Infused Zucchini Bread (A Moist Late-Summer Garden Bake)

Every August, the same thing happens: someone hands you a zucchini the size of a forearm and walks away. This is what you do with it. Zucchini bread is already the most forgiving bake in the rotation, and the shredded squash keeps the crumb moist for days, which makes it a genuinely good candidate for a slow, easy infused treat.

The infusion here comes from cannabutter, stirred in melted and cooled so it behaves exactly like regular butter. One loaf, twelve slices, easy math.

Key takeaways

• One loaf yields 12 slices, so per-slice dosing is simple to calculate.
• Bake at 350°F and avoid overbaking, which helps preserve potency.
• Squeeze the zucchini lightly, not aggressively, or the loaf turns dry.
• Effects can take 30 to 90 minutes to arrive. Start with half a slice.
• Label the loaf and store it away from kids, pets, and unsuspecting roommates.

Ingredients

Makes one 9×5 loaf, 12 slices

• 1 1/2 cups grated zucchini (about 1 medium), lightly squeezed
• 1/2 cup cannabutter, melted and cooled slightly
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Optional: 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Prep. Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×5 loaf pan and line it with a parchment sling so you can lift the loaf out cleanly.
2. Handle the zucchini. Grate it on the large holes of a box grater. Gather it in a clean towel and give it one gentle squeeze, just enough to shed the loose water. Do not wring it dry, or you will lose the moisture that makes this loaf work.
3. Mix the wet. Whisk the cooled cannabutter with both sugars until glossy. Add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla. If the butter is too warm it will scramble the eggs, so let it cool to just barely warm first.
4. Mix the dry. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
5. Combine. Fold the dry mixture into the wet in two additions, stopping while a few streaks of flour remain. Fold in the zucchini and the nuts or chocolate chips. The batter should look thick and a little shaggy. Overmixing gives you a tough, tunneled loaf.
6. Bake. Scrape into the pan, smooth the top, and bake 50 to 60 minutes, until a skewer in the center comes out with moist crumbs but no wet batter. Tent with foil at the 40-minute mark if the top is browning fast.
7. Cool completely. Ten minutes in the pan, then out onto a rack. Slicing warm infused bakes is how you end up with uneven slices, and uneven slices mean uneven doses.
8. Slice into 12 even pieces and label the container before anything else happens.

Dosing and safety

Potency depends entirely on the cannabutter you start with, so work backward from your own batch rather than copying a number off the internet. The math is straightforward:

Total THC in the cannabutter you used ÷ 12 slices = approximate THC per slice.

For example, if the 1/2 cup of cannabutter in this recipe carries roughly 100 mg of THC in total, each slice lands near 8 mg. If your butter is stronger, cut the slices smaller or halve the cannabutter and make up the difference with regular butter. Halving the infused butter is the easiest lever you have, and it does not change the texture.

A few things worth respecting:

• Start low, go slow. Half a slice is a reasonable first try, even for a regular consumer. Edibles hit differently than inhaled cannabis.
• Wait it out. Effects typically begin in 30 to 90 minutes and can build for a couple of hours. Redosing before the two-hour mark is the single most common mistake.
• Label everything. A wrapped loaf on the counter looks exactly like an uninfused one. Mark it clearly and store it out of reach of children and pets.
• Know your local laws. Rules on home infusion, possession, and sharing vary by state and locality. Follow yours. Adults 21+ only.
• This is food, not medicine. Nothing here is a health claim or medical advice.

Storage

Wrapped tightly at room temperature, the loaf holds for 3 to 4 days and is arguably better on day two. In the fridge it keeps about a week. For longer storage, slice it first, wrap the slices individually, and freeze for up to 3 months. Freezing by the slice also keeps portions consistent, which matters more here than it does with an ordinary quick bread.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use canna-oil instead of cannabutter?

Yes. Swap in 1/2 cup of a neutral infused oil such as canola or light olive oil. The crumb comes out slightly softer and a touch less rich, and the loaf stays moist a day longer.

Does baking destroy the THC?

Not at 350°F for an hour. THC degrades meaningfully at sustained higher temperatures, which is why this loaf bakes at a moderate temperature and why you should pull it as soon as the skewer test passes rather than leaving it in to darken.

Do I have to peel the zucchini?

No, and you should not. The skin softens completely during baking and gives you those green flecks in the crumb.

How do I make the dose more consistent across slices?

Two things: mix the batter thoroughly enough that the infused butter is evenly distributed, and cut with a ruler or by halving repeatedly rather than eyeballing. Uneven slices are the biggest source of dose variation in any infused loaf.

Earn rewards on your dispensary runs

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