This delicious Lemon Poppy Seed Summer Squash Bread is the best way to use up all those giant yellow squash in the garden!
Summer squash bread sounds kind of weird, doesn’t it?
I grew a garden for the first time this year, and like a total amateur I planted way too many squash and zucchini seeds and when I ended up with THREE plants of each, I didn’t have the heart to thin them back.
Those of you who have grown summer squash and zucchini understand how ridiculous that is. I’m swimming in vegetables over here and quickly running out of ways to use them. I need more yellow squash recipes!
Since I essentially create recipes for a living, you would think I’d be the perfect person to deal with a huge basket of produce harvested from my garden each morning. Unfortunately, that just isn’t the case.
See, I plan out (most of) my recipes and posts weeks in advance, and I also work on a freelance basis to create recipes for other companies. Regardless of the time of year, or what I have lying around the kitchen, sometimes I’m just too busy working on specific recipes to make use of what’s in front of me.
Last week I came home from a camping trip and found about 10 gigantic yellow squash and zucchini out in the garden, each one roughly the size of a football. These extra-large varieties typically have a firmer texture and larger seeds than the more appropriately-sized specimens sold at the grocery store, so just about the only thing I could think to do was to turn them into yellow squash bread.
Zucchini bread is a given, but what to do with the squash? Uhhhh… how about Lemon Poppy Seed Summer Squash Bread?!
Years ago when I acquired my first stand mixer, I also got the slicer/shredder attachment.
As far as attachments go, it might be the most basic of them all, but it’s one of my very favorites. It’s cheap, effective, easy to clean, and easy to store.
In 10 minutes, I had enough shredded squash and zucchini to bake close to 50 loaves of quick bread. I kept the squash and zucchini separate, and froze it all in 2-cup portions for future use.
This summer lemon squash bread recipe is so darn good, I think it qualifies as a dessert rather than a quick bread. I thought about covering it with icing, but honestly it doesn’t need it. It doesn’t even need to be slathered in butter, which is my natural instinct for zucchini bread.
Go grab those huge squash out of your garden and get ready for a treat!
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How to Make Squash Bread
Assemble your ingredients. For exact amounts please see recipe card below.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease or line two loaf pans; set aside.
Place the melted butter, sugar, lemon juice and zest, almond flavor and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl. Cream together until fluffy and light in color, about 1 to 2 minutes.
Add the eggs one at a time, allowing each egg to fully incorporate into the mixture before adding another.
Evenly sprinkle the salt, baking soda, and baking powder over the top of the mixture. Mix well.
Working in batches, add the flour a ½ cup at a time; mix in entirely between additions. Fold in the squash and poppy seeds. Divide the batter between the prepared loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean.
Serve and enjoy!
Drinks to Pair with this Lemon Summer Squash Bread
This recipe definitely makes me want to sit on a porch with a slice of this bread and a delicious drink to pair it with. Here are the ones I would recommend:
Raspberry and Honeydew Agua Fresca – The perfect Summer Bread with the Perfect Summer Drink!
Boozy Iced Coffee – Perfect to pair for that Summertime afternoon when you need a little bit of caffeine and fun added to the day.
Mango Lassi – A smooth and creamy fruit drink on a warm summer day, need I say more?
Here’s the Recipe!
Lemon Poppy Seed Summer Squash Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup melted unsalted butter
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- Juice and zest of 2 small lemons
- 1 teaspoon almond flavor
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups grated summer squash
- 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease or line two loaf pans; set aside.
- Place the melted butter, sugar, lemon juice and zest, almond flavor and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl. Cream together until fluffy and light in color, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add the eggs one at a time, allowing each egg to fully incorporate into the mixture before adding another.
- Evenly sprinkle the salt, baking soda, and baking powder over the top of the mixture. Mix well.
- Working in batches, add the flour a ½ cup at a time; mix in entirely between additions. Fold in the squash and poppy seeds. Divide the batter between the prepared loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean.
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NOTES
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My 92 year-old Mom has been making this bread/cake for a couple years now and everyone that tries it – loves it! However with the last two batches the bread has fallen and large chunks remain in the loaf pan after inverting. Mom isn’t doing anything different with the recipe, any idea what may be causing the problem?
PS even the crumb chunks left in the pan taste great.
Hi Kevin,
I’m not sure, but if by “fallen” you mean the bread collapses in the middle after baking, then here is one possibility. This excerpt comes from here: https://thebreadguide.com/why-does-my-bread-collapse-or-flatten/
Bread collapsing or flattening after the bake?
