This Orange Zucchini Bread with Orange Glaze is one of a whole slew of zucchini recipes coming up shortly! Zucchini is one of my new favorite ingredients. It’s like the pumpkin of spring and summer.
That’s how I feel about it… the way I feel about pumpkin in the fall and near Thanksgiving is how I feel about zucchini around this time of year. It’s a newer development, but I’m going with it.
It started last spring. I got really excited about zucchini, came up with a bunch of zucchini recipes that I adored, and now I want alll the zucchini things. Fortunately, zucchini is typically in great abundance.
Do do you have a veggie garden? As soon as you have zucchini coming out your ears, make this Orange Zucchini Bread with Orange Glaze! It starts with a family recipe for Chocolate Zucchini Bread, which I used to make these Chocolate Zucchini Muffins too. It’s a family recipe from my dad’s mom, my Grandma Bessie, and it’s older than me, for sure.
Tried and true, it stands the test of time! It makes great zucchini breads, whether you include the chocolate or not, or whether you substitute that chocolate for citrus, like in this Orange Zucchini Bread recipe.
You’ll never know there’s zucchini in this bread, except for its best qualities. It adds intense moisture. It also adds the teeniest bit of sweetness. I know that’s weird because it’s a green veggie, and it has almost no actual flavor, but it most assuredly adds a hint of sweetness. Trust me because my tastebuds are just that sophisticated. Ha.
I notice sometimes, especially with breads and cakes, that citrus makes things sticky. I personally love it! When I add citrus to breads, I also notice that it seems to make the top a little crunchy and crackly. This is a consistent trend I’ve picked up on, so I’m thinking that the sugars in citrus must have this effect – sweet stickiness and a crackly, crusty top.
This Orange Zucchini Bread with Orange Glaze is almost like a pound cake or loaf cake! Very cake-like, but if we call it bread, we can eat more of it. Because it has green veggies in it, we can eat it guilt-free!
It’s immensely moist, sticky sweet, dense, but with soft crumbs, and BURSTING with fresh orange! It’s such a jolt of sunshine in this never-ending winter.
This Orange Zucchini Bread recipe comes together quickly (save for zesting the oranges!), freezes beautifully (with or without the glaze!), and is a crazy-moist, sticky sweet orange bread with touches of butter and vanilla, and a fresh orange glaze. We’re totally hooked.
Let’s quickly revisit some past zucchini recipes! This Chocolate Zucchini Coffee Cake is loaded with cocoa, chocolate, and even a chocolate streusel. Another brunch option – these Blueberry Zucchini Bread Pancakes are so light and fluffy!
For more citrus + zucchini, I love these Lemon Zucchini Muffins with Lemon Glaze. For a dense, weighty, insanely moist banana bread, try this Zucchini Banana Bread with Streusel Topping. 🙂
Orange Zucchini Bread with Orange Glaze
A crazy-moist, sticky sweet orange zucchini bread with touches of butter and vanilla, and a fresh orange glaze.
Ingredients
For bread:
- 3 large eggs
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup vegetable or canola oil
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- zest and juice of 1 large orange
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. cardamom optional
- 1/4 tsp. baking soda
- 2 cups grated zucchini
For glaze:
- zest and juice of 1 large orange
- 3 tbsp. butter melted
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 3 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
For bread:
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In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, oil, vanilla, and orange zest and juice.
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In another large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, cardamom, and baking soda.
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Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, along with the zucchini, and stir until just combined. Do not overmix.
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If you'd like to add any nuts, fold in about 1 cup chopped nuts.
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Line a 9x5-inch loaf pan with foil or parchment paper, letting the edges hang over the pan. This is a MUST - bread wants to stick to pan. Coat with non-stick spray.
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Spread batter into prepared pan.
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Bake at 350 degrees for about 75 minutes, or until top and edges are golden, and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
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Remove to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes.
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Run a knife along any edges that may have seeped and stuck to the pan.
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Remove bread from pan completely using the foil or parchment paper edges. Cool completely.
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Meanwhile, prepare glaze.
For glaze:
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In a medium bowl, whisk together all glaze ingredients until smooth.
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Depending on how juicy your orange was, you may need to add a little water or more powdered sugar! You should be able to drizzle or pour it, but it shouldn't easily run off the bread.
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Drizzle glaze over cooled bread. Cut and serve.
