This Cheesy Bacon Zucchini Bread is moist and delicious! Cheddar and provolone cheeses, green onion, and bacon infuse this summertime quick bread with wonderful flavor!
Now that our garden zucchini plants are producing squash so quickly, we’ve been making many of our favorite zucchini recipes on a regular rotation. (You can see them all right here!)
But Jack and I are always brainstorming ideas for new zucchini recipes – especially when we have a pile of them, freshly picked and sitting on our kitchen counter just waiting to be cooked.
It was during one of our recent brainstorming sessions that we came up with the idea for this Cheesy Bacon Zucchini Bread. We’ve both always loved zucchini and cheese together, so that got us started thinking of going in a savory zucchini bread direction.
We settled on two types of cheeses – white cheddar and provolone – both for their distinctive sharp flavors. Next, we tossed around the idea of adding bacon, ham, or prosciutto – and while any one of those meats would be delicious in this easy quick bread, we ultimately decided on bacon (because…it’s BACON)! 😉
We also added chopped green onion or scallions to the batter for a little bite of freshness, and a pinch of dried basil, plus other seasonings also complement the other flavors in this Cheesy Bacon Zucchini Bread.
Our Cheesy Bacon Zucchini Bread bakes up perfectly, with a moist, dense texture and absolutely delicious flavor! Give it a try – I think it will have a permanent place on your summertime recipe list too!
This Cheesy Bacon Zucchini Bread is absolutely wonderful served warm out of the oven, slathered with butter, or toasted for breakfast. It even works very well as a sandwich bread – just cut into thin slices and pile on your favorite sandwich toppings. Enjoy!
You may also like these other zucchini recipes:
- Best Zucchini Bread Ever
- Zucchini Relish
- Zucchini Frittata with Tuscan Kale
- Zucchini Tomato Italian Sausage Soup
- Chocolate Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins
Cheesy Bacon Zucchini Bread
This Cheesy Bacon Zucchini Bread is moist and delicious! Cheddar and provolone cheeses, green onion, and bacon infuse this summertime quick bread with wonderful flavor!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 55 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 1 loaf 1x
- Category: quick bread
- Method: Baking
Ingredients
4 strips of bacon
1 cup half & half
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 pound zucchini, about one medium zucchini
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup fine corn meal, see note below
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon dry basil flakes
1/2 cup NY sharp white cheddar cheese, shredded (we like Cracker Barrel brand)
1/2 cup sharp provolone cheese, chopped (4 slices)
2 whole eggs
1/4 cup melted butter, (4 tablespoons)
1/4 cup scallions, chopped
Instructions
- Butter and flour a glass loaf pan. Ours was 8 ½ by 4 ½ inches.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Cook bacon to crisp, drain on paper towels then crumble or chop. Set aside.
- Measure out the half and half and add the lemon juice and set aside.
- Shred the zucchini on the large holes of a box grater and place in a dish towel and ring out as much of the water as you can. You should be left with about one cup (a little more or less is fine). Set aside.
- In a large bowl combine the flour, fine corn meal, brown sugar, garlic powder, salt, baking powder, baking soda and dry basil. Add in both cheeses and toss to coat. Add in the zucchini and toss and stir with a spoon to coat.
- In a separate bowl, add the half and half with the two eggs and beat to combine. Then add to the flour mixture along with the melted butter and stir to combine.
- Add in the bacon and scallions and stir again.
- Scrape batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake in the center of the oven for 45-50 minutes or until golden on top and a tooth pick inserted comes out clean. The bread is moist so the tooth pick will be wet but should show no signs of raw batter.
- Serve warm with butter or cool to room temperature, wrap and store in the refrigerator.
Notes
Goya makes a fine yellow corn meal (Harina de Maiz Amanilla Fina). You could also use corn flour if you can’t find fine corn meal.
can I use buttermilk instead of half n half?
Hi Deborah – We’ve never tried swapping in buttermilk, so I can’t say for sure how it will come out. Please let us know if you try it!
Can I sub a different cheese for the provolone?
Sure Shannon! You can increase to a full cup of cheddar or swap in another cheese of your choice. Enjoy!
Where does the melted butter get used?
Thanks for your question Gail! We’ve just updated/corrected the recipe. It gets added to the flour mixture along with the half and half and eggs. Sorry for the oversight – it should be fixed now!
Thanks, Martha.
Common baking sense told me that was the right thing to do, but I’m glad you could update the recipe.
I made two loaves last night but haven’t had a chance to try them yet.
We hope you enjoy the bread! And thank you again – we try our best to check for any omissions and errors in the recipe but unfortunately they do slip through! Appreciate the head’s up!