This Lemon Zucchini Bread with Lemon Glaze is soft, tender, and bursting with bright lemon flavor. It’s the perfect loaf to bake when your garden (or the grocery store!) is overflowing with fresh zucchini. The lemon flavor is rockstar quality thanks to layers of lemon extract, zest, syrup, and glaze — yes, two glazes for double the lemony bliss!
Why this recipe is so delicious: the shredded zucchini keeps the crumb incredibly moist while lemon zest and extract infuse the loaf with sunny citrus flavor. Then, it’s brushed with warm lemon syrup and topped with a luscious lemon glaze — the kind of finishing touch that makes it taste straight from a bakery.
If you love cozy quick breads like this one, don’t miss my Zucchini Bread, Chocolate Zucchini Bread, and Pumpkin Bread next — and for the ultimate sweet-and-savory brunch pairing, try my Million Dollar Bacon. 💛
Before You Begin
✨ Wring Out the Zucchini: After grating, place it in a clean towel or paper towels and gently squeeze out excess moisture. It should feel damp, not dripping wet. This prevents a gummy or heavy texture.
✨ Don’t Overmix: Mix wet and dry ingredients separately, then fold together gently by hand — no electric mixer! Overmixing activates gluten and leads to tough bread.
✨ Use the Right Pan: A light-colored metal 8×4-inch loaf pan gives even browning. Dark pans may bake faster — start checking around 40–45 minutes.
✨ Check Early: Every oven is different. When a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs (not batter), it’s ready.
✨ Easy Clean-Up: Place your loaf on a wire rack set over foil or parchment before glazing — it catches all the syrup drips and makes cleanup a breeze.
Ingredients for Lemon Zucchini Bread
This is just a quick glance at what you’ll need. For exact measurements and the full ingredient list, head down to the recipe card below.
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Zucchini: Grate it using the large holes of a box grater, then gently squeeze out excess moisture using a clean towel or paper towels. You want it damp but not dripping wet — too much liquid can make the bread heavy or gummy.
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Lemon Extract: Adds concentrated lemon flavor that doesn’t bake off like juice does. Adjust the amount depending on brand strength — McCormick is quite strong, so you may prefer 1½ teaspoons instead of 2.
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Fresh Lemon Zest: This gives the loaf its bright, natural citrus flavor and fragrance. Always zest before juicing your lemons for the syrup and glaze.
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Neutral Oil: Use vegetable, canola, or light olive oil for a tender crumb and clean flavor. Avoid full-bodied olive oil, which can overpower the lemon.
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Baking Spray with Flour: Pam Baking Spray (the kind with added flour) works beautifully here and ensures the loaf releases easily without sticking.
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Powdered Sugar: Sift before mixing the glaze so it’s perfectly smooth and glossy.
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Fresh Lemon Juice: Used in both the syrup and glaze for vibrant, tangy flavor — bottled juice won’t give the same fresh brightness.
Pro Tips
⭐ Lemon Lovers, Rejoice: This bread delivers a one-two punch of lemon flavor — extract and zest in the batter, syrup brushed on while warm, and glaze drizzled once cooled. Triple the lemon, triple the joy!
⭐ Mixing Magic: Combine your wet and dry ingredients separately, then gently fold together just until the flour disappears. This keeps your loaf soft and tender.
⭐ Top Cracking? It’s Okay! That’s not a flaw — it’s a sign of proper quick bread rise. I call it charm.
⭐ Pam Baking Spray: Using one with flour makes releasing the loaf a breeze and keeps edges golden.
⭐ Make It Pretty: Sprinkle a little fresh zest over the wet glaze before it sets. It adds sparkle, aroma, and that bakery-perfect finish.
⭐ Syrup Technique: Brushing the loaf with lemon syrup while it’s still warm infuses flavor and keeps it extra moist. It’s the same method I use for my Orange Pound Cake — and it’s absolutely worth it!
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to peel the zucchini?
Nope! The peel is thin and tender — it blends right in and gives those pretty green flecks you see in the loaf.
Should I really squeeze the zucchini?
Yes, but gently. You want to remove some of the excess water while keeping a little moisture to create that perfect tender crumb.
Can I use lemon juice instead of extract?
Lemon extract gives a more concentrated punch. If you don’t have it, use an extra tablespoon of zest for brightness.
Why two glazes?
The syrup locks in moisture while the glaze adds a glossy, sweet finish. Together, they make the lemon flavor sing!
Can I make this into muffins?
