Greek yogurt zucchini bread is a lighter alternative to classic zucchini bread, thanks to a handful of wholesome ingredients that pack a flavorful punch. Made with agave (or honey), coconut oil, Greek yogurt, and fresh zucchini, this will be your new favorite summertime snack. To make this bread into muffins, see my note below the recipe.
Today’s Greek yogurt zucchini bread is a variation of my classic zucchini bread and zucchini muffins recipes. We’ll make a couple ingredient swaps and substitutions, but it’s just as moist (if not more so!) and flavorful as the original. This anytime bread is welcome on the breakfast table or as a totally delicious snack. Topped with peanut butter or Nutella and it certainly counts as dessert. That’s why I love zucchini bread so much in the first place—it’s acceptable all day long.
Let’s get started!
This Is Lightened-Up Zucchini Bread
Made with wholesome ingredients, Greek yogurt zucchini bread is a lightened-up quick bread recipe with the same delicious flavor you expect from traditional zucchini bread.
To sweeten the bread, we use agave instead of granulated sugar, though honey or maple syrup also work. Instead of butter, we’ll use melted coconut oil. For added fat, we’ll incorporate protein-packed Greek yogurt—which also makes the crumb super moist. Moisture is usually sacrificed when fat (the oil) is reduced, but not when using Greek yogurt. Plain and simple, this lighter zucchini bread is wonderful to have around when you want something a little sweet that’s not dripping with oil or overloaded with sugar. And there’s vegetables sneakily hiding inside!
Overview: How to Make Greek Yogurt Zucchini Bread
Like all quick bread recipes, today’s zucchini bread comes together easily. You only need a couple mixing bowls—no mixer required.
- Whisk the wet ingredients together. This includes the oil, agave (or honey), egg, yogurt, and vanilla extract.
- Whisk the dry ingredients together.
- Combine the wet and dry ingredients. Fold in the zucchini, orange zest, and walnuts.
- Pour into prepared loaf pan.
- Bake. The bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 40-50 minutes.
To Sum Up Greek Yogurt Zucchini Bread
This bread is:
- Super soft and moist
- Simple and straightforward
- Flavored with orange, cinnamon, and vanilla
- Packed with wholesome ingredients
- A healthy breakfast, snack, or dessert
- Ready in an hour
- Freezer-friendly, just like peanut butter chocolate chip zucchini bread
If you have more zucchini to use up, add this zucchini cake to your must-bake list and these zucchini fritters and zucchini biscuits to your dinner list! For more inspiration, browse my 20+ favorite zucchini recipes—both sweet and savory!
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Greek Yogurt Zucchini Bread
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours (includes cooling)
- Yield: 1 loaf
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Easy, healthy, and wholesome Greek yogurt zucchini bread will be your new favorite recipe for this classic quick bread!
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup (80ml) canola, vegetable, or melted coconut oil
- 1/2 cup (120ml) honey or organic blue agave
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (121g) plain Greek yogurt, at room temperature*
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 and 1/2 cups (188g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup (130g) shredded zucchini (see note)*
- optional: 2 teaspoons orange zest (so good!)
- optional: 3/4 cup (95g) chopped walnuts, (115g) raisins, or (135g) chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan.
- Whisk the oil, agave, egg, yogurt, and vanilla together in a medium bowl until combined. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix with a large wooden spoon or rubber spatula until combined. Avoid overmixing. Fold in the zucchini, orange zest, and walnuts.
- Spread batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes. Baking times vary, so keep an eye on yours. The bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If you find the top of the bread is browning too quickly in the oven, loosely cover it with aluminum foil.
- Remove the bread from the oven and set on a wire rack. Allow to cool completely before slicing and serving. Cover and store leftover bread at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Bread freezes well for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature before serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9×5-inch Loaf Pan | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Wooden Spoon or Silicone Spatula | Cooling Rack
- Muffins: Prepare batter as instructed. Grease a 12-count muffin pan or use liners. Fill with batter all the way to the top. Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F (218°C) then, keeping the muffins in the oven, lower the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C) and continue to bake for an additional 13-14 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before serving. Makes about 10-12 muffins.
- Yogurt: I use plain nonfat Greek yogurt. You can use low fat or full fat instead. Vanilla or honey flavors would work wonderfully here!
- Zucchini: If your zucchini is extra wet, give it a few blots before adding to the batter.
- Adapted from zucchini bread.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Can’t get this recipe to work for me, tried it twice and followed it to a t. Has a good taste though. Never seems to be through cooked even after 50 minutes in the oven plus a few more. Perhaps in an 8×8 it would cook better. 3rd times the try in the future perhaps
Same! Dark brown on the top and not cooked. Maybe zucchini was too moist?
