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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Beautiful loaf of pumpkin bread and very moist. However, it is way too sweet for my taste. I will cut the sugar back to 1.5 cups if I use this recipe again.
Do you know if this recipe works for cupcakes? Thanks!
Hi Leslie, I’d recommend using this recipe (you can omit the streusel and replace it with frosting). Hope you enjoy if you make them!
I made cupcakes using this exact recipe. It made 18 regular sized cupcakes, only change was cooking time, which was about 35-40 min. Came out perfect, and I added cream cheese icing.
This definitely lived up to the hype! I just woke up wanting pumpkin bread, googled and this is the recipe I chose based on the reviews. This is fantastic! For sure the best recipe I have tried. I have never made one without oil and this is SOOO much better! It’s perfectly moist and fluffy. Just the right amount of sweetness. I only had one larger loaf pan, so I made one big one and two 5″ ones. They surprisingly took the same amount of time to bake–just under one hour. I did not have cloves so I just put in 3 tsp of pumpkin pie spice instead of the individual spices and it seems to be good–one more teaspoon might have been even better, but next time I will make sure to have the individual spices. This is now my go to recipe! Thanks!
I honestly did not like this recipe after trying the one on the Libby’s can. Libby’s has Allspice, more flour & more sugar. This recipe made 2 small loaves & needed more flavor which was definitely missing from the Allspice. Yes your asked for butter vs oil, but definitely lacking in flavor just my opinion.
I’m honestly not a baker at all— but this was so easy and came out so delicious!!
This is a spicy, delicious pumpkin bread. I knew I had to try it when I saw the recipe used a generous measure of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg–my pumpkin pie recipe does the same and it is a dark, spicy pie. The only spice left out was allspice so I just added about 1/4 teaspoon of that. So good. My 90 year old uncle made a special effort to contact me and tell me that he is generally not a pumpkin fan but that this recipe was a keeper. He is right!
We absolutely love this pumpkin bread – it’s the best recipe I have ever baked AND the kids swear it’s better than the Starbucks version. I do have a question though — what would the baking time be if I were to swap mini loaf pans for each 8×4 loaf pan? Would the cooking temp remain the same?
Mini loaf pan dimension: 5 1/2″ x 3″ x 2 1/4″ high
How many minis = 8×4 loaf? Thanks!
So glad you and the kids like it! I’d start checking mini loaves at about 35 minutes. And I suspect this will make 3 – 4 mini loaves, but I can’t say for sure because I’ve never made mini versions of these. Please LMK how they turn out!
I am making this at this very moment, in mini pans (5.5×3.5×2) and if you fill the pan about 2/3 full, you get about 4 pans worth
I am keeping an eye every 10 minutes just to see how it’s looking given the smaller pans
Could you swap oil for butter? If so, how much? I’m out of butter and want the make this! Thx!
You really need butter for this. The only oil option that would work is (solidified) coconut oil.
Oh my goodness this is the BEST pumpkin bread I’ve ever had. I have made countless pumpkin bread recipes trying to find the best one, and this is it. Thank you!!
I tested this recipe for the first time today. It turned out tasty, flavorful and moist. I substituted butter with canola oil. My loaves were smaller, but they turned out well. Baking time was less for me, but I guess that depends on the oven. The smell and the toothpick test tells me when it is done. Overall, I am happy with the results and I can not wait to try more recipes from your website.
Hi! Can these be made into muffins? If so, does it change the baking time? Thanks!
Hi Susan, If you want pumpkin muffins, I’d use this recipe (and you can omit the topping if you’d like). Hope that helps!