Man, I’m feeling bummed right now. I would guess that my mom is too based on her tears when I dropped her off at the airport this morning. She starts to cry, then I start to cry…it ain’t pretty! I think I even saw a nearby taxi driver shed a tear.
We always have such a great time together and then when it’s all over I feel a pit in my stomach when she has to leave. I’ve already called her once since I got home from the airport. I may look like a grown woman, but I’m still a mama’s girl at heart. ;)
The good news is, we’ll always have this incredible oil-free Zucchini loaf to remember the good times and great food on this trip!
I even sent her off with a big slice to take on the plane with her. It comforts me knowing that she has my yummy homemade food to eat instead of cardboard plane food. I’m a strong believer in wholegrain carbs when you’re feeling blue!
Plus, carbs are addicting which means that she’ll have to come back to visit real soon…right?
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Oil-Free Zucchini Walnut Raisin Loaf with Cinnamon Streusel
Adapted from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups whole grain spelt flour (or white whole wheat flour)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 cup sugar (I use organic cane sugar)
- 1/3 cup raisins
- 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
- 1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax + 3 tbsp water, mixed and set aside for 5 minutes)
- 1 & 1/4 cup shredded zucchini (leave skin on), packed
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tbsp pure maple syrup (or other liquid sweetener)
- 1 & 1/4 cups non-dairy milk (I used vanilla almond milk)
- Cinnamon Streusel topping: 2 tsp non-dairy margarine/butter, 1 tbsp coarse sugar (like turbinado), 1 tbsp flour, 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F (see note below). Mix the flax egg and set aside. Oil a regular-sized loaf pan and then line it with parchment paper so you can easily pull out the loaf when cooled.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the dry ingredients (flour, powders, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, raisins, and walnuts).
3. In another large bowl, combine the wet ingredients (flax egg, shredded zucchini, lemon zest & juice, maple syrup, milk).
4. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until just mixed. Be careful not to overmix the batter as spelt flour is delicate.
5. Spoon the batter into prepared loaf pan and spread out evenly. Prepare the cinnamon streusel and then sprinkle on top. Bake for about 45-60 minutes at 350F or until toothpick comes out clean and the loaf gently springs back when pressed.
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None of us could believe that this loaf does not contain oil! Magic trick #2 this weekend. (See Magic Trick #1: The eggless fluffy chocolate cupcake!)
The shredded zucchini does a wonderful job giving this loaf moisture..and you don’t taste the zucchini at all. You can see beautiful flecks of green though!
It’s a very dense loaf, but not in a bad way! Whole grain spelt flour tends to make dense breads, but I just love the nutty flavour of spelt so I don’t mind. The walnuts, streusel, and raisins add just the right amount of sweetness and crunch.
We’ve been enjoying this not-too-sweet loaf for breakfast or as an afternoon snack. If you like your baked goods sweet you might want to add another 1/4 cup of sugar, but we thought it was just perfect for a healthy snack.
It’s wonderful spread with Earth Balance, nut butter and jam…or just enjoyed plain!
On that note, I think I may need some endorphin-inducing carbs to cheer me up…
Perfect timing! I made this tonight with the oh-so-close-to-expiring zucchinis in my fridge and my husband ate half the loaf before it even had a chance to cool completely! I hid the rest :)
Awww I’m so sorry you miss your mama. Goodbyes are so hard. Last week we visited my fiance’s dad who he only sees about once a year (if that). I felt SO bad for him watching them hug goodbye at the airport…men are just as big babies as us sometimes! Hope you get to see her again SOON! :)
Guilt-free? I’ll pretend so!
I am looking forward to coming back to this post/recipe when my garden is full of zucchini next month!
YUM! This bread looks FANTASTIC! Just my kind of carbs, really! I have to give it a try, and soon! This is sooo going on my must try list!
I love baking breads! Especially oil free ones :)
Being oil free, is the bread still crumbly, or is it more of a chewy texture?
Love the recipe, definitely inspired me to do my own version :)
AMAZING!!!! I made this loaf to take with me to Europe today… but I am not sure it is going to make it there : ) another hit, thanks Angela!
Mmmm! I made this last night and had two slices for breakfast. It was gooey and dense and wonderful. Don’t you just love susan’s recipes over at FF Vegan?
