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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Bizarre and confusing that the ingredients list comes far below the instructions for putting those ingredients together. I may or may not make this recipe but the layout puts me off.
Hi Tim, sorry you found the layout frustrating! At the very top of the page, to the right of the recipe name, you’ll see an orange/red button that says Jump to Recipe – if you click on that, it will take you directly to the recipe. Hope that helps and that you enjoy the bread if you make it!
Best pumpkin bread I’ve ever tasted. So flavorful and perfect texture. And it’s not too difficult to make.
Absolutely delicious! So moist, which to me is a must when it comes to enjoying loaves.
I have made this recipe multiple times over the past year or two and we absolutely love it, our friends love it and beg us to make more!! Thank you!
A definite crowd-pleaser. I’ve made this bread dozens of times and I’ve lost count of how many people have asked for the recipe. So many pumpkin bread recipes have so much sugar and an over-abundance of spices that the pumpkin flavor is lost. This is sweet, spiced just right and has big pumpkin flavor. Love!
Love this recipe. The cake came out moist and soft. I used hand (manual) mixing throughout.
one of the best pumpkin bread recipes.Thank you Once Upon a chef.
This is my new and go to pumpkin bread! I will never need to try any other recipe as it is the BEST!
I’ve made many loaves of pumpkin bread over the years and this recipe is by far the best I’ve ever tasted. The texture is delicate with a perfect mixture of spices. It freezes beautifully as well. Thank you, Jenn for this wonderful recipe.
I made this pumpkin bread today, eight days before Thanksgiving Day, 2021. It turned out perfectly. I couldn’t find my one loaf pan so I split the batter between two 9 inch cake pans. It turned out light and fluffy. I’m not an experienced baker so I was surprised that the thick batter produced this nice bread. One adjustment I’ll make next time is I’ll cut down the seasoning of cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg from one teaspoon each to ½ teaspoon each. The taste at 1 teaspoon each, is a bit too strong for my preference. I will say , though, that loads of whipped cream helped a lot. 😊
For the next one, I will cover the loaf with a cream cheese frosting.
I might have commented in the past but just had to do so again! This is the best pumpkin bread I have made. Made many loaves in the past as well as other recipes for pumpkin bread. This season I have already made 8 loaves of this recipe. Put a couple in the freezer and gifted some and my family ate the rest! Granddaughter loves it! Thank you!
I love this recipe but am back living in Colorado at high altitude. Does anyone know if this will work or how to modify so it will turn out as perfect as it normally does?
Thanks!
Hi Sarah, I hope another high-altitude reader will weigh in with some guidance. I don’t have experience baking at high altitudes so, unfortunately, I don’t have any wisdom to share – I’m sorry! You may find these tips helpful though.
Hi,
I live in CO at 6000 ft and I don’t change anything.
I live in Colorado and I didn’t change a thing with this recipe. It turned out wonderful! No adjustments were needed! Enjoy!