Freshly shredded zucchini melts into this moist, tender, tangy sourdough zucchini bread for a simple and delicious loaf.
Key Takeaways: Sourdough Zucchini Bread
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Bake Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour and 15 minutes
- Servings: 8 slices
- Cook Method: Baked in a greased 9″ x 5″ loaf pan.
- Flavor & Texture: Yields a sweet, tender loaf with warm cinnamon and soft, shredded zucchini.
- Difficulty: Easy. Combine ingredients and bake for one hour for a delicious, tender quick bread.
- Why this Recipe? This recipe incorporates garden zucchini and sourdough starter for a deliciously spiced, tangy loaf that can be served for breakfast or dessert.
On their own, zucchini might underwhelm with flavor and overwhelm with production. Yet their mild, unassuming profile works perfectly for adopting surrounding flavors. We love it in a savory zucchini lasagna, but when combined with cinnamon and brown sugar, shredded zucchini adds incredible moisture and a pleasant texture to a tangy sourdough quick bread.
With simple ingredients and garden-fresh produce, this sourdough zucchini bread easily serves as breakfast and dessert.
Consider serving sourdough zucchini bread lightly toasted with homemade raw butter, spread with homemade cream cheese and a sprinkle of cinnamon, or topped with a heap of homemade whipped cream and a cup of coffee.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Garden-fresh zucchini – If you grow zucchini in your summer garden, you know how prolific they are! This recipe puts fresh zucchini to good use! Double the recipe if you’re swimming in zucchini.
Delicious snack or breakfast – Zucchini adds lots of moisture, yielding a tender, moist loaf without being dense. Quick breads like sourdough zucchini bread, sourdough peach quick bread, and sourdough strawberry quick bread offer a sweet, produce-packed option for a delicious breakfast or snack.
Simple and easy – Sourdough starter mixes up quickly with pantry staples and fresh zucchini for a quick, easy bake.
Ingredients
Zucchini – For two cups of shredded zucchini, you’ll need 1-2 larger zucchini or 2-3 medium zucchini.
Vanilla extract – A high-quality or homemade vanilla extract adds the best flavor.
Sourdough starter – Active or discard will work for this recipe.
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Recipe Modifications and Variations
Add up to one cup of mix-ins for a single loaf of zucchini bread.
- Chocolate chips
- Shredded coconut or chopped, dried fruit
- Chopped nuts – pecans, walnuts, almonds, etc.
Or swap the store-bought flour for freshly milled flour, like in my whole wheat zucchini bread recipe. Sourdough discard is optional, but adds some tang to the whole wheat version.
How to Make Sourdough Zucchini Bread
Step 1: Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
Step 2: In a stand mixer or large bowl, whisk melted butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
Step 3: Shred two cups of zucchini, leaving the peel on. Add the shredded zucchini, vanilla extract, eggs, and sourdough starter to the butter and sugar mixture. In this recipe, I don’t squeeze out the extra moisture from the zucchinis like I would in a zucchini lasagna.
Step 4: Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients a little bit at a time until just incorporated. To keep the crumb tender after baking, it’s important not to over-mix the batter. Gently fold in any other add-ins you would like.
Step 5: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Pour the batter into a greased or parchment-lined 9″ x 5″ loaf pan.
Step 6: Bake for 50-60 minutes. Test bread at 50 minutes with a toothpick or cake tester. If the bread starts to get too dark before it is done baking, cover it with parchment paper (my preference) or foil until the center is baked through. Cool on a wire rack before slicing.
How to Make Long Fermented Sourdough Zucchini Bread
Start the batter 12-24 hours before you plan to make zucchini bread. This gives the sourdough starter time to ferment the flour, making it more digestible and the nutrients more bioavailable.
Step 1: Combine sourdough starter, melted butter, eggs, and flour, stirring well. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and allow to ferment at room temperature for 6 hours.
Step 2: Place the batter in the fridge and allow it to ferment for another 6-18 hours.
Step 3: The next day, add brown sugar, shredded zucchini, vanilla extract, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt to your fermented batter. Mix in any add-ins at this time. Mix on low to medium speed until combined. Don’t overmix.
