Butternut Squash Bread may not be quite as famous as it's sibling Pumpkin bread, but I think it tastes even more delicious! It is the perfect fall treat. Enjoying a piece with your coffee on a crisp autumn morning is fabulous.
Today I'm sharing my favorite easy butternut squash quick bread recipe. It is a marriage of a few different recipes I found in my vintage cookbook collection throughout the years. It has never failed me.
Butternut Squash Bread
Butternut squash while still in the same family as pumpkin is smoother when pureed and has a richer somewhat nutty flavor. Some say butternut squash puree is naturally sweeter than pumpkin puree too.
I can also actually smell a slight difference between the two when baking. Butternut is a little paler in color, which may or may not appeal to you. If you heavily spice your baked goods the difference will be barely noticeable and using brown sugar rather than white will deepen the color too.
Fun Fact: When you purchase canned pumpkin you are often actually getting other winter squash or a blend of them.
How to Make Butternut Squash Bread
As recipes with pictures are helpful to many, here is a step by step visual guide to making butternut squash bread perfectly.
The recipe makes one loaf of this moist bread.
The total time from prep to out of the oven is roughly an hour and a half. 10 minutes prep time, 1 hour 15 minutes bake time.
Full printable recipe card can be found below.
Ingredients You Will Need for the Quick Bread
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ⅓ cups sugar (swap for brown sugar for white sugar if you prefer a darker finished bread)
- ¾ teaspoon Kosher salt (or sea salt)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ⅓ cups butternut squash puree
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Preparation
First preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a loaf pan. Set the pan aside.
Put soft butter, sugar and sea salt in a large bowl. Use light brown sugar if you prefer.
Cream together.
Add eggs and mix.
Then add the butternut squash puree and vanilla and mix again.
This is what your batter will look like at this point.
In separate medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. This is my way of mimicking sifting... since most home cooks don't have a sifter in their kitchen these days.
Combine the wet & dry mixes.
Stir until evenly blended. If you want to add nuts or dried fruit, they would be folded in now.
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth out the top.
Pop the quick bread into the oven to bake, for what seems like eternity (more than an hour). The loaf is not ready until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
The one pictured here took an hour and 15 minutes to bake through.
Cool the loaf on a wire rack after first letting it cool in pan a few minutes. Cool completely. Don't slice until the bread is room temperature.
Add-ins
Spruce up your butternut squash bread with an add-in or two. Simply fold them into batter before pouring into the loaf pan.
- semi-sweet or white chocolate chips
- chopped walnuts or pecans
- raisins or dried cranberries
Making Butternut Squash Puree
Can't find canned puree? No worries. Making your own butternut squash puree is easy. It may even give you a little better flavor.
Carefully cut your butternut squash in half lengthwise using a large, sharp knife. Then scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Place the squash halves face down in a large baking dish or rimmed baking sheet with about ½" water (or put in Instant Pot with one cup of water).
Bake at 400°f for 45-60 minutes (or 8-10 minutes on high in pressure cooker) until it is fork tender. Cool the roasted butternut squash until it is easy to handle. Scoop out the flesh and discard skin.
Dump the squash into a food processor and blend it until smooth. Don't have a food processor? A blender will do.
Fully cooled bread should be tightly wrapped in plastic wrap. It will be good for up to 3-4 days at room temperature. If stored in the refrigerator it will be good up to a week.
Yes, you can freeze butternut squash bread. Double wrap the loaf to avoid freezer burn. It will keep for up to 3 months in the freezer.
Butternut Squash Bread Recipe
Equipment
- 9x5 inch loaf pan
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter . softened
- 1 ⅓ cup sugar
- ¾ tsp sea salt
- 2 eggs , large
- 1 ⅓ cup squash puree
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cup flour , all-purpose
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Either grease your loaf pan or use cooking spray to coat the inside.
- Cream together the sugar, salt and butter.
- Add the eggs and beat well.
- Mix in the butternut squash and vanilla.
- In another bowl whisk together all the dry ingredients.
- Mix the dry and wet ingredients together.
- Pour the batter in the greased loaf pan and place in preheated oven to bake. Start checking your bread after 50 minutes. The butternut quick bread is ready when a pick pulls out clean. It will take 70-80 minutes.
- Allow to rest in pan for 10-15 minutes, then remove to finish cooling on a wire rack.
Notes
Suggested Add-ins
Fold one or more of these delicious optional ingredients into your batter before you bake.- semi-sweet or white chocolate chips
- chopped walnuts or pecans
- raisins or dried cranberries
Nutrition
Other Fall Baking Recipes you may like:
- Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread : Skillet Recipe
- Cranberry Walnut Pumpkin Cookies Recipe
- Cranberry Apple Oatmeal Bread Recipe
- Walnut Meyer Lemon Bundt Cake
- Baked Maple Donuts Recipe with Maple Glaze
Ñor says
Hi: Thanks for the recipe. II would like to replace the flour for gluten free oatmeal flour. What would be the exact amount of flour? Thanks again,
Robin Gagnon says
I haven't made this recipe with that flour, but if I were to I would try bumping it up to 2 cups of oat flour.
Kara says
Thanks for the easy to make recipe. I made 1 loaf with chocolate chips and the other with extra cinnamon. They were moist and delicious. Next time I'll try swapping in some whole wheat flour to make it more healthy.
Pete says
I was concerned this bread recipe would come out dry since it doesn't have oil in it, but it was moist and delicious. I adjusted the spices by adding extra cinnamon, nutmeg and ginge. Amazing we couldn't eat it fast enough.