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Amazing!! Texture is outta this world, and lemony flavor is outstanding. Olive oil really helps to amplify the lemon flavor, as well. New staple in our household!
Claire
Oh. Me. Oh. My.
This just in: guess what I’ve made six times in the last two weeks? You’re looking at it. I officially belong to the elite club of people who could live off of lemon poppyseed zucchini bread FOREVER.
Friends. You just take a minute right now and you drink in those virtual smells. Are you ready? The lemony oils with the coarse sugar. The spicy ginger. The lightly floral smell of the olive oil. The poppyseeds and all their cute little nuttiness.
This is a bakery meets spa situation and I cannot get enough.
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Can we go to the food feelings zone for a second?
Something about this cake is inherently soul-HEALING. And in the grey-meh-bleh days when you find yourself leaving for work and returning home all in a blur, and where everyone and everything is recovering from being either body-sick or heart-sick, and life can just feel hard, healing is good. Healing is very totally necessary.
Making this cake requires *just* enough work to remind you that good food takes time. We’re grating zucchini and gently pressing out the water. We’re zesting lemons and slowing down to smell the little curls of zest along the way because YUM. We’re pressing our own olives to make… no, we’re not actually. Thank you, Store Bought Olive Oil. We’re just breathing in the olive oil as it drizzles into the batter. Is that allowed?
With ONE FULL CUP of olive oil in there and a big handful of poppyseeds (why so expensive, little guys? I don’t understand it), this is less of a quick/easy/cheap situation and more of a love song to high quality, delicious ingredients.
On a physical level, it is straight up aromatherapy.
On an emotional level, it is lemon-loaded love.
UNUSUAL NOTE ABOUT THIS LEMON OLIVE OIL CAKE:
You know I love my sauces, toppings, and extras x10 on everything. But honestly, I’m here to tell you that this cake doesn’t need any butter, any honey, any glaze or frosting or any anything. (!!) That’s kind of a big deal.
All this zucchini bread needs is you on the couch with a house that smells like a bakery + spa combo, holding a warm mug of dark coffee and a few (dozen) slices of this bread. ♡
We are so FEELIN IT.
More Sweet Breads To Love
- Springy Blueberry Lemon Bread (all the bright, fresh flavors here)
- Super Moist Pumpkin Bread (a fall classic)
- Gooey Caramel Monkey Bread (with homemade caramel sauce = THE BEST)
Common Questions About This Zucchini Bread
To make these into muffins, follow steps 1-3 as listed, and then pour the batter into a greased muffin tin. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 mins. Full recipe will make about 18 muffins. Alternatively, you can make these muffins.
Use half brown sugar and half white sugar. Or all white sugar. I’ve made this six times, a little different each time, but my favorite variation was the all-brown-sugar version (as written) which gives a darker, more caramel-like crust on the whole bread. It might seem a little dark at first compared to other loaf cakes, but give it a little time in the fridge and it will be magic in your mouth.
For whatever reason, I think this lemon olive oil cake tastes THE BEST when stored in the refrigerator. I cannot get enough of it. Just stick it in the fridge after you’ve eaten the first warm slice, and then the next morning treat yoself to the most dense, moist, luscious lemon olive oil bread.
Yes, it’s a lot of sugar in this recipe. I did try it with less sugar and while it tasted pretty good, the texture just wasn’t quite there. I generally opt for less sugar in my recipes, but in this one, I really felt like the full sugar amount was necessary to achieve the best texture. The batter WILL taste overly sweet. Don’t panic. It all evens out once it’s baked.
Lemon Poppyseed Zucchini Bread
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 12 slices 1x
Description
Lemon Poppyseed Zucchini Bread with zucchini, brown sugar, zested lemons, olive oil, ginger, and poppyseeds. The most healing breakfast or snack!
Ingredients
- 3 cups grated zucchini (about 2 zucchini)
- grated zest of 2 large lemons
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 cups brown sugar (packed softly)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 3 tablespoons poppy seeds
- optional: tiny pinch of nutmeg
- optional: a small grated piece of fresh ginger
Instructions
- Drain zucchini: Preheat the oven to 350. In a small mixing bowl, mix the zucchini with 1/4 cup brown sugar. Transfer the mixture to a fine-mesh strainer set over the mixing bowl. Fill another small bowl with water and set it directly on top of the zucchini so that it is pushing down, pressing the water out into the bowl below.
- Add wet ingredients: Line a 9×5 loaf pan with parchment paper. Whisk together the remaining brown sugar, eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla until well blended. Beat in the olive oil gradually, whisking it in until it’s thoroughly incorporated.
- Add dry ingredients: Stir in the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, poppy seeds, nutmeg, and ginger until just combined. Add the pressed zucchini to the batter and stir it in gently until evenly incorporated.
- Bake: Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for about 1 hour and 10 minutes. The outer crust of the bread will be firm to the touch and on the darker side of golden brown (see FAQs).
- Eat: Cool the bread in the pan for about 20 minutes. Remove, cut, and serve (but also see FAQs about chilling the cake which is unusually delicious).
Equipment
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Buy Now → Notes
Sugar Topping: Optional but crunchy and delicious. Remove from oven at 55 minutes, add 2-3 tablespoons of turbinado sugar (all it needed), and finish baking for the last 15 minutes.
Source: This recipe was inspired by the ginger olive oil zucchini cake on Food 52.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 1 hour 10 mins
- Category: Snack
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: lemon olive oil bread, lemon olive oil loaf, lemon bread, lemon poppyseed bread, lemon zucchini bread
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our collection of easy zucchini recipes. Check it out!
