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Butternut Squash Bread is full of autumnal flavors that only get more complex with time. This moist and delicious quick bread may just become your new favorite fall treat.
If you happened to catch my post last week for Apple Cinnamon Muffins, you may remember me coming up empty handed in my search for canned pumpkin puree. Well, many of you came to my rescue and a couple of you even emailed offering to ship me cans. Thanks for having your girl’s back!
However, several of you emailed me to say that Aldi shelves were pretty stocked with pumpkin puree. I’m not a regular Aldi shopper, but my friend Erin is and she just so happened upon a pumpkin jackpot at Aldi this past weekend and graciously dropped 6 cans onto my front porch.
If you can’t find it in your area, Aldi just might be the place to go to score a few cans. In the meantime, I think you should whip up this Butternut Squash Bread. It’s light, sweet and perfect for fall!
THE PERFECT BUTTERNUT SQUASH BREAD RECIPE
I have issues with perfection. I am always searching for it: the perfect recipe, the perfect pair of shoes, the perfect arch in my brows.
Obviously perfection is relative and varies from person to person, but for me, the search is endless and sometimes exhausting.
Rarely do I claim that a recipe is perfection. Why? Well, because I am always tweaking and fiddling with things to make them…well, closer to my version of perfect.
However, this recipe for Butternut Squash Bread may just define perfection for me (at least in my warped sense of the word).
The combination of flavors and the texture of this bread is truly amazing, and it only seems to get better over time. It’s delicious on day one, but by day two it transforms into a lovely moist bread full of rich, autumnal flavors.
It is very similar to my favorite Pumpkin Bread but with a slightly lighter texture.
I love this Butternut Squash Bread paired with a cup of hot chai or a London fog for breakfast or with a smear of butter for a late night snack.
HOW TO MAKE BUTTERNUT SQUASH BREAD
Remember the Butternut Squash Puree from earlier this week? I told you that you’d want to save some for making some Butternut Squash Bread!
To make this bread, start by grabbing your puree, either freshly made or thawed from the freezer if you made some ahead of time.
Whisk together the squash puree with eggs, oil, water, and both white and brown sugars.
(Psst! Ever wondered about the differences between the types of sugar? My handy guide lays it all out!)
Separately, whisk together the dry ingredients, including cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom. Stir the dry ingredients into the squash mixture, pour it into your loaf pan, and bake.
Pretty simple, right?? Like most quick bread recipes, this one is pretty straightforward, making it easy to whip up by yourself or great to make with kids.
SUGGESTED MIX-INS FOR THIS BREAD
Butternut Squash Bread is amazing as-is, but you can also get creative and make this recipe your own if you’d like.
You can try adding semi-sweet chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, chopped nuts, or even some dried cranberries to the batter before baking.
You could even mix up some cinnamon-sugar and sprinkle it on top of the batter before you bake the bread to give the bread a bit of a crunchy topping, similar to what I do with Dominique Ansel’s Banana Bread.
Whether you make it as written or decide to toss in some mix-ins, I know you’ll love this bread as much as we do!
Butternut Squash Bread
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup butternut squash puree
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ¼ cup water
- 1 cup white sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease and flour one 8.5 x 4.5 x 2.5 inch loaf pan.
- In a large bowl, mix together the butternut squash puree, eggs, oil, water and sugars until thoroughly combined. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom.
- Stir the dry ingredients into the butternut squash mixture. Combine just until incorporated; do not over mix. Pour into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 55-65 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Butternut Squash Puree
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 large butternut squash
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter; diced
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Slice the butternut squash in half lengthwise; scoop out and toss the seeds. Place the halves flesh-side-up on a foil-lined baking sheet.
- Sprinkle the diced butter and brown sugar evenly on both halves.
- Roast for 45-60 minutes or until the butternut squash can easily be pierced with a knife.
- A liquid mixture of butter and brown sugar will form in the wells of the squash, make sure you include this deliciousness with the puree.
- Remove squash from the oven; allow to cool for about 10 minutes. Scoop out the flesh and liquid and place into your food processor or blender.
