Soft Gluten-Free Zucchini Bread (Easy!)

Summer is the perfect time to make this easy gluten-free zucchini bread recipe! You’ll love the blend of spices, soft texture, and chocolate chips (or nuts) in every bite!

I say this all the time, but summer time is the best produce time! (Especially for gluten-free baking!)

Not only do we get to make goodies like peach lemonade and peach cobbler, we can make strawberry crisp, blueberry coffee cake, gluten-free zucchini muffins, and zucchini bread!

Now that it’s zucchini season, it feels like the right time for a new zucchini recipe. Enter: this gluten-free zucchini bread recipe! Ours is made with simple ingredients, warm spices, a soft texture, and plenty of chocolate chips or nuts in every bite. It’s a great way to use the abundance of zucchini you’ll find in gardens, grocery stores, and farmers’ markets this time of year!

Count me all the way in!

Here’s what you need to get started…

Here’s What You Need To Make This Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread:

• Oil. I recommend a neutral-tasting oil (like canola oil, grapeseed oil, avocado oil, or vegetable oil) for zucchini bread so you don’t impact the flavor. I don’t recommend coconut oil, since it’ll overpower the flavor. See the FAQ if you’d rathe use butter!
• Sugar & Brown Sugar. I like using a mix of granulated sugar and brown sugar for zucchini bread, since the molasses in brown sugar adds an extra layer of rich flavor, and keeps the bread super moist.
• Sour Cream. Adding some sour cream (or plain Greek yogurt!) is another way to make moist zucchini bread. The acidity also brightens up the other flavors, so win-win!
• Eggs. To help bind the batter together.
• Vanilla Extract. I love the notes of vanilla in every bite. Yum!
• Cinnamon & Nutmeg. In my opinion, the best zucchini bread has plenty of spices! I love this mix of flavors.
• Shredded Zucchini. No need to squeeze out the excess liquid in this easy recipe!
• Gluten-Free Flour. Keeping things simple with a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend. We love this King Arthur Measure-For-Measure Gluten-Free Flour for all our quick breads, brownies, cookies, and more! If you use another blend (like Bob’s Red Mill), be sure it contains xanthan gum, or your zucchini bread won’t turn out correctly. Don’t try to substitute in coconut flour or almond flour (they won’t work here).
• Baking Powder & Baking Soda. For just the right puff.
• Salt. To balance the flavors.
• Optional: Chocolate Chips or Walnuts. I love to add chocolate chips to my zucchini bread because they taste delicious, but if you prefer to make gluten-free zucchini bread with walnuts or pecans, you can swap those in instead!

Don’t Forget A Loaf Pan!

Just like when you’re baking gluten-free banana bread, it’s VERY important to use the correct size loaf pan. If you use a pan that’s too small, the batter will overflow and burn (not fun to clean up!); if you use a pan that’s too large, it won’t bake the same. We’re using this 9×5 loaf pan. A light-colored metal loaf pan made from aluminum will bake MUCH more evenly than a dark metal pan. Enamel, glass, and ceramic loaf pans take longer to bake and will impact the bake time.

How To Make Gluten-Free Zucchini Bread, Step By Step:

1. Preheat The Oven & Prep The Pan. Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees F. Line. a 9×5-inch metal loaf pan with parchment paper. (This makes it easier to lift out later.)
2. Combine Wet Ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, brown sugar, oil, sour cream, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Whisk or mix until well combined.
3. Mix In Zucchini. Add the zucchini to the wet ingredients and stir to distribute the zucchini evenly.
4. Add Dry Ingredients. Next, add the gluten-free flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to the wet ingredients. Gently stir until the flour is almost entirely mixed in (with just a few floury patches left).
5. Fold In Chocolate Chips. Add the chocolate chips and stir just until the chocolate chips are evenly mixed in and there are no dry patches left. Try not to over-mix. Pour the zucchini bread batter into the prepared pan and smooth out on top.
6. Bake 65-75 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean with just a few moist crumbs. (There shouldn’t be any wet or gooey batter.) After putting the zucchini bread in the oven, set a timer for 30 minutes and loosely tent the pan with aluminum foil so it doesn’t get too brown. Continue baking another 30-40 minutes, or until the bread is done.
7. Cool 1 Hour. Let the zucchini bread cool 1 hour in the pan before lifting out of the pan to cool on a cooling rack.
8. Serve & Store. When the zucchini bread has cooled, you can cut it into individual slices. Enjoy right away or store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 days. Or, you can wrap the whole loaf in plastic wrap, place it in an freezer bag and freeze up to 1 month. 

FAQ + Tips And Tricks For The BEst Gluten-Free Zucchini Bread

How To Keep Zucchini Bread From Getting Too Brown. There are a lot of natural sugars (and some added sugar!) in zucchini bread, so it has a tendency to brown quickly. To keep zucchini bread from burning, you can tent it with foil about halfway through baking. I recommend setting a timer for 30 minutes, tenting the zucchini bread loosely (don’t seal the foil around the edges of the pan), and then let it bake another 30-40 minutes, or until it’s done.

What’s The Best Way To Grate Zucchini? A food processor! Seriously, you can grate zucchini in SECONDS with a food processor and a grating blade. If you don’t have one, feel free to use a box grater to get the job done!

Do I Need To Squeeze The Water Out Of Zucchini For Zucchini Bread? Some recipes call for you to squeeze the excess moisture out of the grated zucchini with paper towels or cheesecloth. You should only do this if your recipe calls for it. This recipe was created NOT to need the zucchini squeezed. For best results, always follow what your recipe advises, since it can impact the ratio of wet:dry ingredients in the recipe.

Should I Peel Zucchini For Zucchini Bread? Nope! There’s no need to peel the zucchini before baking. It will soften during cooking and give baked goods like gf zucchini bread and zucchini muffins their signature green flecks.

Can I Use Butter Instead of Oil For Zucchini Bread? Yes, just keep in mind that oil is 100% fat, where butter is 80% fat, so the bread won’t be as moist unless you make other adjustments to the recipe.

🌟 Leave a star review below when you try our Gluten-Free Zucchini Bread recipe! We can’t wait to hear what you think!

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