Inspiration for this Lemon Poppy Seed Zucchini Bread recipe
At GradFood, we’re all about mixing and matching different recipes to create new and unique flavors. You’ve probably tried lemon poppy seed cupcakes before. And you’ve definitely tried zucchini bread before. Both are delicious recipes on their own so we figured, why not combine them into one amazing recipe?!
This recipe marries the moist texture from zucchini bread with the bright flavors from lemon poppy seed. The end product is a sweet but light lemon zucchini bread which is sure to impress your brunch guests or serve as a fun snack for yourself. Did we also mention that it’s super easy to make??
How to make this recipe
Preparation is pretty straightforward, quick, and easy.
- After preheating the oven, start mixing together the wet ingredients in a bowl. But make sure to squeeze out a lot of water from the zucchini before adding it.
- Next, sift together all the dry ingredients into a separate bowl
- Now, incorporate all the dry ingredients into the wet ones
- Then, pour the batter into a parchment paper and oil-lined 9×5 baking loaf pan
- Finally, sprinkle over some turbinado sugar on top (alternatively, you can hold off on the turbinado sugar and add a glaze instead but we kept it simple for this recipe) and throw it in the oven.
- Et voila! Let it cool off for a few minutes and serve either warm, cold, or room temp
Lemon Zucchini Bread FAQ
Do you need a glaze for this recipe?
Nope! You’ll find that several other related recipes call for glazes- either a lemon and powdered sugar glaze or a cream cheese glaze. Instead, we topped our bread with turbinado sugar which provides just the right amount of sweetness so a glaze wasn’t really necessary. However, if you have a sweet tooth, feel free to add such a glaze to the top of your recipe.
What makes this Lemon Zucchini Bread moist?
A few ingredients bring out the moistness in this recipe. We find that the zucchini from zucchini bread adds extra moisture. Also, we added Greek yogurt and olive oil to our dough which always imparts a boost of moistness. We also use both baking soda and baking powder to let it rise and not become too dense.
How do you prepare zucchini for Zucchini bread?
While some people will use grated zucchini in their recipes, we prefer wringing out a lot of the water before we add it to the dough. This prevents the zucchini bread from getting too soggy.
Do I need a loaf pan for this recipe?
Yup, we recommend a standard 9×5 baking loaf pan. Either glass or metal loaf pans should be fine.
How to store lemon poppy seed bread?
If you’re planning on eating it the same day, you can store it on the counter. If eating it within a week, you can keep it in the fridge (ideally in a container). Alternatively, it can also be stored in a freezer if you want to save it for longer.
Substitute for Poppy Seeds
If you can’t find poppy seeds at your local supermarket (we had to go to two in order to find some), you can always substitute it for an alternative similar seed. For instance, you could use chia seeds (like in this recipe), flax seeds, or nigella seeds. You could also use sesame seeds although these would be larger than poppy seeds.
Is this a healthy recipe?
Yes, we think so! It uses some sugar but isn’t overly sweet. We might be biased but it’s our favorite healthy lemon zucchini bread recipe.
Other similar GradFood recipes
If you enjoyed this zucchini bread recipe, let us know in the comments below. And be sure to check out these other similar recipes.
And now, without further ado, here is our recipe for Lemon Poppy Seed Zucchini Bread:
Lemon Poppy Seed Zucchini Bread
Ingredients
- 2 zucchini grated
- 1 lemon zest and juice
- 2 eggs
- 1.5 cups flour
- ⅓ cup plain Greek yogurt
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 3 tbsp poppy seeds
- 2 tbsp turbinado sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Squeeze out the zucchini in a paper towel until most of the liquid is gone and place zucchini in a bowl along with the sugar, eggs, greek yogurt, olive oil, and vanilla extract. Stir until combined.
- In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking sugar, salt, cinnamon, and poppy seeds.
- Incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, mixing constantly until combined.
- Pour the batter into a greased 9×5 loaf pan with parchment paper. Sprinkle the top with turbinado sugar.
- Bake in oven for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean.
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