If you follow me on Instagram you know that I had a lovely and inspiring visit with the Queen of Food Blogging, Elise Bauer. During that time we talked about our websites as well as all things zucchini bread. When Elise told me about her Lemon Rosemary Zucchini Bread recipe I knew I’d have to create a low-carb, gluten-free version for you.
Easy Lemon Rosemary Zucchini Bread Recipe
In her blog post on this incredible bread, Elise talks about being on a mission to use up a “certain summer squash” that she planted in her parents garden in Sacramento. Out here in Boulder, Colorado, I’m on a mission of a similar sort to use up all the zucchini overflowing in these parts. This easy Lemon Rosemary Zucchini Bread recipe will help you do the trick too!
The Best Low-Carb Zucchini Bread Recipe
I’ve created the best low-carb zucchini bread recipe for you! Why? First, it uses only one-quarter cup of maple syrup in the entire loaf. Second, this is an easy zucchini bread recipe with only ten ingredients total. That number includes the salt and baking soda. To be honest, I’ve never really understood why recipes in magazines claim that a recipe has fewer ingredients than it really does. Salt and baking soda count as ingredients in my book. Finally, it rocks because it’s not only a low-carb, gluten-free bread recipe, it’s also dairy-free and corn-free.
Keto Zucchini Bread Recipe
Speaking of corn-free, please beware of recipes that claim to be Paleo-friendly that use erythritol. Erythritol, the primary ingredient in Swerve is a beloved sweetener for people following a Keto Diet. If you’re looking for a sugar-free zucchini bread that uses Swerve, check out my Keto Nut-Free Zucchini Bread recipe. If you’re on a corn-free diet check out my Paleo Diet Recipes page! I create sugar-free recipes that use corn-based sweeteners as a labor of love for my readers, but I don’t eat them. Corn is too hard on my gut and it hasn’t been part of my diet since 2001.
How to Prepare Zucchini for Zucchini Bread
This one-bowl recipe is a cinch to make. Simply trim the ends off of a zucchini, then weigh out 8 ounces on a kitchen scale. Chop it into stalks that are slim enough to fit into the top of your food processor. Use the grater attachment to grate it right over the batter, then remove the attachment and stir it in by hand.
Use Egg White Protein Powder
Although there is a small amount of egg white protein powder in this recipe, it is a very important ingredient! Since we have no gluten and not a lot of starch in this bread, we need something to provide structure and that’s exactly what this ingredient does. I have quite a few other recipes for you that also use Egg White Protein Powder.
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Lemon Rosemary Zucchini Bread
Ingredients
- 2½ cups blanched almond flour (not almond meal)
- 2 tablespoons egg white protein powder
- ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 4 large eggs
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla stevia
- 1 tablespoon rosemary, minced
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1½ cups grated zucchini (8 ounces)
Instructions
- In a food processor, combine almond flour, protein powder, salt, and baking soda
- Pulse in eggs, maple syrup, stevia, rosemary, and lemon zest
- Remove s-blade, replacing with grater attachment
- On a scale, weigh out 8 ounces of zucchini
- Push zucchini through food processor to grate over batter
- Stir in zucchini by hand
- Transfer batter to a greased 9 x 5 inch loaf dish
- Bake at 350°F for 45-55 minutes
- Cool for 1 hour
- Serve
How to Store Low-Carb Zucchini Bread
To store Lemon Rosemary Zucchini Bread, let it cool overnight, wrap in a paper towel and place it in a ziploc bag and refrigerate for up to 1 week. I haven’t tried freezing this bread so not sure how long it would keep in the freezer.
What Can I Add to Zucchini Bread
If you’re up for an experiment, try making this zucchini bread with orange zest instead of lemon. I made one of my many test batches with one-half cup of chopped walnuts, but left it out of the recipe since we liked it better without. It worked quite well though and is merely preference. You also might want to try throwing some sugar-free Keto Chocolate Chips into this recipe to see how that turns out. If I was using chocolate chips I’d use dark chocolate that is corn-free and go with the orange zest rather than lemon. The possibilities are endless, but I can’t guarantee they’ll work since I haven’t tried them all. If you do experiment please leave a comment to let us know your results!
