It takes only 10 minutes to get Easy Rhubarb Zucchini Bread in the oven. This sweet recipe has a perfect hint of tartness and is every bit as moist as it looks.
I just wanna brag. But I think all my photos are doing the bragging for me. Look how prettyyyyy. And will you believe me if I tell you it was just as easy? Easy Rhubarb Zucchini Bread happened because I’ve never even touched rhubarb before, let alone used it in a recipe. Or even tasted it. It’s weird! It’s like celery! But a beautiful red to pink rainbow. Some stalks even have some green in there. I should have photographed the rhubarb by itself — the colors, the punch and fade, it’s a gorgeous vegetable.
And do not worry. It does not taste like celery. I should not have even brought celery into the picture, lest you have that on your mind now. Rhubarb by itself is actually quite tart, but tart in the way that green apples are. Green apples are popular as a candy flavor and they are popular in baking because that tartness partners perfectly with the sugar. And the same goes for rhubarb. That clean, tart flavor gets paired with sugar and all of a sudden, we have an Easy Rhubarb Zucchini Bread that we find insanely hard to stop eating.
Anyway, as soon as I saw the very first rhubarb of the season in my grocery store, I snagged it. I knew I wanted my first try with rhubarb to be something comfortable. There’s a way to ease into new ingredients, so I chose a recipe that I knew, with 90 percent certainty, would turn out well. I simply took Carrot-Pumpkin Bread and swapped in rhubarb and zucchini. Ta-da!
I did take a risk in laying the rhubarb across the top. Would it sink? I dunno! Would it be too tart all up there on its own? I dunno! Would the color bleed down into the bread? I dunno! Would it dry out and look unappealing? I dunno! But now I know! None of those things happened and my risk paid off in a beautifully red and pink striped loaf of moist, cake-like, sweet-tart bread that my office mates ate in no more than 10 minutes. Which was perfect timing because it will only take me 10 minutes to get another loaf in the oven!
Easy Rhubarb Zucchini Bread
It takes only 10 minutes to get Easy Rhubarb Zucchini Bread in the oven. This sweet recipe has a perfect hint of tartness and is every bit as moist as it looks.
Ingredients
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon white sugar divided
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
- 1 1/4 cup flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup shredded zucchini
- 1/2 cup rhubarb (about 1 large stalk) finely chopped
- 3 additional stalks rhubarb to top
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat an 8.5×4.5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.
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In a large bowl, add whisk together egg, 1/3 cup white sugar, brown sugar, vegetable oil, yogurt, vanilla, and fresh lemon zest.
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Add flour, baking powder, and baking soda and stir just until moistened. Don’t over mix. Gently fold in zucchini and chopped rhubarb until well-combined.
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Transfer batter to your prepared pan and smooth evenly. Slice extra rhubarb stalks in half the long way, removing the backs, but keeping the front-facing part of the rhubarb intact. This takes some of the weight off and keeps them from sinking. Lay across the top of your loaf and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar.
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Bake 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick entered into the center comes out clean. Wet crumbs are okay if you like your quick bread moist. Let cool in the pan 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
More quick breads
Carrot-Pumpkin Bread with Cider Glaze
Irish Coffee and Chocolate Loaf Cake
I LOVE the look of this recipe–will be trying it with some of the last rhubarb this year!
I don’t quite understand your comment about removing the ‘backs’ of the rhubarb, do you mean the ‘bottom of the U’ shape when looking at the cross section? I imagine this might get rid of some of the more stringy bits too.
Thanks for the recipe and the beautiful photos!
Thanks, Andrea! Yes — sorry that isn’t clear! If you are looking at it from the top or bottom of the stalk, I am talking about slicing it in half longways to remove the U-shaped bottom. It does remove some of the stringiness, but my real goal is to make them lighter. I didn’t want the weight of the rhubarb to sink during the cooking process!
I wanted maximum rhubarb flavor, so I chopped up the rhubarb stalks for the top. Turned out beautiful and delicious!
That sounds awesome! I did wish mine was a bit more “rhubarb-y,” so good idea!
Just made the Rhubarb Zucchini bread and it
is amazing! A simple recipe but so delicious! Thanks
for sharing!
Ann, so glad you liked it! I tried to keep it basic and easy!
This looks amazing! I have to make it!!!
First though, questions;
Do you shred the zucchini finely?
Do you remove the water from the zucchini?
Would it be ok to do just one of the sugars 1/3 cup?
Hi Avi – Thanks for your questions. You can shred the zucchini using the finer holes OR the larger holes of a “cheese” grater. My zucchini wasn’t very watery, so I didn’t remove any water, but if yours seems too liquidy, I would put the shreds on top of a paper towel and let them drain for about 5-10 minutes before using. Lastly, I think you can make it with only one of the sugars, but I have not tried! I read somewhere that you can usually leave 1/2 the sugar out of a baked good (for health reasons) and it will still turn out!
I’m a new reader who was searching for zucchini and rhubarb recipes last night. Your recipe is scrumptious! I made it this morning with olive oil and frozen chopped rhubarb instead of fresh rhubarb. It is unbelievably moist, light, and fragrant. Thank you!!
Hi Tiffany! Thank you so much for the feedback… it’s almost zucchini and rhubarb time of year too!
My neighbor made this – yum!!
Can it be frozen?
Hi Melinda – Yes! I recommend slicing it prior to freezing it. That way you can take out a few slices at a time. However, if you think you might want to defrost the entire loaf at once, the quality may be a bit better if you keep it whole. I would put into a freezer grade Ziploc bag, date it, and defrost within 6 months. I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
I have been looking for Rhubarb recipes so Thank you and keep them coming! We grew up eating raw rhubarb out of the garden all the time as a kid. I have started to finally grow my own rhubarb as it can be so expensive and I miss the taste. Plus I freeze any extra zucchini and rhubarb so I can make fresh bread all winter long. Gonna make this this weekend. Thank you! Oh PS looking for Raspberry recipes too.
Ah! This was my FIRST experience with rhubarb. It’s so tart! I can’t imagine eating it right out of the garden, but I suppose when you grow up like that you develop a love for it. I did the same with broccoli. I love making quick breads and do have this one with blackberries (it’d be easy to swap out the berry). It’s made with Splenda baking blend, but you could also use regular sugar instead and be just fine! https://theeverykitchen.com/skinny-peanut-butter-blackberry-bread/