Pumpkin Bread
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Kids love it, grown-ups love it…this pumpkin bread is hard to beat!
My grandmother clipped this pumpkin bread recipe from a magazine over 50 years ago, and it is my most-cherished family recipe. One of my clearest childhood memories is baking the loaves with my mom and carting them off to every neighborhood potluck and holiday party. Now I bake pumpkin bread with my own kids, and it’s just as wonderful today as it was back then. It’s easy to make — just a bit of mixing and stirring, pop it in the oven, and, in about an hour, you’ll have a house smelling of sweet autumn spices and two scrumptious, pumpkiny loaves.
Above, you can see the original recipe from my grandmother’s recipe box—it’s definitely seen its share of spills! After a bit of research, I discovered that the recipe was first published in the McCalls Cook Book (Random House, 1963). It is a typical sweet quick bread, similar to banana bread or cranberry nut bread, leavened with baking powder and/or baking soda instead of yeast. Quick bread batter can often be used to make muffins, and my pumpkin muffins are nearly identical to this bread, but with the addition of a pecan streusel topping.
Table of Contents
What You’ll Need To Make Pumpkin Bread
How To Make Pumpkin Bread
Begin by combining the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and spices. I like to add everything in neat little piles in case I lose track of what I’ve added.
Whisk well and set aside.
Combine the butter and sugar in a large bowl or in the bowl of an electric mixer.
Beat until just combined. It will look a little crumbly.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Continue beating for a few minutes until light and fluffy.
Add the pumpkin.
Beat until combined. It will look a little curdled or grainy — that’s okay.
Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture.
And beat on low speed until just combined.
Transfer the batter to loaf pans.
Bake for 65 to 75 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Let the loaves cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.
That’s all there is to it. Enjoy!
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Video Tutorial
Pumpkin Bread
Kids love it, grown-ups love it…this pumpkin bread is hard to beat!
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1½ sticks (¾ cup) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 (15-oz) can 100% pure pumpkin (I use Libby's)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F and set an oven rack in the middle position. Generously grease two 8 x 4-inch loaf pans with butter and dust with flour (alternatively, use a baking spray with flour in it, such as Pam with Flour or Baker's Joy).
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Whisk until well combined; set aside.
- In a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until just blended. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Continue beating until very light and fluffy, a few minutes. Beat in the pumpkin. The mixture might look grainy and curdled at this point -- that's okay.
- Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until combined.
- Turn the batter into the prepared pans, dividing evenly, and bake for 65 – 75 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the loaves cool in the pans for about 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Fresh out of the oven, the loaves have a deliciously crisp crust. If they last beyond a day, you can toast individual slices to get the same fresh-baked effect.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The bread can be frozen for up to 3 months. After it is completely cooled, wrap it securely in aluminum foil, freezer wrap or place in a freezer bag. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (24 servings)
- Serving size: 1 slice
- Calories: 166
- Fat: 6 g
- Saturated fat: 4 g
- Carbohydrates: 26 g
- Sugar: 17 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Sodium: 117 mg
- Cholesterol: 31 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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I made this today and it tastes really good! My only “complaint” would be they are rather flat. I used parchment paper to line my pans. Would that be the reason they didn’t rise? I made the recipe exactly as is and bake for 65 minutes in two 9×5 pans.
Hi Billie, Glad you enjoyed! It’s the 9×5-in pans that made the loaves flat; the recipe calls for two 8×4-in pans, which are much smaller.
Thanks for asking this question, I had the same result and did the same thing (followed the recipe exactly, but used parchment paper to line the pans). I didn’t catch that Jenn was using 8×4 pans. Glad to hear I didn’t do anything wrong, just different size pan! No matter the height of the loaf, it was delicious! The kids loved it too.
Super delicious! One of my new favorite recipes and blog❤
Followed directions exactly. Took out after 65 min. Cooled Tried it. DELICIOUS. I didn’t think it was too sweet or had too much clove. The only question is how to not eat it all before my daughter’s birthday party!
Something went wrong. Followed recipe exactly using the correct size Pyrex loaf pan but the center caved in and was raw. Oven adjustment????? What about clay and metal? The taste was there but could only eat the edges….and very little of that. Hope you can help. Thank you,
Charlotte
Hi Charlotte, I’m sorry you had such a problem with this! You may want to double check to make sure your pans are 8 x 4 inches. And sometimes the edges of baked goods can brown more quickly than the center because glass conducts heat better than metal (if you notice that’s happening, you can reduce the heat by 25°F) but the center of your cake should definitely not have been raw. Is there any chance you may have made a measuring error? Also, you may want to check your oven temperature. Here are some tips for doing that.
This is seriously the BEST pumpkin bread recipe that I’ve tried! So delicious!
Loved it! Like other reviews mentioned, I cut down the sugar to just shy of 1-1/2 cups. Could honestly probably cut it down by another 1/4-1/2 cup and it would still be sweet. Instead of the separate cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon, I just added about 0.5 tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice. I also added in 1 cup of chocolate chips. BTW this bakes perfectly in an 8×8 pyrex if you don’t have two loaf pans.
This is the best pumpkin bread recipe I have ever tried! The texture is amazing. My family loves it!
Perfect! I used my homemade pumpkin puree for the recipe, super nice and moist. Has an amazing flavor. 👍
This is one of our favourite recipes, always a winner for the kids. So much so they asked me to make it into a layer cake for Halloween. Will this recipe work in 9 inch pans either as single round or a layer cake?
So glad you and the kids like this! If you want to make a layer cake, 8-inch rounds would be preferable but 9-inch rounds should work – they will just be a bit flatter.
Or if you’re okay with one layer, you may want to consider this recipe. You’ll need to double the frosting (you may end up having a bit of frosting leftover). Hope that helps!
A great recipe but need a few tweaks. Lower the sugar to 1.5 cups as many other reviewers suggested-it’s still plenty sweet. Lower cloves to 1/2 tsp to prevent it overtaking the other spices. I swap out 1/3 of the AP flour for whole wheat. At this ratio you won’t taste a difference and it will still be that distinctive orange color. If so sub WW flour use extra large instead of large eggs for an extra bit of moisture. Same bake time. Thanks for a great start Jenn!
I’ve portioned my pumpkin purée in 1 cup measurements & stuck them in the freezer. How many cups of pumpkin would you estimate I’d need for this recipe? Thanks!
Hi L, You’ll need 1-3/4 cups. Enjoy!