Absolutely! Bake at 350°F for 20–22 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Glaze once cool.
Storing + Reheating + Freezing + Make-Ahead Tips
Storing
- Wrap the cooled loaf tightly in plastic wrap. Store at room temperature up to 2 days or in the fridge up to 5.
Reheating
- Enjoy at room temperature or warm a slice for 10–12 seconds in the microwave to soften and bring back that just-baked texture.
Freezing
- Wrap cooled, unglazed bread in plastic wrap, then foil, and freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator or at room temperature, then glaze before serving.
Make-Ahead
- Bake the loaf a day ahead — the flavors deepen overnight! Glaze just before serving for a fresh, glossy finish.
When Life Gives You Lemons… Bake One of These! 🍋
If you adore the bright, tangy flavor of this Lemon Zucchini Bread, you’ll love these other sunny favorites next:
- Atlantic Beach Pie
- Lemon Bars
- Lemon Brownies
- Lemon Sugar Cookies
- Lemon Buttermilk Sheet Cake
- Lemon White Chocolate Chip Cookies
💗 Tried This Recipe?
If you enjoyed this recipe, please take a moment to leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ star rating and a quick comment — I love hearing from you!
💌 Craving more cozy, crave-worthy recipes? Subscribe to my FREE newsletter so you never miss a new family favorite. 💌
Thanks for stopping by my kitchen today — happy cooking, friends! ❤️ Kathleen
Lemon Zucchini Bread with Lemon Glaze
Ingredients
Bread:
- 1 cup zucchini, shredded
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 1 tablespoon lemon extract
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon zest
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
Lemon Syrup:
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
Lemon Glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar sifted
- 2-4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1-2 teaspoons lemon zest, optional
Instructions
Make The Bread
- Preheat to 325°F (163°C). Spray an 8×4-inch loaf pan with baking spray with flour (like Pam Baking Spray) or grease and flour the pan.
- Prepare the Zucchini: Grate zucchini using the large holes of a box grater. Place it in a clean kitchen towel or several paper towels and gently wring or press out excess moisture — you should remove some liquid, but not all, so the zucchini still feels damp. Measure 1 cup after squeezing and set aside.
- Mix the Wet Ingredients: In a large mixing bowl, mix together sugar (1 cup), vegetable oil (1/2 cup), egg (1), lemon extract (1 tablespoon), and lemon zest (2 tablespoons). Fold in the shredded zucchini gently until evenly distributed.
- Combine the Dry Ingredients: In a separate bowl, whisk together flour (1 1/2 cups), salt (1/2 teaspoon), baking soda (1/2 teaspoon), and baking powder (1/4 teaspoon).Add the dry mixture to the wet ingredients in two additions, folding by hand just until no streaks of flour remain.✨ Do not overmix — overworking the batter makes tough bread!
- Bake: Pour batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top evenly. Bake for 45–50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached.
Make Lemon Syrup:
- Make the Lemon Syrup while the bread is baking. In a small saucepan, heat the sugar (1/4 cup) and lemon juice (1/4 cup)over low heat until the sugar dissolves.When the cake comes out of the oven, generously brush the top with the lemon syrup. Allow the cake to cool in its pans for 10 minutes, brushing the the top a few more times with the syrup while it cools in the pan. Remove the cake from the loaf pan and set it on a wire rack. Set the wire rack over a baking tray or a piece of aluminum foil, to catch drips. Brush the sides and top of the cake with the remaining syrup, allowing a couple of minutes between brushings, to allow the syrup absorb into the cake until the syrup is gone. Cool the bread completely.
Make Lemon Glaze:
- Make the Lemon Glaze: In a small bowl, whisk together powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons lemon juice until smooth. Add more juice, a teaspoon at a time, as needed, to reach a thick but pourable consistency (Optional: Stir in lemon zest for extra tang and texture.)Pour glaze evenly over the cooled bread and let it set at room temperature until firm.
Notes
- Mixing~ The key to making a tender quick bread is all in how you mix the batter. The wet ingredients need to be thoroughly mixed together in one bowl and the dry ingredients need to mixed well in another bowl. Then, when the two are combined, it’s best to fold the wet and dry ingredients together, by hand, just until the dry ingredients are moistened.
- Do not overmix! Do not use an electric mixer! Do not stir vigorously! If the batter gets overmixed the finished bread will be tough.
