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!
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
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:
- Cool completely, then wrap in plastic wrap or foil.
- Seal in a gallon-size freezer bag (removing as much air as possible).
- 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.
1-Bowl Pumpkin (Or Sweet Potato!) Bread
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!
Based on Grandma’s Healthier 1-Bowl Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups flour, (all-purpose, whole wheat, or spelt)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup leftover pumpkin or sweet potato, cooked, peeled, and mashed, (or butternut squash)
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup oil or melted butter
- 1/2 cup honey or maple syrup, (or 1 cup sugar)
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon, (or pumpkin spice)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
- Add the wet ingredients to the bowl and stir well.
- Pour batter into a greased loaf pan.
- Bake for 1 hour, until a toothpick or knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Allow to cool thoroughly before serving (trust me - it tastes even better). Tastes even better with a slather of butter!
Notes
Variations:
- This recipe doubles and triples easily.
- If you don't have a loaf pan, use a cake pan or muffin tins and decrease cooking time (muffins 15 minutes, cake 25 minutes). Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- If you don't have quite enough squash, applesauce or mashed banana makes a great substitute.
- Dairy-free: Use coconut oil, palm shortening, or your favorite oil in place of the butter.
- Egg-free: Use 2 flax eggs in place of the eggs.
- Vegan: Combine the 2 variations above.
- Save Money: Try substituting half of the butter with applesauce. If you use coconut oil or other expensive oils, this is a great way to save a little money!
To Freeze:
- Cool completely, then wrap in plastic wrap or foil.
- Seal in a gallon-size freezer bag (removing as much air as possible).
- Label the bag with the name and date, then store it in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Recommended Products
Some of these links are affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
Nutrition Information
Yield 8 Serving Size 1 sliceAmount Per Serving Calories 332Total Fat 17gSaturated Fat 2gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 14gCholesterol 50mgSodium 262mgCarbohydrates 42gFiber 1gSugar 20gProtein 5g
Please note: The actual calories and nutrition of this dish will change depending on what ingredients you use. Nutrition information is not always accurate.
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.
What You Can Do Now:
What’s your favorite kind of quick bread?
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I’m with you – I hate to let food go to waste, but especially a yummy sweet potato or squash! Fortunately these are two of the very few veggies my toddler will generally eat, so they usually get put to good use around here! Pinning this to try soon!
One bowl?! Sounds so good!!
This is a great way to use up leftover sweet potatoes!
This looks absolutely delicious! I have to try this and I can’t wait for my kitchen to smell like this bread! Yummy!
No food waste should be acceptable, and it starts with our household so welcome sweet potato bread. Sounds delicious and would be a perfect companion for a soup made with whatever vegetable are left in the fridge.
Ever tried it with nongrain flour?
I have not yet. Almond and coconut flour are both so different, it would require changes to the other ingredients in the recipe. Let me know if you try it!
I want to try this bread ASAP. One interesting thing I read last fall was that canned pumpkin is not really pumpkin it’s winter squash. That doesn’t bother me other than if it’s winter squash why can’t they call it winter squash.
Haha, right? I always use winter squash to make our pumpkin pies for that very reason!
This is probably the simplest pumpkin bread recipe I have found. I doubled mine and used 1 can of pumpkin and I used canola oil and honey too. I didn’t used my stand mixer-just a couple of bowls and a whisk. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Bethany! Thank you for your kind words. I’m so glad you liked the recipe!
Can I sub zucchini for pumpkin? Thanks!
This bread sounds delicious! I will definitely be giving it a try this weekend! Thanks!