I love zucchini bread and finally had the time to try this recipe today. I didn’t even use the topping and it is so good! Thanks for sharing. I will be making it numerous times over the summer, especially when I visit my friend who has recently become a vegan.
Yum! I made this last night with a few changes (ok a lot of changes) and it was DELICIOUS. I think I’ll make another loaf and freeze it since I have tons of fresh zucchini from my garden.
Could the flax egg be replaced with chia seeds? If so, how much? And is it possoble to add more zucchini? If so, what wet ingredient would I need to reduce? Thanks so much! Love your blog. You inspire me!
I love this recipe! I want to try making it again but with agave instead of sugar. How much almond milk do you think I’d need to reduce and do you have a general idea of how much agave to put in?
Do you need to squeeze the moisture out of the zucchini prior to mixing it in with the other wet ingredients? My loaf was UBER-moist – I tried baking it at 375 for a bit longer…almost an hour and 15 minutes, in fact, which seems like a crazy amount of time for zucchini bread! In the end I was too impatient to wait any longer, and while the outside pieces were delicious the inside was still too moist and uncooked :(
Not sure where I went wrong, but maybe next time I’ll just stick to 400 to ensure it bakes properly? Luckily I have about 90 pounds of zucchini in my kitchen :)
Has anyone else had this issue? I really want to make it again but don’t want to waste the ingredients if it doesn’t work…would really appreciate any feedback!
Hi, I just made it too and had the same problem. I was sad as it cost a lot for the ingredients and I was going to use it for a snack at work. I cooked mine for at least an hour and a half and it was still gooey and inedible. It seems as if many people have written with the same problem. Why has the author of this recipe not responded to any of the concerns? I surely won’t use any of the other recipes on this site. There are many good vegan cookbooks that are true and tested. I will stick to those.
Always on the look out for oil free recipes since I have
2 stents and am on a strict diet.
Love your recipes, love your photos, and thoroughly
enjoy your friendly and funny blogs!
Just made this and OMG – best ever! I didn’t have spelt flour and used 1 cup whole wheat and 1 cup white whole wheat flour. It was less dense, but incredibly delicious. I will be making this frequently. Thank you!
Hey Angela when i first saw this recipe i fell in love wit it I try giving it a try i followed everything right but one thing i did add was some shredded carrots. and for some reason the inside did not cook i left it in the oven for over an hour on 375 i do not know where i went wrong.. can u help…
Dear Angela,
You are such an inspiration to me! I am sixteen years old and have been struggling with an eating disorder for two and a half years. I have been treated four times, and I am finally trying to eat healthily and get my life back. This year, I have come to learn about the cruelty dealt to animals in the food/ clothing/ cosmetics industries. I am dying to become vegan and teach others about the benefits to humans and animals when abstaining from meat. Unfortunately, I am forced to eat meat twice a week, which I eat in the form of fish. It is a painful process, because I feel disgusting and horrible for the animals. Putting meat into my body just feels wrong! I have one in the fight to refuse dairy, though!!! I have also had lots of trouble with exercise, which means that this is the first year I can exercise healthily! Being as healthy as you is my goal!! Thank you for your recipes!!
Thank you Amelia!! I appreciate your kind words.
BEST ZUCCHINI BREAD EVER!!!
Thank you so much for this & all of your amazing recipes. Seriously, every recipe from this blog is fantastic, and this bread is definitely no exception. So moist, such fantastic flavors, and best of all, healthy!!!
Love it!!
thank you Sarah!
Wow – this loaf is amazing! I brought it along with me to a girls weekend where no one else is Vegan. Forget about not believing it was Vegan – they couldn’t get past the fact that it is oil-free. Absolutely delicious!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Looks yummy! I don’t have spelt flour on hand but I have some Bobs Red Mill gluten free baking flour and I also have some oat flour. Can I substitute either of those for the spelt flour..or a combo of those two?
Hey Bethany, I haven’t tried it any other way, so I cant say for sure. Spelt flour can be tricky to sub sometimes, but let me know if you try it out!
I actually used the oat flour and it’s still in the oven now – I put it in at 375 for 40 mins and checked it and it needed more time, then I checked after another 10 and thought it was done, but when I cut into it, it was really raw/doughy on the bottom half so I put it in for another 20 mins, still raw! So right now it’s in the oven for another 20 mins…hoping that it will cook through because it smells so yummy and the top tastes great! haha Any suggestions?
