was pudding-y at the bottom, even with an extra 15 minutes in the oven.
Where am I going wrong? Should I have made more “flax egg” perhaps?
I'm not sure what is going wrong for you. It comes out moist and dense, but never pudding-like for me. What type of flour are you using? Are you making it gluten-free or regular? It shouldn't need more flax egg. That may make it even wetter. I would guess that it is the type of flour you are using or you are using too much zucchini. The zucchini has a lot of moisture in it.
Could this be made with almond flour?
I don't use almond flour since my husband can't have it, so I have never tested it with almond flour. If you try it please let me know.
looks great. You mentioned that you could use less sugar. How low do you think you could go without impact the texture? 1/4 cup? i tend to not like sweet food very much. Thanks.
Hi Jacquie, you can cut the sugar in half without it affecting the texture much. I would try it with about 1/3 of a cup first and see how you like it. Enjoy! 🙂
Hi, I wanted to know if baking powder can be used. Baking soda is used when the recipe contains an acidic ingerdient, right?
I have always used soda powder in this recipe. Many recipes call for baking powder as well, so I'm sure you could add 1/2 tsp of baking powder if you wanted it to rise and be a little more fluffy. This is supposed to be a very moist dense bread. Hope you like it! 🙂
The recipe says baking soda but your comment says baking powder. Which is correct?
Sorry for the confusion, I use baking soda in this recipe. Enjoy! 🙂