- Add the cinnamon, nutmeg and salt; pulse until you reach a creamy consistency.
- If you are serving this delicious puree as a simple side dish, adjust the seasoning to your taste and toss in a couple more tablespoons of unsalted butter. If you are using it for Butternut Squash Bread, leave the puree as written.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I am baking right now and I can’t wait to taste it. IT sure smells good. Perfect breakfast with coffee. And for my little boy’s lunch at school. :) Thanks for sharing the recipe!
I finally made this today and it turned out sooooo good! My kids were so happy and my little man told me ” mama this is good! I want this for my classmates in school”. Because once in a while we are assigned to bring in some snacks for the kids for the entire week. :) Thank you once again!
Adin-
You are so very welcome! Please stop back and let us know how you and your son liked the bread! Have a fantastic day!
-Jamie
Heaven on a plate!!
Julie-
Totally :)! Have a wonderful day and thank you for following MBA!
-Jamie
Made this today for the first time. I love it! I added orange zest, the dried cranberries and walnuts. It has a lighter flavor than pumpkin bread. I roasted the squash and then pureed it. Have enough for at least three breads, so I will play around with some more “extras” as you suggest. Thank you for the lovely recipe.
Theresa-
I am so glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe – your additions sound delicious. Thanks so much for stopping by and reporting back on your experience!
-Jamie
I made up a batch of this evening with a butternut from the garden. Delicious! I couldn’t wait for the bread to cool to get a nibble, so I have one burnt, yet completely satisfied tongue. I used whole wheat flour and all white sugar as I have no all-purpose flour nor any brown sugar. Also omitted the cardamom and nutmeg as they are not available to me at the moment, though I did toss in a 1/2 tsp of clove. Also replaced the 1/2 cup of veg. oil with a 1/2 cup of butter. We farmers need all the extra fat we can get to get through those long hours. ;) It’s nice and moist and will be great for a quick “first breakfast”.
Al-
It’s great to hear that you enjoyed the recipe, and all of your substitutions seemed to work out wonderfully! Have a fantastic day!
-Jamie
I have this healthy vegetable (Kabocha squash ) and I ate it roasted but I want to try some variations as your receipt without of sugar. Kabocha is already sweet, the best vegetable in the glycemic index. When I was a child mom gave it to us as a snack, it was the only source of something sweet in my home.
Thank you for your receipt
I just popped this into the oven and the sneaky batter tastes I took were amazing, so I am very excited for this bread! I made my puree with butternut squash, sweet potatoes and carrots-roasted.
I’ve been searching for more recipes that incorporate puréed veggies for my picky 1 1/2 year old. I made them into muffins and cut the baking time down to 20 min. In fact, I took them out earlier than that as I prefer to bake just until firm and starting to pull from the pan. These just came out of the oven and three of them have been devoured by my 3 year old, 1 1/2 year old, and myself! What a perfect little treat for afternoon snack or even a great breakfast! Thank you for the great recipe!
Just found this recipe today and made it! I already had some extra squash puree in the fridge, and was looking for a good recipe to use it on…and I found this one. And boy, is it good! Delicious and moist an just perfect! I didn’t have any cardamum, so I just left it out.
My only problem was…part of the bottom fell off! I think I didn’t leave it in the pan long enough! My bad there…but it’ll be better next time ;)
I am wondering what the 1/4 cup water is for…I baked the bread with sweetened dried cranberries and pecans and I used about a quarter cup each whole wheat and amaranth flours in place of the white flour and a quarter cup less sugar. The bread took about 45 minutes longer to bake and rose out of the pan. It is delicious but I am wondering what the water does.
I roasted some Kabocha squash from my organic farm box for soup and had too much. I found your recipe to try. Then I discovered we had run out of cooking oil. I used applesauce and a little less white sugar. It turned out a little denser and slightly chewy but nice and moist. I think the applesauce added good moisture since Kabocha is a slightly dry squash. I love the flexibility of this recipe.