Did you strain the zucchini?
Similar recipes that I have for sweet bread say cook 40-60 minutes, so I think it can just vary a lot depending on how much liquid is in there, pan being used, and your oven temp, etc. If it is not done but starting to get too brown, I’d cover with foil and keep cooking until tooth pick comes out clean. I usually cook mine at lower temp, at 325, for around 50-55 minutes, but can take longer.
I love this recipe! I’m vegan so I substituted with a flax egg and almond milk yogurt. Delicious! I’ll admit I’m not a great baker but I’ve had great success with your recipes. Your banana bread is the best I’ve ever had. I’m moving on to your soup recipes, if they’re as good as the muffins and breads, I’ll be very happy! Thanks!
I made this recipe and it was amazing, I used brown sugar instead of agave, plain yogurt instead of Greek and it came out great. Thanks for sharing.
Love them but maybe you could tell me how much fat would be in one muffin. I made 12 with this recipe thanks my husband needs to be on a low fat diet after surgery
I made this recipe as directed, (using substitutes recommended…fresh ground white whole wheat, honey, coconut oil.) The flavor is very good! It is less sweet than traditional zucchini bread. I will keep this recipe. Now, on to the many other ways to use the surplus of zucchini from the garden!!
I have made this recipe several times and love it! I do have one question though — could I use whole wheat flour in place of the all-purpose flour or would that not work as well?
Hi Janna, You can substitute the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour. The bread will taste a bit heavier with the heavier flour, though.
Any suggestions for adding blueberries?
Hi Laura, blueberries would be a delicious addition! I recommend adding 1/2-1 cup of blueberries.
Seriously, this is the best zucchini bread we’ve ever had. It somehow manages to be light yet full of flavor. Watch it in the oven, though so that it doesn’t overcook. And try….try to wait for it to cool COMPLETELY before slicing. Delicious!
This is definitely a keeper, very moist, perfect taste. I used grape seed oil,half date and half maple syrup.I added extra walnuts. I used a bundt pan and baked for 40 minutes on 350. I used my frozen shredded zucchini that I froze in 1 cup measurements in wax paper then in freezer bags and yes I Had to let it sit in a colander to drain while I prepared the recipe and still had to squeeze quite a bit of liquid from the zucchini. I will experiment next time adding shredded carrots as someone suggested and a variety of other items. Thank you for sharing.
Can I make this with yellow squash??
Absolutely! Same amount.
It was a great recipe but I think I would add more cinnamon and I added a sliced apple onto the top when I baked it. It turned out great and the recipe was easy
I have a ton of zucchini, so I made this bread along with a standard zucchini bread recipe from epicurious (https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/spiced-zucchini-bread). Before I started baking, I knew that the epicurious recipe would taste better — how could it not, with all that sugar?! I was shocked that THIS zucchini bread was my (and my family’s) favorite by far. You just can’t beat this moistness, and the sweetness isn’t cloying (I used maple syrup). I’m shredding and freezing some zucchini just so I can enjoy this recipe year-round! This is another winner of a recipe from your site. I’m finding that SBA is great for when I want to indulge — like with sumptuous chocolate chip cookies — and when I’m trying to eat on the lighter side. Thanks for all the work you put in and the relevant, educational information that you put in your recipe descriptions!
Made this last night from the first zucchini I ever grew! Was a delicious and healthier version. I liked that I was using honey instead of sugar. My husband didn’t stop at one slice.
Sally,
Do you think the bread will turn out okay if I use yogurt in place of the oil, in addition to the yogurt already in your recipe? I’m trying to cut out oil of any kind.
Thank you.
Hi CJ, I fear the bread will taste dry and rubbery without the oil (and yogurt replacing it) but you can certainly try it.
I was blessed with a gift of some zucchini, so what did I do? Zucchini muffins of course. I have to eat GF, so I used a GF flour. I used less than 1/2 cup of honey (since I had a ton on hand), and added in shredded coconut, dried cranberries, and chocolate chips. I did use the orange zest since I had it on hand. Yum! With the zest and cranberries, it was very fall-like. So delicious. I always freeze my baked goods since I try not to indulge in them and only eat occasionally. These will be a wonderful treat and definitely guilt free with using coconut oil and unrefined sugar (honey in this case). I won’t go as far as eating them for breakfast, well at least not on most days . Thank you so much for the wonderful recipe!!!
I made the muffins and used orange Greek yogurt & 1/4 cup raisins. Delicious!!. My preferred brand is Oikos Triple Zero Greek yogurt which is sweetened with stevia & hi protein. They were very good & nutrious to eat one for breakfast. I used paper liners & they did stick a lot to the liner. Maybe spray the liners next time?
