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This zucchini carrot bread is incredibly moist, perfectly spiced, and topped with a dreamy cream cheese glaze. It’s like carrot cake and zucchini bread had a baby, and honestly, it might be better than both of them combined!
Did I plant too much zucchini again this year? Depends on your perspective, I guess.
Yes, the zucchini is officially taking over.
Can we talk about zucchini for a minute? Because if you have a garden, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
One day you plant a few innocent zucchini plants, and the next thing you know, you’re literally drowning in giant green vegetables that seem to multiply overnight. I swear, you turn your back for two seconds and suddenly you’ve got zucchini the size of baseball bats hiding under those leaves.
This is where our zucchini carrot bread recipe becomes your best friend. It’s the perfect way to use up all that garden overflow (you did plant carrots too, right?) while making something your family will actually get excited about.
Plus, the zucchini makes the bread incredibly moist without any weird vegetable taste – it just disappears into each slice of this perfectly moist, perfectly spiced bread.
3 Reasons You’ll Love This Zucchini Carrot Bread
- Uses up garden overflow beautifully. One loaf takes care of a whole cup of grated zucchini, plus some carrots, so you can finally make a dent in that produce pile. Double and share with your neighbors!
- Tastes like dessert, not vegetables. The cream cheese glaze and warm spices make this feel more like carrot cake than veggies, which is exactly what we want.
- Stays moist for days. The zucchini and applesauce combo keeps this bread perfectly moist, so it’s great to make ahead.
Picky Kid Hack!
If your kids rebel at the sight of green flecks in their food, peel the zucchini before shredding it. They won’t even know it’s in there!
Helpful Tools:
- Food Processor: Makes quick work of the zucchini and carrots!
- Box Grater: Not as fast as the food processor but just as effective.
- Loaf Pan: We love these gorgeous ceramic loaf pans for gifting. Bake a batch of bread and gift the whole pan!
Swaps & Tips
- Picky kids? Peel the zucchini before grating – they’ll never know it’s in there
- No applesauce? Use an extra 1/4 cup oil, but the bread won’t be quite as moist
- Grating tip: A food processor makes quick work of all that zucchini and carrot shredding
Don’t overmix the batter once you add the flour – just stir until it disappears. Overmixing leads to tough bread, and nobody wants that.
Other Glaze Options
- A simple mixture of powdered sugar and milk will make a classic vanilla glaze, as seen on this blueberry bread.
- A chocolate glaze would be delicious!
- Skip the glaze altogether and stir chocolate chips right into the batter.
- The browned butter glaze on this moist pumpkin bread would be perfect here.
Storage
The glaze stays fresh for about 3 days – add it fresh if you’re making this ahead.
Store covered at room temperature for up to 4 days.
Store in the fridge (tightly covered) for up to 1 week.
Recipe FAQs:
Zucchini can release quite a bit of moisture, but we do not squeeze it out before adding to this bread. The bread bakes up perfectly moist without being too wet.
Nope! No need to peel the zucchini or the carrots unless you prefer to. In fact the skin is the most nutritious part of both so it doesn’t hurt at all to leave it on.
Yep! Chopped nuts are a good choice and so are raisins or chocolate chips! Feel free to use whatever mix-ins you like, about 1 cup.
More Easy Zucchini Recipes:
Garden overflowing with zucchini? I can help…
- Zucchini Casserole
- Fried Zucchini
- Chocolate Zucchini Bread
- Zucchini Bread with Pineapple
- Chocolate Zucchini Cake
- Cheesy Zucchini Rice
- Zucchini Tomato Tart
Zucchini Carrot Bread
Ingredients
For the bread:
- 1 ½ cups flour
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup grated zucchini
- ¾ cup grated carrots
For the glaze:
- 2 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 2 tablespoons butter room temperature
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoons vanilla
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
To make the bread:
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a 9×5 loaf pan with non-stick spray.
- Add the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt to a small bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.
- Add the oil, applesauce, egg, and egg yolk to a mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Whisk in the brown sugar, sugar, and vanilla until well combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir just until the flour has disappeared. Do not over mix.
- Add the zucchini and carrots to the bowl and stir to combine.
- Spread the batter into the prepared baking dish and bake for 50-60 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool for 15 minutes before removing from the loaf pan and cooling completely on a wire rack.
To make the glaze:
- Add the cream cheese and butter to a microwave safe bowl and microwave until soft enough to stir together, but not fully melted, about 30 seconds.
- Stir in the powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt until the mixture is smooth. Let the mixture cool enough to thicken up until it's easy to drizzle over the bread.
- Pour the glaze over the cooled bread and allow to set for 15 minutes to finish firming up.
Laurie Duncan Phillips says
It just says per serving, but not how many servings in the loaf!?
Karly Campbell says
It says 8 slices, so a serving is based on 1 slice. If you slice it thinner or thicker, the nutrition info will change of course.
Danielle says
There’s this coffee shop I used to go to that had carrot zucchini bread that was the most amazing thing that I’ve ever tasted. I’ve always been on the hunt on how to mimic that recipe and I’ve made so many carrot zucchini bread and I swear to good God himself this tasted exactly like it if not better. I’m so glad that I found this recipe and you really nailed it on the head. I love this recipe so much. I followed the instructions to a T 100 times and loved it all 100 times. The last couple times I added a little bit more cinnamon and nutmeg because I like mine spicy and I also substituted the applesauce for unsweetened cinnamon applesauce. But that’s only my preference. It tastes amazing however you make it. Thank you!
Karly Campbell says
I’m so glad you found the recipe! Thanks for the review, Danielle! I’m sure these are great with extra spices!
Bugglebee says
I baked and baked and baked and it never got done *sobs. I set it to 325 and after an hour it was still uncooked. I added 5 minutes over and over and finally put foil on it and left it there for 35 minutes, so probably a total of 1hr 50 minutes. The outside was rubbery and inside soggy. I don’t know what I did wrong 🙁
Karly Campbell says
Hi there! I’m sorry you struggled with this one! I’m guessing that you mismeasured something or forgot an ingredient somewhere. It’s so frustrating when recipes don’t turn out, but I hope you give this one another try!
Summer says
This is tagged freezer friendly but I don’t see anywhere explaining how to freezer this.
Karly Campbell says
Sorry about that! Cool completely, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and then again in foil. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight on the counter while still wrapped. Glaze just before serving – not before freezing. 🙂
Luz Gómez says
Can I substitute flour with almond flour p
Karly says
No, not as a 1:1 substitute.
Jamie C says
Just made this tonight from my huge zucchini and carrots I got. Added some raisins for sweetness and cut down some sugar. So delicious and light!! Def will be making again
Karly says
Raisins sound like a great addition! So glad you gave it a try. 🙂
Ginny says
I’ve made this bread for two occasions and it’s gotten great reviews. Have you ever done muffins with this recipe?
Karly says
Hi Ginny! I haven’t tried this as muffins, but I’m sure they’ll work great. 🙂 Glad you enjoy the recipe.
Robert Zimprich says
ZUCCHINI CARROT BREAD – It would be helpful if you included pan dimensions in your recipies.
Karly says
It’s in there now, Robert.
Staci Sigrist says
What size loaf pan, 8 or 9-inch??
Barb says
step 1 Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a 9×5 loaf pan with non-stick spray. It is literally the first step in the recipe
Karly says
I actually forgot to add it and added it in after someone else pointed it out.
Karly says
9 inch. Sorry for the confusion. 🙂