Yes, I know it is January and I’m posting about pumpkin bread, but it has been far too long since I have shared a recipe with you! Besides, pumpkin is a wonderful, immune boosting food that you can easily get in a can year round. See my pumpkin waffles/pancakes recipe if you are looking for more inspiration.
Unfortunately, we had a major setback in our constipation woes around here after a nasty little virus made it’s rounds among the kids. That got me thinking about two things: Fiber and Immunity. I wanted to serve up a bread that I knew my kids would gobble up and would help both of the issues. In light of our recent potty troubles, I will be revisiting the constipation issue again in a post soon. Also, stay tuned for an in depth post next week on how to build your child’s immune system!
UPDATE: Here are Helping Constipation Part 2 and Building Immunity.
Since I’m not a baker by trade, or by hobby for that matter, I, of course, turned to Pinterest for some inspiration and pulled together a recipe from a few others. I made some pretty big adjustments, especially to up the fiber, but was mostly inspired by the vegan version of this pumpkin recipe from Lunch Box Bunch.
I think fruit/veggie breads are a great strategy for getting nutrients into picky eaters and they are also fantastic for babies and toddlers eating their first finger foods. However, far too many times, I think they are basically glorified cakes. Not this recipe, it his healthful, fiber full, and immune boosting! Best of all, it doesn’t taste healthful, fiber full, or immune boosting. It is light and delicious. My 5 and 3 year old LOVED it and I will be sure to make it again in a few months when baby is ready. Heck, I might even make it again today because it is already gone – didn’t even last a whole day! The sweet potato, in particular, added a unique, but yummy taste.
I don’t just want to slap the “high fiber” and “immune boosting” labels on this recipe. I put a lot of thought into each ingredient and what I wanted to include to make this a power packed bread. This is what I was thinking:
High Fiber Foods:
- Oat Bran
- Whole Wheat Flour
- Pumpkin
- Sweet Potato
- Chia Seeds
- Ripe Bananas
Immune Boosting
- Olive Oil
- Sweet Potato (A vitamin A powerhouse!)
- Pumpkin
- Chia Seeds (Loaded with antioxidants!)
Life is wonderful here, but a little crazy with a 3 month old, so I didn’t get any pics of us preparing the bread. There isn’t anything tricky in this recipe though, so you should be fine! I include any appropriate substitutes in parentheses. Use any combination of the banana, sweet potato, or pumpkin, depending on what you have on hand.
Banana Sweet Potato Pumpkin Bread
High Fiber Immune Boosting Banana Sweet Potato Pumpkin Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour or oat flour regular whole wheat will be fine but will give a denser quality to the bread
- 1/2 cup oat bran
- 1 generous tbsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 generous tsp pumpkin pie spice can use combination of cinnamon and nutmeg
- 3 tsp of chia seeds soaked in 3 tsp of water for 10-15 minutes
- 1 cup milk
- 1 and 1/2 tsp of vanilla
- 1/3 cup of olive oil canola oil, vegetable oil, or applesauce
- 3/4 tsp apple cider vinegar lemon juice
- 1/2 cup maple syrup honey, brown sugar, sugar
- 1/2 cup of ripe banana* about 1 medium banana
- 1/2 cup of unsweetened canned pumpkin if pumpkin is watery add 1/4 to 1/2 cup more
- 1/2 cup of mashed cooked sweet potato** canned sweet potato
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 420 degrees.
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Mix all of your dry ingredients so they are thoroughly combined.
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Mix all of the wet ingredients together. Make sure the pumpkin, sweet potato, and banana are combined.
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Pour the wet mix into the dry and combine by folding together. Do not over mix.
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Pour into a greased bread pan and bake at 420 degrees for 20 minutes. Then turn down to 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Depending on your oven you could potentially need another 10 minutes, but check after 40 minutes with a toothpick.
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Cool for 30 minutes before removing from pan. The longer it cools the more solid the bread will become. We only waited 20 minutes and it was a bit crumbly.
Recipe Notes
*If you use a banana that still has green on it or is totally yellow, it could have a constipating effect. Only ripe banana will be helpful for elimination.
**I used a left over baked sweet potato, but you could also boil ahead of time or use canned. The small pieces of orange you can see the picture are the sweet potato. As I mentioned above you can use omit the banana and sweet potato and use all pumpkin.
I hope you enjoy this as much as we did!
More Immune Boosting Recipes
Alisha Grogan is a licensed occupational therapist and founder of Your Kid’s Table. She has over 19 years experience with expertise in sensory processing and feeding development in babies, toddlers, and children. Alisha also has 3 boys of her own at home. Learn more about her here.
The recipe sounds great. I am confused for the ingredients you listed next to each other. 1 1/2 iof whole wheat flour and oat flour each? What about the apple cider vinegar and lemon juice. Do you need both and for the honey and sugar is both or choose between
TY
It’s 1 and 1/2 cups of flour total either using whole wheat flour or oat flour. And you can use either apple cider vin or lemon juice. Also, can use a combination of honey and sugar or one or the other:)
I made this according to the written recipe which only calls for 1 1/2 cups of flour and a 1/2 cup of oat bran (not 1 1/2) and it did not come out. Pretty bummed to have to start all over.
I’m sorry that your bread didn’t turn out! The measurements in the recipe are correct though. It is 1 1/2 cups of flour and 1/2 cup of oat bran. Just double check all the other ingredients to make sure you have the right amounts in there.
