This Homemade Autumn Bread is an ultra moist fall treat (without pumpkin) that’s a combination of zucchini bread, banana bread and carrot cake! This bread is truly a treat to eat!
Why You’ll Love This Homemade Autumn Bread Recipe
- Easy To Make! This is an easy quick bread style recipe that is prepped quickly and easy to bake in loaf pans. It’s a great way to use up any summer zucchini you may have around or simply a great fall recipe that is like zucchini bread, carrot cake and banana bread all in one soft, cinnamon-y loaf.
- Make Two Loaves! Nothing better than a recipe that makes one for now and one for later! You can easily freeze the extra loaf, or gift it to your best fall-loving friend. Or certainly it’s a great recipe to make for tailgating and to feed a crowd!
- No Pumpkin! I do love a pumpkin recipe in the fall, but this is a great alternative for those (like my husband) who claim “they don’t like pumpkin”. It’s just an easy alternative that still brings all the fall feels without any pumpkin spice!
What You Need / Ingredients
This is a quick list of the notable ingredients for the bread, but for the full list make sure to scroll to the bottom of the post to the recipe card!
- Granulated Sugar. You’ll notice that there are 2 cups of sugar in this recipe. I know this might seem like a lot, but remember this makes 2 loaves, so it’s essentially a cup per loaf. You can also half this recipe easily if preferred.
- Canola Oil. I recommend using a light oil in this recipe like canola or vegetable oil because it will produce a moist, tender crumb without being too dense. You might want to use butter in its place, which will work, but note that butter contains 16-17% water which will ultimately make your bread dense and possibly gummy. The added carrots and zucchini both contain water, so you want to try and avoid adding any additional moisture.
- Eggs. I always use large sized eggs in my baking recipes unless otherwise noted.
- Cinnamon, Salt, and Vanilla. These really add a depth of flavor to the recipe!
- Baking Powder and Baking Soda. You will use a combination of both of these leavening agents to produce the perfect texture.
More Autumn Bread Ingredients
- Flours. You will be using a combination of both whole wheat flour and all purpose flour in this recipe for a few reasons. Whole wheat flour adds a nutty flavor while absorbing more moisture than all purpose. I try and avoid using all whole wheat flour in this recipe because it will result in a drier, more crumbly texture. The combination of the two is perfect!
- Zucchini, Carrots, and Banana! These three ingredients are what makes this recipe special! Of course use the ripest banana you have. Also don’t use pre-grated carrots, those are thick, too big, and just too much fort his recipe. Grate your own along with the zucchini.
- Nuts. I love to add walnuts into my quick bread recipes. You can also use pecans as well, or omit them entirely!
Tips When Baking This Quick Bread
- Eyeball filling the pans with the batter! This recipe makes enough for 2 loaves, so simply divide the batter equally. You don’t need to measure it, just divide between 2, 9×5- inch loaf pans.
- No Mixer! Which makes it approachable with less to clean at the end!
3. When Baking: Bake it until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. As always with cakes if you notice the top getting too dark during the baking process and the center is still raw, simply tent a piece of aluminum foil loosely over the top which will slow down the browning.
4. Parchment paper! Using parchment paper helps is a few ways. First it prevents sticking, second, lining the bottom and up the ends of the pan with a long strip of parchment makes it easy to lift the baked bread from the pan.
5. Allow the bread to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes or so and then lift out the bread onto a wire rack to cool completely before storing.
6. Add a little butter onto the sliced bread. Try it, it’s amazing! Add a drizzle of honey if you really want to go there!
How To Store Autumn Bread
You can store this bread airtight at room temperature for up to 3 days. You can also freeze this airtight for up to 2 months for best freshness. Thaw at room temperature.
More Fall Baking Recipes To Try
- Pecan Pie. My recipe is an absolute classic, tried and true! You’ll love it!
- Apple Strudel. This is a 5 star recipe that you will love and is great for beginners!
