It’s been a little while since I’ve shared a new quick bread recipe with you and WOW I couldn’t be more excited to give you this one.
I took a few of my favorite seasonal ingredients: butternut squash, brown butter, crunchy walnuts, and tons of cozy spices, and baked them right into the most magical loaf. This maple walnut butternut squash bread is deliciously moist and sweet thanks to a whole cup of roasted butternut squash and has the perfect cinnamon walnut streusel that takes it to the next level.
It might sound odd to add butternut squash to baked goods, but it acts just like good old pumpkin puree! Roasting the squash makes it nice and tender, which adds both moisture and sweetness to the bread itself. Plus, you’ll get a boost of vitamin A and fiber in each slice.
Serve it warm with a pat of butter over the holidays or any time you’re looking for a really good brunch treat!
Everything you’ll need to make this butternut squash bread
If you’ve never baked with butternut squash you are in for a serious treat. Roasted squash adds the perfect cozy flavor and moisture to this bread and pairs perfectly with the spices, brown butter, and streusel topping! Here’s what you’ll need to make it:
- Butternut squash: the star of the show! You’ll roast the squash with olive oil (or butter), brown sugar (or coconut sugar), and cinnamon to bring out its natural sweetness. You’ll then scoop out the flesh and blend it to make butternut squash puree to use in the bread!
- Butter: we’re browning some butter to give the loaf moisture and incredible caramel-like flavor. You’ll also need some butter for the streusel topping.
- Maple syrup: this bread is naturally sweetened with pure maple syrup (along with the squash!)
- Eggs: you’ll need 2 eggs in this butternut squash bread.
- Yogurt: some whole milk plain Greek yogurt adds additional moisture for the perfect texture.
- Flour: we’re using a mix of all-purpose flour and oat flour in this recipe. You can also use white whole wheat flour in place of the all purpose flour.
- Spices: here’s where things get extra cozy — we’re adding cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger, allspice, and a little salt for the perfect warming flavors.
- Baking staples: don’t forget the vanilla extract (learn how to make your own here!), baking powder, AND baking soda.
- Mix-ins: I love adding chopped walnuts to the batter for a little crunch.
- For the streusel: you’ll mix together more flour, chopped walnut pieces, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, and a little melted butter to make the perfect streusel topping.
Make your own oat flour
You can easily make your own oat flour right at home by blending up rolled oats! Get my full tutorial here.
How to brown butter
Brown butter really takes the flavor of this butternut squash bread to the next level. Learn exactly how to brown butter with our tutorial here.
A note on substitutions
As always, I recommend making the butternut squash bread recipe exactly as written so that it turns out perfectly. There are a few ingredient swaps that will work, but remember to always sub at your own risk!
- To make gluten-free: you can use a 1:1 gluten free all purpose flour.
- To make dairy free: I recommended using Miyokos vegan butter and skipping the browning butter part of the recipe. Use your favorite dairy free yogurt in place of regular yogurt.
- Can I make it vegan? I haven’t tested this bread out using flax eggs in place of the regular eggs, so I can’t be 100% sure. Let me know in the comments if you do, and remember to use the dairy free swaps as well.
Out of butternut squash?
Feel free to use pumpkin puree or sweet potato puree instead! Remember to measure out 1 heaping cup of puree. Learn how to make pumpkin puree here!
Tips for making perfect butternut squash bread
- Follow the recipe. The best way to ensure the success of this easy butternut squash bread is to follow the recipe and use the exact ingredients as written (unless I note specific substitutes).
- Make sure your ingredients are at room temperature. If your eggs are too cold and/or your brown butter is too hot, you risk coagulation. Be sure to let your brown butter cool completely. To bring your eggs to room temp, simply place them in a bowl of warm water for 3-5 minutes before you use them.
- Do not overmix the batter. If you overmix batter you’ll end up with a bread that’s more dense and gummy instead of fluffy and soft.
- Use fresh baking soda. If your baking soda is older than 3 months, I suggest grabbing a new one for best baking results.
- Line your loaf pan. I recommend lining your loaf pan with parchment paper AND spraying it with nonstick cooking spray so that your bread comes out easily.
How to make butternut squash bread into muffins
Yes, this maple butternut squash bread can be made into muffins! Here’s how to do it:
- Divide the butternut squash bread batter evenly between 12 greased muffin cups.
- Top each muffin with the streusel topping.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until a tester comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Easy!
You could also try my amazing Chai-Spiced Butternut Squash Muffins with Salted Honey Glaze.
How to store & freeze butternut squash bread
- To store: this bread will last for a few days on the counter, but after that, I suggest wrapping it up and keeping it in the fridge.
- To freeze: let the butternut squash bread completely cool and wrap it tightly with aluminum foil. Then, place it in a freezer-friendly bag and pop it into the freezer. Bread will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months.
More bread recipes you’ll love
- Healthy Pumpkin Bread with Maple Glaze
- Orange Gingerbread Swirl Loaf
- Peanut Butter Lover’s Banana Bread
- Pistachio Poppy Seed Orange Yogurt Bread
- Coconut Double Chocolate Pumpkin Bread
Get all of my bread recipes here!
