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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Wonderful recipe! I particularly loved the combination of spices and the detailed instructions. I did, however, add dried cranberries and walnuts to the recipe. I got rave reviews from family and friends! Thank you “Once Upon A Chef.”
Wanted to love this, chose it based off the 5 star review and we made it the night before Thanksgiving for our family dinner but are super disappointed. The clove gives an extremely strong taste of spice. Aside from that, it is not at all like a bread. It had the texture of raw bread or cake. We kept it in the oven for at least 75 minutes, it appeared done and came out of the pan fine but there is no ‘fluff’ to it just super moist and chewy as if undercooked.
The recipe is called pumpkin bread. But it is actually a cake loaf. The same as banana bread or any of the quick breads. They are meant to be a bit dense and moist. If it had no fluff to it you may have gone too heavy on the oil. The batter should be mixed just until incorporated and once in the oven keep the door closed so it can cook at an even temperature. Perhaps you might try it again.
This is the most amazing pumpkin bread recipe I have ever tried. Often times pumpkin bread recipes use vegetable oil so the loaves come out oily. This recipe uses no oil, uses less butter than most, and the bread some out amazingly moist. It’s addictive.
Can I use a Bundt pan instead of two loaf pans? How do I adjust the baking time?
Hi Lili, For a Bundt version of this bread, I suggest this recipe from my first cookbook.
This is by far the best pumpkin bread recipe I’ve tasted. Makes two loaves with not a lot of sugar or butter, and it is the moistest pumpkin bread you’ll ever taste. I added a cup of chocolate chips to the batter and coated the greased pans with turbinado sugar. Wonderful!
Jenn,
I made this recipe last night and it was so quick and easy that I made two more batches to give loaves away, I love to bake and share! When making the last batch I ran out of nutmeg so I substituted with ginger using 1/2 tsp, of course I had to taste that product after baking and it was delicious. The next time I will add the streusel topping as was suggested in an earlier comment, it sounds amazing. Thank you, and Happy Holidays to all.
I was surprised to see that it didn’t contain any oil and was hoping it would be moist with butter and it was. Anytime I can use butter instead of oil I am very happy. Excellent recipe.
Thank God for the comment section. Otherwise I would have rated this lower.
Instead of 1 teaspoon baking soda, I reversed it and used 1/2 teaspoon.
Instead of ½ teaspoon baking powder, I used 1 teaspoon as the commenter suggested.
Also I cut down on the clove and nutmeg and only added 1/4 tsp of each due to the overwhelming consensus it’s just too much spice overpowering the pumpkin.
I made sure to sue room temperature eggs and butter, something the recipe leaves out.
It says softened butter….softened butter is typically room temperature butter….as for room temp eggs, the rule of them is to typically use room temp anything when creaming ingredients.
You don’t like the ratio of spices alright adjust it and move on no need to be melodramatic with a “Thank God”.
As for the rest of the people browsing this recipe and the comments I say give the actual recipe a fair shake before making subs. Afterwards make any subs and tweaks based on what you do and don’t like about the base recipe
I’ve been making pumpkin bread for years. My old recipe called for vegetable oil, which I hate using because it’s not healthy. I made this recipe with vegan butter because I’m dairy-free. This is the best pumpkin bread my husband, son and I have ever had. Thank you for giving me my new pumpkin bread recipe.
I made this recipe and made 4 small loaves instead of two. I used white whole wheat flour and reduced the sugar to 1 1/2 cups. I added a teaspoon of ground ginger. I used the streusel topping from Jenn’s pumpkin muffin recipe but cut in cold butter into the brown sugar rather than using melted. I had to give away three of the loaves because I ate a one all by myself. The streusel topping was killer and totally kicked plain old pumpkin bread up several notches. It was a great addition to an already excellent recipe.