This Easy Zucchini Bread Recipe is great to use up any extra zucchini. The Brown Butter Zucchini Bread is perfectly moist and is topped with a brown butter streusel topping. This zucchini bread recipe comes together quickly and is perfect for any time!
Recipe Originally Published in July 2017 - updated June 2021

Table of contents
Easy Zucchini Bread Recipe
Hi hi! Just popping in to share a re-work of this recipe for Zucchini bread! I first published this Easy Zucchini Bread Recipe in 2017 and decided it was time to give it a re-shoot. I am always pleasantly surprised (and relieved) that the recipes from back in the day on my site still work super well, but I have learnt a lot since then in regards to writing helpful recipes, so it makes sense to revisit them every now and then just to give things a bit of a clean up.
So here we are - a four years later zucchini bread re-work! This one is so, so good, and it's great without the streusel too if you're not feeling too motivated. It's a great way to use up those spare zucchini you may have kicking around in your fridge. We always end up with loads in summer and it's so nice to use some of them up in a sweet application like this zucchini bread.
How to make Zucchini Bread
This Zucchini Bread Recipe was adapted from the one on my friend Deb of Smitten Kitchen's site. I browned the butter and then in a classic Cloudy move, topped the zucchini bread with a brown butter oat streusel. Full credit goes to Deb though for an absolute banger of a base recipe. It's super easy to make, and comes together quickly, even with the streusel.
- Brown the butter. I'm going to get you to do this all at once, then divide it up to use throughout the recipe.
- Make the streusel. This step is super simple - just combine the dry ingredients then add the brown butter and mix until clumpy.
- Combine all wet ingredients and whisk together.
- Add dry ingredients and mix to combine until a batter forms.
- Fold the zucchini through. Zucchini adds amazing moisture and is a flavour chameleon - it takes the form of the ingredients it is added to.
- Transfer to a pan smooth off. Add the streusel. It will seem like loads but don't worry.
- Bake until done, then leave in the pan to cool slightly. Remove, leave to cool and enjoy!
What is a Pullman Pan?
I made this Zucchini Bread recipe in a Pullman pan. A pullman pan is a square shaped bread pan with super straight sides. It often comes with a lid to use for making bread that slides on, so if you are using a bread recipe that rises a lot you can add the lid and get a nice square loaf.
For this recipe I didn't use the lid, but I love to use my pullman pan as often as I can to make loaf cakes. It gives a beautiful tall cake with perfectly square sides. I love it a lot and I think that a pullman is a great investment to make as it is super versatile.
If you don't have a pullman pan then that is no issue at all - this recipe can just be made in a loaf pan! You can use a 9"x5" (23x132cm) loaf pan which will give you a slight wider flatter loaf. Or, you can pop it into an 8"x4" (20x10cm) loaf pan which will give you something a little taller.
Brown Butter Streusel Topping
This Zucchini bread has a super simple brown butter streusel on it. I love adding streusel to things as it gives amazing texture. This streusel has oats in it for texture, and is toasty from the brown butter. I also added in some turbinado sugar which makes it a little crunchy - if you don't have any you can just sub in brown or white sugar.
I usually make the streusel then leave it to sit while I put together the zucchini bread. You can choose how you add it - either clumpy or crumbled up. I like to squish parts between my fingers just to make some clumps in it before adding to the pan.
Don't worry if the streusel looks like a super thick layer - the zucchini bread will rise up and it will spread out as it bakes.
Accounting for moisture loss with Brown Butter
You will notice that the initial quantity of butter is not the same as the two quantities of brown butter called for in the recipe. This is to account for the moisture lost when you brown butter. Browning butter cooks off the water and browns the milk solids. This means that you end up with a smaller quantity of butter than you started with. You will see that I call for 255g butter to make the brown butter, but the butter in the recipe only adds up to 195g. This is me accounting for the moisture loss. It's not a typo.
Different butter loses different amounts of moisture when browned due to how it is made. For example most US butter has a higher water content than European or NZ butter, so you will end up with less browned butter relative to the quantity you started with as you are cooking off more moisture. This is why baking by weight is so important. Different butters will yield different quantities of brown butter so it is important to re-weigh your brown butter.
How to make Brown Butter ahead of time
If I know I am going to be making a few things that have brown butter in them (or testing a recipe that uses brown butter and I know I will be making it multiple times), I like to batch make brown butter. This involves browning a whole lot of butter at once, then cooling it and storing it in the fridge .
The trick to batch making brown butter is to stir it as it cools. This distributes all the browned milk solids (the part that makes it brown butter) throughout the butter. This means when you need to use some you can just cut off what you need. If you don't stir it as it cools, all the milk solids sink to the bottom of the container and you don't get them throughout.
A quick reminder - the brown sediment at the bottom of the brown butter is supposed to be there! That's what makes it brown butter. The milk solids cook and sink to the bottom. That's all the good stuff.
FAQ for Zucchini Bread
Yes! Just leave it off!
Not if you don't want to. Just replace the brown butter in each component with the equivalent amount of melted butter.
Yes it should freeze fine - just wrap it tightly in plastic wrap before freezing.
I used a Pullman Pan. A loaf pan works great too.
I have had a really big google and haven't been able to find one sorry! If that changes I will let you know!
Not for this recipe! It doesn't have to be wrung out either - just grate it and add it in. Note that the weight is for grated zucchini, not the weight of the whole zucchini.
Brown sugar or a mix of brown and white works great.
For more Quick Bread recipes, check out:
- Easy Banana Bread
- Carrot Cake Loaf with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
- Olive Oil Passionfruit Loaf Cake
- Cranberry Loaf Cake
❤️ Made this recipe and love it? ❤️
I would LOVE for you to leave me a review and star rating below to let me know how you liked it! Also, please make sure to tag me on Instagram!
