This Vegan Zucchini Bread has a moist, delicious, sweet cinnamon crumb filled with crunchy pecans. It’s a great recipe for using all your summer zucchini and enjoying a nourishing, sweet piece of bread. As a bonus, this is also an egg-free zucchini bread recipe perfect for anyone with egg allergies.
This vegan zucchini bread is an egg-free, dairy-free version of the classic zucchini bread recipe. It’s one of our family’s favorite sweet bread recipes. Because of this, I make it all the time, as soon as the recipe season starts.
It’s not only the best way to use leftover zucchini from your summer garden but also a cozy, sweet bread full of cinnamon, brown sugar, and vanilla flavors. It’s also a guilt-free sweet bread as it sneaks an extra serving of greens into your day.
But beyond that, zucchini add the most delicious moist texture to this bread and makes it want to come for more.
Ingredients and Substitutions
To make a moist, decadent zucchini bread vegan, you only need a few ingredients, including many spices, to give the bread all its particular flavors.
- All-Purpose Flour – White flour or white whole wheat flour. This zucchini bread recipe doesn’t work with almond flour or coconut flour. For a gluten-free version of this recipe, try my vegan, gluten-free zucchini bread recipe.
- Olive Oil or any vegetable oil like canola oil. I personally like light olive oil for its healthy fats.
- Unsweetened Applesauce – This is your egg replacer. You can also use mashed bananas, but the bread is denser with that option, so I recommend applesauce.
- Unsweetened Almond Milk or any dairy-free milk you love, including oat milk.
- Shredded Zucchini – This recipe needs about 2-3 medium size zucchini. Feel free to peel or keep the skin of your zucchini. The peel adds fiber, which is a great nutritious addition, but some people don’t digest zucchini skin very well, so it’s better to peel it off first.
- Unrefined Cane Sugar or white sugar. You can make this recipe with sugar-free sweeteners like erythritol and brown erythritol. These are two keto-friendly sweeteners that don’t add carbs or sugar to the zucchini bread. It’s a great option for people with diabetes or anyone looking for low-sugar vegan zucchini bread.
- Brown Sugar – or coconut sugar
- Baking Powder and Baking Soda – To give the bread the right fluffiness.
- Cinnamon – Cinnamon and zucchini are a match made in heaven. They balance each other perfectly.
- Ginger and Nutmeg – Great combination of flavors.
- Pecans or walnuts or vegan chocolate chips. You can also add a combination of these add-ons, like 1/3 cup of two of these, like pecan and chocolate chips.
Flavoring Options
You can really play with the flavors and add many add-ons to this zucchini bread. For example, if you don’t like nuts, you can add 1/2 cup of:
- Vegan chocolate chips
- Shredded coconut
- Grated carrots to make a vegan zucchini carrot bread
- Sunflower seeds
Also, feel free to swap spices. A touch of cardamom or turmeric is also a great addition to the bread.
Expert Tips for Perfect Vegan Zucchini Bread
The secret to making the best vegan zucchini bread recipe is to:
- Finely grate the zucchini.
- Drain the zucchini in a kitchen towel.
- Measure grated zucchini precisely.
- First, cut the extremities of zucchini, peel half of their skins, or don’t peel at all! If you clean and dry the zucchini skins, they can be used entirely in the recipe.
- Next, grate zucchini in a food processor or with a hand grater using the smaller grater blade.
- Then, place the grated zucchini onto a clean kitchen towel with water. Discard the zucchini water or keep it in the fridge for another recipe.
- Finally, measure the amount of drained zucchini in a measuring cup. To do so, pack the drained zucchini in the cup and measure exactly 1 cup. Set aside in a large bowl.
- Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, whisk apple sauce, almond milk, olive oil, and sugar. Then, stir in grated zucchini, chopped pecans, spices, baking soda, and baking powder.
- Finally, stir in the flour until it’s just combined – don’t overmix the batter or the zucchini bread comes out gummy or heavy.
- First, line a 9-inch x 5-inch loaf pan with parchment paper.
