Use up all that zucchini you’ve got in the fridge to make Lemon Zucchini Bread with olive oil & thyme. It’s so good you won’t even notice the healthy veggies in the mix.

a loaf of lemon zucchini bread with olive oil and thyme

By now we’ve all seen about a 120,238,290,832 different zucchini bread recipes, haven’t we?

But, just like the notoriously prolific veggie, there’s no such thing as too much of a good thing, right?

This version of zucchini bread is super-moist with a hint of zesty lemon, a little olive oil & just a whisper of fresh thyme. I think you’ll love the extra fresh flavor that’s unlike any zucchini bread I’ve tasted.

Why this is the best Lemon Zucchini Bread:

There’s a whole pound of zucchini in this recipe.
This bread requires less oil because of the moisture added by the zucchini.
Fresh lemon zest adds a potent lemony flavor. Lemon juice is mostly acidic, but the zest has the flavorful lemon oil.
Extra virgin olive oil gives the bread a fresh “green” flavor.
A hint of thyme enhances the olive oil and lemon flavors. It’s a slightly herbal background flavor that you’ll hardly notice. But it makes a big difference in the overall bright flavor in the loaf.

Ingredients

How to make Lemon Zucchini Bread with Olive Oil & Thyme:

See the recipe card for detailed measurements and instructions.

Spray or butter the pan then line with parchment.

Grate the zucchini on a box grater, mandoline or in a food processor.

Layer the shredded zucchini in paper towels to wick away excess moisture

eggs, oil, lemon zest and thyme leaves in a bowl

Combine the eggs, oil, lemon zest and thyme leaves.

two bowls of zucchini bread batter, before and after mixing

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.
The batter will look dry at first, but will loosen up as you mix.

a pot on a stove filled with sugar, lemon juice and thyme leaves

Cook the lemon glaze while the bread bakes.
Remove the thyme leaves once the glaze is cooled.

pouring lemon glaze over freshly baked zucchini bread

Pour the glaze over the zucchini bread as soon as it comes out of the oven.
Cool 10 minutes before turning it out of the pan. Cool completely before slicing.

How to get more zucchini into zucchini bread

Zucchini bread batter can only hold so much water. If you add too much water to the batter the bread will become gummy. Blotting the shredded zucchini with paper towels wicks away some of the moisture.
Less water in the zucchini means more overall zucchini with the same amount of water in the batter. By removing excess moisture we can add more zucchini to the recipe.

a cutting board with a sliced loaf of lemon zucchini bread with olive oil and thyme

More Zucchini Recipes

a closeup shot of a slice of zucchini bread

If you love this recipe as much as I do, I’d really appreciate a 5-star review.

Print Recipe

4.45 from 27 reviews

Lemon Zucchini Bread Recipe

By: Eileen Gray

Use up all that zucchini you've got to make Lemon Zucchini Bread. It's so good you won't even notice the healthy veggies in the mix. It's super-moist with a hint of zesty lemon, a little olive oil & thyme. This loaf has an extra fresh flavor that's unlike your typical zucchini bread.

Prep Time20

Bake Time50

Total Time1 10

14 slices

Ingredients

16 oz zucchini (about 2-3 medium)
10 oz all purpose flour (2 cups)
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
8 oz granulated sugar (1 cup)
1 ¾ oz olive oil (¼ cup)
3 large eggs
zest from 2 lemons (very finely grated)
1 sprig lemon thyme or thyme (about ½ teaspoon of leaves (optional))

Glaze

2 oz lemon juice (¼ cup)
2 oz granulated sugar (¼ cup)
1 sprig lemon thyme or thyme (optional)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Butter a 9×5 loaf pan and line with parchment paper in one direction.
Use the large holes of a box grater or the large grating disc of a food processor to shred 16 oz zucchini. Spread the zucchini in an even layer on a paper towel and cover with another paper towel. Press to absorb the liquid. Let the zucchini sit while you mix the batter.
Combine 10 oz all purpose flour, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder and 8 oz granulated sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk to combine.
In another bowl, whisk together 1 ¾ oz olive oil and 3 large eggs. Stir the zucchini, lemon zest and thyme leaves into the wet ingredients.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients all at once and stir just until combined. The batter will look quite dry at first, but will loosen up as you mix it.
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs, 45-50 minutes.
While the bread bakes, combine 2 oz lemon juice and 2 oz granulated sugar in a small saucepan. Toss in the thyme sprig. Cook over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Set aside to cool. Once the syrup is cool, remove the thyme sprig.
As soon as the bread comes out of the oven, pour the lemon glaze over the loaf. Cool the loaf in the pan for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a cooking rack to cool completely.
Wrap and store at room temperature until serving. The bread will keep for several days at room temperature.

Equipment

My Book

Kitchen Scale

Food Processor

Loaf Pan

Parchment Sheets

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Nutrition

Have you tried this recipe?Mention @eileen.bakingsense or tag #bakingsense!

Karin

Friday 5th of August 2022

Great recipe; thank you - it is delicious with an amazing crust. Neighbour gave me zucchini and this is what I made. Used an old clean tea towel to wring the excess water out of the zucchini. And have lemon thyme in my garden. Will definitely make this again!

Chantal

Tuesday 28th of June 2022

Baking the bread now. I made it GF and EGG free. I'll let you know how it comes out. I did 1 banana mashed instead of eggs and I used an all purpose 1 to 1 gf flour.

Frances Holmes

Tuesday 28th of July 2020

Thanks for the recipe! I used rye flour to make it gluten free - cooked it for an hour as the skewer wasn’t coming out clean after 45 minutes. Delicious

Eileen Gray

It baked up OK with all rye flour?

Lisle

Thursday 16th of July 2020

Did you mean 1 1./2 t baking powder? I'm pretty sure it's a typo.

Ha, ha. Yes. Don't you have a 1/5th spoon measure? Thanks for the heads-up. It's been fixed.

Wednesday 5th of February 2020

can i replace the all purpose with oat or other non gluten flour? what other changes should i make to the recipe if i do that.

I'm not a gluten-free expert so I really couldn't tell you for sure. You do need structure from the flour so a commercial gluten free flour might be your best bet. But, again, I'm not a gluten-free expert.