Yttria Stabilized Zirconia (YSZ) doped with different weight percentages of ZnO was synthesized through microwave-assisted combustion, followed by conventional sintering. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results reveals no distinct ZnO phase, confirming the complete solubility of ZnO in YSZ. Microstructural examination illustrates the densification between YSZ grains and an increase in the relative density particularly with higher concentration of ZnO (5 wt% ZnO). The average grain size increased from ∼3.4 μm to 6.4 μm with the addition of ZnO. The relative density of the material indicates a linear increase with increase in ZnO as a sintering aid (5 wt% ZnO), with density reaching up to 98 % at a sintering temperature of 1300 °C. Compared to YSZ, ZnO-doped YSZ delivers a lower activation energy of 0.946 eV and favors enhanced electrical conductivity of 8.77 × 10−2 S/cm at 700 °C. Among the synthesized samples, the 0.5 wt% ZnO doped YSZ showed a lower impedance value measured at 700 °C. The S parameter was calculated using Jonscher's power law, from which the conduction mechanism of charge carriers was found to obey the Correlated Barrier Hopping (CBH) mechanism.The present study strongly demonstrates that the microwave-assisted ZnO-doped YSZ also exhibits significant improvement in density as well as in electrical properties compared to those prepared via the conventional approach. Hence, the rapid microwave synthesis approach can be adopted to develop different high-temperature ceramic materials with good thermal and chemical stability to meet their demand in the future towards energy applications.