Step 4: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Pour the batter into a greased or parchment-lined loaf pan and bake for 50-60 minutes. Test bread at 50 minutes with a toothpick or cake tester. If the bread starts to get too dark before it is done baking, cover it with parchment paper (my preference) or foil until the center is baked through. Cool on a wire rack before slicing.
Lisa’s Expert Tips
- If you love the dainty individuality of sourdough blueberry muffins or sourdough lemon poppy seed muffins, divide this batter into greased or paper-lined muffin tins and bake for 15-20 minutes for sourdough zucchini muffins. These are great for breakfast or a portable snack. For a chocolate spin, try these sourdough chocolate zucchini muffins.
- Sourdough discard or active sourdough starter can be used for this recipe. The rise doesn’t come from the starter, but from baking soda and baking powder.
- This recipe is a basic zucchini bread recipe. You can easily mix it up by adding other delicious add-ins and variations.
- You don’t need to squeeze or pat the zucchini dry. The moisture works perfectly in this bread!
- No need to peel. The skin of the zucchini softens when it bakes, adding nutrition and a little color to the loaf.
- Don’t overmix the batter. Stir just until combined to keep the crumb tender.
- Let the bread cool for 10-15 minutes before slicing.
- Convert to freshly milled flour for more nutrition, texture, and flavor.
Sourdough Zucchini Bread FAQs
This bread stores well for 4-5 days at room temperature in an airtight container. For longer storage, wrap well and keep in the fridge for up to a week or the freezer for up to 3 months. Quick breads freeze well! For other bakes that freeze beautifully, stock your freezer with sourdough brioche, unfrosted whole wheat cinnamon rolls, sourdough croissant bread, sourdough baguettes, or sourdough banana bread.
It is a wonderful way to use up all those garden zucchinis during the summer, add moisture to the bread, and sneak in some veggies.
This is purely dependent on the recipe. Some recipes may call for more moisture, whereas some may not need the extra moisture and require squeezing out the water. For this recipe, I like the extra moisture and don’t squeeze the zucchini.
Most likely this is due to not being cooked all the way through the middle. As a higher-moisture bread recipe, it takes a while to bake. If the outside is getting too dark and the inside isn’t cooked through yet, I suggest covering the bread with parchment paper or foil until the center is baked through.
A loaf may sink in the center if it is underbaked, overmixed, or if the batter is too wet. Frozen zucchini that is thawed for this recipe may add too much moisture to the batter unless drained or patted with a towel.
More Sweet Recipes from the Farmhouse
- Healthy Apple and Banana Muffins
- Sourdough Cinnamon Raisin Bread
- Sourdough Monkey Bread
- Brioche French Toast
- Blueberry Sourdough Bagels
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love it if you could come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone.
Sourdough Zucchini Bread
Equipment
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
Wet Ingredients
- ½ cup melted butter or coconut oil
- 1 ¼ cups brown sugar
- 2 cups shredded zucchini
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup sourdough starter
Instructions
- Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
- In a stand mixer or large bowl, whisk melted butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
- Shred two cups of zucchini, leaving the peel on. Add the shredded zucchini, vanilla extract, eggs, and sourdough starter to the butter and sugar mixture.
- Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients a little bit at a time until just incorporated. To keep the crumb tender after baking, it’s important not to over-mix the batter. Gently fold in any other add-ins you would like.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Pour the batter into a greased or parchment-lined 9×5 loaf pan.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes. Test bread at 50 minutes with a toothpick or cake tester. Cool on a wire rack before slicing.
Long Fermented Version
- Start 12-24 hours before you plan to bake the zucchini bread. Combine sourdough starter, melted butter, eggs, and flour, stirring well. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and allow to ferment at room temperature for 6 hours.
- Place the batter in the fridge and allow it to ferment for another 6-18 hours.
- The next day, add brown sugar, shredded zucchini, vanilla extract, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt to your fermented batter. Mix in any add-ins at this time. Mix on low to medium speed until combined. Don’t overmix.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Pour the batter into a greased or parchment-lined loaf pan and bake for 50-60 minutes. Cool on a wire rack before slicing.
Notes
- If you love the dainty individuality of sourdough blueberry muffins or sourdough lemon poppy seed muffins, divide this batter into greased or paper-lined muffin tins and bake for 15-20 minutes for sourdough zucchini muffins. These are great for breakfast or a portable snack. For a chocolate spin, try these sourdough chocolate zucchini muffins.
