If you’ve got zucchini in your garden, you know how fast you can be overcome with it. Sometimes it’s hard to keep up. Even after giving some away, you still may find yourself looking for an easy recipe to put it in. This Whole Wheat Banana Zucchini Bread is a simple recipe you can quickly make for your family. It’s moist, delicious and freezer friendly too!
Fresh, shredded zucchini is blended with mashed and ripened bananas along with warm cinnamon and nutmeg in a buttery whole wheat batter to give you a melt in your mouth bread that everyone will love. I love using 100% stone ground whole wheat flour in a lot of my quick bread and muffin recipes because it provides more fiber in each serving which keeps you fuller longer. I also like the heartier texture it provides.
Sometimes using whole wheat flour gives you a slightly drier end result, but not in this recipe! The banana, zucchini and heavy cream keeps these loaves perfectly moist! You can always add some roughly chopped walnuts to the batter too (Yum!)- I just left them out completely for my picky eaters. 😉
My children still have about a month left of summer vacation, but I know some of you have kiddos who already started the school year. Back to school time is so busy! As the children are adjusting to new schedules, us moms and dads are trying to get our own daily routine back to normal. Meal planning really helps me with our daily routine. With 4 hungry, growing children, sometimes I feel like I can’t keep up. This lovely bread makes for a wonderful breakfast and a great afterschool snack with a big glass of milk.
Since this recipe makes 3 medium sized loaves of bread, we usually eat one right away, while it’s warm from the oven, and then let the other 2 cool so they can be wrapped up and stored in the freezer for later. If you’ve never done any “freezer cooking” before, breads are a great item to start with and they freeze beautifully. You can just grab a loaf from the freezer the night before you are going to serve it and you’re all set. Fresh and yummy, just like the day you baked it! I can’t tell you how many times a frozen loaf of quick bread has come in handy at our house!
Don’t let any of your zucchini go to waste this summer! Whip up a few loaves of this bread & enjoy!
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 3 eggs
- 2 egg whites
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup white sugar
- 4 very ripe regular sized bananas, mashed
- 2 cups shredded zucchini
- 3 3/4 cups 100% Whole Wheat Flour
- 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 3/4 tsp. nutmeg
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Sift the flour, soda, powder and salt and set aside.
- In your Kitchen Aid Mixer, beat the butter with the sugars until fluffy.
- Add the eggs and egg whites one at a time and beat well after each addition.
- Add the vanilla, cinnamon & nutmeg, then mix.
- Add the mashed bananas and zucchini, then mix until well combined.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients, alternating with the heavy cream until combined.
- Don't forget to scrape down the bowl to make sure everything gets blended well.
- Evenly fill 2 large or 3 medium sized greased loaf pans with the batter.
- Bake for 55-65 minutes (depending on size pan used), or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean.
- Let cool for at least 30 minutes or completely on a wire rack before removing the bread from the loaf pan.
- Serve with fresh butter if desired.
- *If freezing: Let cool completely and wrap well in plastic wrap and store in a plastic freezer bag.
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*Linking up at Foodie Friends Friday, Home Stories A to Z