This might be the best thing I’ve made this summer — with zucchini, anyway. The bread is moist with the perfect tangy flavor from the lemon zest. It’s a favorite with my kiddos, too! I skipped the ginger to appease the under-10 crowd, but it tastes complete without it.
Is this a cake or a bread? Is it more a dessert than an accompaniment to a salad or entree? I will make it soon for a luncheon.
More of a cake!
I’ve been making this periodically since you first published it and still love it. Yesterday I used black sesame instead of poppy seeds and honestly LOVED the slightly nuttier and richer/less sweet flavor. Super good swap!
Also as muffins it works great at about 24min to still get that golden crusty top.
I’m looking forward to trying this recipe. Can I double the recipe? Can I use Meyer lemons instead of regular lemons?
Yes to both questions!
LOVED it!!! Mine came out sun golden and smelled sooo comforting and fresh. This is such a great recipe! I made a few small adjustments to make it vegan and still came out so fluffy and moist and delicious 🙂
I have made this loaf no fewer than 15 times. It’s a staple in my loaf rotation! Bright flavour, moist, comes out perfect every time, AND it’s got a veg in it?! AND it’s my 6yo’s favourite. I mean, come on! It doesn’t get better than this.
I’ve never had a quick bread fail, but this one sure did. Even with draining and pressing the zucchini, it was just all too much wet. Too much zucchini and too much oil.
I made this bread tonight. Our veggie garden is producing a I made double loavesbeautiful bounty of zucchini. I followed the recipe with a few minor tweaks (extra lemon zest and I also added about 1/4 teaspoon of lemon extract). Both loaves baked beautifully. The texture and taste of this bread is so great!! This recipe is a keeper! Love it!
I make this every spring for Easter breakfast or when guests are staying over to snack on for breakfast. It always gets RAVE reviews and is so delicious and light. Makes you feel healthier eating it with the olive oil and zucchini mixed in🙃 a go to for me and relatively easy to make!
I made this yesterday and it’s a delight. I guess I had an issue reading instructions because I forgot to add the olive oil in with the rest of the liquids and ended up having to add it after I added the flour, etc. Luckily everything combined a-ok. And instead of just adding 1/4 cup of brown sugar I added a whole cup to the grated zucchini. I ended up using just a cup of brown sugar for the liquid portion. After all my mistakes, I’m happy to report the bread came out really well and not too sweet. It’s a very forging batter. I plan to make this again sometime.
Love this idea of this recipe! Is there any chance I can use less sugar? 2 cups of sugar scares me lol
Hi! This particular recipe really does best with the full sugar amount, though it should still work if you want to reduce the sugar.
So yummy! It’s a lot of sugar but worth it for that crispy edge!
Hello and thanks for the recipe!
Quick question, is the 3 cups zucchini to be measured before or after the squeeze? and is the brown sugar used in aiding the zucchini squeeze part of the 2 cups of brown sugar? thanks! L
Hi Loril! Great questions! The 3 cups of zucchini should be measured before the squeeze. And the brown sugar is a part of the 2 cups listed in the ingredients.
Best bread ever
This is THE BEST bread I have ever made. Delish
Love this recipe!
Our son has celiac, so we would need to use a replacement flour. Do you have a gluten free recommendation?
Thank you!
Hi Samantha! We don’t cook with gluten free flour too often, so we usually just use whichever 1:1 gluten free flour blend is available at the grocery store!
This is such great bread! It’s been a wonderful way to use lots of frozen zucchini from my garden. If I were to make it in 3 mini loaf pans, do you suggest the same baking time as muffins or a little longer?
We’d start with the muffin baking time, check, and add more minutes if needed!
Amazing recipe, a keeper for years to come. Moist, aromatic with the lemons and olive oil. So delicious.
I am on my sugar free January and 2 cups of brown sugar is definitely not an option for me. Would honey be ok in this recipe? If yes how much? And if not what else would you recommend instead of the sugar in this recipe? I appreciate your input.
Hi Paulina! We think honey or maple syrup would work in this recipe, but we’re unsure on the amounts since we haven’t tested the bread with these substitutions.
thank you so much for the response; I will try with one of those ingredients and will let you know how it came out
Hello! I was also wondering if I could use honey due to health restrictions. Did you find out measurements that worked??
Not impressed. Taste and smell of evoo was overwhelming.
Your zucchini bread looks good. Fresh air is good for you . . breathing in your own carbon dioxide isn’t.
I was a little skeptical about the zucchini lemon poppyseed combo – but my husband loves lemon poppyseed cake so I gave it a shot. It was amazing!! I added a little fresh ginger as recommended – the spices are perfect and the crispy outer layer from the olive oil is addicting. This is a keeper!
Finally got around to making this yesterday and I’m SO glad I did!!! It has been the perfect fall treat! I made a few substitutions to make it GF and reduce the processed sugar content. I used King Arthur 1:1 GF flour mix, plus 2 TBSP flax meal for the flour, and substituted half of the brown sugar with an equal amount of date paste. I was also generous with the nutmeg and fresh ginger. I decided to bake it in a swirl Bundt pan and the bake time was spot on. The cake turned lovely! Moist, with the flavor of warming spices and lemon, SO good! I did opt to make a sweet lemony buttery topping for it, which was basically a mash up of lemon glaze and cream cheese frosting. So far I had it for dessert last night, breakfast this morning, and a snack this afternoon, it’s THAT GOOD! My kiddo also loves it, and I love that he’s eating hidden veggies! Will definitely be making this again!
So glad to hear that, Sarah!
I made this today, and it came together so easily and was PERFECT. The texture was incredible (no weird wet part in the middle haha), and the flavor was bright and not too sweet. Thank you!
Would make this again. Very good