- Top Cracking~If the top of your bread cracks, don’t panic. It’s not a mistake. It’s just a characteristic of quick bread! I call it charm 🙂
- Avoid a sticky mess! When glazing the bread, set a baking rack over a baking sheet. It makes cleaning up much easier. The baking sheet catches any of the syrup that would otherwise end up on your counters when you’re brushing the loaf.
- Pan Release: I use Pam Baking Spray to coat my baking pans. It’s different than the regular baking spray because it contains flour. It works like a wonder for me with this recipe.
Nutrition
Baked the lemon and the zucchini bread. Did both bread recipes exactly as given. Both were delicious. saved both recipes. Thank you. P.S. made mini loaves.
Hey Yolanda! So happy you enjoyed this yummy bread. Thank you so much for your comment and the 5 stars!!!
Can I use fresh lemon juice in place of the lemon extract and how much? Thank you.
Hi Carmela. I’ve never made it w/o the lemon extract. If you want to omit it, I’d suggest you add more lemon zest rather than more lemon juice.
I absolutely love the taste of this bread and have made this several times. I’m consistently having an issue with is raising in the middle. I have tried squeezing out the water from the zucchini and also replaced my baking powder. Any further thoughts
Hi Kimberly. The only other think I can think of is perhaps it’s slightly under-baked.
It’s a 5 on flavor but the middle fell 10 minutes before being done. So it wasn’t because it was under cooked. Should I have increased some more flour into the recipe? I was making one flor my husband and one for a thank you to a fa.ily who made us dinner when i was sick. I hope icing it will cover the sinking in the middle.
Please let me know
Hey Marilyn! I’m sorry that happened to your bread. I’ve been making this bread for a long time and haven’t experienced that. I know that the baking science in this recipe is sound. That said, I have a sneaky suspicion that the zucchini released too much moisture. I’ve updated the recipe instructions to lightly wring out some of the moisture from the zucchini. I hope that helps!! Thanks you for your comment. I want every recipe to be as perfect as possible.
I have a loaf (first time) in the oven now! Lemon is my guy’s favorite flavor and I’m so excited to try this on him!!
I hope you enjoyed this bread, Peggy! This is one of my favorite quick bread 🙂
This stuff is delicious! I freeze zucchini all summer so this is the perfect winter bread. I take the bread out of the pan and put it on a plate. I poke holes with a wooden spoon end and pour that syrup all over it. Then after it cools, I ice it. it is wonderful! Thanks for the recipe. I’m a southern cook, everything is better with syrup, lol
Hi Christy! I’m so happy you enjoyed this bread! I totally agree with you, EVERYTHING is better with syrup!! <3
I love zucchini. Thanks for the bread recipe.
I do too, Emma! I’m happy you like this. Thank you for your positive review!
Can I substitute the sugar with honey? How much will i have to add?
Hi, Ellie-Rose. Thanks for asking. I haven’t tried honey for this recipe. Here’s Taste of Home advice: “Because honey is sweeter than sugar, the rule of thumb is 3/4 cup honey for every cup of sugar.”
There are other reminders before substituting honey, check those tips in this link.
Let us know how it turns out 🙂
The recipe was perfect I had no problems at all I always line my loaf pans with a piece of parchment paper over the edges so I can pop it right out of the pan and The lemon Amount was awesome I did add a few dried cranberries and oh my goodness It was over the moon delicious thank you for the recipe
Glad you loved this recipe, Ruth! This is one of my favorite bread. I gotta add cranberries next time! <3 🙂
Hello Ruth, how much cranberries did you add? Also wondering if ant berries would work.
Hi so glad that I found your page I want to use up my zucchini so so ready to try this recipe But ine question may I use greek yogurt or olive oil instead of the veggie oil? Thanks
Hi Katie! I’m not sure about greek yogurt but you can definitely use olive oil. Happy baking! 😀
Hi there, I make quite a few of your recipes and they are usually very good, despite the Canadian equivalents that don’t match well. However this time, with the lemon loaf, after I brushed it the first time with the syrup, I couldn’t get it out of the loaf pan. So I turned it over onto some foil and it got stuck to the foil, so I couldn’t re position it. Do you have any hints about how to get it out of the loaf pan once it has the syrup on it? I think you have to take it out first and put the syrup on after it is out of the pan. Also, the glaze of lemon juice to icing sugar ratio was too watery. And overall, the lemon flavor was overwhelming and was quite puckering. I would send a photo but can’t figure out how to do that.