Recipe Notes
Recent reader feedback is that this makes two smaller 8x4 loaves versus 1 extremely large 9x5. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes if making two smaller loaves
Mary says
April 13, 2018 at 11:50 amI make “crushed pineapple” out of zucchini and measure in 8 oz bags and use when a recipe calls for a small can of pineapple and my zucchini bread I make calls for a can of crushed pine
Sarah says
April 15, 2018 at 10:22 amI love that idea! Thanks for the great tip, Mary! 🙂
Erika says
June 27, 2019 at 1:10 pmHello 🙂 have you ever tried to substitute honey for the sugar? Just wondering if this could work. Thai recipe sounds so delicious 🙂
Sarah says
July 1, 2019 at 8:18 amHi! I have, but I haven’t not done that for a long time. My experience with substituting honey is that it works out pretty well, but I don’t usually do a 1:1 substitute. I use less honey. If something called for 1 cup sugar, I’d personally probably go with 1/2 cup honey, for example. I’m sure there are other calculators online, I just typically use less because it’s liquid…. I never notice much when I reduce sugar in a recipe either. Let me know if you try it! 🙂
Carolyn Ellertson says
August 28, 2019 at 4:10 pmIt is because scientifically honey is sweeter than sugar..
Sarah says
August 29, 2019 at 8:58 amOoooh, cool! Thanks for sharing that! 🙂
Vanessa says
August 14, 2019 at 2:16 amI altered the recipe a little, and it was awesome!
Instead of the 1 cup of oil, I used:
1/4 cup oil + 1/4 cup melted butter, plus 1/2 cup yogurt.
And, I used only 1 cup of sugar, instead of 2.
Yummmmm!
Sarah says
August 14, 2019 at 1:51 pmYES!! I sometimes do that too – especially with sugar. I reduce sugar in a bread recipe, and can’t even really tell a difference. I sometimes swap some oil for yogurt or applesauce. I’m so glad it turned out well for you. Thank you for sharing your tips and for your feedback! 🙂
Kim Kincaid says
September 22, 2019 at 3:37 pmHad a huge zucchini to use and I’m so glad I found your recipe. It is delicious! I made two loaves and only made glaze for one and used on both. Gifted portions to friends and they immediately asked for the recipe. Thanks for sharing.
Sarah says
September 22, 2019 at 10:32 pmYay! I’m so glad you liked it, and I’m so glad it turned out well for you. I’ve had great luck adapting an old family zucchini bread recipe into lots of fun variations. Thank you for your kind comment, and thanks so much for stopping here. 🙂
Jane Wilcox says
May 13, 2020 at 10:32 pmIt looks like the recipe makes one loaf but I got a lot more than that! I thought that seemed like a lot of stuff to go into one pan, and it was, I ended up putting it into a set of small loaf pans and then one regular loaf pan. They are in the oven now and it might overflow but I have a cookie sheet underneath them! I didn’t have oranges so I used lemons instead. I had another recipe like this I have used several times and now Pinterest has blocked it for some reason so I think this will turn our pretty much the same. Thanks!
Sarah says
May 13, 2020 at 10:49 pmYou know, it’s funny, I just did the same thing about a week ago. I made Lemon Zucchini Bread with this same recipe — I added a crumb topping this time around for a lemon crumb bread w/ zucchini, and I too had extra. I have made this for YEARS with my Gma Bessie’s zucchini bread recipe, but recently I noticed it seems to fill a 9×5 VERY full. I’m sorry you experienced that too. I am planning to update the recipe notes to 2 – 8x4s or 1 – 9×5 and a few muffins. Thank you for your feedback! I hope you otherwise enjoy!!
Rachel says
July 23, 2020 at 2:30 pmThis was so yummy! I used golden zucchini and veganized the recipe by using egg replacer and vegan butter. And some ground cloves since I didn’t have cardamom. This is going to double as my birthday cake! Super super sweet, so I could see doing it with less sugar, too. But soooo yummy.
Sarah says
July 23, 2020 at 9:19 pmThat’s fantastic! Thank you so much for your sharing those tips. I am not at all familiar with vegan baking, so that will be so helpful to other readers. Thank you for letting me know what swaps you made. YES, it really almost could be a cake. I do love when quick breads can serve as cakes or coffee cakes!
Carole says
September 5, 2020 at 2:50 pmThis is a great recipe.
I put it into the oven; then turned around and saw I’d forgotten to add the cup of oil !!!
Took it out of the oven, poured it back into the bowl, added the cup of canola oil, beat it in with my hand mixer and back into the oven, thinking it was ruined!
Just took it out after 70 minutes and it looks perfect! Did not stick anywhere either!
It’s cooling on the rack now and I can’t wait to glaze it!
Makes a beautiful loaf cake!
Must be an indestructible recipe!!!
Sarah says
September 6, 2020 at 9:43 amLol! Good way to describe it, I think it is pretty indestructible! I’ve done a lot of adapting with it, and the bread always turns out great. I hope you enjoy it! Thank you so much for your feedback! 🙂