Did you know that they sell quick bread box mixes in grocery stores!? I think that’s so strange. Fake flour, loads of sugar, and ultra dehydrated blueberries in a box to be mixed with water and eggs. This concerns me… deeply. Exactly how quick does a quick bread have to be to make it in this world?
I think homemade quick breads are dreamy. With enough creativity and guts, you can throw just about anything into a quick bread and call it delicious. This go around I tried zucchini and sweet potato. The combination produced a full and unique flavor: not too heavy on the zucchini or sweet potato flavors. And of course, because I’m me, I also loaded the bread with spices, nuts and cranberries. You can modify if to your taste, I make room for that in the recipe. Because, yes, I care.
What’s your favorite kind of quick bread? If you say the boxed kind, I swear, I’ll scream.
Zucchini Sweet Potato Bread
adapted from Bon Appetit Magazine, November 1992
2 cups all-purpose flour (I used 1 cup all-purpose and 1 cup whole wheat flour)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves (the nutmeg and the cloves are optional, you’ll just have a less spicy bread)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar (I used 1 cup granulated sugar and 1 cup brown sugar)
3/4 cup vegetable oil (I used 1/2 cup oil and 1/4 cup apple sauce. Less fat.)
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup grated zucchini
1 1/2 cup peeled and grated sweet potato
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup dried cranberries (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9x5x3- inch loaf pan and set aside. Sift the first 7 ingredients into a medium sized bowl. In a seperate, large bowl, beat the sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla extract. Mix in the zucchini and sweet potato. Add the dry ingredients and stir just to combine. Fold in the nuts and cranberries and stir well.
Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Cool bread in pan on a rack for 15 minutes. Loosen the edges of the bread with a butter knife and turn out on a rack to cool completely. Can be prepared 1 day in advance. Wrap in foil and keep at room temperature.
Sandra McCollin
I made this bread for Thanksgiving many years ago and it was a big hit. It is delicious
Jerry De Courtney Odle
I have made this bread more than 8 times now and every time it is just great. All the family and our friends just love it. Thanks you very much for this excellent recipe
Tiffany
This has just become my new favorite quick bread recipe – oh my, this is delicious!! I did add a tsp of dark rum (it was a good addition in the dark n stormy banana bread that I thought it might do well in this too), and subbed chocolate chips for the cranberries, and this bread came out bomb! I’m going to go finish off the entire loaf right now :)
Felicia
I just made this and it’s great! I burned the edges a bit because I didn’t think it was quite done, but we’ll just say it gives the bread a nice crisp flair? I also made some extra batter into muffins. Great recipe!
AnnCP
Made your bread this morning. It was great. However, the amount of batter was overflowing came to the rim of the 9×5 bread pan, so I put a cups worth into a baby loaf pan. Question – would all have this fit into the loaf pan? Would it have overflowed versus raising high enough for an excellent looking loaf?
The only deviation I made to your recipe was using apple butter instead of applesauce.
I will make this again, but will add a little more spices (love spicy) and some orange or lemon zest, and plump up my craisins before adding them to mixture.
Great find! Thanks.
Riley
I just made this recipe and it was so good! My sister, who hates any vegetable of any kind, said it was her favorite “dessert” ever. I used chocolate chips instead of dried cranberries and almonds instead of walnuts since my family didn’t like those two ingredients. The chocolate got all melty and it made for an even more delicious bread. This is definitely a keeper!
meredith s.
I just made this = amazing!! I added flax seed and 1/2 a banana to cut down on the sugar. It is definitely my new favorite!!
Miriam
I just made this quick bread last night and loved it. I actually used already cooked sweet potato that I mashed (I’d cooked up a bunch of them in my slow cooker and needed to do something with them). It turned out great!
Son
I have never made bread… and tried it for the very first time! I’m not sure if it was the home-made apple sauce I substituted for the store bought one, but the bread was a complete disaster. Tasted really good, but its as burnt on the outside and soggy inside. I used a cast iron breast pan- perhaps that was the problem? Do you have any suggestions for how to adjust baking directions when using a cast iron pan? Thank you!
Kat @ The Indie Domestic
I just made this a second time and healthified it even MORE. I posted my recipe on my blog (here: http://indiedomestic.wordpress.com/2011/09/06/zucchini-carrot-superbread/ ). I even added spinach…just trust me. Joy, you’re inspiring as always!
Bailey Wallace
Just took this out of the oven. My apartment smells WONDERFUL! Very excited for it to cool so I can try it. Might have to make this for a boy. I sneakily asked him what he likes of his mom’s cooking and he said that she makes awesome zucchini bread. Lets see if mine can be as good. =]
Elizabeth
Yummy!!! I was looking for something to use up my zucchini. I didn’t have any sweet potatoes or cranberries so I used carrots instead and used chopped dried cherries and it turned out EXCELLENT!!! I made them into muffins – much more appealing for my 2 year old. He LOVED them (and so did I)!! Thanks!
karin
can I freeze it? thanks
karin
just made it, turned out great! thanks:)
Kat
I just made this recipe and tried to healthify it a little. I cut way back on the sugar (bad choice – not enough sweet) and I did about 1/2 cup flax meal and 1/2 cup applesauce instead of the oil (good choice – moist and nutty). Also I added chiffonaded (if that’s a word) spinach (neutral choice – can’t taste it). So…that’s what’s up. Overall lesson is flax meal works fabulously in this recipe. You’re still way better at this than I am.