Hi Wendy. I’m sorry to hear that your bread didn’t pop out of the pan for you. That’s so frustrating! Gosh, I’ve never had problems with my loaf sticking in this recipe. An easy fix for this problem would be to make an aluminum foil sling by lining the loaf pan with a double thickness of aluminum foil, allowing 2-3 inches to extend over long sides (you will later use these as handles to pull the bread out of the pan). Spray generously with nonstick cooking spray or grease with butter.
I think if the lemon flavor is overwhelming for your family, I would omit the lemon syrup. I guess we like a lot of lemon pucker…LOL <3
Regarding the lemon glaze. I believe that confectioners'sugar must have different moisture contents depending on where you live. When I write new recipes, the confectioners' sugar quantity is always the trickiest to figure out because it seems everyone has a different experience with it. I try really hard to make it always perfect for everyone but it seems like a moving target!!
I hope this helps a bit! <3
I had the same issue which I believe was caused by applying syrup while the load was still in the pan. Simplest solution would be to apply the syrup after removing loaf from the pan. Also I think the syrup may created part of the loaf to break away when it was removed from the pan. Yes, I did wait at least 10 minutes after applying the syrup before removing the loaf and I ran a knife around the edge to minimize any sticking of the loaf to the side of the pan. To confirm my theory: if the syrup was the reason I will need to try the recipe again without applying the syrup when the loaf is removed from the pan. Which I will do because I really like the the idea of combining zucchini and lemon in a sweet loaf.
This is a very tasty loaf! I only use half a cup of sugar in the loaf and just do the lemon syrup and it’s plenty sweet and lemony for us!
Wow that sounds awesome! ? Thank you, Sandy! So glad you like it!
These are fantastic!! I made 2 little changes: reduced the sugar to 3/4 cup and subbed Greek yogurt for half the oil!
I also totally forgot to make the glaze to put on right out of the oven and before I could put on the 2nd glaze, half them were eaten while cooling!
Thanks!
Hi Shannon!
Thanks for sharing your changes. I’m glad you enjoyed!
Your zucchini lemon loaf is the best use of zucchini I’ve found. I’ve made it several times and it turns out delicious every time without fail. People now beg me to make it for them because it is the best lemon loaf they’ve ever tasted and I have to agree! Its marvellous that you can use yellow zucchini and the picky eater has no idea that they are eating zucchini and once they try it they’re hooked lol. I can’t thank you enough for sharing…it’ll be a favourite for years to come!
Oh Donna! You made my day. I’m so happy to hear that the recipe is a “hit” for you too! Thank you for coming back and sharing your experience with everyone. I hope you find more recipes here that you and your family enjoy <3
I am giving your Chicken Enchiladas w/ Sour Cream White Sauce for dinner tonight???? Can’t wait but this recipe also sounds wonderful ???????? thanks for sharing…
Enjoy Shirley!
I wanted to make this but the ads are insane and I can’t read the recipe! For your reference the ads that are completely covering the page are from AdChoices.
Hi Jennifer. First off, let me give you a huge apology! I’m so very sorry about the ads. I have been struggling with getting the invasive ads off my site. I’m not placing any ads that interfer with reading any content. My understanding is that they are being placed on mobile devices that have not updated their OS systems. They’re a cookie placed by an aggressive advertising site from a site you visited prior to getting on my site.
Looks delicious but I can’t read the recipe because the ads are so large on your page and I click to remove and another big one pops up right over the Print button and recipe. Frustrating. I’ll try to print in between pop up ads. Thanks for recipe sharing!
Hi Kaye. I’m so sorry that’s happening. Those ads are not from this site! We will never display such invasive ads. Those pop ups are displaying on mobile devices. They’re a “cookie” from a site that was previously visited. The way to avoid them is to update your operating system on your mobile device. Hope that helps! 🙂
Yum, you had me at two glazes! This sounds incredible, and so refreshing! Great recipe, Kathleen!
Thanks so much Sam!
I love lemon and I especially love baking with zucchini! I feel like you’re a genius putting the two together! I can’t imagine how amazing and moist this is!
Thanks so much Holly!
First time I was taught, by my mom how ti make this bread was when I was 18, 1972. She made it with extra virgin olive oil. Italians are the ultimate cooks
Really enjoying this recipe! Yesterday I added finely chopped chocolate mint leaves and some white chocolate chips, and skipped the glaze (I love butter). Three loaves gone
Helen I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe. Loved your customization!!!
I am definitely saving this one for the parade of zucchini that I know is coming my way in a few months!