Classic Poppy Seed Quick Bread Recipe

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This simple poppy seed quick bread recipe combines flour, granulated sugar, milk, oil, eggs and poppy seeds for a delicious breakfast bread.

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About This Poppy Seed Bread Recipe

Growing up, food and mealtime took priority in our house. My mom cooked for us always – I rarely remember eating out unless we were on vacation, and even then my fondest memories are of us kids indulging in cable TV (we weren’t allowed to have that at home!) while mom cooked dinner in the kitchenette at the motel.

Now that I am home with my kids, I realize that not only is it a huge time sacrifice to cook three meals a day, but there is so much work involved in managing the kitchen- planning meals, shopping, putting food away, budgeting, dishes… so many parts to keep track of!

All of this to say that I’m super thankful for the countless hours my mom spent in the kitchen. She taught us healthy eating habits and manners, and those traditions surrounding family mealtimes carry on as a huge priority here at Casa Pura Vida.

But. Recently I was running out of breakfast ideas (we’ve had a LOT of raisin bran muffins lately!) until I remembered… Mom’s Poppy Seed bread! I made a batch (2 loaves) and everyone loved it! Another mom recipe for the win! 

Unlike some other quick bread recipes (think zucchini bread, banana nut bread, pumpkin bread, etc), where you have to mix the wet ingredients apart from the dry ingredients, for this quick bread, you can just throw all the ingredients in and mix.

Classic Poppy Seed Quick Bread Recipe – With Orange Glaze

Ingredients:

For the bread:

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 3/4 cups sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 2 egg whites
  • 1 1/2 cup milk
  • 3/4 cup oil
  • 1 1/2 t baking powder
  • 1 1/2 T poppy seeds
  • 1 1/2 t vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 t almond extract

For the orange glaze:

  • 1/4 cup orange juice
  • 3/4 cup granulated white sugar
  • 1 t vanilla extract

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix all ingredients together in whatever order you want. I do this recipe by hand and there are a few lumps in the dough before I put it into the pans, but it hasn’t been a problem texture-wise when I bake. You could also mix with the electric mixer.  You can’t over mix this, really.

Divide batter evenly between two lightly greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes – until the cakes are golden brown, and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted.

Allow cakes to cool in the pan before drizzling with glaze.

To make the glaze, bring all glaze ingredients together to a boil and stir until sugar has dissolved. 

After drizzling the hot glaze on the bread, I like to let the glaze cool a bit before in the pan before I cut and serve the warm bread.

It gets a little crusty on top and is SO YUMMY. Enjoy this bread with eggs and coffee in the morning, or Costa Rican style with a cup of hot coffee in the afternoon.


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Substitutions

I will sometimes use 1 cup of whole wheat flour in place of the white flour. the bread is a bit drier, but the kids still like it and I do too. 

If you don’t have fresh milk on hand, you can substitute evaporated milk or mix up powdered milk. If you only have one of the extracts on hand just double it. 

I don’t usually keep orange juice on hand, so I either omit the glaze (saves calories) or I just squeeze some oranges and add about 2 tablespoons additional granulated sugar.

Variations

Lemon poppy seed bread is also very popular- you can substitute lemonade or fresh lemon juice for the orange juice in the glaze for a lemon version.

You could also line a muffin tin with paper liners and make these into poppy seed muffins.

Serving Suggestions

We like to serve this for breakfast with eggs and fruit. It’s like a bougie toast. I also send slices of this poppy seed bread to school with my daughter for snack.

This bread is also awesome with boiled eggs for a breakfast on the go. 

We serve this quick bread with hot Costa Rican coffee- and I love to take this bread to moms with new babies because it is so comforting!

FAQ

Can you freeze poppy seed bread? – Yes! I sometimes make two loaves and freeze one for later. I wrap it in aluminum foil and place in an airtight plastic bag and freeze for up to a year.

Do poppy seeds really make you test positive for marijuana? – Lol. Yes. 

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Printable Recipe

Yield: 2 loaves

Poppy Seed Bread Recipe

Close up of sliced poppy seed bread with orange glaze.

This simple and delicious poppy seed quick bread recipe combines white flour, granulated sugar, milk, and poppy seeds for a delicious bread you can mix in 10 minutes.

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • For the bread:
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 3/4 cups sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 2 egg whites
  • 1 1/2 cup milk
  • 3/4 cup oil
  • 1 1/2 t baking powder
  • 1 1/2 T poppy seeds
  • 1 1/2 t vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 t almond extract
  • For the orange glaze:
  • 1/4 cup orange juice
  • 3/4 cup granulated white sugar
  • 1 t vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Mix all ingredients together in whatever order you want.
  3. I do this recipe by hand and there are a few lumps in the dough before I put it into the pans, but it hasn’t been a problem texture-wise when I bake.
  4. You could also mix with the electric mixer.  You can’t over mix this, really.
  5. Divide batter evenly between two lightly greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes - until the cakes are golden brown, and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted.
  6. Allow cakes to cool in the pan before drizzling with glaze.
  7. To make the glaze, bring all glaze ingredients together to a boil and stir until sugar has dissolved. 
  8. After drizzling the hot glaze on the bread, I like to let the glaze cool a bit before in the pan before I cut and serve the warm bread.

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Christa Jimenez

Welcome! I’m Christa, a Spanish teacher married to a handsome Costa Rican and mother of two bilingual daughters. We’ve spent over 25 years living in and traveling to Costa Rica with our daughters, and this website is my love letter to all things Costa Rica- and to bilingual parenting too. You can read my full story here. Thanks for stopping by!

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