Nina
Just made this!! It is VERY good :) I did half brown sugar and added dried cherries and pecans instead of walnuts. Otherwise I followed the recipe exactly!! Be sure to flour your pan well :))
Natalie
Made this over the weekend but used canned sweet potato and did half oil, half applesauce, and added the cranberries and it turned out GREAT! mmm so good!
torontogal
Followed your recipe exactly….house guests loved it and asked for recipe! Super moist and very flavorful! One minor problem…too much batter and it overflowed my 9×5 loaf pan. Next time, I will leave at least 1″ from top and make muffins with remaining batter. Thanks for sharing this delicious recipe!
Madeline
I just found your site! How has it taken me so long? I’ve printed so many recipes and can’t wait to try them all. This one looks really great. My anti-veggie girls love chocolate/zucchini bread.
Becca
ooookay so omg. i made this tonight. the entire process was pretty epic. for example, i definitely filled a too small loaf pan with too much of the batter. I even filled some ramekins with the extra batter, but to no avail, because ALAS the loaf pan was STILL too full and STILL spilled everywhere in my teeny tiny college apartment oven. but i didn’t want to give up! because i decided to add nutella to the loaf (like a half of a jar.. mmm yeah) and i just didn’t want to waste all of that nutella. and i hate failing – that might have something to do with it, too. but MORAL of the story is that the spillage happened 3 times throughout the baking process, but, despite smoke enveloping me and giving me a heart attack that i was about to burn down the apartment complex, i still didnt give up. and let me tell. am i ever glad. this was SO FREAKING GOOD. i brought it over to my friends and we drank wine and watched a scary movie while stuffing our face with this loaf. it was a good night.
Colleen
I made 1.5 x this recipe which made one smaller loaf (5″x3″?) and two dozen perfectly-sized muffins to bring in to work. I bake a lot for work, but this is getting many, many compliments today.
Becky Shinn
This recipe is wonderful! I didn’t have sweet potatoes so I used the white potatoes I had and it turned out great!
Thanks for this recipe!
Melissa Wender
I made this tonight after a friend passed the recipe along. I had to make adjustments due to not realizing I was running out of flour and vegetable oil, so I used a little corn meal and mostly olive oil. It turned out great! I used white sweet potato. I love this recipe!
Samantha
Do you know how you might be able to incorporate sweet potato puree in this instead of the grated sweet potato? I tend to have/use a lot of sweet potato puree and thought it would go great in a bread like this? Probably make it really moist!!
SummerJD
I must say some of your recipes are quite…interesting? but regardless of ther ingredients they all look delicious.
Katie Greenlaw
Joy, I made this and it was delicious! I omitted the cranberries and nuts since my husband doesn’t like them. It made 5 mini-loaves and froze beautifully. What a great treat! :)
Natalie
Boy, am I glad I ran into this recipe. What a lovely blog. I’ve been roaming around for at least an hour now.
I’m going to make this bread this afternoon. just need to run to the store real quick ;-)
Rita
Some of live high up in the mountains (8,000 ft) –any suggestions for adjustments to the bread recipes??
Thanks in advance
Rita
Ken Morgh
COOL RECIPE.. usually i buy the sweet in baxin.it because not like buy the food, and i like too much the italian food, but this time i want try this recipe..
bye
Malisha
WOW!!!!…soo good… my mom LOVED it…keep em coming Joy!!
Kristen
I was so excited to make this bread, but maybe I did something wrong? It stayed wet on the inside but I had to take it out as it was going to burn if I left it in any longer. Maybe I’ll try two smaller loaves or some muffins next time around. I tried to cut back on the sugar, but I think in the end that the sugar recommended is the way to go. Thanks for your beautiful, inspirational site!
Diane
Just discovered you through Twitter, this sounds yummy! I can’t eat much sugar though – do you think this would work if I left out all but about a tablespoon and made it more savoury?
Will be trying it out to feed to friends regardless :-)
Jen
I made this and it was fantastic. I left out the cranberries and cloves, but it was perfect! I lied and told my husband they were carrots because he hates sweet potatoes and he loved it too! Will definitely make again. I may try to lighten it up a bit next time with applesauce and less sugar, just to make it a bit healthier.
Leslie
Tried this recipe again in muffin form. Fantastic. Didn’t have walnuts. Used chocolate chips. Think this is even better. 14 muffins will be gone in a flash.
