This Parmesan Zucchini Cornbread is insanely moist, with the help of grated zucchini, sweet with a touch of honey and brown sugar, and savory with sharp Parmesan cheese! If you love a cornbread with exceptional flavor and texture, you must try this Parmesan Zucchini Cornbread!
I love to make a new cornbread recipe every year, usually in the fall. Sometimes I share two cornbread recipes. It’s been known to happen. We’ll see what fall brings, but I’m giving you a summery cornbread too, this Parmesan Zucchini Cornbread.
Feel free to also eat it in the fall though.
You’ve probably noticed that I love to put cheese in bready things and biscuits. I did it with this Goat Cheese Pumpkin Cornbread, these Goat Cheese Zucchini Scones, these Toasted Pecan Goat Cheese Biscuits, and these Parmesan Dill Biscuits. Who doesn’t want cheese in their carbs?
Goat cheese is my #1 because it kinda melts into things. It’s mild and creamy and goes with most flavors. Parmesan is my fave cheese to throw into baked goods when I want a sturdier cheese that won’t just absorb into things, but also, since it’s sharper, it cuts through an otherwise sweet food.
Most of my cornbread recipes are fall-oriented. Cornbread is definitely a summer BBQ thing, so I don’t know why I always affiliate cornbread with autumn, but I guess it started when I made this Pumpkin Cornbread recipe a few years ago. Henceforth, cornbread become a fall food I like to make.
What followed over the years was these cornbread variations:
- Honey Brown Butter Pumpkin Cornbread
- Sweet Potato Cornbread
- Maple Bacon Cranberry Cornbread Muffins
- Caramelized Apple & Pecan Cornbread
Options, options, options! For me, the perfect cornbread is bonkers moist. Crazy, crazy moist. Nobody likes a dry, crumbly cornbread, but I like mine at the total other end of the spectrum entirely. Zucchini makes for a perfect enhancement to a cornbread’s moisture. It adds a ton of moisture to baked goods… it’s pretty much zucchini’s selling point.
It does its job in this Parmesan Zucchini Cornbread, for sure.
This Parmesan Zucchini Cornbread has such great flavor and texture. It’s dense, yet the texture remains light. It’s moist, but it’s not soggy. It has slightly crunchy, golden edges, but it’s not dry or crusty or bland. It’s slightly sweet with a tinge of honey and brown sugar, but a little savory from the sharpness of the Parmesan cheese.
Since a really good cornbread is one of my favorite carby foods to indulge in, I love experimenting with different ingredients and add-ins. This Parmesan Zucchini Cornbread did not disappoint, and bonus: it gave me the opportunity to use up some zucchini!
Parmesan Zucchini Cornbread
Ingredients
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 15 oz. can creamed corn
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup butter melted
- 1/4 cup milk or heavy cream
- 1 1/2 cups grated zucchini
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt, and brown sugar.
- In another large bowl, whisk together creamed corn, egg, honey, butter, and milk.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, along with zucchini and Parmesan cheese, and stir until just moistened and combined. Do not overmix.
- Coat an 8x8-inch baking pan with non-stick spray.
- Spread batter into prepared baking pan.
- Bake at 400 degrees for 30-35 minutes, or until the top and edges are golden, and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
- Remove to a wire rack to cool. Cut and serve.