- Slightly oil the paper with coconut oil or olive oil.
- Then, pour the batter evenly into the pan and bake your zucchini bread in preheated oven at 350°F (180°C).
- Place the zucchini bread in the center rack of your oven and bake for 50 minutes at at 350°F (180°C) until a pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let the bread cool for 10 minutes in the pan, lift out the vegan zucchini bread from the pan and transfer it to a cooling rack.
- Cool the bread down at room temperature for 3 hours or overnight before slicing to enjoy its best texture and flavor.
Storage Instructions
This Vegan Zucchini Bread can be stored in the pantry in a cake box for up to 3 days. However, if it’s hot where you live, it’s better to store it in an airtight box in the fridge. Slice just before serving to keep the bread moist and fresh.
You can freeze vegan zucchini bread entirely or slice it in a freezable container. Make sure you thaw the bread slices at room temperature overnight.
Serving Suggestions
Zucchini bread is delicious on its own and doesn’t need any toppings. However, you can serve this as a vegan breakfast bread topped with:
- Vegan butter
- Peanut butter
- Almond butter
- Baby jam
Frequently Asked Questions
This recipe works with all-purpose gluten-free flour as long as your gluten-free flour mix contains added gums. A great brand to replace all-purpose flour in this recipe is Bob’s Red Mills 1:1 Gluten-free flour mix.
Zucchini bread is a sweet bread, so it contains sugar, which you shouldn’t overeat during the day. However, this vegan zucchini bread contains a quarter less sugar than a classic zucchini bread recipe, so it’s a healthier version. Also, it’s made with healthy oil, and the added zucchini adds fiber and greens to your day.
The best time to enjoy zucchini bread is in the morning, as it adds the carbohydrates and fiber you need to start the day with energy.
More Vegan Zucchini Recipes
I love to create vegan zucchini recipes for dessert or lunch. Below I listed my top vegan recipes using zucchini for you to try.
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Vegan Zucchini Bread
Ingredients
- ¼ cup Light Olive Oil - or vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons Unsweetened Almond Milk
- ½ cup Unsweetened Applesauce - or mashed bananas
- ¼ cup Cane Sugar - or white sugar
- ½ cup Light Brown Sugar - or coconut sugar
- 1 cup Shredded Zucchini - packed, drained from their liquid
- 1 ½ cup All-Purpose Flour - or White whole wheat flour
- ½ teaspoon Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon Fresh Ginger
- ⅛ teaspoon Nutmeg
- ½ cup Chopped Pecans
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a 9×5-inch loaf pan with parchment paper. Slightly oil paper. Set it aside.
- First, cut and discard the extremities of the zucchini. Peel half of the skin or all of it, as you prefer. Grate the zucchini on the smaller blade of your food processor or hand grater.
- Place the shredded zucchini in a clean kitchen towel, wrap it, and squeeze until all the zucchini water has been extracted. Discard zucchini water.
- Pack the shredded, drained zucchini in a measuring cup to measure 1 cup. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk olive oil, almond milk, apple sauce, cane sugar, and brown sugar.
- Stir in shredded, drained shredded zucchini, chopped nuts, and spices: cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt.
- In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and chopped pecans.
- Gently stir the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined. Don't overmix to avoid a gummy, heavy bread.
- Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake in the center rack of the oven for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out with a few to no crumbs on it.
- Cool the bread for 10 minutes in the pan, then transfer it to a cooling rack.
- Slice the bread after a few hours. 3 hours is ideal for easy slicing.
Could this be made with almond flour as I do not eat grains
No, but you can try my gluten-free zucchini bread instead!
Very good vegan recipe!
I used bananas instead of applesauce and topped with powdered sugar when I took it out of the oven. Yum!
It’s in the oven right now, it smells delicious
I made this zucchini bread yesterday, it is very moist and delicious. I followed the recipe except I did not have applesauce so used bananas and cut the sugar by 1/2. I used sugar and a sugar sub to make 1/4 cup and then used Truvia brown sugar. Wonderful way to use zucchini, I will make again.
Ceil