Butternut Squash Bread

This homemade Butternut Squash Bread is deliciously moist and so simple to make! Made with butternut squash puree, warm spices, and a hint of orange, it boasts all the wonderful flavors of Autumn. This may just become your new favorite fall treat!

 

I just love when pumpkin season rolls around. Like my pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin spice pancakes, no bake pumpkin dip, pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting or my easy eggless pumpkin pie. It’s Fall heaven!

However, this year finding a can of pumpkin puree in the stores was like trying to find a unicorn! So I decided why does pumpkin have to get all the glory and fame? What about all those other wonderful Autumnal squashes?

Enter: butternut squash. If pumpkin bread is delicious, butternut squash loaf must be equally amazing!

For this recipe I made my own butternut squash puree so that it had as vibrant a flavor as possible, but you can also use canned. The fresh puree gets folded into an easy batter spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and a little bit of orange juice to pull everything together. 

The delicious quick bread turns out soft and tender, with a lovely golden top and a moist interior. It tastes like fall as soon as you take a bite, plus it makes the house smell so good while it’s baking.

So the next time you can’t find pumpkin on your shelves, it’s time to give easy butternut squash bread recipe a try!

Why This Recipe Works

• Easy no yeast quick bread recipe
• Mixes up in minutes
• No mixer needed
• Can be frozen to enjoyed later!

Ingredients Needed

• All purpose flour – You can also try using 50% whole wheat flour to make it a bit more nutritious. I like white whole wheat flour because its a bit softer than traditional wheat flour.
• Baking soda
• Salt
• Nutmeg
• Cloves
• Ginger  
• Cinnamon
• Vegetable oil – You can use another neutral-tasting oil such as canola oil, sunflower, safflower, or avocado oil. Olive oil can be used but may impart some flavor. And melted butter or melted coconut oil can be used, but your bread may not rise as high. Read more about oil vs. butter in quick breads. 
• Sugar – I prefer to use organic cane sugar, but regular granulated sugar works, or coconut sugar (but that will make the bread darker).
• Light brown sugar
• Eggs
• Butternut squash puree – You can make your own using the instructions below or use canned. 
• Orange juice – Just a bit of orange juice adds a perfect amount of citrus flavor to compliment the fall spices. You can also use water if you don’t have orange juice. 

How to Make Your Own Butternut Squash Puree

It’s a surprisingly simple process to make your own butternut squash puree. Honestly, the hardest part is cutting it. Use a large, sharp knife to carefully cut your squash in half lengthwise. Then remove the seeds and place the squash on a baking sheet that is lined with foil. I like to brush the surface with a little oil and then place face down on your baking sheet. 

You want to bake at 400° for 45-65 minutes, or until the squash is tender. Once tender, allow it to cool slightly. Then scoop out the flesh (the skin can be thrown away). I just used a spoon and scraped out the cooked squash. If it’s been cooked through it will remove easily.

That wasn’t so hard now was it? Ok now that you have all this delicious cooked squash it’s time for your food processor!

I just placed all the squash into my food processor and blended it until very smooth. You may find you have some leftover squash puree. You can save it and add it to a butternut squash soup for later in the week. Yes dinner and dessert!

How to Make Butternut Squash Bread

Preheat and prepare pan. Preheat oven to 350^oF. Spray a 9×5” loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray or grease with butter, or line with parchment paper. Set aside.

Combine dry ingredients. In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cloves, ginger and cinnamon.

Whisk wet ingredients. In a second large mixing bowl whisk together oil, sugars, eggs, pureed butternut squash, and orange juice until combined.

Combine wet and dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix together until just combined.

Bake. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 65-70 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean. 

Remove from the oven and allow the bread to cool completely in the pan set on a wire rack. Store the bread, and any leftovers, covered at room temperature for 2 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Recipe Tips

• Measure your flour accurately. You can use the spoon and level method or a kitchen scale to get the most accurate. Learn how to measure your flour in this post.
• Careful to not over mix. By using a spatula to fold in the dry ingredients you avoid overmixing. You want to mix until everything is just incorporated, then stop. This will prevent too much gluten from forming, which means you’ll get a soft, tender bread. 
• Test With A Toothpick. It may be tough to tell when a quick bread is done. I like to use a long wooden skewer or metal skewer to ensure that no wet batter is clinging to the toothpick to see when it’s done. Every oven is different so be sure to test the bread before removing it from the oven. Moist crumbs are what we are looking for!
• Wait for the bread to cool. You will be tempted to eat this straight out of the pan (it just smells so good!). But if you wait for it to cool, you won’t regret it! The flavor actually deepens as it cools and the texture becomes soft, tender, and perfectly moist. 

Storage Instructions

Store the bread, and any leftovers, covered at room temperature for 2 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. The key to keeping it fresh and moist is to wrap it tightly in plastic wrap so that very little air gets in. You keep it wrapped in plastic wrap, tin foil or stored in an airtight container. 

Quick breads like this one freeze beautifully. Make sure to wrap your bread tightly in plastic wrap and then provide a second layer of protection by placing it in a large zipper bag or wrapping it in foil. Then freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw it at room temperature on the counter. 

Recipe Variations

• ​Mix-ins: You could try stirring in 1 cup of chocolate chips and make this butternut squash chocolate chip bread! You could also try white chocolate chips, chopped walnuts, or dried cranberries. When adding mix-ins they tend to be very heavy and sink to the bottom of your bread. So I like to stir a tablespoon of the dry ingredients into a bowl of my mix-ins first. This coating of flour keeps them from sinking. You can read more here at How To Keep Chocolate Chips From Sinking.
• Swap water. Instead of orange juice use water instead. Or you could try a different juice like apple juice.
• Use half applesauce. To lighten things up, replace half of the oil with applesauce.
• Use pumpkin spice. Replace the ground spices with pumpkin pie spice instead.
• Top with seeds. Before going into the oven, sprinkle on some pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds for a little crunch.
• Try with brown butter. Instead of oil, use browned butter instead. Read my full tutorial on how to brown butter.

Recipe FAQ’s

More Recipes To Try

If you are craving more bread, try my easy pistachio bread recipe made with real pistachios! Or my walnut bread made with toasted walnuts and a streusel on top.

And if you’r craving some chocolate, try my zucchini chocolate chip bread! It’s a perfect summer quick bread recipe.