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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If I used the small tins to make these for Christmas how long should I cook for?
It depends on the size of the tins, Ron, but for the smallest I’d start checking around 20-25 minutes.
I made this yesterday. Yum! Thank you for sharing! I have 9×5 loaf pans, next time I’ll add 1/2 to the regular recipe, so they will be a little thicker, but delicious!!
I absolutely enjoyed making this recipe. It was very delicious my family loved it.
Quick note, I followed the recipe the only ingredients I did not add were the nutmeg and clove and instead of white sugar I used brown sugar and added coconut flakes. Came out super moist and definitely delicious.
I made this yesterday exactly as written. The texture was good and it was very moist. I will say that it had a very heavy clove flavor that dominates the pumpkin. I brought it to a BBQ and coulle people liked it, most didn’t. If I make this again I would cut down on the clove.
Same here … the clove dominated the flavor and we didn’t care for it. Probably pitching ☹️
I’m not sure what went wrong, but the bread is very greasy tasting and not very flavorful. I added a stick and a half of unsalted butter as the recipe called for. The only change I made was to half the nutmeg because I don’t enjoy nutmeg. Has anyone else had this issue?
Kristen, Sorry you had a problem with the pumpkin bread! It definitely shouldn’t be greasy — Any chance you measured something incorrectly?
I’ve never even had pumpkin bread before this…it’s amazing. I changed a couple things. I used 2 cups of fresh pumpkin puree vs. canned and I used Cup-4-Cup gluten free flour.
The gluten free flour isn’t the best when it comes to grease/coat your pan before baking. I can only suggest that if you use this gluten free flour you should take the bread out of the pan about 15 minutes after the bread comes out of the oven. If you let it stay in the pan it gets a little soggy.
BEST Pumpkin Bread I have ever had!!! Every recipe on this website is perfect
After cleaning our pantry, I noticed we had some extra cans of pumpkin to use up and decided to try this recipe. It is fantastic!! It baked for 65 minutes and came out perfectly. This is now our favorite pumpkin recipe. <3
Is it ok to use self rising flour and omit salt, baking powder and baking soda?
Hi Kimberly, I would recommend sticking with the all-purpose flour here for the best results, but if you want to go with self-rising, here’s some guidance on the necessary tweaks. I’d love to hear how it turns out!
Halved the recipe & made one loaf. Absolutely splendid!! Fluffy, moist and the flavour is spot-on. I thought it would be too sweet but after baking, the sweetness was just right. Usually I dislike anything to do with pumpkins, but this recipe + your pumpkin pie made me change my mind.