May 24
2010

Caramelized Onion & Spinach Olive Oil Quick Bread Recipe

Caramelized Onion & Spinach Olive Oil Quick Bread Recipe

Spring has most decidedly not sprung. It is almost June and yet Persephone, the goddess of spring, seems to playing a mischievous game of “drive the mortals mad”. Each morning I pull on capri pants, slip my feet into a pair of sandals, and step outside, ready to be greeted by the warmth of the day. Then reality slaps my windburn face and I skitter back inside to pull on my jeans and fleece top. In case you think that I am being overly dramatic, I swear on a wheel of Brie (it does not get any more sacred than that) that it is currently snowing.

Despite the seasonally-challenged weather, flowers continue to bloom, hummingbirds continue to grace our feeder, and seeds continue to germinate. Spring is the time for asparagus, rhubarb, and leafy greens. We are happy to indulge in some of our seasonal favorites, such as Asparagus Frittata with Smoked Paprika, Thyme & Feta Cheese and Rhubarb Cheesecake Bars with Gingersnap Crust. With the harvest date of lettuce and spinach drawing near, it seemed fitting to feature one here. After caramelizing onions to a sweet, golden brown and wilting the spinach with minced garlic, the vegetables are mixed into a savory quick bread batter. The only fat in this easy bread is extra-virgin olive oil, which lends a slightly fruity taste, along with an abundance of moisture.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Heat 2 teaspoons olive oil in a large skillet set over medium heat. Cut one large yellow onion in half through the root, peel, and thinly slice into half-circles. Add the onion to the pan. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt.


Cook for 10 minutes, reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook until the onions are golden brown, about 10 additional minutes.

Add 1 teaspoon olive oil to the onions, then stir in 2 cloves minced garlic and 2 cups (packed) fresh spinach leaves. Stir until the spinach is wilted and bright green, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat.


In a medium bowl, whisk together 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

In a large bowl, combine 2 eggs, lightly beaten, 3/4 cup 2% milk, and 2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil. Whisk well until combined.

Pour the flour mixture into the eggs mixture and stir until just combined. Do not overmix or the bread will become tough. Add the spinach mixture and 1 ounce crumbled myzithra (or feta) cheese, and stir until just combined.


Butter a loaf pan. Spoon 1 tablespoon flour into the pan and tap the flour around the pan. Shake out the excess. Scoop the batter into the pan and smooth the top.


Bake until the top is light golden brown and a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out dry, 35 to 40 minutes.


Cool in pan for 15 minutes, then remove the bread from the pan, and cool on a wire rack. Slice and serve.


Savory quick bread recipes:

Dorie Greenspan’s Bacon-Cheddar Quick Bread with Dried Pears
Closet Cooking’s Zucchini Bread with Roasted Red Peppers & Feta
One Perfect Bite’s Olive Bread
What Geeks Eat’s Savory Onion Zucchini Bread
Magnifico’s Olive Rosemary Quick Bread

Caramelized Onion & Spinach Olive Oil Quick Bread

3 tsp olive oil, divided
1 large yellow onion, cut in half through the root, and thinly sliced
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 cups (packed) fresh spinach leaves
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup 2% milk
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 oz. crumbled myzithra (or feta) cheese
Butter and flour for pan

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Heat 2 teaspoons olive oil in a large skillet set over medium heat. Add the onion to the pan. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook for 10 minutes, reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook until the onions are golden brown, about 10 additional minutes.

Add 1 teaspoon olive oil to the onions, then stir in garlic and spinach leaves. Stir until the spinach is wilted and bright green, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, combine eggs, lightly beaten, milk, and extra-virgin olive oil. Whisk well until combined.

Pour the flour mixture into the eggs mixture and stir until just combined. Do not overmix or the bread will become tough. Add the spinach mixture and myzithra cheese, and stir until just combined.

Butter a loaf pan. Spoon 1 tablespoon flour into the pan and tap the flour around the pan. Shake out the excess. Scoop the batter into the pan and smooth the top.

Bake until the top is light golden brown and a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out dry, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan for 15 minutes, then remove the bread from the pan, and cool on a wire rack. Slice and serve.

Makes 1 loaf of bread.