Easy Zucchini Bread Recipes
Here are some of my other low-carb and keto zucchini bread recipes for you!
Guen says
I ended up making this without the protein powder, since I didn’t have any. I added another egg instead, which seemed to work fine. However, I think I used way too much zucchini since I also did not have a scale. I used 3 medium to large zucchini and the bread was maybe more like a pudding than a bread, but still held together and was tasty and enjoyed by all.
I also only used half of the maple syrup, and no stevia, since I prefer less sweetness, sometimes. I wonder if this might make it qualify as “keto”?
Elana says
Guen, thanks for letting me know this was enjoyed by all! You definitely reduced the carb count in this by cutting the maple syrup in half, but you can use as much stevia as you like on keto :-)
Rainbow says
Do you squeeze the extra moisture out of the grated zucchini before adding to the batter?
Elana says
Rainbow, nope :-)
Rainbow says
Sorry, I read the recipe more carefully and saw that of course you don’t. For those wondering about some measurements and substitutions, I halved the recipe and made muffins instead of a loaf. Half a recipe yielded 5 muffins and took 22 minutes in my oven.
I weighed and measured my grated zucchini and 8 oz=2 cups. However, I would caution that I handgrated my zucchini instead of using a food processor so there may be a small difference.
Elana says
Rainbow, no need to apologize! So glad that you are enjoying this recipe :-)
Guen says
I wonder if you can give some idea in measuring cups, as to the amount of zucchini, for those of us without a scale?
Elana says
Guen, I haven’t tried that so not sure :-)
Renee says
I made this last night and it is really amazing toasted with butter. I used King Arthur gluten free flour because that’s what I had. I’m really interested to see how almond flour will change the texture and flavor profile. I also can’t wait to try making the orange version. I left out the stevia because I didn’t have any and it was pleasantly lightly sweet without it. I love the “really easy” to “great results” ratio of this recipe!
Elana says
Thanks Renee!
Paige says
My daughter is allergic to treenuts. Any substitution for the almond flour?
Elana says
Paige, thanks for your comment, I haven’t tried that so not sure :-)
Renee says
I made it with King Arthur gluten free flour and it was incredible.
Cindy says
I’m not familiar with egg white protein powder. You use eggs in this recipe so what is the purpose of the egg white protein powder? TIA!
Elana says
Cindy, thanks for your comment! I’ve updated the post to provide that information :-)
jillian says
This sounds wonderful…can I use fresh egg whites ? Thanks.
Elana says
Jillian, I haven’t tried that so not sure :-)
Jeanne says
Going egg free for now…do you think I can use flax seed and water replacement?
Elana says
Jeanne, thanks for your comment! I haven’t ever had egg replacements work in any of my breads :-)
Gigi says
What can I use in place of egg white protein powder ?
Elana says
Gigi, I haven’t tried that so not sure :-)
Susan says
Hi Elana,
Can you describe the purpose or effect of the egg white powder? Does it act as a thickener or leavening agent? Thanks!
Elana says
Susan, thanks for your comment! I’ve updated the post to provide that information since so many people want it! :-)
Michelle says
Gigi – I imagine you might be able to drain some of the liquid from the zucchini and add one large egg. That’s what I would try first. Hope that’s helpful! :-)
Elana says
Michelle and Gigi, if you do experiment I hope you’ll let me know if it works :-)
Christine Watkins says
I am newly committed to a low sugar low carb diet. The lemon zucchini recipe looks very good. I own the gluten free Cupcakes book and wonder if those recipes will convert easily to loaves instead of cupcakes. I also own the Gluten-free Almond Flour cookbook. Both books give me hope for tasty baking.
Elana says
Christine, thanks for your comment! I hope you love this way of eating as much as I do, it’s been so helpful to me in many ways. I test every recipe dozens of times, tweaking each test batch in order to perfect. I’m terrible at guessing what will work. I’m wondering if there are certain types of cupcakes or other recipes that you want to make into loaves. If you let me know, I can look here on the website to see if we have a finished version of something that’s been tested and will work perfectly for you. Here’s a link to my Chocolate Zucchini Bread, in case you’re looking for a chocolate-style loaf:
https://elanaspantry.com/paleo-chocolate-zucchini-bread/
Let me know if you have any other questions!
Elana