Glazed Lemon Zucchini Bread (Moist Thanks To Kefir)

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This Glazed Lemon Zucchini Bread recipe is the most refreshing zucchini bread ever! Lemon juice and zest make it wonderfully lemony. Plus, kefir in the batter makes it super moist.

Glazed lemon zucchini bread sliced on a wooden cutting board

I love the lemony flavor in baking since it both makes me feel refreshed and reminds me of good summer days. This Glazed Lemon Zucchini Bread is inspired by our kefir lemon bread, which is one of the ultimate bread recipes in my kitchen.

To make this bread even more summery and to use up the zucchinis in the fridge, I added zucchini in its batter. Having made several zucchini bread recipes for years, I knew nobody would notice it. So I ended up with this amazing lemon zucchini bread recipe.

I know, our readers' all time favorite bread among our zucchini bread recipes is chocolate yogurt zucchini bread, which is beyond delicious. However, I’m quite sure that you will equally love this lemony version unless you are extremely obsessed with chocolate and underrate any other flavors.

To boost up the citrusy flavor, I add both lemon juice and zest. It becomes like lemon ice cream in the bread form. Besides the lemon zest in the batter, lemon zest topping on the glaze is a must in this recipe. You will think summer never ends even before tasting this amazing lemony bread because it smells so good!

How To Make

The recipe has two main folds: The lemon zucchini cake batter and the lemon glaze.

First, make the batter. Prepare the wet and dry ingredients in separate bowls. Just like you normally do for a regular cake recipe, whisk together the eggs and sugar until creamy. Then add in lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil and kefir. Fold in shredded zucchini. In another bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients and pour it in the wet mixture gradually. And bake in a loaf pan or in a bundt cake pan.

Second, make the lemon glaze. It is a simple combination of powdered sugar and lemon juice. Whisk them together and pour it over the completely cooled lemon zucchini cake, bread or loaf; whatever you call it.

If you feel that the lemon flavor in the bread is already enough, you can make a vanilla glaze instead and pour it over your bread.

How to make lemon zucchini bread recipe with kefir

Alternative Add-Ins

If you love lemon cake with poppy seeds, go ahead and add some poppy seeds in the batter. They will definitely add a nice crunchiness in the texture. Other seeds like flax seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds would be great too.

Use a Cake Mix For a Shortcut

You can use a homemade cake mix for the dry ingredients and whisk it together with the wet mixture.

For me, zucchini is the vegetable that represents the season summer and I try to use it in my kitchen as much as I can. It is such a versatile vegetable that you can create thousands of recipes from savory to sweet. We have 30+ zucchini recipes on the blog and you can easily reach of them by writing zucchini in the search box.

FAQs

What can I substitute for kefir?

I use kefir in the batter and it makes the bread super moist. I love this super healthy food so much that I try to include it in our daily diet in several ways. Whenever a recipe calls for milk or buttermilk, I replace them with kefir. It is healthier and makes the baked goody moister. On the other hand, if you can’t find kefir, you can still use buttermilk or yogurt to have a similar result.

Do you peel zucchini before shredding?

Although I don’t peel zucchini before shredding, nobody thinks there is zucchini in this bread. They think it is either lime zest or pistachio. No problem for me! On the contrary, I love to see those green pieces on my zucchini lemon bread slices.

Do you squeeze all the juice of shredded zucchini?

No. Don’t try to remove all the juice of grated zucchini otherwise your bread won’t be moist. Just grate the zucchini on a paper towel, nothing else is needed.

What oil for this lemon zucchini cake bread recipe?

I mostly use olive oil in my baking. It is another significant ingredient that helps this glazed lemon zucchini bread turn out moist. I don’t advice extra virgin olive oil though as it tastes much stronger than the regular one. Other than olive oil, which is also a way of cooking light, I think coconut oil, sunflower oil or canola oil would work fine too. As for butter, yes you can use it too but your bread won't be that moist and fluffy with it although the taste will be good.

Is this lemon zucchini bread overly sweet?

The amount of sugar in the batter is less than regular bread recipes without glaze. The simple glaze, which is a combination of powdered sugar and lemon juice perfectly completes the missing sweetness. So no, this is not an overly sweet bread recipe. You can even adjust the amount of the glaze on your slice according to your taste.

Other Lemon Dessert Recipes

Lemon zucchini cake slices on two plates accompanied by two cups of coffee.

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As always: If you make this recipe, let us know what you think by rating it and leaving a comment below. And post a pic on Instagram too—tag @give_recipe so we can see!

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