Vegan zucchini bread, like other vegan baked goods and products, is made without using any animal products. The bread does not contain eggs or dairy. Typically, vegan zucchini bread uses flax seeds to replace the egg and vegetable oil to replace butter. A number of additional ingredients can be baked into vegan zucchini bread, including nuts such as pecans, chocolate, and raisins.
Ground flax seeds mixed with water take on the consistency of egg whites. Usually 1 tablespoon (14 grams) of flax seed mixed with 2 tablespoons (30 grams) of water equals one egg. A cook who doesn't have access to flax seeds can use a commercial egg replacer or corn starch instead. Applesauce also works as an egg replacer in vegan zucchini bread.
Many standard zucchini bread recipes already call for some type of vegetable oil to be used as the fat. If the recipe does call for butter, a cook can trade oil for butter by reducing the amount of fat slightly. For example, if the recipe calls for 1/2 cup (115 grams) of butter, she can use 1/3 cup (85 ml) of vegetable oil, such as canola oil. She can also substitute margarine for butter equally.
Some vegan zucchini bread recipes call for adding walnuts, pecans, or dried fruits such as cranberries. Others call for stirring a handful of chocolate chips into the batter. The chocolate chips need to be vegan as well, meaning they cannot contain any milk ingredients. Semi-sweet chocolate chips are typically vegan, though some do contain hidden milk ingredients. A vegan cook's best option is to look for chocolate chips that are specifically labeled as vegan if he wants to add them to zucchini bread.
A vegan zucchini bread may be a considerably healthier option than standard zucchini bread, as the lack of eggs and butter reduces the amount of cholesterol in the bread and may reduce the amount of fat. Some cooks may strive to make their breads even healthier by using unrefined sugars and whole wheat flours. A bread made with whole wheat pastry flour will still taste light and not dense, even though it will have more flour.
Some types of granulated sugar are not vegan, as they are filtered over bone char. If a cook is unsure whether her sugar is vegan, she may decide to use a sweetener such as maple syrup or agave nectar in the bread. Other vegan options include turbinado sugar or other types of brown sugar.