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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Followed the recipe exactly, and this was a flop. It is incredibly sweet- probably has twice as much sugar as it needs. It also didn’t rise well. If I remade it, I would only use one loaf pan and 1 cup of sugar. This batch is headed for the trash.
This pumpkin bread came out so delicious! Today I am making it again and will share a loaf with my Air Bnb rental guests. I love all of your step by step instructions and photos. I have made several of your recipes and they have all turned out great. Thank you so much for sharing your talent and skills with those of us who also want to be good cooks!
I also have made this pumpkin bread and it turned out moist and delicious. Doubled the recipe and decreased the ground cloves to 1/4 teaspoon, other than that followed the recipe . Thanks for sharing
Can I use almond flour instead of all purpose flour and if so, do I need to make any other adjustments?
You may be able to swap part of the all-purpose flour with almond flour, but I’m concerned the texture of the bread won’t be right with all almond flour. If you scroll down to the bottom, this piece on gluten-free baking has some information on using almond flour and potential tweaks that may. be necessary. Hope you find it helpful!
I didn’t have two loaf pans so I used my Bundt pan and added a little crumble topping…. Baaaaby, when I tell you it came out perfect …I could have ate the whole cake, very moist, perfect spice… great recipe!
I really love this recipe….only thing I changed was the amount of sugar…I did 1 cup instead becuz 2 was just way too sweet for our liking..I also jus did 3 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice….mmmmmmmm my go to recipe…thanks!
For all those whose bread was more dense and flatter than in the photos, I just made this for the second time and I think the trick to getting the rise is really beating the eggs, sugar and butter until very very fluffy, for several minutes as stated in the recipe. Mine was much higher the second try and that is the only thing I did differently. Either way it’s delicious!
This recipe was absolutely perfect! I did not have clove so I substituted ginger. My daughter asked me multiple times to make it again; each time while stuffing her face with big bites! Can you recommend how to keep that crust on the exterior for day two? When I stored it, it became soft/moist- still amazing though!!
Best recipe ever. I didn’t have nutmeg, but it didn’t matter. Added ginger instead. I added raisins, which made it even better. I also made small loaves in my pan that makes 8 little ones. The rest were muffins. So moist. Next time, I’ll put walnuts in it. Thank you
This is a really good recipe. The only thing I changed was swapping a cup of the white sugar out for dark brown sugar.
I did try this recipe. It turned out ok and tasted delicious. The only thing is that it did rise as much as the pictures in this web page show. It was pretty flat. It gets dense after being in the fridge overnight. I’m sure it’s something that I did wrong. I would try again.
Just made this for the second time and I think the trick to getting the rise is really beating the eggs, sugar and butter until very very fluffy. Mine was much higher the second try.
Hey there! What is the baking time needed for Muffins? Are there any other adjustments needed? Thanks
Hi Kelsey, if you’d like to make muffins, I’d suggest this recipe (and you can skip the topping if you’d prefer).
I was looking for the same recipe my mom used to make, this is it! I’ve made this several times and I’ve settled on 1 1/4 cup of sugar, can’t even tell a difference. Cut the nutmeg and cloves down to 1/2 tsp to help with heartburn. Also when I double the recipe, it fits with plenty of space in my 6 qt kitchen aid mixer, cooks for exactly 65 mins.