I hope you love this maple walnut butternut squash bread! If you make it be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked it. Enjoy, xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Maple Walnut Butternut Squash Bread with Cinnamon Walnut Streusel
Ingredients
- For the butternut squash:
- 1 small to medium butternut squash
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil or melted butter
- 1 tablespoon packed brown sugar or coconut sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- Wet ingredients:
- ½ cup salted butter
- ½ cup pure maple syrup
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- ¼ cup whole milk plain greek yogurt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Dry ingredients:
- 1 cup all purpose flour or white whole wheat flour
- ¾ cup oat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon allspice
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- Mix-ins:
- ⅓ cup chopped walnuts
- For the streusel:
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- ¼ cup chopped walnut pieces
- ¼ cup packed dark brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons salted butter, melted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Prep the butternut squash: Use a sharp knife to cut off both ends of the butternut squash. You’ll cut about ½ inch off each end so that there is no stem or root. You’ll be left with butternut squash that is flat on both sides so that it’s easier to prop up. Next, place the butternut squash upright or vertically with the larger side down on a wooden cutting board that’s very secured to your counter. Because you’ve cut the ends off of the squash, it should be nice and stable. We don’t want the cutting board or squash to wobble as you cut it. Cut the butternut squash vertically down the middle with a sharp chef’s knife. You’ll then use a spoon to scoop out the seed of the cut butternut squash. Set aside to roast for later or discard them.
- Roast the squash: Place the squash on the prepared baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil then sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar and rub into the squash. Flip the squash over so that it’s skin side up and roast for 45 minutes to 1 hour until squash is very fork tender. Allow squash to cool for at least 10 minutes before handling.
- Reduce temperature in the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 8 ½ x 4 ½ inch loaf pan with parchment paper and grease with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
- Make your streusel topping while squash cooks or while it is cooling: In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, walnuts, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Add in the melted butter and stir together with a fork until it begins to form into crumbles and resembles clumps of wet sand. You may need to use your hands/fingers to form into nice thick ‘crumbs’. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge until ready to use.
- Brown your butter: Place a medium pan over medium heat and add in ½ cup butter. The butter will begin to melt, crackle, and then eventually foam. Make sure you stir constantly during this process. After about 5 minutes, the butter will begin to brown and turn a nice golden amber color on the bottom of the saucepan, this usually happens right when it foams. Continue to whisk and remove from heat as soon as the butter begins to brown and give off a nutty aroma. Set aside until cool enough to touch, about 5 to 10 minutes.
- Mix wet ingredients: Scoop about half of the cooled roasted butternut squash out onto a plate or into a large bowl and mash it with a fork (reserve the other half of squash for enjoying or freeze in an ice cream tray and mix into smoothies later!) This should measure about 1 heaping cup mashed butternut squash. In the same bowl with the mashed butternut squash, add the pure maple syrup, eggs, yogurt and vanilla extract. Whisk together until smooth and well combined.
- Add in the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients: flour, oat flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice and salt. Mix until just combined, then add in the cooled brown butter and stir again until butter is well-incorporated into the batter. Finally, gently fold the walnuts into the batter.
- Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top. Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the top of the batter.
- Bake the bread for 50-65 minutes or until the tester comes out clean. Allow bread to cool for at least an hour before removing from the pan and slicing into. I love serving this with honey butter or butter & sea salt.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
About how many cups of squash is needed for this recipe ? I have cans of butternut squash puree in my pantry.
About 1 1/2 cups!
Made this last night. Used a little more cinnamon and less ginger and nutmeg. It was fantastic. I could not stop eating it!
Perfect! Glad you loved it!
This was delicious! I had a medium squash and doubled the recipe. I substituted old fashioned oats for the nuts in the crumble and omitting all the nuts in the batter to keep it nut free. I just used all purpose flour instead of the oat flour. Turned out great! brought into work and to was gone in a hour!
I’m glad those swaps worked out well! Perfect snack or treat for the fall 🙂
This was insanely good. I had to hide it from my boyfriend because I wasn’t willing to share more than 1 piece.
Haha I know the feeling! Glad you both loved it!
I made this using honey nut squash and it was so delicious! I am so excited to have the leftover squash as an excuse to make another loaf
Delicious!
I doubled the recipe to make 4 smaller loaves, however, I did not double the butter — added 1/2 c. applesauce in place of the extra butter. I also did not double the maple syrup — I added 1/2 c. Splenda to get mixture sweet enough without extra sugar. I did not double the salt. I roasted the squash with olive oil but not sugar or cinnamon but added some extra cinnamon into batter. For the streusel I used the ingredient amounts as stated — it was enough for my 4 smaller loaves. A lot of it fell off when I took loaves out of pans. Maybe I’ll put it between batter layers next time. I baked my smaller loaves 40 – 45 min @ 375 degrees as I was using glass pans. The loaves are dense, tasty and nutritious. We use it as breakfast.
I’m glad those swaps worked out well!
Can you please tell me approximately how many ounces or cups of cooked squash you used?? Thank you!!!
Hi! In step 7 you’ll see that you’ll need 1 heaping cup of mashed butternut squash.
So delicious! I made this into muffins and subbed 1 egg replacer and 1/4 applesauce for the eggs (egg allergy house) and still turned out great!
I’m glad those swaps worked out well! Such a great breakfast or snack 🙂
This is delicious! I made it with pumpkin puree instead of butternut squash and swapped the walnuts for pecans just because that’s what I had. I also used goat cheese yogurt. Delicious, filling, perfect texture. I will be making it again!
Amazing! So glad you enjoyed!
Cant wait to make this soon for me i never had maple butternut squash bread with cinnamon walnut streusel before perfect for my after office snacks love your recipes as always brightens up my day everyday after work
Amazing! Hope you give this one a try!