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Bread · Quick Breads

Applesauce Zucchini Bread

Overhead view of Applesauce Zucchini Bread loaves on a marble board.

This Applesauce Zucchini Bread is coming at you straight from the garden! I’m so happy to finally have success growing my own zucchini.

This is my third season growing it, and I think I finally found the perfect spot for my zucchini plant to thrive with lots of sunlight. We have been harvesting a zucchini every few days, so it was time to do some baking.

Up close view of zucchini blossom.

The boys and I have been carefully watching for male and female flowers and helping nature out by hand pollinating so we can make sure we have the best zucchini production possible. Gardening has been the perfect way to incorporate plant science into our homeschool days.

This Applesauce Zucchini Bread recipe is slightly adapted to have less sugar and oil than my old favorite zucchini bread recipe. I like that this one isn’t overly sweet.

I didn’t have the cinnamon on hand that my old recipe calls for, so I subbed apple pie spice, and it tasted delicious – so either one would be just fine.

Up close view of sliced Applesauce Zucchini Bread on a marble board.

I also used three eggs in this recipe, which came straight from our backyard chickens. We sure are enjoying that faux farm life around here lately.

We’ve always wanted a little more land to try our hand at gardening and raising chickens but decided to just make it work with the little lot we have.

Flock of backyard chickens

Lesson learned! You don’t have to wait until everything is just so to try something new. Learn as you go, make adjustments as needed, and let go of picture-perfect expectations.

Overhead view of Applesauce Zucchini Bread loaves on a marble board.

So if you have a little extra zucchini and want a delicious (not too sweet) loaf of bread, try this Applesauce Zucchini Bread recipe! It makes four mini loaves, so it’s perfect for freezing or sharing with a neighbor.

My boys all loved it, though one child did add that while it was good, it wasn’t as good as my banana bread. Too bad we don’t have a banana tree in the backyard!

Print

Applesauce Zucchini Bread

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

4.6 from 9 reviews

This Applesauce Zucchini Bread is perfectly moist and not too sweet. A wonderfully delicious way to use up extra zucchini!

  • Author: Julie
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 35 minutes
  • Total Time: 50 minutes
  • Yield: 4 mini loaves 1x
  • Category: Bread
  • Method: Bake
  • Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 cup oil (I use avocado oil)
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon apple pie spice 
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 3/4 teaspoon allspice
  • 2 medium zucchinis (grated and blotted*), about 2 cups

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and spray four mini loaf pans with nonstick baking spray.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together (by hand) sugar, eggs, oil, and applesauce until creamy.  Add vanilla extract.
  3. In another large bowl, mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, apple pie spice (or cinnamon), and allspice.
  4. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix together until just combined.  Fold in grated zucchini until evenly combined.
  5. Pour the batter evenly into each loaf pan.
  6. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.
  7. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan, and then turn out onto a cooling rack.

Notes

*After the zucchini has been grated, use a paper towel or clean kitchen towel to squeeze some of the moisture out.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 Mini Loaf
  • Calories: 961
  • Sugar: 80g
  • Sodium: 964mg
  • Fat: 32g
  • Saturated Fat: 4.6g
  • Unsaturated Fat: 26g
  • Trans Fat: 0g
  • Carbohydrates: 154g
  • Fiber: 4.3g
  • Protein: 16g
  • Cholesterol: 140mg

34 Comments

  1. Your idea of Zucchini bread is really new and interesting. It can be used for clean meals but is still high in energy. Hope to have a chance to applesauce it in the nearest day.

    Reply
  2. All the things I love about a healthy whole grain bread and full nutrition packed on your zucchini bread. I believe your idea will thrive as fast as in the future. Bravo.

    Reply
  3. This sounds great, I’ve been grating 13 cups for the freezer. I happened to have a couple cups left and decided to make the lively sounding recipe. Thank you !

    Reply
  4. This recipe is perfect. I had surgery and didn’t finish all my applesauce cups. Then I have a garden producing 2ft or longer zucchini. I made 2-batches (totaling) 4-full size loaves. Gave two to neighbors, froze one. Then we are eating one. Delicious!!

    Reply
  5. If I don’t have 4 mini loaf pans, can I use 2 normal loaf sized pans to make this recipe? Would I just need to adjust the baking time?

    Reply
    • Hi, yes you can bake two standard sized loaves. I haven’t tested the recipe to be sure, but I would start checking for doneness around 45 minutes, and you’ll know they are good when a toothpick inserted into the top center comes out clean. Enjoy!

      Reply
  6. I made this today and I used one regular pan and made one dozen muffins out of the rest of the batter. I also changed the sugar to half brown and half white sugar. Very light and yummy! I may try next time to add some raisins or nuts! Thank you for sharing!!

    Reply
    • Sure, not exactly sure on the difference in baking time, but I would guess you could bake them at 375 for about 15 minutes. Enjoy!

      Reply
  7. Loved this recipe for Zucchini bread. I added a few extra ingredients. Chopped Walnuts, crushed Pineapple and Orange Glaze to top it off. WoW!!!, it was yummy in my tummy……..lol

    Reply
  8. This is delish!!!!!! Very very moist. I put in a littler over half the sugar, I’m not a sweet eater, and put in 💯 % dark cocoa, no sugar, powder. Chocolate zucchini bread! Wow. Really good!

    Reply
  9. I have some apple sauce I need to use up but it has sugar in it. How much would you reduce the amount of sugar, then?

    Reply
  10. I put oat flour since I ran out of flour hopefully it comes out correctly! We will see! Thanks for the recipe. Is this diabetic friendly though? Thanks!

    Reply
  11. Recipe turned out great. Only thing in my opinion that was missing was some walnuts and I had to omit a little of the sugar because I used sweetened applesauce. I think walnuts would send this recipe over the top👌

    Reply
  12. I’m not a chef but I like to cook this recipe gave me something to try I like the ingreediance.
    when I make it I’ll drop you a message on how it came out and if I added anything to it.

    Reply
  13. I already made a change to the recipe with sugar, sweet cinnamon applesauce, and cinnamon see below
    addition is in red oh by the way I’m 89 years old and thanks for your recipe.

    Ingredients
    1 1/2 cups granulated sugar (adjust to 1cup for sweet cinnamon applesauce)
    3 eggs
    1/2 cup oil (I use avocado oil)
    1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce or adjust for sweet cinnamon applesauce
    1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    3 cups all-purpose flour
    1 teaspoon baking soda
    1/2 teaspoon baking powder
    1 teaspoon salt
    1/2 teaspoon apple pie spice 
    1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (skip if using sweet applesauce)
    3/4 teaspoon allspice
    2 medium zucchinis (grated and blotted*), about 2 cups

    Reply
    • Thank you very much for posting your recipe notes. It’s good to be able to adapt recipes to your preferences and ingredients you have on hand. Happy baking!

      Reply

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