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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Just an FYI. My bread tester was clean after only 55 minutes of baking. Crossing my fingers it didn’t get over cooked,🤞
Jenn, This recipe was absolutely delicious! I bake a lot of quick breads and this is now on the top of my list! I cut back a little on cloves 1/2 teaspoon and only used 1 1/2 cups of sugar and it was still perfectly sweet and tasty. If you love sugar and more cloves go for it. It was so moist and such a treat with my tea after a long day of baking and Thanksgiving day prep. I gave the other loaf to our sweet, elderly neighbors and they loved it too! Thanks for sharing! PS. I love old cookbooks too. I inherited my mom’s old Betty Crocker cookbook that’s at least 45 years old and it’s held together with a large elastic as this point. It is a well-loved treasure.
Thanks Again.
Cant beat this pumpkin bread recipe. I embellish it a little though by adding fresh cranberries in the batter. I also sprinkle unsalted pumpkin seeds with a bit of sugar on top to gild the lily.
I made this pumpkin bread and loved the flavor. However, my bread just fell apart. I’m trying to figure out what went wrong. The only thing I changed was adding 1/2 tsp. Ginger. Any suggestions?
Hi Barbara, So sorry you had trouble! Did you let it cool before cutting it? Was it fully cooked through?
Hi Jenn, this recipe happens t be the best one I have tried, and I tried many. I made ne batch for Thanksgiving and it’s gone already. My young grandchildren loved it so much.
My second batch is in the oven as I am writing this. I need to hide them from my grandchildren lol
Thank you and a very Blessed and Happy Thanksgiving, Diane
❤️
I’ve been looking for a great pumpkin bread recipe and have tried lots. This is by far the best one ever! I’ve made it the past couple of years. This year I did make three minor changes. I used 1 1/2 cups vs 2 cups of sugar as I also made Jen’s crumble top from her pumpkin muffin recipe to top the bread and thought it would be to sweet. I also added 1/2 cup of chopped candied ginger to the bread mixture. In the past I have made it with 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves (1 teaspoon was to strong for our taste) but realized mine expired so I substituted 1/4 teaspoon of all spice this one time. It was still beyond scrumptious! Jen, I love your recipies! Thanks for sharing them.
Jenn, I love all of your recipes, but this one is extra special. I made this pumpkin bread the day before my daughter was born. We brought a loaf to the hospital and gave it to the nurses on the Labor and Delivery floor. It was a hit, and this recipe will always hold a special place in my heart!
Aww…congrats on the birth of your daughter, Laura! So happy this recipe will be special for your family, too. ❤️
Best pumpkin bread recipe I have ever run across
A 10 out of 10, NEED I say more
Seems that I did everything like the recipe said but the cake didn’t grow. It looked like it’s growing fine at first but after I took it out of the over it went down by half and it’s far from looking like the picture. Maybe there are some baking tips that should be added here for people who know nothing about baking? 🙂
Hi Jojo, Sorry you had a problem with this! It doesn’t rise a ton (it’s more like a cake than a bread) but if it sunk after you removed it from the oven, but was likely a bit underbaked.