Paleo Zucchini Bread – moist, tender, and naturally sweetened. Enjoy along side a cup of coffee or as a light snack any time of day! Gluten Free + Dairy Free
Homemade Paleo Zucchini Bread
I’ve been making this paleo zucchini bread recipe every zucchini season for years since I originally shared it back in 2016.
Though this has been a favorite in my home and in many of yours throughout the years – I figured it was a good time to revisit the recipe and tweak a few things based off the feedback I’ve been given.
What’s changed?
- Pan Size: I now recommend using an 8×4 inch loaf pan instead of a 9×5. The loaf doesn’t rise much in the end, so the smaller pan allows it to bake up into a neater, taller loaf.
- More Almond Flour: The old recipe asked for 1/2 cup almond flour. I’ve increased it to 2/3 cup. The extra flour adds a bit more fat (moisture), flavor and texture to compliment the coconut flour.
- More Cinnamon: One of the biggest comments I have received over the years is that many readers loved the bread, but wished it had more cinnamon. Frankly, I agree and don’t know why I made it so low before!
- Oven Position: I now recommend baking the bread in the lower third of the oven to keep the top of the bread from browning too quickly (this happens with almond flour baked goods).
Key Ingredients
- Coconut Flour: Coconut flour is an extremely absorbent flour and need a lot of moisture to work. If using cups to measure the flour, I recommend you spoon the flour into the measuring cup instead of scooping.
- Almond Flour: Almond flour provides a nice texture and flavor balance along side the coconut flour.
- Eggs: This recipe needs the moisture and binding of the eggs to work with the coconut flour. If you’d like to see some egg free zucchini bakes I recommend you check out some of my other vegan friendly recipes: Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Bread, Banana Zucchini Muffins, Vegan Zucchini Brownies
- Coconut Oil: You can use butter in place of coconut oil if desired.
- Maple Syrup or Honey: Either work! You can try a combo of maple and honey.
- Fresh Zucchini: The star of the show! Check out the tips before for zucchini selection and prep.
Steps
Altogether this is a super easy recipe to throw together. The process basically comes down to three main steps:
- Mix the wet ingredients: Whisk together the eggs, oil, sweetener and vanilla extract until combined then stir in the grated zucchini.
- Mix the dry ingredients: In a different, large mixing bowl whisk together the flours, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
- Combine & bake: Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients. Mix until no pockets of flour remain, then transfer to the prepared bread pan and bake.
Tips for Baking with Zucchini
A few final tips and notes when working with zucchini:
Weigh the Zucchini
For best results, a kitchen scale will give you the most accurate zucchini amount. If you don’t have a scale, a good old fashioned measuring cup will still do the job.
As a general rule of thumb: One loosely-packed and blotted cup of zucchini weighs about 4 oz or 115 grams. You may find that this amount vary depending on the recipe creator, but this is the amount I use in all my zucchini recipes.
Select the Right Zucchini
- Size: Look for small to medium zucchinis, about 6-8 inches. Large zucchinis are typically more watery, and pulpy. They also are more likely to have large seeds inside.
- Stem: Choose a zucchini that still has the stem attached. Zucchini with longer stems will last longer.
Prep the Zucchini
- Skin: No need to peel the skin. Just wash and dry the outside and you’re ready to peel.
- Seeds: Unless you’re working with a large zucchini with large seeds inside, you don’t need to worry about removing the seeds.
- Grate: Use a regular box grater (cheese grater) or food processor with a fitted grating attachment.
- Blot: Don’t worry about squeezing out the excess moisture before baking. A quick blot with some paper towels is more than enough.
How to Store Homemade Zucchini Bread
After baking, allow the zucchini bread to cool completely before storing.
Once cooled, store the bread in an airtight container or wrapped up tightly in plastic wrap/aluminum foil. Leave it out at room temperature for about 2-3 days or store in the fridge for up to a week.
Freeze for Later
You can make the bread ahead of time and store for a later date. Bake, cool, then wrap in foil and freeze the loaf as a whole. Thaw overnight in the fridge and bring to room temperature. Once thawed, go ahead and cut into slices before serving.
Alternatively, you can freeze individual slices of bread for fast and easy storage and defrosting. Wrap each slice tightly in plastic wrap and or foil then store in a freezer safe bag. Let thaw at room temperature or reheat in the microwave until warmed through.
