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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I was wondering if you could give me the recipe for just one loaf of bread? Thank you!
Hi Sam, you would just cut all the ingredients in half for one loaf. Hope you enjoy!
Will it be okay to substitute a healthy oil instead of using dairy (butter)?
Hi Fran, some readers have commented that they’ve used coconut oil with success. Hope you enjoy!
Hi, I am looking forward to trying out this recipe, but I only have one 9×5 loaf pan. I was wondering if you think it would still come out not flat if I poured a little more into the 9×5 and put the rest in a cupcake tin?
Hi Maria, it should work, but the bread will definitely be more dense. Hope you enjoy!
If you aren’t wedded to the idea of a loaf – and you have a tube or Bundt pan – you could bake the entire amount of batter in one of those –
Loved the pumpkin bread. Changed the flour to half whole wheat and added 1 cup raisins. Most bread pans are 9″x 5″ so the batter was a bit too small for 2 loaves.
Hi Linda! So did you put all of the batter in the 9×5 for one loaf? If so how did that impact baking time?
Thanks!
This was SO good! Best pumpkin bread I’ve ever had. I admit I was skeptical when I saw that the recipe has a full teaspoon of each ground cloves/nutmeg/cinnamon– I looked at the reviews to see what people substituted, but no one made any changes! I made the recipe exactly as written, except that I put both eggs in at the same time and beat them for a full 5-7 minutes like I do for banana bread. WOW. I made this on a Saturday, with the intention of freezing one loaf, but my teenagers loved it, and it was gone by Monday! They’ve begged me to make it again as soon as possible. It may actually be better than my banana bread, which is a real compliment. Thanks for posting the recipe!
Thanks Jenn, a friend tried this pumpkin bread recipe and shared it. One bite, and I knew I had to try to make it. Came out perfect. Thank you for sharing.
Loved it! I made this for my Marching Band section, and they adored it. They currently are asking me if I can make it again! Easy to follow along and fun recipe! 10/10 would bake again!
Wow! This is a great recipe, thanks so much for posting. I didn’t have the dried cloves the first time I made it so I used ginger and it was so awesome I have used ginger every time since. This recipe needs nothing extra but sometimes I add walnuts, sometimes pecans. Eventually I will try chocolate chips. I had some chestnut praline sprinkles from starbucks and I sprinkled that lightly before baking and it was so good. I used disposable EZ-Foil loaf pans and not sure if that makes a difference but I had to add extra time to baking, otherwise when you get to the middle of the loaf it’s not really done.
Definitely my favorite pumpkin bread recipe! It barely lasted past 24 hours! ♥️
I have already made this recipe twice, it is our go-to pumpkin bread recipe now! I would like to bake these 3-4 days in advance for an event. Do you think they would still be good? What do you think would be the best way to wrap and store them until serving?
Glad you like this Katy, I store this bread loosely wrapped in foil on the countertop — it keeps well for 3 to 4 days (but not much longer than that). Hope that helps!
Turned out great. Instead of two loaves I made one loaf and put the rest in a cupcake tin. I took those out after about half an hour and they were delicious as well.
This an exceptionally delicious recipe that I tried and added chopped pecans, (just because I had some and like them). It turned out to be delicious and irresistible to everyone.