Zucchini Bread Lab
How much zucchini, oil and sugar a loaf takes, across hundreds of recipes.
243 recipes from 95 sites, each reduced to grams and written as baker's percentages: grams of each ingredient per 100 g of flour, so a small recipe and a double batch line up. Below: the typical loaf, how far recipes stray from it, and a page for every recipe with a link to the original.
Recipes
243
from 95 sites
Typical flour
250 g
about 2 cups
Oven
350°F
175°C · median of 224
Bake time
55 min
most 50 to 60 min
The median of all 243 recipes for each ingredient, scaled to 250 g of flour. No single recipe is exactly this: each line is the middle of its own distribution. “Most recipes” means the middle half, from the 25th to the 75th percentile.
| Ingredient | Grams |
|---|---|
| FlourThe scale for everything else | 250 gabout 2 cups |
| ZucchiniMost recipes use 165 to 285 g | 220 g |
| SugarMost recipes use 200 to 280 g | 240 gabout 1 1/4 cups |
| FatMost recipes use 95 to 160 g | 130 gabout 1/2 cup |
| EggMost recipes use 100 to 135 g | 110 gabout 2 large eggs |
| Spice31% use none; the rest mostly 3 to 5 g | 3 g |
| LeaveningMost recipes use 7 to 10 g | 8 g |
| SaltMost recipes use 2 to 4 g | 3.5 g |
Bake350°F (175°C) for about 55 minutes.
Volumes are approximate: flour at 125 g a cup, sugar 200 g, butter or oil 225 g, a large egg 50 g.
Each dot is a recipe, placed by grams of the ingredient per 100 g of flour (100% would be as much as the flour). The shaded band is the middle half of recipes and the line is the median.
median 88% · most 66 to 113%
Grated zucchini is mostly water: more of it makes a moister, denser loaf that needs a longer bake.
range 31 to 240%
median 96% · most 80 to 112%
Zucchini adds no sweetness, so most recipes carry more sugar than banana bread.
range 36 to 177%
median 52% · most 39 to 64%
Usually oil, which keeps the loaf soft for days.
range 15 to 120%
median 44% · most 40 to 53%
Eggs hold a wet batter together.
range 20 to 107%
median 1.2% · 31% use none
Cinnamon, sometimes nutmeg, is most of the flavor.
range 0 to 4.4% · those that use some, mostly 1.2 to 2.1%
median 3.3% · most 2.7 to 4.2%
Baking soda and powder lift a heavy, wet batter.
range 0.5 to 9.2%
median 1.4% · most 0.9 to 1.6%
Salt balances the sugar.
range 0 to 3.9% · 5% use none
Measured by how far apart the 25th and 75th percentile recipes are. The widest gaps are where the choice of recipe matters most.
Recipes agree most on egg and sugar: egg 40 to 53%, sugar 80 to 112% for the middle half.
235 of the recipes come in 2 languages with enough of each to compare: English 222, French 13.
English recipes whose titles use a word, against the ones that do not. What recipe writers do when they pick the word, not proof that it makes the texture.
Recipes with “double chocolate” in the title: more egg (71% vs 40%); more zucchini (149% vs 85%); more sugar (124% vs 96%).
“double chocolate” (10)the rest (212)middle half of all
Eggrecipes with double chocolate in the title 71% vs the rest 40%
Zucchinirecipes with double chocolate in the title 149% vs the rest 85%
Sugarrecipes with double chocolate in the title 124% vs the rest 96%
Recipes with “lemon” in the title: most use no spice (91% vs 21%).
“lemon” (23)the rest (199)middle half of all
Spice · share using anyrecipes with lemon in the title 8% vs the rest 78%
50 zucchini bread recipes have 50 or more reader ratings. A rating count says how many people rated a page, which follows its traffic more than its quality. Against the other 193, medians per 100 g of flour, compared within each language:
On no ingredient do the most-reviewed recipes differ from the rest by more than chance would explain.
50+ ratings (50)the rest (193)middle half of all
Zucchinithe most-reviewed recipes 99% vs the rest 87%
Sugarthe most-reviewed recipes 99% vs the rest 96%
Fatthe most-reviewed recipes 58% vs the rest 52%
Eggthe most-reviewed recipes 41% vs the rest 44%
Spicethe most-reviewed recipes 1.3% vs the rest 1.2%
Leaveningthe most-reviewed recipes 3.1% vs the rest 3.4%
Saltthe most-reviewed recipes 1.6% vs the rest 1.3%
224 of 243 recipes state an oven temperature, and 87% of those bake at 350°F (175°C). The other 19 do not say.
234 recipes state a bake time. Taking the middle of any stated range (“55 to 65 minutes” counts as 60), the median is 55 minutes and the middle half bake 50 to 60 minutes.
The single most common pairing is 350°F for 60 to 65 minutes, with 53 of the 221 recipes that state both.
Nearest the median on every ingredient at once.
In 6 languages: English 222, French 13, Dutch 4, Italian 2, Portuguese 1, German 1. Lines in other languages are read in their own units and words, and each recipe page links to the original. 95 sites in all. No site contributes more than 12 recipes.
Every ingredient line is converted to grams and grouped (butter and oil count as fat; white, brown and liquid sweeteners as sugar), then divided by the flour weight. That baker's percentage is the only comparison that holds across recipes of different sizes.
99% of the 3,005 ingredient lines got a weight. 15% of those weights were printed by the source; the rest were converted from cups and spoons with standard densities, so treat single recipes as close, not exact. Frosting, glaze, streusel and other toppings are listed on each recipe page but left out of the percentages.
A recipe outside the plausible range for any ingredient is left out rather than allowed to stretch every chart; it is usually a different dish with the same name or a misread line. Of the pages fetched, 128 were left out: 66 outside the plausible range on some ingredient (sugar 29, zucchini 13, fat 13, egg 8, salt 1, spice 1, leavening 1), 33 with no flour, or none that could be weighed, 18 with a title that names a different dish, 4 too many lines without an amount, 4 duplicates of other pages, 2 made from a boxed mix, and 1 over the 12-per-site cap.
Every recipe page links to the original, which is where the method is. Recipe Lab does not republish instructions or photos.