Printable recipe

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{ 72 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Ravenous Couple May 24, 2010 at 4:44 am

just searching for an olive oil bread recipe and lo and behold! love the flavors here…we just got a case of olive oil and a new mixer! yeah!

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2 Tia May 24, 2010 at 9:22 am

omg yum yum yum!
i would eatthat whole plate just the onions and spinach as is! lol

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3 pegasuslegend May 24, 2010 at 10:28 am

I make something very similar with black olives instead of onion… this is a great bread and fabulous with soups….delicious looks perfect and ready for the table!! this wouldnt last long here at all :)

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4 Koek! May 24, 2010 at 11:31 am

We're going INTO winter here in SA, and this looks like just the thing to dunk into some hearty soup… Yum!
Robyn

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5 Kalyn May 24, 2010 at 1:20 pm

That looks so good! I'm really tired of the cold spring weather, but if I had this bread to eat, that would make it better!

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6 shriya May 24, 2010 at 1:25 pm

wow!!! I am drooling. I love onions. Love this loaf, interesting and sounds delicious.

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7 Coco @ Opera Girl Cooks May 24, 2010 at 2:30 pm

I love it when people come up with sophisticated flavors for quick bread recipes! It's so nice to be able to avoid kneading but still end up with something so posh.

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8 Chef E May 24, 2010 at 2:37 pm

I just retweeted this and I have to make it- okay bookmarked! YUM

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9 Sarah Lenhart May 24, 2010 at 3:29 pm

I love caramelized onions! This looks so yummy!

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10 alison May 24, 2010 at 4:26 pm

yummy and very creative!

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11 Jenny May 24, 2010 at 4:31 pm

Lovely!! Definitely want to try this!

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12 Michelle @ Brown Eyed Baker May 24, 2010 at 4:37 pm

Oh my god, this bread looks insanely fabulous! I need to make it ASAP!

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13 Ingredients of a Woman May 24, 2010 at 4:46 pm

Very nice!

Alba H. Rodriguez

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14 Ingredients of a Woman May 24, 2010 at 4:48 pm

Very nice!

Alba H. Rodriguez

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15 Jean May 24, 2010 at 5:01 pm

I love savory bread and yours looks beautiful.

I understand what you mean about the weather. This extended winter in northern California is getting tiresome.

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16 Maria May 24, 2010 at 5:01 pm

Great savory loaf. Love all of the flavors in there.

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17 Cathy May 24, 2010 at 5:29 pm

Printing…this looks aweson and I have a bunch of garden spinach. Thanks! Now what to have with it…

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18 Noelle May 24, 2010 at 5:32 pm

Whoa out of control goodness! Yum!

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19 bunkycooks May 24, 2010 at 6:30 pm

This looks delicious! What a lovely loaf of bread. Thank you for sharing the recipe.

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20 Tracy May 24, 2010 at 7:37 pm

Gorgeous bread! It sounds delicious. :-)

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21 SLCFoodie May 24, 2010 at 8:22 pm

I've never seen anything like this! It looks moist and super tasty!!

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22 Cookin' Canuck May 24, 2010 at 8:29 pm

Thank you for all of your kind comments! I hope each of you that try it enjoy this savory bread as much as we did.

Claudia, olives sounds like a great alternative. I'm going to try that next time.

Coco, I agree that it's nice to have a savory quick bread in your repertoire – one that doesn't require kneading.

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23 How To: Simplify May 24, 2010 at 9:00 pm

This bread is absolutely beautiful!

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24 chris May 24, 2010 at 9:22 pm

I love quick breads – don't make them enough. And – with the caramelized onions? Love! ;)

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25 Lana @ Never Enough Thyme May 24, 2010 at 9:52 pm

I can't wait to try this recipe. Lots of my favorites – caramelized onion, garlic, olive oil. How could you go wrong with that combination?

Hope you have some nice warm weather soon. We're already in the low 90's here in Georgia :-)

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26 Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) May 24, 2010 at 10:59 pm

I will happily send you our ridiculously hot and steamy Rhode Island weather if you'll send some of this bread!

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27 Maggy @ ThreeManyCooks May 24, 2010 at 11:28 pm

I LOVE the look of this bread! I'm imagining this straight out of the oven with some butter on it. Great flavors!

