Orange Zucchini Bread
The hints of citrus and juicy zucchini in this bread will just have you holding onto summer for just a little longer.
Happy Monday friends! Happy Labor Day! I hope you are having a relaxing weekend with your family.
It’s back-to-school season and I got together with some graduate student friends to bring you a themed series on life as a student blogger. This week we are featuring recipes that are low-budget/cost-saving for The Starving Grad/Undergrad Student. This orange zucchini bread definitely fits that bill as it is not only quick to whip up, it uses summer’s juicy vegetable to give you a delicious treat!
But let me back up for a minute. I am sure most of you know, I am a graduate student by day. I am pursuing my PhD in Neuroscience and as fancy as that sounds, it gets exhausting from time to time. I actually started baking (and ultimately blogging) as a way to destress and do something that I love outside of reading science. Little did I know that blogging was a whole other full time job!! But I love it and can’t see myself stopping. Time management skills have yet to be mastered and for now I run on sleep deprivation. I am working on it!
When things get challenging and I need more hours in the day, I rely on quick snacks and breakfasts to make it through the day. Most times, I crave healthy hearty snacks that will boost my energy but being a baker, I love making quick sweets for snack time. This orange zucchini bread was my lifeline this August as I made it twice!! Thanks to my father-in-law’s garden that was supplying us with endless zucchinis, I was enjoying this summer harvest vegetable.
I love sweet bread recipes because they are always so simple to make (perfect for my crazy life) and are ALWAYS moist. This orange combination today was inspired by Allie, over at Baking a Moment. She made a gorgeous zucchini cake a few weeks ago that just sounded perfect. I knew I had to try that combo. And I am so glad I did because this orange zucchini bread was just as delicious as I thought. The hints of citrus and juicy zucchini in this bread will just have you holding on to summer for just a little longer 🙂
Orange Zucchini Bread
The hints of citrus and juicy zucchini in this bread will just have you holding onto summer for just a little longer.
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1¾ cup sugar
- 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoon orange vanilla extract (or vanilla extract)
- Zest of one orange
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice
- 2½ cups finely grated zucchini
- ½ cup pecans, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a large loaf pan (9 x 5) with baking spray and set aside.
- Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ginger in a medium bowl.
- Whisk together the eggs, sugar, and olive oil in another medium bowl until combined. Add in the vanilla extract, zest, and orange juice. Beat until well combined. Add the flour mixture in one addition and stir until combined. Stir in the zucchini and pecans.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 50-55 minutes until golden brown bread and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Let bread cool in pan for 10 mins, then turn out and cool completely on a cooling rack.
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Show our #gradstudentbloggers and #undergradstudentbloggers your support! Check out the whole list of featured Starving Student recipes now:
Brussel Sprouts and Sausage Pizza via Bacon Egg Cheese(cake)
Strawberry Greens Salad via Go Bake Yourself
Chicken and Jalapeno Quesadillas via PicNic
Chocolate Sea Salt Date “Caramel” Bars (GF, V, Raw) via Wallflour Girl
Homemade Spaghetti with Garlic, Chili, and Herbs via Daisy and the Fox
Orange Zucchini Bread via Blahnik Baker
As a fun bonus to this roundup, we asked today’s student bloggers some fun, wacky questions about their (im)balanced school/blogger lives: read their answers now on our hostess’s blog, Wallflour Girl!
Want to join, or know a university food blogger who would? We would love to have you: email Ala at wallflourgirl@gmail.com to sign up!
The #gradstudentblogger and #undergradstudentblogger series showcases the lives and talent of insanely busy food bloggers from across all stages of their higher education pathway. Thank you for joining us, and we hope to see you again in two weeks!
Other Quick Breads you WILL LOVE:
hi,
i made this recipe, and it was a big hit! One thing that’s important to note (I did not see this anywhere) – it is critical to squeeze the liquid out of the zucchini before using it. The bread was very dense and moist even after doing that – I think it would have been a soupy mess otherwise. Leftovers were also lovely toasted for breakfast the next day!
So glad to hear you liked the recipe! You are right; squeezing out the water in the zucchini is always a good idea.
I love this zesty twist on zucchini bread – one of my favorites. And I love this student community. I started my blog with just over a year left in my PhD program. When I decided a few months later that History Professor wasn’t my calling, I decided to finish up the program and focus on my blog. It’s been a year since graduating and I’m so happy I made that decision (though it isn’t for everyone). I wish I could have been a part of a community like this!
Luci
Luci’s Morsels – fashion. food. frivolity.
Thanks Luci! It’s so great to meet you! Love your site and I need to talk to you about your lovely looks 🙂 I do agree it is hard to do both blogging and the PhD. I am currently trying to finish in the next year and will decide what to do!
Now I know just why that dark green zucchini was calling it’s way ‘home’ from the Farmers’ Market!! Soup? Chips with panko and parm? baked with fresh tomatoes? oh, no…..it was your great bread recipe!! All here but the orange…. Will take this beauty to Kick-off the Gourmet Season RIGHT gathering….rave reviews coming from that gang, I’m sure!! You are awesome…..and in overdrive 24/7….SLEEP keeps beauty, brains, and YOU here for your GIANT FUTURE! Thanks again!!
I don’t know how you do it! I hope you had a good Labor Day break – goodness knows you deserve it! Haha, only twice? 😉 When I get hooked on a quick bread, it doesn’t last a week 🙂 if that! Orange is an underappreciated flavor and it sounds incredible in this zucchini loaf. A zucchini bread flavor I’ve never tried! Pinning, and hopefully making asap!
Thank you Mary Frances! And I agree, orange is really under appreciated!
Wow I missed this student blogger series by two months haha. I know how challenging it can be and congrats on always keeping up with the craziness! This bread looks so delicious!
I know!! Ala asked about you and I told her you graduated lol!
Ohhh, I love the addition of the orange. Though because I make everything worse for you I would totally throw orange glaze on it as well. 🙂
So so true!!! 🙂 Thank you very much Peabody!
Wooo moistness!! (only my favourite word 😛 )
gotta love a good sweet bread! and you’ve smashed it out of the water 🙂
we always have some zucchinis lying around in the fridge, so i reckon it’s time i put them to go use in the form of your bread!
and wowzaz! Neuroscience! you must be smart. super duper smart! 😀
so glad i got to meet you and the blog by doing this fun as series together! 🙂
Bec {Daisy and the Fox}
So so glad to meet you! And thanks 🙂
sounds delicious, I love zucchini bread!
PhD + blogging is definitely like 2 jobs! this zucchini bread looks so moist and delicious 🙂
Agreed!! I feels that way most days 🙂
I remember how hard it could be at times to be an undergrad student and a blogger, and I have often wondered how you do it as a grad student!! Props to you for keeping it up. 🙂 This bread looks so great! I love the zucchini and orange flavor combinations. It looks like the perfect texture on the inside too! Yum!
It happens lol! Thanks Beth!
I am had a relaxing weekend too. I needed it. But we all do time to time. I love the orange mixed in with zucchini moistness. Awesome.
what a fun series! as a recent grad school graduate myself, i hear ya on all that! love the sound of orange in zucchini bread. i made a lemon zucchini bread last year that was amazing.
Thanks Sarah!