Enjoy
This bread makes for a great healthy dessert or snack! Enjoy a thick slice with a spread of nut butter. I recently tried this with some homemade hazelnut butter and it did not disappoint!
More Delicious Zucchini Recipes To Check Out
If you still have spare squash hanging around I have plenty more zucchini bread recipes and bakes to choose from!
- Zucchini Oatmeal Cookies – GF & Vegan (all purpose gluten-free flour & oats)
- Banana Zucchini Muffins (all purpose gluten-free flour)
- Gluten Free Zucchini Bread (all purpose gluten-free flour)
- Chocolate Chip Almond Flour Zucchini Cookies (almond flour)
- Almond Flour Paleo Zucchini Brownies (almond flour)
- Vegan Zucchini Brownies (chickpea flour)
Paleo Zucchini Bread
Paleo Zucchini Bread - moist, tender, and naturally sweetened. Enjoy along side a cup of coffee or as a light snack any time of day!
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 6 tablespoons pure maple syrup (120g) or honey (125g)
- 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted & cooled (105g)
- 1 1/2 cup shredded zucchini, lightly blotted dry (170g | 6 oz)
- 2/3 cup almond flour (65g)
- 1/2 cup coconut flour (55g)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Place an oven rack in the bottom third of the oven then preheat your 350°F (180°C). Grease an 8x4 inch loaf pan, or line with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl whisk together the eggs, vanilla, maple syrup (or honey), and oil until combined. Stir in the shredded zucchini.
- In another large mixing bowl whisk together the dry ingredients.
- Pour the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix until well combined and no pockets of flour remain. Make sure to scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl as needed.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
- Place in the oven and bake for 55-65minutes, or until a knife going into the center of the loaf comes out mostly clean (no raw batter, only crumbs). About halfway through the bake, turn the loaf pan around so ensure the top colors evenly. If you notice the top of the loaf starts to look too dark, loosely cover the pan with some foil.
- Remove the loaf from the oven and place on a wire rack. Let cool for about 30 minutes before removing the bread from the pan. Finish cooling on the wire rack then slice and enjoy.
- Storage: Store leftover bread in an airtight container, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, foil or a sealable bag. Leave at room temperature for about 2 days, or keep it in the fridge for up to a week.
Notes
- Freeze for later: Leftover bread will keep in the freezer up to 3 months. Freeze individual slices of bread for fast and easy storage and defrosting. Wrap each slice tightly in plastic wrap and or foil then store in a freezer safe bag. Let thaw at room temperature or reheat in the microwave until warmed through.
Trisha says
Do you think using Sugar Free syrup would work?? I need to drop the sugar content. And where are all the carbs coming from?? Just the zucchini and almond and coconut flours?? Seems high to me…
Sarah says
I’ve never tried this with sugar free syrup before, but I’m pretty sure that it would still work here. As for the carbs – there are still 32 grams in 1/2 cup of coconut flour & 12 grams from almond flour. Those with the honey/maple will add up. If you’re using a sugar free syrup though that will take down the carb count quite a bit. If you’re interested I use MyFitnessPal to calculate the nutrition info so you can add in the recipe with your sweetener to find out the new carb total
Bonnie says
When you use maple syrup do you just mean the one we use for pancakes? Or do you mean the pure maple syrup? Or can you use monkfruit instead?
Sarah says
I’m not sure about monkfruit because that’s not something I’ve ever been able to play around with but as for the maple syrup either will work! I use pure maple syrup but you could use use pancake syrup if you need
Susan says
Just pulled this out of the oven and it is AMAZING! I did use 1/4 c applesauce with 1/4 c butter and I used 4 TBS maple syrup and 2 TBS honey. I also baked in a 7X3 pan. It was very moist and delicate and got 2 thumbs up from the husband. Next time, I will double the recipe to use a standard loaf pan.
Sarah says
Yay! Thanks for sharing your adaptations! I find it really helpful to know what does/doesn’t work in case I get asked about it later. So glad you liked it and thanks for coming back to leave a comment/ review!
Theresa says
Have you tried freezing it?