- Sourdough discard or active sourdough starter can be used for this recipe. The rise doesn’t come from the starter, but from baking soda and baking powder.
- This recipe is a basic zucchini bread recipe. You can easily mix it up by adding other delicious add-ins and variations.
- You don’t need to squeeze or pat the zucchini dry. The moisture works perfectly in this bread!
- No need to peel. The skin of the zucchini softens when it bakes, adding nutrition and a little color to the loaf.
- Don’t overmix the batter. Stir just until combined to keep the crumb tender.
- Let the bread cool for 10-15 minutes before slicing.
- Convert to freshly milled flour for more nutrition, texture, and flavor.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I did the long fermented version and had trouble mixing the fermented dough with the other ingredients. The dough ended up in clumps in the bread. Any idea why this happened? Do I need to warm the dough before mixing or just stick to the quick version?
The fermented dough is harder to incorporate the next day, but it should never leave you with clumps in your bread. I am not sure why that happened.
this zucchini bread is the best recipe ive used! i add chocolate chips and my family loves it.
Glad you enjoy it!
Made this for the first time for a potluck dinner, there were no traces left behind. It turned out moist, with subtle sweetness and comforting spice. Thank you!
Wonderful!
I’ve already mixed all the ingredients together, can I still do the long ferment?
I would play it in the fridge to long ferment for a day or two since you added the eggs and zucchini. My other concern would be if you already adding the baking powder and baking soda. It may not rise as much.
This looks delicious and I will be trying it soon. Is there any way you can make a recipe card for the long ferment version? Thank you for all the recipes you share!
I actually can’t make a separate card, but I can include the directions in the note sections.
Sooo good! I subbed honey for the sugar and added a cup of oats and a TBS of brewers yeast since baby is due here any day, and it is soooo good!! Sometimes these breads can be too sweet, but both my husband and toddler ate them up! I doubled the recipe and made a loaf and muffins. I also fermented the whole recipe, eggs and zucchini together out on the counter for about 5-6 hours. Soooo good!!
I tried the fermented option. I was a little hesitant to include the eggs, but I survived. The batter the next day (after ferment in the fridge) was very hard. I let it soften for about 30 mins but it could have used more time. Because of that the batter did not fully mix, but this turned it into a streusel like muffin– slightly dryer spots, then buttery sugary goodness. It was delicious, but I will try thawing and mixing better next round. The flavor was 5/5
I was looking to see if anyone had that same issue as me- I let mine thaw for 40 minutes but it still was slightly “chunky” when I mixed everything together after the long ferment in the fridge. I think next time I’ll leave out the eggs for the initial mix and let it long ferment on the counter to see if that helps the batter consistency. Still tastes good though 💗
Second time making this and both times it was amazing! I used dark brown sugar, drained the zucchini, and topped with halved pecans. Kept the rest of the recipe the same. It makes a HUGE loaf and comes out so moist and delicious. We have an abundance of garden zucchini this year so I will definitely be making this recipe all summer long!
That sounds delicious. So glad you enjoy this recipe so much!
I made the long fermented version since I wanted to get the full benefits of the sourdough, but your writtten recipe for this version leaves out the cinnamon so I didn’t realize until after putting it in the oven that main flavor ingredient was left out. Hoping it turns out yummy still but I know it won’t be the same without it.
So sorry about that! Thanks for pointing that out – I’ve updated it! You could always try sprinkling a little cinnamon on top of your slice to add that flavor back in. I hope you still enjoy it!
I had forgotten the cinnamon way back before it was added. Lisa has done an edit and it now shows up. I made a cinnamon butter, added it to one side of the sliced bread, placed it in a skillet and caramelized/fried it. It was so good, I now use that as an extra when friends come over. It is a nice extra and many have raved about it. I have shared this site with so many people. Lisa is the best.
I made this recipe using gluten free sourdough starter and gluten free flour and it was amazing! I would definitely bake the full 60 minutes next time though as there was a slight gooey spot in the middle even though when I checked with a toothpick it came out clean. It still puffed up nicely and turned out beautiful.
So glad that worked for you! Thanks for sharing!!