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Cheesy Garlic Zucchini Bread – Use Fresh or Frozen Zucchini

ByLaurie Neverman

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Cheesy garlic zucchini bread is a recipe I often make when summer squash are abundant, but it also works just fine with frozen shredded squash. It’s a quick bread recipe, not a yeast bread, so it goes together in a flash. The texture is nice and moist, and the garlic gives it real “pop”. This recipe is adapted from the Zucchini Cheese Square recipe in The Garden-Fresh Vegetable Cookbook. You can use whatever size zucchini you have available. I remove the seeds from overgrown zucchini and sometimes peel them, but I don’t peel or remove seeds from the younger ones.

cheesy garlic zucchini bread

Cheesy Garlic Zucchini Bread Recipe

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

  • 3 cups grated zucchini or summer squash
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour, or whole wheat flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 2 cups grated cheddar
  • 1 tablespoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • ½ cup butter, melted
  • 3 eggs, preferably at room temp

Combine the zucchini and salt in a colander and toss to mix. Set aside to drain for 30 minutes. Squeeze out the excess water.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a 7×11 inch baking dish with butter or lard. (I use a 9×9 inch pyrex dish and reduce the heat to 330.)

Stir together the flour and baking powder in a medium bowl. Add the onion, zucchini, cheese, garlic powder and pepper. Mix well with a fork, breaking up any clumps of zucchini. Whisk together eggs and butter in a small bowl. Pour into the zucchini mixture and mix well. Spread evenly in the baking dish.

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Bake for about 35 minutes, until golden. You want the whole top golden and the entire pan cooked through, so don’t be afraid to give it some extra time if needed. The batter is very thick and moist.

Let cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Cut into squares and serve warm or at room temperature. Store leftovers (if there are any) in the refrigerator.

Note: I’ve experimented with using gluten free flour (Namaste Gluten Free Flour Blend), and while the flavor is good, the bread tends to take much longer to bake and be heavier.

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Cheesy Garlic Zucchini Bread

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5 from 1 review

A savory quick bread recipe with garlic, onions and zucchini.

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 3 cups grated zucchini or summer squash (You may prefer to peel and seed overgrown zucchini, but it’s not absolutely necessary. I don’t peel younger ones.)
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, or whole wheat flour (a gf flour blend would probably work, too)
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 2 cups grated cheddar
  • 1 tablespoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/2 cup butter, melted
  • 3 large chicken eggs, beaten or 2 duck eggs, beaten – preferably at room temp

Instructions

  1. Combine the zucchini and salt in a colander and toss to mix. Set aside to drain for 30 minutes. Squeeze out the excess water.
  2. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a 7×11 inch baking dish with butter or lard. (I use a 9×9 inch pyrex dish and reduce the heat to 330.)
  3. Stir together the flour and baking powder in a medium bowl. Add the onion, zucchini, cheese, garlic powder and pepper. Mix well with a fork, breaking up any clumps of zucchini. Whisk together eggs and butter in a small bowl. Pour into the zucchini mixture and mix well. Spread evenly in the baking dish.
  4. Bake for about 35 minutes, until golden. You want the whole top golden and the entire pan cooked through, so don’t be afraid to give it some extra time if needed. The batter is very thick and moist.
  5. Let cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Cut into squares and serve warm or at room temperature. Store leftovers (if there are any) in the refrigerator.

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And that’s it – yet another way to use up some summer squash. This goes well as a side dish with grilled food and cold salad.

cheesy garlic zucchini bread

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Originally published in 2012, updated in 2016.

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33 Comments

  4. Could you do in a cast iron skillet (a la cornbread)? If so, what modifications would you make to time and/or temp?

    Reply

    1. I don’t see why you couldn’t, though I’ve never tried it. Cooking times should be similar.

      Reply

  5. I’ve just started using Quinoa flour and find it makes amazingly light muffins, so shall substitute in this recipe.

    Reply

  6. Very yummy! I’ve made these before in the 7 x 11 recommended, but today I made them in a muffin pan. They turned out much crispier, in a good way. FYI they only take about 25 minutes in the muffin pan.

    Reply

    1. I’m slowly working on updating older posts to include an easier to print recipe card, but it takes time. Right now you can use the Print Friendly button at the lower left of the article, or cut and paste into a word processing program.

      Reply

  10. This was excellent! I used spelt flour and it turned out great. Also, I was lazy and skipped the step of salting and draining the zucchini – and I didn’t see that it made a difference? I just skipped it because I was in a hurry and I’ve never done that for Zucchini Bread in a loaf. Fantastic! I bet it would be good split, and used as a “foccacia” style bread.

    Reply

    1. Joy of Baking has some good conversion tips for different pan sizes.

      They note:

      If the new pan makes the batter shallower than in the original recipe, this will cause the heat to reach the center of the pan more quickly and you will have more evaporation. To solve this problem you need to shorten the baking time and raise the temperature of the oven slightly. Correspondingly, if the new pan makes the batter deeper than in the original recipe, this will cause less evaporation and the batter will take longer to cook. To solve this problem you need to lengthen the baking time and lower the temperature of the oven slightly. This will keep the batter from over-browning.

      Reply

  13. THIS is amazing. My mother in law has made it several times and I am making it tonight. Thanks for the feast!

    Reply