Make Ahead

Perfect Zucchini Bread with Honeyed Ricotta

by:
July 13, 2013
5
1 Ratings
Perfect Zucchini Bread with Honeyed Ricotta
Photo by Kyra Morris
  • Makes 2 8X4 pans of bread
Author Notes

I first made this recipe one summer when there were too many zucchini in our garden than we knew what to do with. So we made zucchini bread - lots of variations. After much tweaking, this was my favorite. Goes beautifully with the orange honey ricotta spread for breakfast or snacking. —Hallie Meyer

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • For the Zucchini Bread
  • 2-3 cups grated zucchini (depending on how much you want to use up!)
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
  • 4 tablespoons good honey
  • 1 orange, juiced, and zested
  • 1/2 cup sour cream or greek yogurt
  • 1 1/4 cups canola oil
  • 3 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups roughly chopped walnuts (optional)
  • For the honeyed Ricotta
  • 2 cups whole milk ricotta cheese
  • 4 tablespoons honey
  • 1 teaspoon orange zest
Directions
  1. For the Zucchini Bread
  2. Begin by heating the oven to 350. Toast walnuts on a cookie sheet until fragrant and golden, about 10 minutes. Set aside.
  3. Maintain oven temperature, and butter two 8x4 loaf pans. Alternatively, you can use one 9X13 baking pan.
  4. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs and sugar until lighter in color. Add the honey, canola oil, orange juice and zest, and whisk to combine. Whisk in the shredded zucchini.
  5. In a separate small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
  6. Add flour mixture and greek yogurt or sour cream to the zucchini mixture and whisk just to combine. Fold in chopped walnuts if using. Transfer batter to baking pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45-60 minutes.
  1. For the honeyed Ricotta
  2. Whisk together ricotta, honey, and orange zest. Spread on zucchini bread for a delicious breakfast or afternoon snack.
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1 Review

Julie
Julie April 5, 2020
I made this tonight. Shelter in place day #22. I received a giant zucchini in my weekly veg. box and it looked too large to just slice - so zucchini bread. I followed exactly the recipe, except didn’t have any nuts. The orange flavor combined with zucchini was delightful. I baked in metal 9x13 pan and it cooked very fast at Convect 350 degrees. Glad I took it out early at 40 min. I used high gluten bread flour because that is what I had and it was fine. Big soft crumb. I squeezed out the water from the zucchini before I added to mix. The orange 🍊 flavor was the best part. When I mixed the ricotta, orange & honey I added a little heavy cream and whipped it all together in standing mixer. Nice fluffy (a little gritty from the ricotta) but delicious. I am positive this will be even better tomorrow morning for breakfast. I gave my daughter in college this recipe to make for Easter. Delicious 😋 Thank You!