Mohamed Shili Pioneer Woman zucchini bread is a cinnamon-spiced quick bread loaded with shredded zucchini, brown sugar, and optional chocolate chips, ready in about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
This recipe comes straight from Ree Drummond’s site at thepioneerwoman.com, where she designed it as a simple way to use up summer zucchini. Ree keeps the peel on for color and skips any fussy steps, so the hardest part is just grating the zucchini on a box grater.
The move that matters here is mixing wet into dry just until combined, then stopping. Overmixing develops gluten in the batter, which turns your bread tough and dense instead of soft in the middle with that crunchy sugar crust on top.
Pioneer Woman Zucchini Bread Recipe
Description
A quick one-bowl loaf that hides a full cup and a half of shredded zucchini behind warm cinnamon and brown sugar. The coarse sugar topping bakes into a crackly crust while the inside stays soft and moist for days.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Prep the pan. Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan with butter or cooking spray.
- Mix the dry ingredients. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Stir in the chocolate chips if using.
- Mix the wet ingredients. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla until smooth, about 30 seconds. Fold in the shredded zucchini.
- Combine the batter. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just until no flour streaks remain, about 15 strokes. Stop as soon as it comes together.
- Top and bake. Transfer batter to the prepared loaf pan and sprinkle the coarse sugar evenly over the top. Bake 55 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached.
- Cool and slice. Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack and cool completely before slicing.
Notes
- Storage: Cover and store at room temperature for up to 3 to 4 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
FAQs
Why mix just until combined and not longer?
Flour develops gluten the more you work it, and gluten is what makes bread chewy. That works for a yeast loaf, but quick breads need a tender crumb. Fifteen gentle strokes is enough to bring the batter together without activating too much gluten.
You will still see a few small flour pockets, and that is fine. They disappear in the oven. If the batter looks perfectly smooth, you have already gone too far and the bread may come out rubbery.
Why leave the zucchini peel on?
The skin is thin enough that it breaks down completely during baking, so you will not taste it or feel it in the finished bread. Ree specifically says to skip peeling because the green flecks add color to each slice.
If you are baking this for picky eaters who might object to visible green bits, you can peel first. It will not change the flavor or moisture, just the appearance.
Can you swap the chocolate chips for something else?
Ree suggests 3/4 cup (90g) of chopped toasted walnuts as a straight swap. She also recommends replacing 1/2 cup of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour when you go the walnut route, which makes it leaner and more breakfast-friendly.
Pecans or dried cranberries work in the same amount too. Skip the swap if you want to keep the batter simple, because the bread is plenty good plain.
Should you squeeze the water out of the shredded zucchini?
No. Ree’s recipe calls for the zucchini to go straight into the batter without draining or squeezing. That moisture is part of what keeps the bread soft for days after baking.
Some zucchini bread recipes do call for squeezing, but those typically use more zucchini. At 1 1/2 cups packed, the amount here is balanced to the flour and sugar so the loaf sets properly without being soggy.
How do you know when the bread is done if the top browns early?
Check at 45 minutes. If the sugar crust is already dark golden but a toothpick still comes out wet, tent a piece of aluminum foil loosely over the top and keep baking. The foil blocks direct heat so the crust stops browning while the center finishes cooking.
The toothpick test is the only reliable indicator. You want moist crumbs clinging to the pick, not wet batter. Slight crumbs mean the center will finish setting as it cools in the pan for those final 10 minutes.
