Coconut Lime Zucchini Bread is a tropical twist on traditional zucchini bread - it's a great way to use up extra zucchini in the summer!
I have been baking like crazy lately. The cliche is no baking in the summer because it's too hot to turn on the oven. But do modern ovens really heat up the house that much? I don't really find that mine does - or perhaps my AC goes into overdrive and I don't notice.
In any case, I need to turn on the oven in order to make all the baked goods to use up all the zucchini I get from my CSA. Sure I could make savory foods, like my beloved zucchini tacos (trust me, I do make those too), but I really like healthy-ish baked goods for breakfast, and I like to fill my freezer with them for when zucchini is not plentiful. So I bake.
This week's sweet treat is inspired by a tropical-scented coconut lime body lotion that I used to adore circa 2008. I don't use scented body products anymore, but I still remember how much I loved that coconut-lime combo, and I wanted to recreate it in a baked-good version.
Luckily for my tropical-loving taste buds, it worked out well, and I can enjoy this delicious loaf from my freezer over the upcoming weeks. And guess what. I picked up my CSA today, and there are 4 more zucchinis in there!
How to make Coconut Lime Zucchini Bread:
The first step to making this tropical delight is to drain and squeeze the excess moisture from the zucchini. I do this every time I bake with zucchini to avoid overly heavy, dense baked goods.
The process involves shredding the zucchini (I use a box grater), sprinkling the shredded zucchini with salt, and letting it sit in a colander or mesh strainer. After a few minutes, transfer the zucchini to a clean kitchen towel, and squeeze all the extra moisture from the zucchini (you will be squeezing out most of the salt with it).
From this point, making the Coconut Lime Zucchini Bread is like making many other quick bread recipes. Whisk together the dry ingredients in one bowl, then whisk together the wet ingredients in another bowl. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, then pour the batter into a greased loaf pan and bake.
Make sure to cool the loaf before slicing it to avoid it from falling apart. To freeze, slice the loaf, then freeze the slices on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Once they are frozen, transfer the slices to a freezer bag.
Coconut Lime Zucchini Bread Ingredients:
- Medium zucchini
- Salt
- All-purpose flour
- Whole wheat flour: optional, replace with an equal amount of all-purpose flour if desired
- Unsweetened shredded coconut
- Baking soda
- Baking powder
- Granulated sugar
- Canola oil: or substitute with another neutral-flavored cooking oil like vegetable oil or avocado oil
- Plain Greek yogurt
- Egg
- Limes: you will be using both the juice and the zest
- Vanilla extract
Want more Zucchini recipes?
Coconut Lime Zucchini Bread Nutrition Notes
The extra fat and saturated fat in this version of zucchini bread (compared to say, lemon zucchini loaf cake) is from the coconut that is added to it. However, the coconut in this recipe gives this loaf its distinct flavor and texture and cannot be replaced.
If you're looking for a lower-fat version of zucchini loaf, make the lemon zucchini loaf and skip the glaze.
Replace the plain Greek yogurt in this recipe with your favorite dairy-free plain yogurt to make this loaf dairy-free.
Coconut Lime Zucchini Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups grated zucchini, from 1 medium zucchini
- 1 teaspoon salt, divided
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- ½ cup whole wheat flour
- 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup canola oil
- ¼ cup plain Greek yogurt (replace with your favorite dairy-free yogurt to make this recipe dairy-free)
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons lime zest (from 2 limes)
- 2 Tablespoons lime juice (from 2 limes)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F and lightly grease an 8x5" loaf pan.
- Place grated zucchini in a colander and sprinkle with ½ teaspoon of the salt. Toss gently and place the colander in the sink to drain. Let sit for 5-10 minutes.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, coconut, ½ teaspoon of salt, baking soda and baking powder. Set aside.
- Whisk together the sugar, oil, yogurt, egg, lime zest, lime juice and vanilla extract into a large bowl. When the zucchini is done draining, squeeze any extra water out with your hands. Stir it into this mixture.
- Gently fold the flour mixture into the zucchini mixture, and stir until flour is just incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan, and gently smooth the top with a spatula. Bake for 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack.
Nutrition
Angie@Angie's Recipes says
This is a lovely quick bread. I love the combo of coconut and zucchini. Don't see the wholemeal flour listed in the ingredients.
Carissa says
Angie - you're right! Thanks for pointing out my mistake! I had all purpose flour listed twice, where one was supposed to be whole wheat - always helps to have a second set of eyes. Fixed and updated!