Pumpkin Bread
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my full disclosure policy.
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!
You May Also Like
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
Powered by 
- 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.
See more recipes:
Comments
Add a Comment
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
This is divine! Super easy and so tasty. I used my own homegrown pumpkin and cooked/mashed enough until it weighed 425gm. Silly me though added it in whilst still warm so it made the mixture runnier than shown in the video so I added 1/2 C self raising flour to thicken it up. It turned out perfect and my house was filled with the most delicious homely scent! Love the fact it makes two loaves! I only had one loaf tin and a normal square cake tin and turned out perfect in both. Thank you so very much. This is an absolute winner!
Wowza! I just made this recipe last night and it’s wonderful! It’s moist and sweet. I kept the total amount of sugar in mine and found it very tasty and not over powering. However the only tweak I made was that I reduced the clove and nutmeg in half to 1/2 teaspoon and kept the cinnamon at a 1 full teaspoon. You can always add more to the batter before you bake if you feel it needs it. Anyway, a lil powdered sugar/vanilla icing drizzled on top after it cools would be excellent on it too. I’m definitely making this again! Thank you for sharing!!
Honestly I loved this recipe! It came out moist and perfect just like the pictures. It had just the right amount of each spice to make it taste so good!
So tasty! But I would reduce the sugar. I took out one quarter cup and it was still a little too sweet. Cup and a half would be perfect sugar even for a sweet tooth like me.
This was very tasty and very moist. I finished mixing everything and the dough seemed too dry to be able to pour into the bread pans. I doublechecked the recipe to see if I missed a liquid and suddenly realized my can of pumpkin was still sitting there unopened. [FACEPALM]. So I had to mix that in after everything else was mixed, but it still turned out perfectly.
Definitely grease the pan well, both of my loaves stuck to the bottom when I tried to get them out, but that didn’t affect the taste at all. I’m tempted to try tossing in some walnuts or pecans next time. I baked for the minimum time and it was just right.
Quick tip if you didn’t know, for loaves I grease my pans with oil then sprinkle some flour on top of that, then your batter last!
So good. I’ve been using this recipe for years and absolutely love it. My 5 year old can’t get enough of the bread!
Hi Jenn
I’ve made this recipe a lot with the 2 pans. I recently got the USA mini loaf pan . Any suggestions on bake time and temp ?
Thanks
Debra
Hi Debra, if it’s a standard size mini loaf pan, I’d keep the temperature the same and start checking for doneness at 35 minutes.
Made these twice and disappointed both times. This recipe must be plagued with bots because there’s no way this many people are making it and it is coming out correctly. Too stodgy and never cooks through. Find a difference recipe!
I make this all the time and each time it comes out perfect. I have people asking me for the recipe. Are you measuring everything correctly?
No, I measured each ingredient incorrectly both times I made it.
Yes, of course the ingredients are measured correctly and there are zero substitutions made.
Agreed
I have made this and I’m making some more today. Very good, easy and moist. Will only use this recipe now. Thanks.
The ultra-soft crumb and the light, crisp top are lovely. I subbed pumpkin pie spice for the spices, golden yellow sugar for half the sugar total, and about 1/3 of the butter I used was browned. My loaves turned out shorter, but that’s because my loaf pans are larger. I will definitely make this again, but probably halving the recipe (I appreciate that this recipe is easily halved).