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28 Fuji Mama May 24, 2010 at 11:50 pm

What an amazing mixture of flavors! Plus, gotta love that it is a quick bread. So great for moms with whiny impatient kids!

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29 Belinda @zomppa May 25, 2010 at 12:04 am

Oh my! A whole meal into itself. Great recipe.

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30 Debbie May 25, 2010 at 12:26 am

What a colorful bread! Looks great :-)

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31 citronetvanille May 25, 2010 at 1:00 am

What a gorgeous bread, in France we call this "cake salé" savory cake, and serve them at apéritif!The combination of onions and spinach is delightful. As for the cold weather, I think it's all over, in San Francisco, it's so windy and cold too…I think we just have to be patient.

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32 Amanda May 25, 2010 at 2:13 am

Wow that is absolutely gorgeous!! I have bookmarked this to try. Yum! I just recently made a whole wheat sunflower quick bread that was awesome too!

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33 Trix May 25, 2010 at 2:49 am

Ew, snow, I am SO sorry! But. Savory quickbread can cure a world of ills, and I love this one.

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34 sweetlife May 25, 2010 at 5:01 am

love quick breads, and this is packed with our fav flavors..yum

sweetlife

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35 roxan May 25, 2010 at 5:12 am

Whoa, this looks like a seriously delicious savory bread!!! I will definitely have to make this.

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36 Suzanne aka vivisue May 25, 2010 at 1:43 pm

How beautiful! And I am much more of a savory than sweet gal. This one is going on the menu!

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37 Cherine May 25, 2010 at 3:11 pm

Gorgeous bread! Looks absolutely delicious!

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38 Katie@Cozydeliciou May 25, 2010 at 5:22 pm

This bread looks fantastic. And it's kind of a perfect in-between food. It has hints of spring, but would be wonderful along with a big bowl of steamy soup too. Yum!

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39 tspegar May 25, 2010 at 6:09 pm

this looks savory and fantastic! i love this idea.

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40 Julia May 25, 2010 at 8:15 pm

Holy Cow this looks freaking amazing!!!! All I can think about is using this for a grilled cheese sandwich, YUM!

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41 kristi@ja cie kocham May 25, 2010 at 11:24 pm

GORGEOUS bread!!! Boy, could I eat that whole thing all on my own :)

I live in the NE part of the US, and we are expected to hit 90 degrees tomorrow! Mind you, last week it was in the 50s. Crazy, I tell ya!

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42 Miranda May 26, 2010 at 12:26 am

Oh my. Oh my. Oh my. I must have this ;)

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43 Cande May 26, 2010 at 3:32 am

Looks yummy! So, did you use the whole onion or just half an onion? It's hard to tell from the way it's written.

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44 Megan May 26, 2010 at 4:32 pm

This looks killer! I give it 2 thumbs up! :)

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45 Peggy May 27, 2010 at 9:49 am

definitely a great pairing of flavors here!

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46 ivoryhut May 28, 2010 at 2:57 am

That is just too delicious for words. Caramelized onions? Olive oil? Sign me up!

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47 Scott May 29, 2010 at 7:03 pm

Looks like it would all be eaten up once it came out of the oven! Nice!

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48 Julia@SometimesLucid June 1, 2010 at 6:22 pm

I made this over the weekend at my parents house. We could not stop eating it! YUM!!!

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49 Cookin' Canuck June 1, 2010 at 7:11 pm

Julia, thanks so much for letting me know. I'm so glad you enjoyed it. Do you have a chance to try it toasted?

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50 Park Slope Kitchen June 1, 2010 at 10:03 pm

I'm bookmarking this recipe right now– looks incredible!

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51 Anne June 4, 2010 at 3:11 am

This looks great! Spinach and caramelized onions are two of my favorite ingredients :)

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52 Kevin June 5, 2010 at 6:42 pm

What a good flavour combo for a savoury quick bread!

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53 Kristie June 8, 2010 at 2:08 pm

I made this. It was delicious right out of the oven, but the next day it ws so moist it fell apart. Yummy though.

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54 Patricia Scarpin June 11, 2010 at 4:06 pm

I've just seen this post on Baking is hot and what a great thing it was – I'm glad I found this stunning blog!
Love the flavors you combined here – and the photo is gorgeous!

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55 Anonymous August 12, 2010 at 3:36 pm

I made this yesterday – so easy and so delicious. Thanks for the recipe, will definitely make it again.

