Courgette Bread
A spiced loaf that uses up a glut and tastes of nothing green whatsoever: the courgette dissolves into moisture, and the crumb ends up somewhere between a cake and a bread. Squeezing the grated flesh is the difference between damp and sodden.
Photograph credit: Costata Romanesco zucchini and zucchini bread by Temaciejewski · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · this resized copy is shared under the same licence
Storing and Planning Ahead
Wrapped at room temperature for 4 days and better on day two. Freezes whole or sliced for 3 months.
Making Courgette Bread
Tap a step to highlight it, or turn on Cook Mode for large type and step-by-step focus.
-
Heat the oven to 175°C / 350°F. Butter a 900 g loaf tin and line it with a paper strip.
-
Pile the grated courgette into a clean tea towel and wring it hard over the sink. You want to lose about 120 ml of liquid — roughly half a cup — and be left with a damp, compact mass.
-
Whisk the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt together.
-
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs with both sugars for a minute, then whisk in the oil and vanilla until emulsified and slightly thickened.
-
Stir in the squeezed courgette, breaking up any clumps with a fork.
-
Fold in the dry ingredients and the walnuts until just combined — no more.
-
Scrape into the tin, scatter with demerara, and bake 55 to 65 minutes until a skewer comes out with a crumb or two.
-
Cool in the tin 15 minutes, then turn out and cool completely. It slices properly once cold and crumbles while warm.
Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.
Something wrong or unclear in this recipe? Report a problem with this recipe.
A Few Pointers
- Grate on the coarse side of a box grater, not in a processor. Processed courgette turns to purée and the strands are what hold the crumb open.
- No need to peel or seed a medium courgette. A marrow-sized one, yes to both.
- Cover with foil at 40 minutes if the top is already dark — this loaf browns before it is done.
Why the Method Is What It Is
A courgette is more than ninety per cent water, so 300 g of it carries around a cupful of liquid into the batter. Squeezing out roughly half that is the whole technique: too little and the middle never sets, too much and you lose the moisture that makes the loaf worth baking. The rest is a standard oil-based quick bread, where oil keeps the crumb soft cold and the brown sugar and cinnamon do the work that the vegetable cannot.
Serving Ideas
Salted butter, thickly · Cream cheese · Black coffee
Quick Answers
How long does Courgette Bread take to make?
20 minutes of preparation and 1 hour of cooking, plus 15 minutes of cooling, so allow 1 hour 35 minutes from start to finish. The method also needs time for cooling completely, which it does not time, so treat that as a minimum. The recipe serves 10.
What's in a Serving
Per serving, an approximate calculation from the ingredient list. Treat it as a rough guide: optional ingredients are counted. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
Cooked this? Keep a note for next time
Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .