A 1-bowl affair you can make with any leftover orange squash (sweet potato, pumpkin, or butternut!). Healthy enough for breakfast and sweet enough for dessert! Only 5-10 minutes to get into the oven.

If you like quick breads, you might like our other simple real food dessert recipes!

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Cold weather is one of my favorite times to get creative while eating vegetables. During the summer, we load up on fresh salads and simple smoothies (the cheap way). But winter is for settling in, roasting something, adding veggies to soup, and baking.

Because we like to eat lots of plants and vegetables throughout the year, we slip them into everything – a few extra carrots in potato soup (turns it a creamy golden color!), and frozen shredded squash into baked oatmeal (no one will guess).

This Easy, 1-Bowl Sweet Potato Bread Recipe is:

• Healthy
• Whole food
• Egg-free variation
• Dairy-free variation
• Versatile (you can use a variety of squashes as substitutes)
• Make ahead
• Freezer friendly

Sweet potatoes, pumpkin, and butternut squash are my favorite. They are budget-friendly, and adding them to anything instantly makes it more seasonal and festive:

• Spaghetti sauce turns into pumpkin marinara.
• Oatmeal turns into pumpkin spice oatmeal.
• Banana bread turns into pumpkin bread.

Literally, that’s what we did here. We took our favorite healthier banana bread recipe – made with whole grains, healthy fats, and natural sweetener – and substituted the banana for mashed sweet potato. It is perfect, simple, and takes 5-10 minutes to get in the oven.

Whole Grain Pumpkin Bread Recipe

Pumpkin bread is incredibly popular, but did you know that most canned pumpkin isn’t even pumpkin? It’s made of other kinds of orange winter squash.

Butternut squash is one of my favorite pumpkin substitutes – so is sweet potato. Both of these are inexpensive and easy to find where I live. I use them interchangeably in most recipes that call for pumpkin.

Healthy Pumpkin Bread

This pumpkin bread recipe uses whole grains, healthy fats, and natural sweetener.

Whole Grain Flour:

I use whole wheat, spelt flour, sprouted flour, and plain white flour in the recipe. You can also use a combination if you’re afraid the whole wheat will make it too crumbly. However, we never have that problem with this recipe!

Dairy-Free Variation:

If you are dairy-free, substitute the butter for coconut oil, avocado oil, or your favorite butter substitute. You can also replace up to half of the oil with applesauce.

Egg-Free Variation:

If you are egg-free, make a quick flax or chia egg (instructions in this recipe!). This works really well.

Even though we aren’t egg-free, we do this regularly in order to save money on expensive organic eggs.

Muffins & Cake Variation

Pour the batter into muffin tins or a greased cake pan for a simple variation! Bake for 15 minutes for muffins and 25 minutes for cake, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Budget-Friendly Tips

In order to save the most money on this recipe, you can use white flour and sugar! Then use the half applesauce trick and flax-egg substitute.

Make-Ahead Version

Double or triple the recipe and freeze the extra loaves for another day. We use this pumpkin bread for breakfasts and a dish to pass for gatherings.

To Freeze:

1. Cool completely, then wrap in plastic wrap or foil.
2. Seal in a gallon-size freezer bag (removing as much air as possible).
3. Label the bag with the name and date, then store it in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Easy Leftover Pumpkin Recipe

So let’s talk about the lonely sweet potato or cup of pumpkin or squash that doesn’t get eaten. I don’t play like that. Those are good, healthy foods, and I’ll be going-to-the-bad-place before I let rotting squash and sweet potato become the norm in my house.

I make this bread when we have leftover pumpkin from making pie for Thanksgiving or Christmas. I also use it with leftover deeply flavorful baked sweet potatoes.

If you like to watch a recipe being made first, I demonstrated it on Facebook Live. Watch the replay above! I included egg-free and dairy-free tips, and a money-saving tip that wasn’t included in the original recipe!

If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and tag a photo #cheapskatecook and @cheapskatecook on Instagram.

Please note: The actual calories and nutrition of this dish depend on what ingredients you use.

More Easy Bread Recipes:

• Grandma’s Healthier, 1-Bowl Banana Bread
• The Easiest Bread You Will Ever Bake
• Garlicky Pizza Crust for 70 Cents

More Ways to Use Leftovers:

• Easy Frittata
• Macaroni & Cheese 4 Ways
• Chocolate “Juicing” Muffins
• The Easy Way to Freeze Fresh Tomatoes
• How to Make Cheap Smoothies (or How to save fruits and vegetables for smoothies)

Simple Sweet Potato Bread. It’s an easy, 1-bowl number that takes 5-10 minutes to get into the oven. You can use white flour and white sugar, or whole wheat and maple syrup. The point is it’s easy, inexpensive, and perfect for fall – the season when we end up with random leftover squash in our fridge.