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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Will this work with hand mixing or a vitamix blender.
I don’t think so, Vicki – sorry!
I just made this mixing by hand… it is in the oven now so I can’t wait to see how it turns out!
I want to triple the recipe, but I’m afraid the batter might not mix evenly if I make one giant batch. And then I wonder if I could successfully bake all 6 loaves at once if I rotate the pans throughout the bake? Or should I just mix one batch at a time and bake 2 at a time? Lol! So many questions! I would love to take a shortcut, but not if the end result will suffer ?
Hi Jennifer, Theoretically, tripling the recipe should work, as well as baking them all at once if your oven heats evenly. However, I am always a little apprehensive about increasing recipes by too much – it seems like something always goes wrong, whether I measure something incorrectly or my oven heats unevenly, and then I’m left with a lot of wasted ingredients. So if it were me, I’d probably double it but not triple it. Hope that helps!
I made this Pumpkin bread yesterday-IT came out AWESOME, SO FLAVORFUL AND REALLY MOIST!! Thank you for sharing this recipe. I will definitely make it for Many years to come. 🙂
I made this fantastic pumpkin bread for a family brunch. It turned out beautifully, moist and delicious. The only thing I tweaked were the spices. I used 1-1/2 t. of cinnamon and 1-1/2 t. of pumpkin pie spice, rather than the cinnamon/cloves/
nutmeg amounts specified. Outstanding. Now I have a reliable pumpkin bread recipe.
Hello, what size loaf pans do I need for this recipe?
Thank you
Hi Karisa, You’ll need 8-1/2 x 4-1/2-inch loaf pans.
So, how would using cooked pumpkin instead of canned change the recipe?
Hi Linda, Your results should be pretty similar. Just make sure that after you’ve cooked the pumpkin and 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’m baking mini-loafs. Should they be half full with the batter, or more like two-thirds?
Hi Sarah, I would say two-thirds. Enjoy!
This is the BEST pumpkin bread I’ve ever made. I threw all the old recipes out once I tried this one. It is so moist, flavorful, and easy to make. I did add some honey roasted pecans (the ones you toss into salads) to the batter. I gave it a sweet little crunch. It was such a hit in our office too!
Could fresh cranberries be added to your recipe? If so, how much and would any other adjustments need to be made? Thanks.
Hi Janice, You can definitely try it but I worry that they will add too much moisture — this bread is very moist already. You might increase the flour by 1/2 cup.
how long to bake if if use a 9×13 pan?
Hi Trish, I think you’ll need two 9 x 13 dishes for this. They shouldn’t take as long to bake. I’d start checking for doneness at about 45 minutes.