Zucchini Carrot Banana Bread

posted on August 11, 2014 by Bianca Garcia

This quick bread is filled with so much healthy stuff, it’s practically a salad. It has zucchini, carrots, bananas, raisins, walnuts, and Greek yogurt. All nutritious.

The fact that it tastes a teeny bit like cake is just an added bonus.

You’ll see pretty flecks of green and orange, get some crunch from heart-healthy walnuts, and taste sweetness from bananas and raisins. It’s a moist, almost fluffy bread – so good and jam-packed with different textures.

I’ve had this bread on my to-do list for months. I spent a few lovely days in New York city last June – I caught up with friends, went to a boozy brunch with a DIY Prosecco Bar (that’s right, unlimited cocktails), saw Of Mice and Men on Broadway starring Chris O’Dowd and James Franco (can we say double yum?), and right before I boarded the Amtrak to Boston, I bought a slice of zucchini carrot bread from a small bakery across my hotel. The bread tasted like carrot cake without the frosting, but better because there was so much texture from the shredded carrots, zucchini, and raisins. As soon as I took a bite, I knew I wanted to recreate it at home.

I grated a medium zucchini and squeezed the water out of it with paper towels, and I used pre-shredded carrots. I decided to add some chopped walnuts because I love walnuts and also because I can’t get enough texture! I considered adding shredded coconut flakes, too, but thought that’s going a little overboard. And I briefly considered soaking the raisins in rum but stopped myself because I wanted this quick bread to say on the healthy side.

(Confession: I have a penchant for soaking raisins in Cointreau, or cherries in brandy, or generally just adding rum to baked goods and desserts.)

And even though it could totally stand it for cake, we’re sticking to calling it bread. And righteously calling out the ZUCCHINI and CARROTS and the other healthy ingredients. BANANAS. COCONUT OIL. GREEK YOGURT. WALNUTS!

Also: NO CHOCOLATE. Shocker.

So go ahead and eat this smugly for breakfast. Smear some organic almond butter on it, to up the nutrition content even more. (Don’t point your finger at me if you want to smother it in butter or Nutella instead.)

Yield: 1 loaf

Zucchini Carrot Banana Bread

Ingredients

1 teaspoon butter to grease loaf pan
1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup coconut oil
2 bananas, mashed
1 cup grated zucchini(1 medium zucchini)
1 cup grated carrots
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt (I used 2% Fage)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup raisins

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Butter a 9" x 5" loaf pan, then dust with flour.
In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together sugars and eggs. Add coconut oil, mashed bananas,grated zucchini, grated carrots, Greek yogurt, and vanilla. Mix to combine.
Fold in flour mixture.
Add walnuts and raisins.
Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake for an hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the bread comes out clean.