Cheesy Zucchini Bread

This Cheesy Zucchini Bread is packed with summer flavor! Toast up a slice of this savory quick bread and serve it next to salad or soup for an easy meal.

This Cheesy Zucchini Bread post is sponsored by Cabot Creamery, but the recipe and opinions are entirely my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that support Spiced!

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Zucchini season is upon us. Or as a good friend likes to call it, “Lock your car doors or you might up with a zucchini in your front seat” season. She’s kinda right. Once zucchini get growing, they grow fast! One day you see a little zucchini flower. The next day, that zucchini is the size of your forearm. Ok, maybe they don’t grow that fast, but the point remains that zucchini are more than plentiful in the late summer months.

We enjoy grilling zucchini, but there is only so much grilled zucchini you can eat. Once we tire of grilling it up, I often make zucchini bread. Zucchini bread is an easy quick bread made with shredded zucchini. The zukes themselves add moisture to the bread, and zucchini bread is an easy way to use up extra zucchini.

Cheesy Zucchini Bread

Zucchini bread typically features a sweet profile, including cinnamon, nutmeg and sometimes chocolate chips and nuts. Well, we’re turning that concept on its’ head today. We’re going savory! Instead of traditional baking spices, we’re going with chopped green onions and shredded sharp cheddar cheese. Oh, and the bread gets brushed with a garlic butter topping while it’s cooling. Holy cow – this one is delicious! (And, yes, it’s still an easy way to use extra zucchini.)

This Cheesy Zucchini Bread is a great side dish to serve alongside a summer salad or even a bowl of soup. I know it’s a little too hot right now to think about soup, but this bread freezes well. So make an extra loaf and pull it in a couple months. A big slice of this bread would pair well with a hearty soup or stew. This bread is also great as a mid-afternoon snack. That’s how we ate most of the loaf from these photos – so tasty!

What is Quick Bread?

We love all sorts of homemade bread around our house. At any given moment, there’s probably no less than 3 different types of bread hiding in corners of our freezer. (This Jalapeno Cheddar Bread is an all-time favorite!) As much as I enjoy baking yeasted breads, I must admit that quick breads hold a special spot in my recipe box.

Quick breads are just that. Quick. No yeast. No rising. Quick breads rely on baking powder and baking soda for rising, so the prep time is very short. Just mix the ingredients together in one bowl and transfer it into a bread pan. Send that pan off to the oven and a little while later, you’ll have an amazing loaf of bread cooling on the countertop.

This Cheesy Zucchini Bread doesn’t have a strong zucchini flavor. In that way, it’s an easy way to sneak extra veggies into a recipe. But that zucchini does add moisture to this bread – after all, a zucchini is 95% water!

Tips for Making Zucchini Bread

• Squeeze Out Excess Liquid. A zucchini is 95% water, and we don’t want that much liquid in our Cheesy Zucchini Bread. So once the zucchini is shredded, place it in a colander and press firmly on the shredded zucchini with a paper towel until all of the excess liquid drains away. Ideally you want to soak up all of that excess water.
• Don’t Overmix the Batter. The dry ingredients and wet ingredients should be mixed together until just barely combined. Then fold in the cheese, green onions and zucchini. If you overmix the batter, the loaf could come out tough.
• Make an Extra Loaf. Your future self will thank you. Zucchini is plentiful in late summer, so you’ve already got that ingredient covered. Since you’re mixing everything up anyways, just double it. Then take that 2nd loaf and freeze it. Fast forward several months to a chilly, rainy day. Pull that extra loaf out of the freezer and serve it with a bowl of hot soup!
• Make Sure It’s Fully Baked. This bread contains a lot of moisture thanks to the zucchini. It might be tempting to pull it out of the oven early. Don’t do that! If the top starts to brown too quickly, just tent the bread with a piece of aluminum foil and let it bake a little longer.
• Toast Up Leftovers! This isn’t really a tip so much as a recommendation. Leftovers of this bread are fantastic! Toast up a slice on Day 2 for an extra special treat.
• Use Sharp Cheddar Cheese. The extra flavor from the sharp cheddar helps balance the taste of this bread.

