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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This will forever be my go-to pumpkin bread recipe! It is moist and full of delicious flavors! I usually make one loaf and 12 large muffins. This has been the recipe I have used for a few years now when I make my “First Day of Fall pumpkin bread”. It usually doesn’t last more than a day.
Can I use regular butter instead of unsalted butter?
Sure, Andres – just reduce the added salt to 1/8 tsp.
This cake was delicious and moist, nice blend of spices. I added unsalted pumpkin seeds to the batter and top, wonderful crunch. Thanks for sharing this recipe, a keeper for our family.
Best pumpkin bread I have ever had!!! Only change I made to the recipe is reducing the sugar slightly and adding more cinnamon [never can have enough cinnamon :)] and it still turned out very well.
Amazing bread!! Lighter but still moist and a ton of flavor! Will always use this recipe.Thank you for sharing!
Halved the recipe since I only have 1 loaf pan, it was done at 70 minutes in a glass loaf pan greased with refined organic coconut oil (I didn’t want a coconut flavor so I use refined) and floured. I added the topping from the pumpkin pecan crunch muffins and it was heavenly! I didn’t have pecans, but regular walnuts (not black) worked very well and I am allergic to cloves and always substitute ground allspice for cloves and the combo was spot on! Had a little difficulty getting through the topping to test for doneness, so I also went by color since it was a glass loaf pan. 70 minutes seemed perfect and I kept the bread in the loaf pan since it had the topping and it cut and served beautifully. Only problem was, it didn’t last too long! HAHA HA! Thanks again!
Best Pumpkin bread I’ve ever had or made. I used fresh pumpkin puree instead and only 1.5 cups of sugar (and a little extra flour due to removing sugar) and it turned out amazing. Took 62 minutes. Keeper!
Can I substitute oil in this recipe? Or for 1/2 the butter? I need to make this for 120 people, and the cost of all butter would not be budget-friendly for me. 🙂 Also, can you give me a general idea of how many servings I should expect from one loaf? Thank you–it looks delicious!
Hi Nancy, Unfortunately, oil won’t work in this recipe. Sorry! You’ll get 12 slices per loaf and I’d allow for at least 2 slices per person.
I tried this recipe yesterday, 2 loaves pumpkin and 2 loaves sweet potato. They are absolutely delicious 🙌 I will continue to search and try your recipes. Thanks for sharing!
Janet Pair
janetpair@yahoo.com
This is by far the BEST pumpkin bread recipe I’ve ever made. It was super moist and had great fall flavor from the spices. I added walnuts to mine. Yum!