Made this yesterday and it’s delicious! I made a couple modifications since I was serving it to my little one (1 year old), so I left out the agave and substituted a large banana for sweetness instead. When I make it for myself and my husband (which I’m doing again later today since it’s THAT good), I’m going to use non-fat Greek yogurt and the banana instead, so it’s even healthier and lower in WW points.
I used coconut based yogurt, egg substitute and white whole wheat flour. it was very moist but didn’t rise as well as white flour. it taste very good.
I love the Apple oatmeal cups and am looking for more recipes that use oats instead of flour. Do you think this one will work with oats? Maybe substitute 1/2 the flour with oats?
Any other recipe suggestions?
Hi Debbie, we haven’t tested this recipe using oats, but we do have many recipes that use oats on our website. We hope you will find some to enjoy!
Hi, I have a question, can I substitute orange peel for lemon peel and add 1-2tsp lemon juice . I will omit cinnamon can I keep the honey the same. This is my only zucchini bread recipe I use it comes out perfect every time.
can I use coconut based yogurt in place of greek yogurt? I’m looking forward to trying this recipe.
Hi Gail, We haven’t tested it but I don’t see why not. Let us know if you try it!
Very tasty. My bread did not look like the pictures, mine did not rise that much, it was baked through but dense and very moist. I prefer a drier bread.
The flavors in this loaf were really good however mine came out mushy in the middle, cooked it and cooked it to no avail. Any suggestions? I measured everything carefully since I am a cook not a baker lol. Thanks
I don’t think you necessarily did anything wrong, I think the bread just needed longer in the oven. Completely normal with thick and moist quick breads like this. If you decide to try the recipe again, bake for at least 10-15 more minutes and tent the loaf with aluminum foil to prevent over-browning on the exterior.
Sally, I’ve made this recipe several times now-both as muffins and as a loaf (also with agave, maple syrup and honey, depending on what I have-all good) and it always turns out SO delicious. I just purchased a jumbo muffin tin and would love to try making these as jumbo muffins. Do you think that would work ok? Should I double the recipe to have enough batter, or do you think there’s enough as is? I’d love your thoughts ahead of time (if you can) and will report back with how it goes 🙂 Thank you for all of your fabulous recipes!
I made this with honey since I didn’t have agave, I added walnuts and I didn’t have any oranges but I bet that would have added a great taste. I would definitely make this one again to use up our zucchini without having a super sweet baked good:)
I’ve tried 4 of your zucchini recipes and they have all been so good. This is my favorite site for recipes!
So good!! I love all of the recipes I’ve tried from your site! Thank you so much. I didn’t have coconut oil so I used have part applesauce and half part walnut oil and used both chopped walnuts and chocolate chips. Amazing!
My family loved this! Another hit Sally! We had not tried these yet and since it’s zucchini season we went for it. I made them into muffins. Used maple syrup and coconut oil. It’s what I had. Put a few mini chips on top of some. Excellent with or without. I think I am baking my way through your blog and books!
Hi Sally, I’ve made this bread twice now. Both times, I took the bread out of the oven after the toothpick came out completely clean. After cooling it on a rack for several hours, I sliced the bread, only to find that it is very dense inside. There was no raw batter, it was just dense. It still tasted great though. Any idea what went wrong?
Hi Yen, this is a denser bread. Though there could be too much liquid lingering or the bread simply needed more time in the oven. You can try reducing the yogurt to 1/3 cup or extending the bake time for an extra 5-10 minutes.
Hello Sally – I made this zucchini bread today. It turned out ok but was quite dense. I feel it should have expanded some more. Also need opinion – I used regular yogurt instead as, I was out of Greek yogurt. Wonder if I over mixed it. Let me know how I can avoid these mistakes when I make it again. What is the best way to measure flour – I used the Pyrex glass cup
Hi TK, Are you using a liquid measuring cup for your flour? If so you likely had too much flour causing your bread to be dense. You want to use a measuring cup for dry ingredients. I think you will find this post and video on How to Properly Measure Baking Ingredients very helpful!
Made zucchini bread for the first time with this recipe and my whole family + I loved it!! We substituted chopped dates for raisins and it worked really well too 🙂
So fluffy and moist! Thank you
I used 1/3 cup sugar instead of agave, maybe that’s why the batter was initially very dry and I couldn’t mix all the flour in well, so just added a splash of milk and mixed it no problem. I also used only 1/4 c vegetable oil, and added some turmeric just because I had them laying around. It took 60 min to fully cook though. The end product was so yummy!!