A previous comment asked if it was suppose to be 1 1/2 cups of flour AND 1 1/2 cups of oat bran totaling 3 cups and you replied “yes”. But here you are telling me it is only 1 1/2 cups of flour and a HALF cup of oat bran totaling only 2 cups. This is way too confusing.
I’m so sorry for the confusion. I made an error on the previous comment. I double checked the recipe and it is only 1 1/2 cups of flour total and 1/2 cup of oat bran.
Can I just use oat flour instead of whole wheat flour? Can the pumpkin be substituted with something else? Where I live it is difficult to find pumpkin.
Hmm, not sure about the flour but I’d give it a try! Also, you can use sweet potatoes!
Hello Alisha – is that 3 cups of flour total? 1 1/2 of whole wheat and 1 1/2 of oat flour?
Thanks!
yes!
But I thought 1.5 C flour and an additional half cup bran…?
I would love to try this recipe, but my baby is 7 months and no milk is allowed.. do you have any ideas as to what I could use to replace it?
I think almond milk will work fine, but haven’t tested it myself.
I left out all the milk and made them into muffins (not that it matters) but they turned out perfect!
Didnt work for me
I have the same problem as karen
Is not cooked 🙁
Oh no, did you see my reply? Its really important that you have the vinegar or acid to activate- she was missing that.
So it is 3 cups flour total? I did only 1 1/2 Whole Wheat but didn’t notice the Oat flour…. I think that is why it isn’t done.
Yes! 3 Cups total!
Hi, can i substitute the chia seeds with something else?
Hi, can i substitute the chia seeds with something else?
Yes! You can use an egg- one should be enough, if it seems to dry try adding two.
Any ideas on sugar substitutions? Trying to avoid adding so much sugar to babies diet.
You can use honey or maple syrup. If you don’t want that at all you can use chopped dates. Or, skip it all together.
Please let people know that babies under 1 year cannot have honey in any form!!!!!!! It can lead to botulism!! Please edit your recipe to say this for any parents who may be unaware!!! Thank you!!
I made this into muffins this weekend (baked in regular size tins for about 18 minutes at 400) and I’ve enjoyed them so far! I made them for myself because I’m pregnant and commuting to work every morning and I needed a super nutritious and super portable breakfast. I subbed wheat bran because I had it on hand, and that seemed to work great. I put some muffins in the freezer to keep them fresh, and they seem to have frozen pretty well, too. Thanks for sharing this!
Oh that is awesome Heather! I’m so glad you shared that here, it will definitely be a help to other readers. Thank you!
Hi:) look forward to trying this recipe! Question though.. If I don’t have a bread pan could I put it into a regular pan and just not cook as long?
See the comment below about the muffins! As for other shapes, like an 8×8, it should work fine… you will just have to watch the time closely.
Made for my 13 month old and she loves them! I made them as mini muffins and they turned out perfect. Baked them at 400 for 15 minutes. I also left the banana out because i feel like everything I make her has banana in it. I also used applesauce instead of oil 😉 thanks for the recipe!
Perfect, thanks Nadine! I hear you about the banana- I will often skip it too!
i baked the bread for over an hour and it still isn’t cooked. Frustrated that I wasted all those yummy ingredients. Anybody else have the same problem? My oven is on the hotter side.
Oh no Karen, I’m so sorry that has happened. I’ve made this so many times now and haven’t had a problem. It is very moist when it is first done especially depending on how runny the pumpkin is. Try letting it cool for a half an hour first, if the pumpkin was very wet it will set up in that time. Was it completely undone in the center? Did you use eggs or chia seeds?
I used chia seeds. I didn’t use any of the pumpkin liquid and I didn’t use all of the lemon juice it called for. The center is uncooked, batter like. Don’t know what happened.? I baked it for the 40 minutes you suggested then another 30 minutes.
I used chia seeds. I didn’t use any of the pumpkin liquid and I didn’t use all of the lemon juice it called for. The center is uncooked, batter like. Don’t know what happened.? I baked it for the 40 minutes you suggested then another 30 minutes.
That definitely should have been enough. I’m really sorry it didn’t work for you, I’m not sure why?
As Karen already mentioned, give a shout out if anyone has any possible solutions or similar problems.
I figured it out! The lemon juice is critical to activate the baking soda- without it the chemistry doesn’t work and the bread won’t form. You must not have had enough acid to get the baking soda working. I’m not a baker, but I believe that if you use baking POWDER instead of baking SODA you don’t need the acid from the lemon juice.
At What age could this be served to a baby?
It depends on how they are managing food, but generally speaking around 8-9 months old- it could be sooner though if your baby is chewing a wide variety of foods.
This sounds delicious and super-healthy, I can’t wait to try it! Thanks for sharing this fabulous recipe, pumpkin and sweet potato are some of my favorite foods!
Sounds super! Do you think 8 months is too young to try this? She is combination puree fed and BLW.
It depends on what table foods she is already eating. Is she able to chew easily meltable foods like a town house crackers and puffs? Has she eaten some other soft breads? If so she is probably ready. Of course, monitor her closely at first to make sure she is managing this well. I have a hierarchy of food textures for babies in my posts “How to Transition your baby or toddler to table foods.” See the popular posts at the side or the article index in the menu bar.