Apple Zucchini Bread

This apple zucchini bread is so moist and tender. Topped with a cream cheese glaze, it's the perfect balance of flavors. Truly the most delicious zucchini bread you'll ever taste!

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Apple Zucchini Bread Recipe

Apple and zucchini may sound like an odd pairing, but when you put them into a deliciously sweet quick bread recipe, it is to die for!

Zucchini is essentially flavorless when added to a recipe like this. Instead, it just makes the bread super moist and creates a beautiful texture.

Baking is one of my favorite things to do - it's so therapeutic! I love to make things like zucchini apple bread and lemon blueberry bread. But I also love to bake tasty muffins like mixed berry muffins and cinnamon apple muffins.

This apple zucchini bread is one of my go-to items to bake when I want to take something to a friend. There's just something so heartwarming about bring a loaf of freshly baked bread to someone!

Next time you pull fresh garden zucchinis from your backyard (or grab them at your local farmers market!), you should give this bread a try. If you have extra, throw them on the grill and make grilled zucchini at your next cook-out.

Why You'll Love this Recipe

• It only takes about 15 minutes to prep this bread, and then you can just let it bake in the oven while you go about your business!
• If you've continually ended up with dry baked goods, you'll love this recipe. Zucchini bread is next to impossible to dry out.
• Apple zucchini bread is a great way to use up extra zucchini and those apples sitting on your counter that are just on the verge of going bad.

Ingredients

Here's what you will need to make this easy recipe:

• self rising flour
• granulated sugar
• plain Greek yogurt
• oil
• eggs
• vanilla extract
• apples, cored and chopped
• zucchini, grated

Cream Cheese Glaze Ingredients:

• powdered sugar
• cream cheese
• milk
• vanilla extract

Substitutions and Variations

Use vegetable oil, olive oil, avocado oil or melted butter in the zucchini bread batter.

Turn this apple zucchini bread into a spiced loaf by adding apple pie spice or pumpkin pie spice. It would be a great baked good to make during the fall season!

You can use whatever type of apples you'd like. I recommend using a variety of sweet apples like Honeycrisp, Gala, Red Delicious or Fuji. Or you could get adventurous and use something like Granny Smith apples for a tart flavor.

Add chocolate chips to the bread to give it an extra sweet touch. You can also swap the glaze out for a crumb topping.

Feel free to add more vegetables or fresh fruit to the bread. You could add grated carrots, grated squash, fresh strawberries, blueberries, mashed bananas and so much more. Just be sure not to overload the batter. Adjust the quantities of whatever you add to match the quantities already listed.

How to Make Apple Zucchini Bread

Preheat your oven to 350°F and grease a loaf tin with baking spray or line it with parchment paper, then set it aside.

Combine self rising flour with granulated sugar in a large mixing bowl.

Add the Greek yogurt, oil, room temperature eggs and vanilla into a medium bowl, then mix until thoroughly combined.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

One thing you need to know: The batter is going to be really thick. This is normal! Don't add extra liquid to it and don't over-mix the ingredients. Mix until just incorporated.

Then, fold in the chopped crisp apples and grated zucchini.

Spoon the batter into the prepared bread pan. Smooth it out with a silicone spatula and then tap the pan onto the countertop to remove any air pockets.

Bake the bread for 50 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick can be inserted into the center of the loaf and come out clean.

Allow the bread to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then remove it and place onto a wire rack.

While the bread is cooling, make the cream cheese glaze. In a small bowl, combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth.

Drizzle the glaze over a completely cooled loaf of moist bread.

Slice and enjoy!

How to Store Leftover Apple Zucchini Bread

Storing quick breads is very similar to how you would store muffins.

I have a whole post about how to store and freeze muffins, but here's the gist of how you can store leftover apple zucchini bread:

Store in an airtight container, lined with paper towels to help collect condensation from residual heat from the loaf. Make you let the bread cool completely before storing it.

The best way to store zucchini apple bread depends on how soon you want to eat it: 

• Within 3 days of baking them: Store the bread on the countertop at room temperature. 
• In the next few days: Store in the fridge, but with the risk of a change in texture. Alternatively, store what you'll eat in the next few days using the countertop method, then freeze the rest. 
• Within the next 3 months: Slice unglazed bread and place the slices in an airtight container with parchment paper in between the layers. Store in the freezer - reheat when you get a craving for a fresh slice of apple zucchini bread! 

Tips for Success

• Chop the apples very finely. The larger the chunks, the more you run the risk that the bread could unevenly bake or some chunks could stay a bit too crunchy.
• The more crisp apples are, the better! You can use apples that are on the verge of going bad, it's a great way to utilize them. But a super crisp apple will produce best results.
• If your apple zucchini bread is browning too quickly before it has cooked through, cover it loosely with foil.

FAQ

More Baked Goods Recipes

• Coffee Cake Muffins with Coffee Glaze
• Cranberry Orange Muffins
• Lemon Blueberry Scones