Zucchini Bread (Gluten Free!)… soft, light and fluffy
I'm slightly embarrassed to say this… but until 3 weeks ago I’d never had a slice of zucchini bread in my life.
3 weeks ago my life changed.
Bit dramatic perhaps but honestly life’s been feeling kinda like whack-a-mole lately, with problems popping up on a near daily basis that I’ve needed to swat away. Needless to say my mind has been elsewhere and the usual solace I find fluttering away and making elaborate meals in my kitchen hasn’t been possible lately.
Long story short I’ve really needed to simplify things lately and having an easy go-to recipe (sneakily packed full of hidden veggies like zucchini) is EXACTLY the kind of thing I needed in my life. I scoured the internet to find an easy healthy(ish) food that I can make ahead of time and bring to friends and family doing it tough right now (see above for the whole whack-a-mole situation life’s been throwing lately).
Food is my love language so yeah I gotta get baking (or thinking about baking) even/especially when things get chaotic.
My search kept pointing me towards zucchini bread. Looking at pinterest and various different recipe websites I just couldn’t seem to find a good gluten free option! Argh, the plight of the gluten free hey. Now I’m not gluten free but some of the people I love most in this world are coeliac (and can’t have even a crumb of gluten). So much of the time the issue with gluten free baking is that it goes dry after the first day of baking it. Gluten free baked good are nearly always best eaten on the day you make them (which makes it particularly hard to prep things ahead of time). See my conundrum?
*Zucchini bread enters from stage left
Ta-da! Gluten Free Zucchini bread! I can happily say that’s been the baking answer to easing this current chaos phase of life.
It’s got all the moisture and nutrients locked in from the 3 (yes 3!) zucchinis loaded in it’s deliciously cinnamony core, it’s SUPER easy to make, and for the gluten free connoisseurs out there I can happily confirm this zucchini bread recipe DOESN’T get dry as the days roll by!
It’s perfect to prepare ahead of time (and bring over to any number of your non-veggie eating friends/family even if they’re not gluten free - they’ll never know the difference. That’s high praise and not something I do lightly when it comes to comparing gluten free baked goods vs non-gluten.
This is the perfect foolproof gluten free zucchini bread recipe you need in your life (especially for those times when life throws lemons at you and you’re literally too overwhelmed and tired to throw them into a blender for lemonade (or something cute like that to end this with…)
Ok ok let’s jump to the recipe:
Wet Ingredients
✅ 400 grams Zucchini (roughly 3 medium sized zucchinis, finely grated) (approx. 3 cups)
✅ 3 Eggs (large)
✅ 1½ teaspoons Vanilla Extract
*✅ 180 ml Vegetable Oil (¾ cup) (which is about 166 grams)
Dry Ingredients
✅ 285 grams Gluten Free Plain Flour (2 ¼ cups)
✅ 225 grams Brown Sugar (1½ cups)
✅ 1 ½ teaspoons Baking Soda
✅ ¾ teaspoon Salt
✅ 1 ½ teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
✅ 0.5 teaspoon Nutmeg
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F) and line a baking tin* with parchment paper
2. Finely grate the zucchinis then squeeze out excess moisture (using your hands)
3. In a bowl, combine all wet ingredients together and mix well
4. In a separate bowl, mix all dry ingredients together
5. Using a fine mesh sifter, sift the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients bowl (the brown sugar will be lumpy so use the back of a spoon or a whisk to break apart as much of the mixture as possible then discard the big lumps left behind in the sift).
6. After sifting, mix wet and dry ingredients together until just combined (try not to over-mix)
7. Pour mixture into lined baking tin and bake in oven for 50 minutes (until a skewer comes out clean)
8. Let zucchini bread sit in baking tin to cool down for 30 minutes then move bread to a cooling rack to fully cool down for another 30 minutes to 1 hour (this resting time will prevent the bread from getting ‘gummy’)
9. Slice into your zucchini bread and enjoy! ☺️
*Baking tin size: I use a rectangular baking tin roughly 30cm x 15cm (but this recipe is so forgiving so just use what you already have :)
** Gluten Free Flour varies greatly depending on the brand etc but for reference I just use Aldi’s generic gluten free plain flour ‘white mill’ and this recipe is so forgiving so just use whatever gluten free plain flour you have (I’ve not yet tried this recipe with alternative flours like almond, oat, rice flour etc but if you do please let me know how you go :)
Want to see this recipe in video form? I actually made a YouTube video here (if you’re a visual learner like I am) :) Enjoy!
Nutritional Info:
Counting calories and tracking macros works well for some people but for many others it can lead to obsessive tracking behaviours/disordered eating patterns (and often does more harm than good) - so I’ve made the personal decision to not post them because I never want my recipes to play a role or influence someone into unnecessary tracking/unhealthy views about food and calorie counting. I believe food is one of the best things this world has to offer and hope my recipes inspire you to get creative, have fun, and enjoy life to the fullest (surrounded by incredible food)!