While this is not common in bread but mostly in cakes, there are some occasions where this can happen.
Most commonly I see that people ask about the bread flatting and when I look at what kind of bread they make it mostly always points to bread that resembles cake batters. This can also happen in high hydration doughs as well.
I categorize bread by the leavening agents. If your bread uses baking powder or/and baking soda than I would consider that more of a batter almost cake-like ( without eggs or sugar).
For “Batter Dough” the most common mistake is overmixing. This overmixing will usually cause a collapse in the middle of your loaf.
The leavening agents used ( baking soda, baking powder or a mixture of both ) need a liquid in order to release their gasses.
If you create a strong gluten mesh, in this case, it will only hinder the development of these gasses. Mix your ingredients until they combine rather than trying to make your batter smooth.
So, if this is the culprit, try less mixing and let us know how it goes.
– Linda
Hi there! My garden has been producing large yellow squash at an alarming rate and I’m really excited to give this recipe a try! Did your squash have thick skins after growing so large? I’m wondering whether or not to peel them before shredding.
Hi Elaina,
No need to peel the skins.
– Linda
I made this twice and used coconut oil instead of the butter.Also only used 11/2 cups sugar instead of 2 cups. Added 1 cup of blueberries! . Was sooo good! Everyone loved it!
Hi Mary,
Your addition of blueberries sounds so good! Thanks for sharing your changes.
– Linda
Hi. Although this recipe sounds terrific I have a family member who is allergic to nuts and nut products so I can’t use the almond flavoring. Can it be omitted without changing the flavor much?
Hi Roxanne,
Yes, leave out the almond flavoring, but double the vanilla extract and use 1 teaspoon of vanilla instead of 1/2 teaspoon.
– Linda
Just an FYI for anyone that might not know this recipe uses full sized 9.25×5.25 loaf pans. I used disposable 8×4 and the pan overflowed. Luckily I had a cookie sheet under them.
This turned out great and the whole family loved it. I used twice as much squash as called for because I just had a lot of squash to use (keeping all other ingredients the same), and it worked fine. Just mentioning in case that’s helpful to anyone else. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Erika,
Thanks for loving the recipe and for sharing your changes.
– Linda
Today is the 4th time making this bread. My grandchildren and great grandchildren eat it every time they come here. Everyone loves it.
Thank you for posting the recipe
Hi Marg,
Thanks for sharing. I love that this is a “kid approved” recipe!
– Linda
I only have one loaf pan. Would you recommend cutting the recipe in half or putting half the batter in the frig for the hour and about 15 minutes it’ll take to bake the first one and cool the pan?
I’m so stoked to find a baking recipe for yellow squash! Thanks!
Hi Lisa,
I would half the recipe and cook it immediately, then do the same again once the loaf pan was cooled and cleaned.
The rationale for this is that the baking powder and baking soda that help the bread rise work best when the rise happens in the oven.
If you refrigerate the batter, the texture of the bread may not be as good.
– Linda
Do you squeeze out the extra moisture from the squash or just two cups of grated and go?
Hi Heather,
Just shred and go. You don’t need to save any extra moisture from the squash, but you also don’t want to squeeze it dry or pat it dry.
– Linda
Could I make this with a mix of almond and regular flour? If so, any suggestions on a ratio of almond to regular flour? Thanks!
Hi Meagen,
It looks like this can be done, but I haven’t done it. Here is an article that should be of great help: https://www.goodforyouglutenfree.com/almond-flour-in-place-of-flour/
If you give it a go, please let us know how you did it and how it turned out.
– Linda
Mine did not rise at all…each about an inch high. Would have rather done in one loaf pan for a normal sized loaf? Anyone have ideas?
Hi Meredith,
I’m not sure what happened. Here are a couple of thoughts. It could be that your loaf pan is a larger one and it did rise, but it just had a larger area to fill. The other thought is that it could be your baking soda and / or baking powder is too old.
Here are a couple of links that might help you:
https://www.leaf.tv/articles/how-to-fix-dough-that-wont-rise/
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2014/08/04/my-bread-didnt-rise
– Linda
Squash is bountiful this year. This is delicious made it the second time today the only thing I changed was to cut the sugar in half and I added an the juice and zest of an extra lemon It freezes well. Thanks for the recipe.
Hi Sandra,
Glad you love this like I do. Thanks for sharing your changes.
– Linda