Whenever we use cheddar cheese in the kitchen, we always (always!) reach for a bar of Cabot Cheddar. Our favorite is Cabot’s Seriously Sharp Cheddar Cheese, but any of Cabot’s sharp cheddars would work in this recipe. The intense cheddar flavor is nothing short of perfect in this Cheesy Zucchini Bread.

We discovered Cabot cheeses when we first moved to upstate New York years ago. They quickly became our go-to cheese, and we haven’t looked back! We always keep several bars of Cabot cheese in our fridge. Those bars make for an easy (and delicious) snack – and the shredded cheddar goes quite well in this savory quick bread.

If you aren’t familiar with Cabot, then definitely check them out. Cabot Creamery was founded back in 1919 by 94 farm families in Cabot, Vermont. Over 100 years later, Cabot is still owned by dairy farm families across New York and New England. I personally love the close connection between the farmers and the company. Of course, the fact that they make fantastic cheese helps that much more!

If you’re looking for a delicious (and easy) way to use some extra summer zucchini, then grab a bar of Cabot cheese and make this Zucchini Cheese Bread. It’s pretty darned fantastic, and we enjoyed every bite!

How to Store Leftovers

Once the bread has cooled completely, it can be stored at room temperature for 3-4 days in an airtight container. If your loaf is particularly moist or if the leftovers will be around for more than 3 days, then store the container in the fridge. This bread will last ~7 days in the refrigerator.

This quick bread also freezes well. Just make sure it’s completely cooled before wrapping it in plastic wrap and storing it in a freezer bag for up to 4 months. Let thaw at room temperature – and remember to toast up slices in the toaster oven for an extra tasty treat!

I hope you enjoy this bread as much as we do here in our house – Happy Baking!

Did you bake this Cheesy Zucchini Bread recipe at home? Leave a comment, or snap a photo and tag me (@Spicedblog) and Cabot (@CabotCreamery) on Instagram – we’d love to see your version!

Cheesy Zucchini Bread

This Cheesy Zucchini Bread is packed with summer flavor! Toast up a slice of this savory quick bread and serve it next to salad or soup for an easy meal.

5 from 2 votes

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 40 minutes minutes

Servings: 8 slices

Calories: 340kcal

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Ingredients

For the Topping

• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter room temperature
• 1 Tbsp finely chopped parsley
• ½ tsp minced garlic
• ½ tsp Italian seasonings
• ¼ tsp kosher salt

For the Zucchini Bread

• 1¾ cups shredded zucchini ~1 large or 2 medium zucchini
• 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 large egg
• ¼ cup unsalted butter melted
• 1½ cups shredded Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar Cheese
• ¼ cup chopped green onions

Instructions

For the Topping

• Using a small bowl, whisk together all ingredients; set bowl aside.

For the Zucchini Bread

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Spray a 9”x5” loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray; set pan aside.
• Place shredded zucchini in a large bowl and press firmly with paper towels to absorb as much liquid as possible; set zucchini aside.
• Using a large mixing bowl, add flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt; mix until well combined.
• Using a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, egg and melted butter.
• Pour liquid ingredients into bowl with the dry ingredients; stir until just combined.
• Add shredded cheese, chopped green onions and grated zucchini; stir mixture until just combined.
• Transfer batter into prepared pan.
• Bake for 75-80 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of bread comes out mostly clean. (Note: Check loaf around 55-60 minutes. If the top is browning too quickly, tent the pan with a piece of aluminum foil.)
• Remove pan from oven. While bread is still hot, brush the butter topping (from above) onto the bread.
• Let bread cool in pan for 15 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

Looking for more zucchini recipes? Check out these other favorites, too: