Summer Squash Lemon Poppyseed Bread

Everyone always talks about having an abundance of zucchini but no one ever talks about summer squash. We usually end up with an abundance of both. I do love a good batch of grilled zucchini and summer squash but that gets old. I also love zucchini muffins and bread – so classic! What in the world can we bake with summer squash? Well, I finally found the answer. This year we had a particularly large imbalance of summer squash and zucchini. For every zucchini we got we had 2-3 summer squash! My counter was piling up and it was time to do something. Enter, summer squash lemon poppyseed bread! 

What is Summer Squash?

If you’re reading this and wondering what summer squash is- it’s yellow! Those little yellow squashes that are usually smooth and may have a crookneck. I planted 3 of the same seeds this year and they produced two kinds of squash- how odd! One variety was smooth and had no crook neck. The other was bumpy and had a curved neck. Either will work for this application. In fact, those ones with the bumps and curved necks generally have more seeds and don’t taste very good grilled or baked. This summer squash lemon poppyseed bread is one of the very best ways to use those up. I promise you won’t even taste that squash! 

Ingredients

1 cup melted butter (or oil)

1 ¼ cup sugar

¼ cup lemon juice (or juice from 2 lemons)

1 tsp almond extract

½ tsp vanilla extract

3 large eggs

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp baking powder

3 cups all purpose flour

2 cups grated summer squash (~one squash)

1 Tbsp poppy seeds

Directions

• Preheat oven to 325 and grease 2 loaf pans.
• Cream together melted butter, sugar, lemon juice and zest, almond flavor and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl.
• Add the eggs one at a time, allowing each egg to fully incorporate into the mixture before adding another.
• Add salt, baking soda, and baking powder to the mixture. Mix well.
• 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.

Tips & Tricks

Use your food processor! The first time my mom made this she grated the summer squash by hand even though she had a perfectly good food processor to use. I’m always looking for ways to save time & energy (aren’t we all). It makes more dishes using the food processor but it’s so quick and easy that it makes it worth it. My husband always tells me I should be using the dishwasher anyways so dishes shouldn’t matter. Even if you are washing by hand I still think the time and effort is saved by using the food processor. 

You may be able to use less sugar. I’ve played with sugar in this quite a bit and I still think that it is plenty sweet with the 1 ¼ cup of sugar that’s in it. Essentially that’s just less than ¾ cup of sugar per loaf, which is pretty darn good. The lemon juice and summer squash paired with this gives it some sweetness and flavor too so more sugar just seems overpowering to me. You can add more if you want it sweeter though.

Make these into muffins! They are just as good but don’t take as long to bake. Only bake these for 30-45 minutes. They’re easier to eat and they taste incredible. 

You can freeze them! Whether you are making loaves or muffins you can freeze them for later. This helps to preserve some of that wonderful summer goodness for later. The bright yellow is sure to bring some light to your day during those long winter nights. I put my loaves in parchment paper and then put it inside of a gallon ziplock bag. I can usually fit two loaves per bag and once they are frozen I can even stack them to save some room in the freezer. If I’m freezing muffins I bake them in silicone baking cups so they are easily popped out and put into a freezer bag. They will keep for about 6-8 months. Honestly, they’ll probably keep longer but they are so delicious I’m sure they won’t even last that long. 

In Summary: Summer Squash Lemon Poppyseed Bread

This bread has been a hit no matter where I’ve taken it. I’ve gotten the rest of my family hooked on it too! Honestly, I’ve been trying to use some poppyseeds in recipes for years so I was so happy that this one worked out. I’m thinking the next thing I do is try to turn these into pancakes somehow because…yum! If you’ve been around you’ll know I’m always trying to squeeze in extra veggies for every meal so that seems like an awesome way to get them into breakfast. If I figure it out I will be sure to share. 

Until then, I want to hear about your favorite breakfast food! Let us know what you love in the comments. If I had to say my favorite is a chocolate chip waffle with some peanut butter slathered on top. I made these for my brother years ago and now it’s our special treat that we both really love. Not only is it delicious but it reminds me of him too, which is even better.

Summer Squash Lemon Poppyseed Bread

A delicious sweet bread.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Course Snack

Cuisine American

Ingredients

  

• 1 cup melted butter can also use any type of oil here
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups grated summer squash approx. 1 squash
• 1 Tbsp poppyseeds

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 325 and grease 2 loaf pans.
• Cream together melted butter, sugar, lemon juice and zest, almond flavor and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl.
• Add the eggs one at a time, allowing each egg to fully incorporate into the mixture before adding another.
• Add salt, baking soda, and baking powder to the mixture. Mix well.
• 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 loaf comes out clean.

Keyword Bread