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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 made this today with some slight modifications and it turned out great! I substituted applesauce for half of the oil and egg whites for half of the eggs. I also mixed in a little whole wheat flour with the all purpose. Really nice fall bread that made my apartment smell amazing. I hope I made the neighbors drool ;o)
The Tahitian Squash worked like a charm for this bread! I followed your recipe for the most part, save for the squash and tweaking some of the spices (I loooove cinnamon). Just thought you should know! Thanks for a great recipe!
-Katharine
Looks like it’ll be an experiment, then! I will definitely keep you posted.
Thanks!
-Katharine
Hi there,
Stumbled upon your blog while looking up a recipe for the Tahitian Squash I picked up at farmer’s market last night. Do you think I could substitute my squash for your butternut squash? Thanks so much for your help!! And great blog – I’ll definitely be visiting more often :)
-Katharine (Meal Muse)
Katharine-
I am honestly uncertain how Tahitian Squash would work in this recipe because I have never used it. If you give it a try, please let me know how it goes.
-Jamie
I made this today, with a variation. I put in finely chopped pecans and some raisins, and then sprinkled more pecans on the top, along with a touch of brown sugar. It came out really well. Thanks for the recipe! This is going in the office bake sale tomorrow.
I made this today. I had the squash already roasted for another recipe. It is so good. I am so glad I doubled the recipe!
Question: Your recipe for butternut squash puree includes butter, brown sugar and spices. If I cook a plain butternut squash, do I need to add those ingredients to the puree or to the bread recipe to get it to come out right?
This was great! I took the liberty and made it vegan and lower fat. I subbed the eggs for 1/3 C apple sauce, the water for soy milk, left out the oil, reduced the sugar (it was still very sweet), added vanilla, and added more squash puree (it was only half a squash but it was about 1 1/3 C!). I also love oatmeal streusel so I added a little on top. Yummy! I love your blog.
I just made this. SO GOOD! Didn’t have any cardamom, so I used 1/4 tsp ground ginger. Also, I made it as muffins which baked for 30-ish minutes. It made 12 with a little bit of spoon and bowl licking left over. Anyhow, my hubs, who doesn’t really appreciate squash, loved it. Already posted this to my FB page as it is a truly great recipe!
Can not wait to try this recipe!!!! I have a ton of butternut squash….this will give me something else to make with the squash rather than soup and buttered puree. Thank you so much!