Look no further for the perfect Depression Era Peanut Butter Bread recipe. Tender, lightly sweet and made with simple pantry ingredients: just flour, peanut butter, sugar, milk, salt and baking powder. And it’s ready in an hour! Chocolate chips are optional!
Have you heard of peanut butter bread? And not like a piece of toast with peanut butter on it. Like a yummy quick bread made with peanut butter instead of oil? I just learned about this depression era recipe yesterday. I accidentally hit enter too early on a google search and I came across this and I’m so glad I did. The recipe requires no yeast, no sourdough starter, no eggs and no oil! Apparently it’s big news right now and I can see why.
Not only is it very tasty and easy to make, it couldn’t be more appropriate for the current moment— many of us are stuck at home with a lot of extra time on our hands thanks to stay at home orders and social distancing. That feels weird to say, but it’s true. Sigh.
So with all this extra time, what are we to do? Bake of course!! This peanut butter bread went viral on Reddit and is continuing to gain popularity.
Disclaimer: this post may contain affiliate links, which means if you decide to purchase any of the items linked in this post, I should earn a small commission. This creates no additional cost to you and helps support the work that goes into running The Fig Jar. Thank you! -Becky
Depression Era Peanut Butter Bread ingredients
So you know when something is a depression era recipe there is going to be a surprise ingredient or lack of ingredients— this recipe requires no eggs, no oil and no yeast. Which explains why it is even more appropriate for this current age. We are stuck at home but some ingredients are tough to find, like eggs and yeast! All you need for this recipe is:
- All-purpose flour
- Sugar
- Milk
- Salt
- Baking powder
- Peanut butter
- Mini chocolate chips are optional but recommended!
No eggs, no oil, no yeast and no sourdough starter needed! Whew, what a relief.
Amazing! And very tasty. It has a wonderful, soft texture and it’s very subtly sweet (there’s only a 1/3 cup of sugar in the whole thing). The peanut butter flavor is also subtle, but the flavor is definitely there, just quietly. Chocolate chips sweeten it up of course 🙂
How to make Depression Era Peanut Butter Bread
Making this peanut butter bread is about as simple as you can get: just mix your dry ingredients: flour, salt, baking powder and sugar.
Then add milk and combine.
Get that peanut butter in and mix well. Make sure the peanut butter is fully incorporated but don’t overdo it on the mixing. Just get it combined well enough so that there aren’t big strands of peanut butter throughout the batter, these won’t blend in and will cause cracks in the bread. Stir in the chocolate chips after this using them.
Just pour into a greased loaf pan and bake for about fifty minutes and you’re set! While it’s baking you can brainstorm for toppings. I am obsessed with my cast iron loaf pan (affiliate link) from Lodge. Things bake up beautifully in it and they don’t stick. I usually still give a spritz of non-stick spray but generally cast iron is non-stick when taken care of.
When I make a loaf without chocolate chips, I like to enjoy a slice with some salted butter and strawberry jam and it was perfect that way but the possibilities are endless. I think this bread, with some Nutella and bananas on top would also be killer.
The original recipe can be found here, but it’s originally from a 1932 cookbook called Five Roses Flour. I increased the salt by half a teaspoon and used 1/3 cup sugar instead of 1/4 cup. Also, some recipes say to bake at 350, some say 325, the original recipe says 325-350. I actually ended up baking two loaves. I baked one at 325 and one at 350, definitely recommend 350. The loaf baked at 350 held together and had nice golden brown edges. The one baked at 325 was still delicious but didn’t get golden edges and therefore didn’t hold together as well.
Here’s a little youtube video I made back in 2020 when I first discovered this bread!
Want more peanut buttery treats? Check out
Tried this recipe?
If you try this recipe, please consider leaving a comment/rating below and let me know how it went. I’d love to hear from you! You can also connect with me on instagram and Pinterest.
PrintDepression Era Peanut Butter Bread
A soft and very tasty bread made with just flour, peanut butter, milk, sugar, salt & baking powder.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 10 1 inch slices 1x
- Category: Breakfast, Dessert, Side Dish
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 1/3 cup milk
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips, plus more for topping (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Combine dry ingredients: flour, salt, baking powder and sugar.
- Add milk and stir just until combined, it doesn’t need to be smooth.
- Add peanut butter and stir until fully combined, don’t over mix but make sure peanut butter is fully incorporated. Then stir in chocolate chips if using.
- Pour into a greased loaf pan. Sprinkle with some extra chocolate chips (if using). Bake for 45-55 minutes, until a wooden skewer inserted comes out clean.
- Enjoy!
Christine
My 2 year old son helped me make this bread. It was so easy and delicious. I reduced the sugar to 1/4 cup and was still sweet enough. If you were using all natural peanut butter I would put more sugar in. Thank you
Becky
Hi Christine, Yes some other recipes use 1/4 cup or no sugar at all. I’m so glad you enjoyed this and that your son was able to help!
Lesa
I have made this recipe several times using only ground peanuts but it always turns out dry. I was wondering if adding some coconut oil would help .
Becky
Hi Lesa, I always use the JIF brand creamy ‘natural’ peanut butter for this and really most of my baking that calls for peanut butter. Coconut oil might help as I think it is the additional oil in most processed peanut butters that help with keeping the bread tender and moist since their is no egg or additional oils in this recipe. You could give it a try by adding a small amount. I would trying adding maybe a scant 1/4 cup to start. I’m not sure though as I haven’t tried it. If you try it, I’d love to hear how it turns out. Good luck!
Branson
Easy and delicious! Can’t believe you can make bread like this.
Cara
What flour do you recommend? all-purpose or self rising?
Becky
Hi Cara, all-purpose. I’ll add that to the recipe. Thanks!
Jess
Great recipe, perfect for my eggless household! Cut the sugar to 1/4 cup and it was perfect. My only wish is that it could have more peanut butter flavor – maybe next time I’ll add some pb powder. Still wonderful, better the next day!
Becky
Hi Jess, glad you liked it! Yes the peanut butter flavor is pretty subtle, but peanut butter powder sounds like a great idea. Let me know how it goes! 🙂
Mark
I have a peanut butter protein powder. I added a 1/4 C and reduced the flour by 1/4.
Powerful peanut flavor and added protein.
Mary Sakowski
Where can you buy the Peanut Butter Protein Powder? Thanks.
Nate
Is it ok to use brown sugar instead of the regular sugar?
Becky
It should work fine. Brown sugar has more moisture than regular but I don’t think it would throw it off significantly.
Cortnee
How many mini loaves would this make?
Becky Schmieg
Hi Cortnee, I’m sorry, I don’t have that info as I’ve never tested the recipe that way.