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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Love love love this bread. But unfortunately when making two, they didn’t rise to fill both pans, next time I’ll double the recipe if I want 2 loaves or use recipe add is for 1 loaf. Suggestion, add chocolate chips, yum! Thank you for this recipe, this will be passed on in my family from now on!
Can I use raw pumpkin seeds? Should I roast them first, would it make any difference? I like nuts in my breads, I thought pumpkin seeds would be nice since it’s a pumpkin bread! 🙂
Hi Monica, Sure you could add some roasted pepitas — I think they’d be pretty sprinkled on top too.
Thank you! It came out DIVINE! Pepitas were a huge hit, great addition 🙂
Can I use cooked and cooled fresh pumpkin?
Definitely! After it’s cooled, use a towel to squeeze out all of the extra liquid you can (so the bread isn’t too moist). Hope you enjoy!
I used gluten free flour and exchanged the sugar to brown sugar. It was excellent.
Which gluten-free flour did you use? I have King Arthur’s, but want to try the Cup4Cup. I hear it’s great.
Lynda
I plan on making this for Thanksgiving, and I was just wondering since I’m trying to stay away from sugar, is there a healthier alternative I could put in this recipe to substitute for sugar?
Hi Kandis, I don’t think that there’s an equivalent replacement for the sugar unless you wanted to try something like Stevia (but I don’t have any experience with it, so I’m not sure how it would affect the bread). You could also cut the sugar a bit (maybe by 1/4 cup), but reducing the sugar too much will alter the taste and texture. Hope that helps!
Thank you for replying. I will probably try the Stevia. I will do a test run first to make sure it tastes right. Thanks again.
Hi Jenn,
I’d like to make your pumpkin bread tonight, the only thing they don’t sell canned pumpkin here in Qatar ;( does it mean i should roast fresh pumpkin and then scoop it and carry on with the recipe?
Thanks so much x
A
Yes that should work, Aleksandra — just try to get the consistency similar to canned pumpkin (not too watery).
I tried this recipe and it was really good but for some reason the loaves didn’t rise very much at all, they were both quite dense and not tall, the only thing I did different was I used 1 1/2 cups of dark brown sugar and 1/2 cup of white sugar, I’m wondering if this is why I didn’t rise? I followed the recipe down to a T on the other ingredients
Hi Amy, This pumpkin bread is actually more like cake than bread, so it doesn’t rise much. That said, changing the sugar when baking can definitely change the results.
I thought my Mom had the best pumpkin recipe, I was wrong. This is the best!!! I love everything on this website!!
Can I double the recipe for four loaves?
Yes!
So I just got done making this pumpkin bread and for whatever reason the center of them sunk in. Not sure if I did something wrong or what? Can you please help me
Hi Brent, This bread is pretty predictable so I think something must’ve gone wrong. Might you have made a mistake with measuring? Or could you oven need adjusting? Sorry to hear you had a problem with it!
Hi. I am a seasoned baker and my results were similar to Brent’s. The flavor is good, but they sunk after cooling and are really dense, not like bread at all. Any ideas?
Ahh, discovered the problem: The “can” of pumpkin I used is 29 oz. not 15. I’ve only ever bought this size can for my pies, so I didn’t think to look. Doh!
Any suggestions for recovering?
Hi Lisa, Unfortunately, there’s no way to fix it once it’s baked. So sorry!