Update – The Oat Flour was a Fail…..hahaha. Thankfully I still have a ton of zucchini to use up from my garden! Going to grab some spelt flour and try this out -as written – asap! :-) Thanks again for posting this recipe!
Sorry, one more thing – Is there any way to salvage the doughy disaster vs. tossing it out? I hate wasting food – Let me know if there is anything I can do with it! Thanks again! <3
Hi! I made this bread the other day and it smelled amazing in the oven…I went with your suggestion of baking at 375 for a bit longer and had a bit of trouble getting the bread really done! My oven does tend to run a little warmer than it says, so maybe it really needed the 400? Took forever, ended up not being 100 % baked through in the centre, but still delicious! I would definitely make this again, but I think I’d make it into muffins to make sure it cooks through! What size loaf pan did you use?
OK So I tried this again with Spelt flour this time! I set my oven to 375 checked it after an hour and it still wasn’t cooked through, so I checked it every 10 mins after that and took it out at 1 hour 30 mins. Still not completely cooked through and this time I followed the recipe exactly. It’s cooling right now, I didn’t want to leave it in any longer because the outside was getting tough. Any suggestions? Not sure what I did wrong this time.
Hi, I made this recipe and cooked it for an hour and a half and it was still wet and goey inside. I followed the recipe exactly as it is written. I compared it to other zucchini bread recipes to try and figure out what was wrong and the only thing different was the amount of plant based milk. Your recipe calls for 1 and 1/4 cups and most recipes call for half that amount or less. I also used spelt flour but I have never had this problem with spelt in other recipes. Do you think that is the problem or is it a typo in your recipe? Thank you so much. Cat
Hi cat, I’m going to work on this recipe – thanks for letting me know! I’m sorry you had problems with it.
I know this recipe is older, but I keep coming back to it. Absolutely deslish and a crowd pleaser.. You are awesome, keep great recipes coming :)
Hello,
I was looking for a zucchini bread recipe . I found you’res and made it today.
I am starting to eat clean foods. Your Ideas are great. I loved the zucchini bread.
I could not let it cool down enough,before I had to try it. Oh how wonderful .
I even ate the parchment paper by accident . I had two more pieces of bread and I did not top off the bread with the icing. Lol I am having the happiest day looking at all of your food.
Your recipes are so great. Thank You, for sharing them! : )
I would love to try this, but I can’t take that much fructose…any other things, I could use instead of the raisins? more nuts maybe?
GREAT!!!! I just decided to become vegan about a week ago and this turned to be amazing ! im so excited :)
Where can I find the nutritional information on this loaf? It’s delicious :)
I made this and it turned out great! Due to some people saying it was too wet and never cooked through, I decreased the non-dairy milk to 1 cup. I omitted the lemon zest and replaced the raisins with chocolate chips (because a quick-bread loaf isn’t complete without chocolate chips). I love that it’s oil-free, which allows me to not feel guilty eating this for breakfast! (Which I just did! Yum!)
Can I use cow’s milk? It’s all I have in the house at the moment.
Another great recipe Angela. I only had cane sugar so my crumble wasn’t crumbly so I added some oats to it. It was great.
I love your recipes, they’re always so reliable!!
I recently developed a recipe that was very much inspired by this one (I linked you on my blog), I hope you check it out!
Love this recipe! I have made it many times. Today my teenage daughter pulled out this recipe and with a very big hint suggested I make it today ;) I did of course, along with a double batch of the Eat your greens Detox Soup from your cookbook! I have made my own modifications to your recipe. I have a convection oven. I place the loaf at 375F for one hour and this bakes it just right. I also double your spices 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg. Our family really enjoys this loaf along with many of your recipes which never fails to disappoint! Thank you!
Wow! Once again I am blown away by one of your recipes! These days literally everything I make comes from your website or your book. I trust it all because it’s always spot on and delicious! For this recipe I omitted the streusel and I used chopped dates instead of raisins and it was so good! This is a perfectly moist, not to sweet loaf and a great way to incorporate zucchini into your breakfast!