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56 Kim September 19, 2010 at 11:23 pm

I am saving this one. How was the flavor? I have some spinach to use up, and feta… MMMMMMMMMM

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57 Medifast Coupons October 7, 2010 at 4:47 pm

I can't wait to try and make this bread, looks wonderful, rich colors and tender looking.

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58 Liz C March 27, 2011 at 2:28 pm

Just made this bread with some leftovers from a spinach and feta salad last night. It’s going to be very hard not eating the entire thing right here and now. Only change I’d make is maaaybe reducing the olive oil by a little bit next time, because while it made the inside nice and moist and gave the whole bread a wonderful flavor, it’s still quite a bit of oil. Overall, though, absolutely delicious and I will DEFINITELY be adding this to my recipe book!

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59 Nev August 23, 2011 at 1:23 pm

This looks yummay! does it work without cheese?

Nev

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60 Dara (Cookin' Canuck) August 23, 2011 at 5:11 pm

Absolutely! The cheese just provides an extra layer of flavor and a bit of extra moisture, but it should work fine without it.

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61 Marilyn November 29, 2011 at 12:32 pm

Looking for savory quick bread recipes to make for Christmas gifts and this looks heavenly. Am going to try it today! Do you think it’s shippable?

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62 Megan January 28, 2012 at 6:43 pm

Just made this with basil rather than spinach, (don’t care for spinach), and no feta, as I don’t care for it either, and it was SO GOOD. It took a little longer for me to bake it, but it was soooo very yummy!

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63 KaterinaBonVora February 5, 2012 at 4:25 am

I’ve adapted the recipe, its reaaaally yum. thanks for sharing! oh, and here’s my quick bread attempt: http://bit.ly/wCzdPd

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64 darlene April 18, 2012 at 3:19 pm

Drooling…

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65 Kristy K June 10, 2012 at 3:56 pm

I just made this and it is so good and different! I doubled the feta because… well, it’s feta. :) Thanks so much for the idea and instruction!

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66 Amanda August 8, 2012 at 9:19 am

OMG Dara this looks amazing, I really want to try this! Will be pinning it for later :) :)

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67 Rachel August 14, 2012 at 4:47 am

I just baked this. I didn’t have any spinach on hand so I substituted it with brown mushrooms instead. I sliced and sauteed them in a little butter and followed the rest of the recipe as it is. The end result was really yummy. I can’t wait to try the original version. Thank you for posting this amazing recipe!

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68 Megan August 25, 2012 at 6:49 pm

I was sooooo looking forward to this. Made everything exactly as the recipe says, but after 1 hr and 15 min of baking, it was still not done throughout, and burning on the top. : (

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69 Dara (Cookin' Canuck) August 26, 2012 at 11:53 am

Megan, I’m sorry to hear that this didn’t work out for you! I know how disappointing that can be when you are looking forward to trying a new recipe and it doesn’t turn out. Quite honestly, I’m not sure what wrong. I’ve made this several times and, as you might have read in the comments, several other people have made it as well, with great success. My only suggestions would be 1) double-check the measurements that you used and 2) be sure that your oven is callibrated correctly (easily done with the use of an oven thermometer).

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70 sarah September 19, 2012 at 3:47 am

hi .. i was thinking of making a spinach and onion bread and came across your website while researching about it… however, i am allergic to eggs and cheese.. i am sure this recipe is alright minus the cheese, but what about the eggs? any ideas?

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71 Dara (Cookin' Canuck) September 19, 2012 at 4:04 pm

Hi Sarah, it would be fine without the cheese, but I don’t know about omitting the eggs. You might want to look up substitutions for eggs on Google.

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72 Sharon Maxwell-Yamamoto December 12, 2012 at 4:05 pm

Thanks so much for the gorgeous recipe! I just made it and it’s cooling, so haven’t tasted it yet, but had to thank you. I didn’t have spinach and so I used sliced black olives to go along with the herb feta cheese I had on hand. I always have sweet onions because we’re big fans of that, so this was going to be a winner, no matter what. I had JUST enough flour and olive oil to make it. Whew!
OMG I JUST WENT AND TASTED IT AND WOW!!! LOL, My husband is going to love this. Thanks a million!

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