Healthy Zucchini Bread
This healthy zucchini bread is lower in calories, sugar, and fat but full of flavor! It’s moist and delicious, making it the perfect recipe to use up any extra zucchini!
Can we take a moment to appreciate how versatile zucchini is? It can be spiralized into noodles, sliced into fries, or turned into muffins. Sweet? Yes. Savory? Yes. Healthy? Of course. Another bonus? It’s easy on the budget. I know healthy foods can start to get expensive, so zucchini is an excellent budget-friendly way to get in some extra veggies.
I was craving zucchini bread, but when I did a quick search online for a recipe, I found bread recipes that were filled with canola oil and refined sugar. Ugh! I wanted something that would satisfy my sweet craving but in a healthy way. So I jotted down a couple of recipes that looked good. Then I tweaked and tweaked (while plugging everything into a nutritional calculator) until I got something that I’d actually feel good about eating. If you slice up this loaf into 12 slices, each slice will be about 145 calories. It could be a little more if you add extra chocolate chips or walnuts, but at least you’re starting from a good place!
What is Whole Wheat Pastry Flour?
For this recipe, I’m using whole wheat pastry flour. That ingredient typically sparks the question “What is whole wheat pastry flour and how is it different from other flours?” Whole wheat pastry flour is milled from a different kind of wheat. It’s made from white soft wheat rather than red hard wheat. Don’t let the term “white” confuse you. It is still 100% whole wheat flour. But it has a lower protein content than regular whole wheat flour so it has a better texture for things like bread. I like the Bob’s Red Mill brand.
How to Make Low Calorie Zucchini Bread
Grate the zucchini using a box grater, then Wrap the zucchini shreds in a clean dishcloth or paper towel. Squeeze it gently to remove some of the water.
You should end up with 1 cup of packed shredded zucchini.
Combine the zucchini with the coconut oil, maple syrup, egg, yogurt, and vanilla. Then stir in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
If you want to keep this low-calorie, you can bake it as-is. For a little extra sweetness, add in mini chocolate chips!
Substitution Ideas
- If you don’t have whole wheat pastry flour, you can substitute all-purpose flour. I like using whole wheat pastry flour because it adds more protein and fiber, but regular flour will work just fine!
- I like adding chocolate chips but you could leave them out or add walnuts or dried fruit!
- I haven’t tried it, but if you like monk fruit or stevia as a calorie-free sweetener, the liquid kind could be swapped for the maple syrup in this recipe. If you give it a try, let me know what you think!
Still have more zucchini to use? Check out this list of 25 healthy zucchini recipes!
Print
Low Calorie Zucchini Bread
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 40 mins
- Total Time: 55 mins
- Yield: 12 1x
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Bread
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
This lightened up zucchini bread is lower in calories, sugar, and fat but full of flavor! It’s moist and delicious, making it the perfect recipe to use up any extra zucchini!
Ingredients
- 1 cup shredded zucchini
- 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar (optional)
- Optional mix-ins: chocolate chips, raisins, or walnuts.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Wrap the zucchini shreds in a clean dishcloth or papertowels. Squeeze it gently to remove some of the water. You should end up with 1 cup of loosely packed shredded zucchini.
- Combine the zucchini with the coconut oil, maple syrup, egg, yogurt, and vanilla.
- Stir in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
- I added in 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips at this point!
- Spray a 9×5 pan with non-stick spray. Pour in the batter.
- Sprinkle with brown sugar on top, if desired.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let the bread cool completely before slicing.
The hardest part of this recipe is waiting for the loaf to cool before you slice it. I couldn’t wait more than 5 minutes, but it’s really best if you can wait an hour or so. Look at those little zucchini flecks! And those chocolate chips, of course. Alex and I both enjoyed a slice of warm bread on Sunday afternoon. It was a sweet little snack!
Looking for other quick bread recipes? Here are a few of my favorites!
What’s your favorite way to use zucchini?
what is the serving size?
Turned out beautifully. I did blueberries instead of chocolate chips and had to use low fat sour cream instead of yogurt. Moist and tons of flavor. I’ll keep this recipe. Yum! Yum! 😋
Sounds perfect except I’m dairy free, what can I use in place of the Greek yogurt?
Mashed bananas can easily sub for greek yogurt. or almond milk (eye it so its not too runny). thats what i did!
It’s an amazing recipe – especially for an athlete. Would it work if I added grated carrot?
This recipe is so great I’ve made it every week for the last month! I’m watching my calorie intake so I use apple sauce instead of coconut oil, then add a few walnuts and raisins. Really wonderful!
This zucchini bread came out great! I never would have guessed it was lower in calories!
I appreciate how this is a healthier alternative to many zucchini bread recipes and that you provided substitution ideas as well. Thank you!
Delicious and great zucchini flavor. Loved that it was made with whole wheat pastry flour..all the nutrition but still kept it light in texture!
I shocked my kids with zucchini fritters the other day and can’t wait to see their reaction to bread with zucchini in it! Such a great way to sneak in those veggies and so tasty too!