Sarah says
I haven’t, no! I did find this article about freezing zucchini bread – it might be helpful! http://www.lodinews.com/lodi_living/food_and_wine/columnists/barbara_spitzer/article_78452780-eafd-11e2-b339-0019bb2963f4.html
Jovie says
This sounds so yummy. I Was wondering, can I use xylitol sweetener instead of honey? And how can I substitute it for honey?
Sarah says
Hi Jovie! I’m sorry but I’ve never used xylitol so I’m not sure what it changes in baking exactly. I don’t recommend changing to a dry granulated sweetener though because coconut flour is very absorbent. The honey adds moisture to the batter so it doesn’t get too dry
Vian says
Just pulled this out of the oven. I doubled the batch and did one loaf and a tray of muffins. They both turned out awesome, soft, fluffy, lightly sweet, and wonderfully buttery. The only change I made was to salt the grated zucchini first and let it sit in a mesh strainer for about 10-15 minutes while I prepared the rest of the ingredients and mixed them, then wrapped it in a clean dish towel and squeezed all the water out before I added it to the batter. Even though I used probably a tablespoon of salt, it did not make the bread too salty, as most of it went with the liquid down the drain and I skipped the extra 1/4 tsp salt the recipe called for. Delicious recipe, and I’ll probably be making it a lot this summer at the rate I’ve been harvesting zucchini from my garden!
Sarah says
So glad you liked it! That’s a great tip with the zucchini too – very helpful! Thanks for coming back to let me know how it went! 🙂
Christina says
I did what she recommended and feel that my loaves turned out dry and dense
Sarah says
Sorry you thought they were dry! I hope they still tasted good despite that!
Marsha says
Can I use my stand mixer?
Sarah says
Absolutely!
Adrienne says
Mine, separated: like half moist bread half egg… it’s yummy but I don’t know why it happened or how to fix it. I had to grind my own coconut flour. Maybe that is the issue? Any tips?
Sarah says
Hi Adrienne! That sounds strange! I actually remade this/filmed it today because I’m making a video to go along with the recipe. I’m not sure exactly what went wrong here, but it’s very possible that the homemade coconut flour could have been the source – especially since coconut flour is something that can cause varied results from brand to brand. I’m personally always wary of using homemade nut flours myself when it comes to sharing recipes on here because I worry my results might not be reliable enough. Sorry again about the bread! I’m glad it still tasted nice at least!
Wendy says
Looks super yum! How long would you bake for muffins & how many do you think it would make?
Thanks😊
Sarah says
I make variations of these as muffins every so often and I’m usually able to get 8-9 of them. Bake at the same temperature for about 25-30 minutes and that should do it!
Ginger Schooling says
I got 11 muffins and the 25 minutes was perfect!
Sarah says
Ooh excellent! That’s good to know in case anyone else wants to try making muffins with these! Thanks for coming back to leave a comment/review!
Sandy says
I used parchment cupcake holders and your recipe made 18 muffins and they were done in 20 minutes. Absolutely delicious!!
Sarah Nevins says
Thanks Sandy! You’v’e just reminded me that I wanted to make zucchini muffins 😀 So glad you enjoyed them!
Laura says
What would be a good substitute for almond flour?
Sarah says
If you’re okay with other nuts you could always use another nut flour in its place. I’ve recently started baking with sunflower seed flour (made by grinding up whole, unshelled sunflower seeds in a blender) and I’ve found that you can use in place of almond flour in most cases. If you do go that route with sunflower seeds just keep in mind that they turn baked goods green because of the naturally occurring chlorophyll. Here’s an example of what I’m talking about – the fourth picture shows the green in the cookie. https://www.asaucykitchen.com/sunflower-seed-paleo-chocolate-chip-cookies/
Another possible flour that might work is gram/chickpea flour. I’ve also had a lot of success using chickpea flour in place of almond flour, but I’ve never tried it with this recipe so I can’t say for sure.
Hope that helps!
Elise Hendrickson says
I don’t see anything about butter/oil in the recipe! Is the that a mistake? Or am I just being blind? Also, would these work as muffins? The cook time would be less, of course.
I’m excited to make this! It looks delicious!
Sarah says
My mistake! I was updating something in the recipe recently and accidentally deleted that line. Oops! It’s there now – sorry about that.
Elise Hendrickson says
Thank you!