Move over regular zucchini bread, you need to make this amazing savory zucchini bread. Filled with zucchini, broccoli, leeks, and onions this hearty bread is perfect for weekend brunches or even Easter.
This is the third recipe in my Eat Your Greens series! I want to encourage you all to eat your greens through fun and interesting recipes. This savory zucchini bread is not only easy to make but a great way to enjoy some green veggies. It is filled with zucchini (duh), chopped broccoli, leeks, and onion. If you have anyone who is struggling to eat their greens aka picky kids, definitely make this for them.
Why savory zucchini bread?
While thinking of recipes for this series I of course thought of zucchini bread. I have a delicious recipe for coconut zucchini bread in my cookbook, Plantiful. So, I thought what about a savory zucchini bread? It sounded absolutely delicious to me. Then, I thought to add in broccoli and the leeks and onion to add in sweetness. This bread almost reminds me of a crustless quiche, less eggy though (and in our case vegan eggy). This bread is very moist due to all the veggies and truly a treat.
Add Ons
While I personally wouldn’t do too much to alter this recipe because I think it came out delicious I did have some other ideas in mind.
- Vegan Cheese: add about ½ cup shredded vegan cheese of choice and sprinkle some extra on top
- Garlic: you can also sauté a few chopped garlic cloves with the leeks and onion
- Shallots: another great addition that can be sautéed ahead of time with the leeks and onion
- Sesame seed garnish: sprinkle a bunch on top for a pretty topping
- Herbs: add in a bit of fresh rosemary, oregano, dill, even some basil would be good
Quick Bread Recipe
A zucchini bread is a quick bread recipe, meaning there is no yeast involved. So, it will use baking powder to help make it rise. The baking powder works in this recipe with the vegan buttermilk to add lots of fluffiness. Vegan buttermilk is made by mixing nondairy milk with an acid like lemon juice or apple cider vinegar. The acidity of it helps to activate the baking powder.
Savory Zucchini Bread FAQ
- Can this be made gluten free? I didn’t try so I really can’t say how it will work. If you want to use a gluten free all purpose flour 1:1 substitute that may work.
- Is this nut free? Yes, as long as your nondairy milk is nut free.
- How long will this last? It will be good for about 3 to 4 days on your counter or in the fridge, otherwise you can freeze it.
- Ways to eat it? Pop a piece in the air fryer, toaster, or oven and spread a little vegan butter on top delicious! I think this would be so great for a brunch.
Check out the other recipes from Eat Your Greens
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Savory Zucchini Bread
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 leek (about 5.5 ounces/160g), thinly sliced
- ⅓ sweet onion (about 2.5 ounces/70g), chopped
- 1 small broccoli crown (about 5.5 ounces/160g), finely chopped
- 2 zucchini (about 12.5 ounces/350g), shredded
- ½ cup (120ml) nondairy milk
- ½ lemon juiced
- 2 ½ cups (300g) all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon (12g) baking powder
- 1 tablespoon (5g) nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 egg replacers* see note
- ⅓ cup (80ml) neutral oil canola or vegetable
- Everything but the Bagel seasoning for topping
- Spray oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).
- Add the leeks and onion to a pan. You can add a small drizzle of oil or just use some spray oil and a bit of water. Sauté over medium heat for 5 minutes until softened and fragrant, stirring occasionally. They do not need to be fully cooked through just to start the cooking process. You can also add a sprinkle of salt.
- Meanwhile, use a food processor or a grate to shred the zucchini. Place in a bowl lined with a towel or paper towel. Wrap around the zucchini and let it sit for about 5 minutes to draw out water.
- Add broccoli to the food processor with chopping blade and chop until it is very fine. Alternatively, you can do this with a sharp knife. However, the finer you chop the broccoli the better.
- In a small bowl or measuring cup combine the nondairy milk and lemon juice. Mix together it should thicken and curdle.
- In a large mixing bowl add the flour, baking powder, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and nutritional yeast. Whisk together to combine.
- Then add in the vegan buttermilk, egg replacers, and oil. Mix with a spatula until it just starts to come together.
