This wonderful cheesy zucchini bread is THE recipe if you have zucchini to use up! It’s so simple – mix your ingredients in one bowl, transfer to a loaf tin and bake. No need to drain your zucchini first, just throw it in as is for ease. Packed with cheese, scallions and bacon, it’s a wonderfully moreish option for any time of the day.
Most recipes for zucchini bread I see are all sweet, but as a savory girl through and through, this very cheesy version is perfection to me.
It’s based on a recipe my nana makes all the time with the glut of zucchini from her garden, and it’s such a wonderful way to use them up. A little like a crustless quiche, this lovely bread is lighter than a savory muffin but is along those lines. It’s also INCREDIBLY easy to make.
All you need to do is add everything to a bowl – and there’s no need to drain your grated zucchini – mix to combine, pour into a loaf tin and bake.
It makes for a wonderful prep-ahead breakfast, weekend brunch, snack or light lunch. It’s great served with roasted tomatoes or smashed avocado piled on top but is equally great alone, or with a slathering of butter (or roasted garlic butter). It’s SUPER moist – thanks to the zucchini – and packed with lovely umami flavors. Plus, you can easily make it vegetarian by skipping the bacon.
I even used this mixture to make mini zucchini bites for a party recently – this one batch was enough to make 48 mini bites. They went down very well and I’ll definitely be trying it again! They only needed around 20 minutes in the oven.
Ingredients
- Zucchini (courgettes). There’s no need to salt and drain the zucchini in this recipe – you can just grate them and throw them in.
- Cheese. I’m using a mixture of sharp cheddar and creamy feta. It’s a lovely combination, but you can play around with the cheese you use. Gruyere, Emmental or blue cheese are also great.
- Bacon. You can cook your bacon before adding it to the mixture, or add it raw (it cooks in the oven). Both work – cooking it first gives it a little more texture and flavor in the finished bread, but it’s not a huge difference.
- Fish sauce. It may seem bizarre, but fish sauce adds a wonderful, deep savory flavor that salt alone can’t replicate. I recommend using it here (and promise it doesn’t make the bread taste fishy at all!)
- Chili flakes. This just adds a little heat, but you can skip it if you like or if you’re making this for kids.
How to make it
Add all the ingredients into a mixing bowl, then mix until there are no remaining streaks of flour. Transfer to a lined loaf tin, then bake until golden and glorious.
PRO TIP: You can add the bacon uncooked into the mixture (it’ll cook in the oven) or you can cook it first. It’s up to you! Cooking will give you a little more texture in the bread, but both ways are delicious.
Leave to cool for a few minutes before slicing and enjoying with a big slather of butter if you like – try it with this lovely roasted garlic butter.
Watch how to make it
Got a question?
Yes, you absolutely can – the bacon will cook in the bread anyway, but if you cook it until super crispy before adding it, it will have a slightly different texture in the finished bread. Both are great – it just comes down to preference.
It keeps well for 4 days in the fridge, and it freezes well too. I like to slice it, and then freeze it in ziplock bags. That way, you can easily pop it in the toaster to defrost it.
Like this recipe? Try these other ideas with zucchini
If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear from you! You can leave a recipe rating and a comment below. And remember to tag @DishedByKate on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok if you’ve made one of my recipes. Seeing your recreations really makes my day 😊.
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One Bowl Cheesy Zucchini Bread
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Diet: Low Fat
Description
This wonderful cheesy zucchini bread is THE recipe if you have zucchini to use up! It’s so simple – mix your ingredients in one bowl, transfer to a loaf tin and bake until golden. No need to drain your zucchini first, just throw it in as is for ease.
Packed with cheese, scallions and bacon, it’s a wonderfully moreish option for any time of the day.
I’m using a regular loaf tin (8.5″x 4.5″ x 2.5″) here.
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1 cup plain flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2.5 cups grated zucchini (roughly 2 large zucchini or 375g)
- 3 scallions (spring onions), finely sliced
- 3 slices of streaky bacon
- 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated (plus extra to scatter on top)
- 1/2 cup feta, crumbled
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons chilli flakes
- Black pepper.
- 1 tablespoon everything bagel seasoning or sesame seeds (optional)
- Zest of 1 lemon (optional)
Instructions
- Prepare your loaf tin. Line your tin with greaseproof paper, and heat your oven to 400F/200C fan.
- Cook the bacon (optional). You can add the bacon into the mixture without cooking it first (it will cook in the oven) but cooking it first gives you lovely crispy pieces and a little extra flavor. It’s up to you! If you’re cooking the bacon, add your bacon slices to a pan over medium-high heat and cook for about five minutes, flipping a few times as you do, until the bacon is super crispy. Remove from the pan and chop into small pieces.
- Mix the zucchini bread. Crack your eggs into a mixing bowl and whisk them. Add 1/3 cup olive oil, 1 cup of flour, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1/2 tablespoon of fish sauce, the grated zucchini, chopped scallions, chilli flakes, chopped bacon, grated cheddar, crumbled feta, 1 teaspoon of salt, a good grind of black pepper and the lemon zest if you’re using it. Mix until no streaks of flour remain, then pour into the prepared tin. The mixture will be reasonably wet. Scatter over the extra cheese and everything bagel seasoning if you’re using it.
- Bake the zucchini bread. Transfer the tin to the oven, and cook for 45 to 50 minutes, until the top looks deeply golden and you can cleanly insert a skewer or knife into the middle (there shouldn’t be any sticky residue). If there is residue on the skewer, keep the bread in the oven for another 10 minutes and check again. Remove from the oven and let cool in the tin for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool. Slice and serve with softened butter (I can HIGHLY recommend trying this with roasted garlic butter).
Notes
INGREDIENT NOTES: Skip the bacon to make the bread vegetarian, or you could use chorizo. Play around with the cheese too – Gruyere, blue cheese or Emmental would be lovely swaps.
STORAGE INSTRUCTIONS: The bread will keep for roughly 4 days, stored in the fridge. You can pop slices into the toaster if you like to heat it a little, but it’s great cold. It also freezes well. Slice it, then store in ziplock bags so you can easily pull a slice or two out when you need to.
WANT MINI VERSIONS? I used this mixture to make mini zucchini bites for a party recently – this one batch was enough to make 48 mini bites. They went down very well and I’ll definitely be trying it again! They only needed around 20 minutes in the oven.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 50
- Category: baking
- Method: oven
- Cuisine: american
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 257
- Sugar: 0.8g
- Sodium: 603.2mg
- Fat: 17.7g
- Saturated Fat: 5.3g
- Unsaturated Fat: 11.3g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 16.5g
- Fiber: 1.4g
- Protein: 9.8g
- Cholesterol: 109.6mg
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