Answers to your baking questions
Over the years, many of you have asked me questions about:
- baking in grams
- adjusting oven temperatures
- what kind of salt to use
- and many more!
I've curated and answered them all for your easy reference in this frequently asked questions post!
Recipe for Zucchini Bread
PrintZucchini Bread
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 Servings 1x
- Category: Loaf Cakes
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Easy Zucchini Bread Recipe is great to use up any extra zucchini. The Brown Butter Zucchini Bread is perfectly moist and is topped with a brown butter streusel topping. This zucchini bread recipe comes together quickly and is perfect for any time!
Ingredients
Brown Butter
- 250g unsalted butter, cold from the fridge is fine
Streusel Topping
- 100g raw sugar / turbinado sugar
- 95g all-purpose flour
- 40g old fashioned oats
- ¼ tsp salt
- 55g brown butter, melted
Zucchini Bread
- 140g brown butter, melted
- 100g light or dark brown sugar
- 100g granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- ½ tsp vanilla
- 1 ½ tsp cinnamon
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 280g all-purpose flour
- 250g grated zucchini
Instructions
BROWN BUTTER
- Place the butter in a medium saucepan, and place over medium heat. Cook until the butter has melted, and then continue to cook, swirling the pan often, until the butter foams and turns golden brown and nutty - this should take 3-4 minutes.
- Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool slightly. This is the brown butter to be used throughout the recipe.
STREUSEL
- Combine all ingredients except for the brown butter in a medium bowl.
- Add the butter and stir with a spatula until it forms a clumpy mixture.
- Set aside while you prepare the zucchini bread.
ZUCCHINI BREAD
- Preheat the oven to 350°f / 180°c. Grease and line a loaf pan with parchment paper, extending the parchment over the sides to use a sling. I used a pullman pan (see notes in blog post about pan size)
- In a large bowl, combine brown butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Whisk until well combined and the mixture has thickened slightly.
- Combine the cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and flour. Add to the wet ingredients and fold until almost incorporated.
- Add the grated zucchini and fold to mix. Take care to not over mix - only mix until everything is just combined.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth with a spatula or the back of a spoon.
- Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the surface of the batter. It will look quite thick - do not worry.
- Transfer to the preheated oven and bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the middle comes out clean.
- Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing and transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Store leftovers lightly wrapped at room temperature.
Notes
Zucchini Bread Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Keywords: Zucchini, Brown Butter, Streusel, Zucchini Bread
Comments
Making this soon! Good excuse for me to finally buy a Pullman pan 😂 also where is the rectangular cooling rack thingy from?
Yay yessss! It's called a 'safety grater' hahah it sucks at grating but it's a cute prop!
10/10 so so so goodnand easy. I didn't even brown my butter for long enough and it still tasted amazing. If I actually do it right next time I think I'll never be able to eat anything else ever again.
★★★★★
so good!
★★★★★
thanks for posting this, it's zucchini season here!
★★★★★
So delicious and easy to make! The streusel on top absolutely makes this loaf! I admit I was lazy and didn't make the brown butter this time, but next time for sure!
Thank you!
★★★★★
The cake is not even in the oven yet and I already love it! Thanks for the recipe, I'm sure we'll love it.
★★★★★
This is so good! As soon as we finished it, my seven year old asked when I would be making another. The brown butter and streusel topping make this so so delicious.
★★★★★
I tripled the recipe and it was a perfect fit for my (2) 9” x 5” loaf pans. Haven’t tasted it yet, but the loaves are gorgeous and my kitchen smells amazing. Love the addition of brown butter.
★★★★★
Tried this one because my parents brought me some massive zucchinis from the garden. It was really good and as I didn‘t have enough butter for the streusel, I‘ll have to make it again soon!
★★★★★
This recipe is fantastic! I made it last year and am counting down the days to zucchini season to make it again. Thank you Erin!
★★★★★
Could you make your recipe in cups, teaspoons etc?
Shirley
No sorry, cups aren't accurate - there is more on this on my FAQ page. You are welcome to convert!
Absolutely delicious! My only issue is how crumbly the topping is - it falls all over the place when I cut each slice. Currently using it as sprinkles on each piece. Still tasty, but might add less flour next time I make the streusel! 4.5 ☆
★★★★
I didn't have everything for the streusel, so I just made the bread. Trust the process! I was a little thrown off about the texture right before adding the zucchini, it made a very shaggy, almost dryish- dough. Once the zucchini mixed in, it was a perfect quick bread dough 🙂 I also squeezed my grated zucchini through a cheese cloth to take out some of the moisture since my quick breads are always too wet and then take forever to bake. 10/10!!!
★★★★★
This looks awesome! Do you think I could add some chocolate chunks into the batter?
I haven't tried but it should be ok!
I accidentally grew a giant yellow squash and knew I had to use at least some of it for zucchini bread, so it was perfect timing that Erin reposted this one. So glad I made it because it’s delicious. Other than using yellow squash, I made a few changes: reduced sugar (because I like my bakes “not too sweet”), added buckwheat groats to the streusel (trying to use them up and they added a beautiful crispy crunch) and also used like 10% more squash because that’s just how much I grated and couldn’t be bothered to figure out what to do with it. Despite all these changes, it came out beautifully and was so, so tasty. Also, I understand that others made this without the streusel for totally valid reasons but that was my favourite part! Yes, it falls off easily because there’s so much… and I just spoon into my mouth right after I’m done with my slice. Will definitely make this my go to zucchini bread recipe from now on.
★★★★★