Leslie
I made this today and subbed some of the oil for Greek yoghurt, 2 extra large eggs for the 3 in the recipe,cut down the sugar to 1 1/4 cups, added a tablespoon of flaxseed meal, omitted the clove/nutmeg/cranberries because I didn’t have them. Beautifully moist and the taste is sensational. Actually it reminds me a little of carrot cake! Most of it’s gone into my freezer for work lunches next week.I might try it in muffin form next time…thanks for the recipe!
Diana Rose
I have made this recipe since 2008 and it is THE BEST ZUCCHINI BREAD not just I, but anyone in my family, has tasted. I did not include the cranberries and OH MY GOSH, you have to include the Nutmet and Cloves. The whole recipe is what makes this such a fantastic recipe. LOVE IT!! Thank you, Joy!
Beth
I baked this yesterday and it is (so far) the best loaf bread I’ve had! I keep munching on it…
Gigi
Just tried your recipe today. It was fantastic. My husband LOVED it. Says it is definitely a make again. Very easy, quick and good tasting. Did your version of everything in (). Do Not skip the cloves and nutmeg. It definitely adds something to it. Also added the dried cranberries. This bread is wonderful and would be great as holiday gifts.
Tina
I love your site. you are very creative and the pics are soo tempting. I am not so good at baking but I really want to give this quick bread a try. I just wanted to ask if I can just use 3 cups of grated zucchini instead of sweet potato. I don’t have any at the moment. Please let me know. Thank you and keep up the great work =D
joythebaker
Diana- This bread freezes beautifully!
Diana
One more question, how well does this Zucchini Bread Freeze?
Diana
I LOVE YOUR SITE!!! I just stumbled upon it, literally!!!! WOW! I can’t wait to try some of these wonderful recipes! Thank you JOY!!!
anne
Love love love your website…all your recipes sound so delicious and wholesome!
mari
I love both zucchini and sweet potato breads, but never thought to combine them, what a great idea!
Jen
This bread look delicious…I’m actually in the process of making it right now (and it smells delicious in the oven!).
One comment though, this makes two loaves, right, and not one? Unless I did something wrong, there was no way all of that batter was going to fit into just one loaf pan. I ended up using muffin tins for the other batter, hope they turn out right :-O
joythebaker
Dana- Thanks so much!
Brilynn- I know, the grated sweet potato sounded totally weird to me too! But it really worked out wonderfully!
Hilary- I think here in the US people generally eat quick breads for breakfast, with coffee or tea. They’re not really a dessert item, although they often taste as sweet and delicious as a dessert. Breakfast or afternoon snack- that’s what I think quick breads are great for!
Thanks for commenting everyone! I always love to hear from you! xoxx- Joy the Baker
Hilary
I’m Australian and we don’t really have a tradition of quick breads here. This might be a weird question – but when do people typically eat these breads? Are they essentially a cake? Do you have them for dessert? Or are they more the kind of thing you toast and have with tea?
Melody
I have never had zucchini sweet potato bread, but after seeing yours I wish I had a slice right now! I love zucchini bread, so I bet I’d love this one too!
Holly
Mmmm… I hadn’t thought of sweet potato. Yum!
brilynn
I wouldn’t have thought to grate in the sweet potato! Come summer though, there will be lots of zucchini around my place to eat.
Dana
Haven’t been to your site in a while, and man! I’ve been missing so much! I hardly knew which post to comment on first, but I figured I’d just comment on the first to say everything looks awesome, including this zucchini bread. Yum!
Amy
I can’t wait to try this! I’ve been wanting a good zucchini bread recipe….this looks perfectly wonderful!
Tarah
Looks scrumptious. And sounds healthy :]
peabody
And because it has veggies in it it’s good for you, eh? :)
Stephanie
I’m trying a strawberry and rhubarb quick bread this weekend…if it’s half as good as this looks, I will be in heaven!
giz
Really luscious looking – the zuccini factor always gives it that moist, rich flavor. Sweet potato – hmmm… interesting idea. It looks amazing.
Erin
This looks wonderful! Such an interesting but delicious-looking combination of flavors. I am totally with you on the homemade quickbread. I think that boxed breads are quite sad :) I am usually a fan of banana bread, but I really want to try this recipe next time I made quickbread!
kimberleyblue
Yum, sounds great. I love making sweet potato bread, and I love zucchini bread – it only makes sense that I would love a bread that combines the two!
Akane
I simply LOVE baking quick breads at home. You can have a delicious breakfast or snack in a very few time, and like you’ve said, you can do experiments with anything you have in the kitchen. I think it’s even better when it’s raining outside, the spicy smell coming out of the oven gives a touch of magic to your home ^^
I like very very much your blog, recipes, photos and words :)
But sorry for my (probably) poor English ^^U
Amanda
Guess what? I was one of those people who used the boxed quick bread mix when I was a teenager. GASP! I know, gross gross. But when you are 14 and your mom can’t even crack an egg, you gotta do what you gotta do, right? But I’m a reformed person now. Your post today has made me totally excited for summer when the zucchini produce is abundant. Can’t wait till I can try my hand at this yummy breakfast treat :)