- Add in all the vegetables: shredded zucchini, chopped broccoli, sautéed leeks and onions. Fold in with a spatula and mix until a thick batter is formed. The batter will become more moist from the liquid in the vegetables.
- Spray a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with spray oil.
- Pour the batter in and top with everything bagel seasoning (if desired).
- Bake for 1 hour or until golden on top and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Allow the bread to cool in the pan for at least a half hour. Then carefully flip onto a wire rack and cool for another half hour before slicing.
- Slice into 8 to 12 slices depending on how many servings you like. Top with vegan butter if desired and enjoy.
Video
Notes
- I like to use Bob’s Red Mill egg replacer. It is made mostly of potato starch. You can use a flax egg, chia egg, or any egg replacer you like – just need the equivalent of 2 servings.
- I used a standard 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.
- My Food Processor
- Everything Bagel Seasoning
- Everyone’s ovens run differently, you may need to adjust cooking time and temperature.
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Hi. I followed your recipe to the letter.
It remained almost totally raw inside after an hour and 10 minutes of baking at 375.
Yes I put the zucchini in paper towels and squeezed the moisture out.
I used coconut milk and lemon for the vegan buttermilk.
Should I have used 2 9×5 baking pans?
Please give me some guidance. Thank you.
Kathleen
Hi Kathleen, I am so sorry to hear it didn’t work. I know you said you followed the recipe to the letter, my only thought would be if your zucchini were larger than mine (unless you weighed it with a food scale for complete accuracy). I know a bunch of people who had made this recipe and sent pictures and recreations on instagram and didn’t have a problem. I really don’t know what would’ve went wrong exactly. If you do want to try it again you could try putting your oven to 400°F instead if your oven potentially runs a bit cooler. It is soft and moist like sweet zucchini bread but definitely should not be raw.
It was delicious!
yay glad you enjoyed it!
Unfortunately I had the same experience as Kathleen (comment above). Baked it almost 2 hours and still a mush (and yes, I measured and rung out the zucchini until absolutely dry). It’s a shame as the ingredients and concept are great and a lot of steps for something that’s not edible.
Hi Linda, I am so sorry to hear this. Since I had made it and I know other people made it and enjoyed it from Instagram, I am not sure what is going on. I will have to retest this recipe ASAP to make sure there isn’t an issue!
Thanks for the response, Francesca. I love the creativity and applaud your efforts to create more healthy, vegan recipes. Although this one didn’t turn out for me I’ll keep watching what you come up with next. 👏
I haven’t tried this recipe as yet but was wondering if the baking problem has anything to do with altitude? Just a consideration.
Have you ever made this recipe as muffins?
i haven’t!
I also had this exact problem. I was really excited to try this recipe and followed it very carefully. The bread was still raw after almost two hours in the oven. I don’t know what I did wrong but I’m a bit sad about all the wasted ingredients I used. Not sure what I did wrong
My family and I love this bread! The first time I made this, I didn’t measure out my vegetables by weight and the moisture content led to an increased bake time and extra moisture content, but the flavor was amazing so I wanted to give it a second go!
The second time I made this, I weighed out my vegetables and rang out my zucchini before incorporating. I also substitute whole wheat flour instead of all purpose (note that this does detract from the green color). I baked it in 6 mini loaf pans for about 20 minutes and they turned out perfect. I sliced them all and flash froze them so I can have them as a healthy and quick snack (or main meal) for my baby and know that they are getting vegetables in on the go, but I do steal some bites!
Thank you for a fun recipe!
Hi Jamie! thank you so so much for taking the time to leave a comment and review. I really appreciate it. I am so glad your baby (and you sneakily) enjoy them! Thank you for trying it!
I wish I had read the comments before because, yes, mine is still in the oven baking after 2 hours, I covered it with foil and am hoping the insides will cook soon. Was really attracted by the concept and had to pull out the random dinner for the family instead. Thanks for the inspiration and I hope we can all find the tweaks that make this work because its flavor is really nice.