- Pumpkin Dump Cake. This recipe is one of my oldest, most viral recipes. It’s absolutely delicious and I have never met a single person whoo doesn’t go crazy for it!
Homemade Autumn Bread
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 16 servings 1x
- Category: Bread
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Dessert
Description
This Homemade Autumn Bread is an ultra moist fall treat that’s a combination of zucchini bread, banana bread and carrot cake! This bread is truly a treat to eat!
Ingredients
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup canola oil
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 cup grated zucchini
- 1/2 cup grated carrot
- 1/2 cup mashed banana
- 3/4 cup walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Coat 2, 9×5 loaf pans with nonstick spay. Cut 2 strips of parchment paper to fit the bottoms and up the short sides of the pans, allowing the parchment to hang over the ends, for easy removal. Spray the pans again. Set aside.
- In a large bowl stir together the sugar, oil, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, and baking powder until smooth.
- Next stir in both flours until just combined. Finally stir in the zucchini, carrots, banana, and walnuts until combined.
- Divide the batter between the 2 pans.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Allow to cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes and then using the parchment paper lift out of the pans to cool completely.
- Serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
Wrap cooled bread tightly in foil or Cling Wrap and store at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 358
- Sugar: 26 g
- Sodium: 241.2 mg
- Fat: 18.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 45 g
- Protein: 4.8 g
- Cholesterol: 34.9 mg
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Does the banana flavor over power the bread? Can you taste the zucchini or carrots. I like banana bread but if that is all I taste why add the other vegetables?
IT’s kind of the perfect combo of all of them. You can’t really taste the zucchini…a lot like you can’t taste the zucchini so much in actual Zucchini bread 🙂
This is a great recipe that I make all the time. My parents and sister love it, so I make it and freeze it until I see them. I wrap it tightly in foil and then in a zip-loc bag (keep the loaf whole which will keep it fresher).
I sometimes sub the banana for applesauce (equal parts, so half a cup). The other day I was out of carrots so I used an extra half cup of zucchini and it was still perfect. I find it to be a little over done if I bake it at 375 for the whole time, so I do 25 minutes at 375 and 25 at 350.
Great recipe!!
I checked the other comments and didn’t see this asked – can this bread be frozen OK for thaw and toast later? Or does the water content make it compromisable? Any info you have would be greatly appreciated.
It can absolutely be frozen!
Amazing! This will be my kind of bread and the to-go for !! Just curious is it possible to subs egg will something else like flax egg or apple sauce etc without having a dense outcome? Also will using whole wheat flour entirely be ok with this recipe? TIA
You can sub in 1/4 cup of applesauce for each egg!
Looks delicious, what can I use in place of eggs?
use 1/4 cup applesauce for every egg 🙂
Can butter be substituted for canola oil? Or anything else other than canola oil?
You can yes, but it will change the texture a bit, making it slightly denser!
Ohhhh my gosh! I have made this bread twice in the last week and each time it disappeared in 2 days! I made it with and without walnuts and we all agreed that the walnuts added a little something extra! I used a little extra cinnamon but other than that followed the recipe. It is sooooo good!!!! I will be making it again in a few days! Such a hit!
So glad you liked it!!!
The loaves had a nice flavour but did not rise well and very crunchy crusts.
Very inventive! How many eggs do you use if you halve the recipe?
I would use two 🙂
Thank you for this recipe! It was amazing. I teacher at cooking at Waldorf High School and all the kids loved it last year. This year the faculty requested it again.
Why 2 kinds of flour
I like the flavor the whole wheat flour brings. You can certainly use all all purpose if that’s all you have. The whole wheat flour gives it a slightly nutty flavor 🙂
Delicious! I changed a few things and it turned out so good! I used 1/2 c of turbinado sugar instead of 2 c o granulated, 3/4 c coconut oil and 1/2 c applesauce instead of the canola oil and 3 c ap flour instead. Everything else I kept the same.