Summer and fall favorites collide in this moist and delicious sweet bread that’s loaded with nutritious pumpkin, zucchini and whole wheat flour.
I’m at that point where I’m not quite ready to say goodbye to summer, but all the fabulousness of fall sounds so fun and yummy yum!
We can’t get enough zucchini right now because it’s so fresh and there are so many ways to eat it. I just keep it stocked and am always finding ways to build it into our meals, snacks and desserts throughout the day.
Zucchini bread is one of our favorites, but I wanted to switch it up a bit so I went to the pantry to see what I could mix in it to make it extra special. A can of pumpkin actually fell out when I opened the doors so I took that as a sign and thought why hadn’t I thought to do this before?!
I bake with pumpkin year-round because it’s so healthy and adds incredible moisture to muffins, cakes, pancakes, etc. The thought of how moist and marvelous this bread was going to be before I even started mixing the batter, had me bursting with excitement!
A blend of summer and fall becomes this beautiful loaf of bread that’s slightly sweet, packed with pumpkin, studded with zucchini, and hearty from the whole wheat flour with a hint of cinnamon in every bite. So unbelievably delicious!
I’m so in love with this bread and with all the zucchini I have on hand, I could pretty much bake a loaf every day. I can’t imagine it ever getting old. Talk about a perfect breakfast alongside a cup of coffee or an afternoon snack with a glass of tea. Sweet bread bliss!
Enjoy!
xoxo,
*This recipe is new and improved from the August 2014 version.
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ cup canola oil
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 (15 ounce) can pure pumpkin
- 1-1/2 cups shredded zucchini, squeezed and patted dry of excess liquid
- thinly sliced zucchini for garnishing, if desired
- generous sprinkle of granulated sugar on top
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease and flour an 9x5-inch loaf pan and set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the oil, granulated sugar, brown sugar, egg and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir with a spoon until well combined. Stir in the pumpkin then fold in the shredded zucchini until well combined.
- Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Place some thin slices of zucchini down the middle of the loaf, if desired. Sprinkle the top of the batter generously with granulated sugar. Bake for 65-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If the bread starts to brown too much on top, tint with foil until cooked all the way through. Let cool in pan 30 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Love, love, love this!!! So good and uses lots of pumpkin😊
So great to hear, Kim! One of my favorite breads to bake this time of year! Enjoy! 🙂
I was so happy to find a recipe that doesn’t use a lot of sugar. My husband is diabetic so I have to be careful about the glycemic load a recipe has.
To make this recipe a little healthier, I used stevia and coconut sugar, for the oil I used a combination of coconut oil and avocado oil. I used fresh cooked pumpkin (from our garden) that was left after making a pie and a zucchini fresh from the garden. And because I had a little pumpkin left over, I made myself a pumpkin pie spiced latte to enjoy while I clean up the mess!
The bread came out great, not too sweet but lots of flavor! We enjoyed it with a salad for our lunch!