This looks amazing! Any suggestions on substitutions on the flax egg, I don’t have ground flax, but have flax flour, chia seeds, and hemp seeds?
Hello. I’m new to your blog, but I already have bookmarked a dozen recipes! I don’t have a load tin, can I use an 8″ cake tin instead. Would I have to adjust the barking time? Thanks. I look forward to trying out a lot of your recipes.
Hi! I used white whole wheat flour, and followed the recipe exactly. I had to bake it in a loaf tin for almost an hour. The outside was done, and kind of hard, but the inside was moist. It wasn’t really cake like, in that it didn’t cut cleanly, even though the toothpick I used to check it came out clean. Have I done something wrong, or is it supposed to be this moist on the inside? I have to say, it tastes great! Is not too sweet, which I love, and there is no oil! I’ll definitely make this more often if I can sort out the moisture issue
Hi Angela!
Happy 4th! I would like to know if I can use gluten-free flour for this recipe and for the chocolate zucchini muffin recipe? Thanks!
Made it tonight, gluten free (only flour I had available, and had a huge zucchini waiting for me when I returned from vacation). Used half brown rice flour and half buckwheat. Turned out great.. A little bit crumbly, but not terrible.
Hi Angela,
Just stumbled on your site today when looking for a gluten and dairy free eggplant dish. I made your eggplant /zucchini casserole for dinner… very good and now am baking your cinammon walnut bread with gluten free flour – smelling good!
Looking forward to trying more of you yummy looking food. Love the pix of you and your Mom, mine haas been deceased now for 9 years,but looking forward to when 1 of my 5 adult chidren have kiddos of their own.
Blessings to you!!
Kathy
This zucchini bread is delicious! My husband said he could eat it all day long! :) I’m making your 10-Spice Vegetable Soup right now. Served it to our kids when they were here a couple of months ago and they loved it—— our son asked for the recipe! It’s a really good soup recipe and does freeze well! Thank you, Angela, for 2 more great recipes!
Made the GF version of this and came out so good!! Used 1 cup AP gluten free flour + 1 cup buckwheat flour. Also subbed honey and egg instead because I’m not vegan. Cooked it for 45 min and it came out perfect! Heard people saying things about not cooking all the way or too gooey so I omitted 1/4cup milk and it was so tasty ?
This is delicious! I followed the recipe as written but reduced the almond milk to 1 cup based on other reviews. Non plant based followers requested a 2nd slice!
Sadly this is a fail…. It’s the third recipe I’ve tried this week that just. Won’t. Cook!
Crisp on the outside, pudding on the inside :( Devo because it smells great!
What a nice blog post! I miss my mum too and start to wait for her next visit the moment she has left even now when i have my own baby! And also love to give her some baked goods to munch on while traveling. Baked the bread today, it was delicious! I think it will be only thing i am going to eat today :D i did added a bit more flour as batter seemed to thin and it turned moist but not mushy.
I made it exactly as written and baked it for 60 min, but it turned out a bit soggy in the middle. Hence, I recommend putting the amount of flour in weight instead of volume (cups).
Also, I recommend changing the title to Lemon-Zucchini Loaf/Bread as the lemon flavour sings out well.
Hey Laurie, Thank you so much for your feedback! I appreciate it greatly. It’s been a while since I’ve made this loaf so I will have to test it again soon. So glad you and your little one are still enjoying it.
Any updates on this recipe?
Hi Ashley, I don’t think I do…which update were you hoping to have? :)
Also, regarding my previous comment: after finely grating the zucchini I squeezed it in a tea towel in order to get out unneeded moisture. Lots of moisture came out, but it still turned out soggy in the middle.
That said, my 2-year old tot and I are enjoying it.
I finally made this. It’s too good! My husband said “This tastes like it’s really bad for me.” I’ve eaten a third of the loaf this morning and I never do that. Ever.
I did a few modifications: Ener-g egg replacer instead of a flax egg as well as Ener-g instead of regular baking soda/powder. Whole wheat flour instead of spelt. Left out the raisins and walnuts in the bread but incorporated 30g chopped walnuts in the topping instead. I think the lemon zest/juice really makes it. Yum. 5/5 stars.
haha I love his comment! Thanks for sharing your tweaks too :)
Eating some at the airport. that I baked last night! Thank you for another fabulous recipe!