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’ve had many different pumpkin bread recipes over the years. None of them compares to this. In fact, I’ve thrown out all the others and this is the only one I’m keeping. It is PERFECT. Make it exactly as written. Your family will be begging you to make this again and again.
I added more cinnamon and put oven on 350. Made it for Thanksgiving and everyone ate it within hours and not the meal. I also added walnuts to the recipe which I put in everything. Making it tonight for Christmas and not cooking this year. Funny because no one likes pumpkin around here and it is so healthy.
This is My “ go to” pumpkin bread recipe and have tried it out vs. other one which used oil( not as healthy) and all my extended family who ate both, Hands Down Loved your recipe! I have lots of my daughters friends who also enjoy and the denseness and spices flavor is great. I only have pumpkin spice in my cabinet which works great for this so then I do 3 tsps( I do more) of the pumpkin spice and I add pecans 1/2 cup as well some of the time. Thanks Jenn! From Jenn(:
My family absolutely loved this! My son’s girlfriend who doesn’t like pumpkin pie loved it too. My husband is dairy free so I used dairy free butter and it still was fab!
By far the best pumpkin bread I’ve ever made and eaten!
Hi Jenn,
I am hoping to make mini loaves with this pumpkin bread recipe, but I was not sure as to how much batter I should make to fill 8 mini loaf pans. Would one batch of this recipe work? How much time do I cook it for? Do I reduce the temperature at all?
Hi Evelyn, I think you’d get about 4 to 5 mini loaves from this batter. I would keep the temperature the same but cut the baking time. I’d start checking them at about 35 minutes. Hope that helps!
Hello Jen,
I just finished baking the pumpkin bread. I doubled the recipe and substituted 1cup of white for 1cup of brown sugar. I like having the measurements in cups as it saves converting to grams for Australia I have to convert the oven temperature though I put it on 160c in a fan forced electric.
The bread came out perfectly, it just slid out of the tins so easily, I left them upside down for a little while as it cools off to let the heat expel more evenly. Looking forward to seeing more of your recipes.🙏
I didn’t like it. First of all too light in color and too tasteless. I even added a lot more spices than called for.
I’m a little late in the baking game, but this so simple and absolutely DELICIOUS! 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing and happy holidays.
Can I substitute oil for butter?
Hi Mara, generally I’d say no, but some readers have commented they’ve used coconut oil with success. (Other than using coconut oil, I’d stick with butter.) Hope you enjoy!
I made this recipe and brought it to work. Everyone LOVED it. It got such good reviews that I am going to give loaves out as Christmas gifts to friends. I made another test batch with smaller loaf pans The recipe makes 4 of those loaves. I cooked it for 50 minutes.
I’ve made your recipe several times now and everyone loves it! I followed some of the reviewers advice and reduced the amount of cloves (I’m not a huge cloves fan) and it turned out great. As other reviewers have stated, the bread doesn’t seem to rise very high? Could this bread be made in a pan like a cake, and if so, what size pan and how do I alter the baking time and temp?
Hi Janet, Your pans may be a little too big if the bread is flat. You can definitely make versions of this bread in a cake pan — see this pumpkin cake and this pumpkin Bundt. Hope that helps!