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.
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 was so moist and delicious!! This was my first time baking pumpkin bread, and this recipe is a keeper! I think next time I’ll add some walnuts for a bit of texture. I shared a loaf at work, and kept one for my family. It was a big hit! Thank you so much for sharing it. Happy holidays, and many blessings to you and your family. 🙂
Not good – followed the recipe exactly & mush in the middle! I’m not the only one apparently…
Hello!
My first time making this recipe!
Can you refrigerate the batter and bake at a later time? If so how long can the batter last in the fridge?
Thanks!
Hi Becca, Unfortunately, it won’t work to refrigerate the batter as the cake/bread won’t rise well when you go to bake it. If you’d like, you can mix the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet in another and then combine them and proceed with the recipe when you’re ready to bake it.
Absolutely the best pumpkin bread recipe I’ve ever made
We only buy self-rising flour, and salted butter. Can I use those, and if so, what do i need to omit, or add?
Hi Marlene, I don’t recommend using self-rising flour – sorry! If you’d like to use salted butter, that’s fine; each stick has about 1/4 teaspoon salt so you’d need to reduce the salt in the recipe accordingly. Hope that helps!
Thank you for such a delicious recipe! It wasnt too sweet and just perfect use of the pumpkin puree I had from the pumpkin guts I had cooked and blended. I was even able to use 1 cup of while wheat flour and 1 of white and 1 cup of brown sugar with a cup of white and it still turned out delicious 😀
Finally, a pumpkin bread recipe that uses ingredients I actually have in my kitchen, and canned pumpkin that I can find and buy! Thank you, I can’t wait to make this!
I would like to try making mini-loaves from your recipe. Any suggestions on baking time?
Thanks!
Hi Carol, I’d start checking them at 35 – 40 minutes. Enjoy!
I would love to try this recipe but have pumpkins I have grown on my allotment so want to use fresh pumpkin. Can you give me any advice to make it into the purée to add to your recipe please? Is it just softened purée or is there sugar in the tinned purée.
Hi Wendy, You can use fresh pumpkin here. You’ll need to roast it first to get it really soft. Also, make sure to drain it of excess water so that the consistency is similar to that of canned pumpkin. (And the canned pumpkin has no sugar or spices so you won’t need to add anything to your pumpkin. Hope you enjoy!
Thank you for responding so quickly and for your advice. I’m definitely going to try your recipe – I love the idea that it is from an old recipe kept from your grandmother.
Hi Wendy, I also always use fresh pumpkin in recipes that call for canned pumpkin. There are 2 kinds of canned pumpkin, just plan pumpkin purée and the other is pumpkin pie filling. I just substitute the amount of canned pumpkin the recipe calls for with fresh pumpkin purée, in this case 15 oz of canned to 1&3/4 cup of fresh.
Wondering how this recipe would turn out with half whole wheat flour. Just trying to make it a little healthier.
Hi Merle, the whole wheat flour will change the texture a little, but I think you can get away with it. Please lmk how it turns out!
I used 1C of whole wheat flour and 1C of oatmeal, tasted very good but didn’t rise.