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 did not have a mixer when I made this recipe.
I mixed half the sugar (with a spoon) with the dry ingredients and the other half I creamed with a fork in the butter, I added the pumpkin and the eggs. I also added an extra egg (total of 3 eggs), a cup of chopped walnuts (sprinkled some on the tops of the loaves), and teaspoon of pure vanilla when I mixed the wet ingredients.
OMG! So good that even my mother in law liked it!
This bread is so delicious! I only had one loaf pan so I split it up between the loaf pan and the Wilton Brownie Bar pan, that makes 12 individual brownies, but I filled only 9 of the sections and baked it for 25-30 minutes. Added some walnuts to it and grated some walnuts on top. Goodness gracious they are good and moist! I am making this my go to pumpkin bread!
This is a solid Pumpkin Bread recipe, however, it mostly tasted like cloves. We’re going to try it again halving the spice amounts (with 1/4 the clove amount, as cloves are so strong). Hopefully, it will taste a little more pumpkin-forward.
I left the cloves out altogether and added a teaspoon of pumpkin seasoning. The clove was too powerful.
Thanks for the tip! I was going to try making it with half the amount of cloves next time. I’ll try the pumpkin seasoning!
It’s very good but my family and friends like my old recipe better. I don’t use cloves. Cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg, Everything is slightly different. I also add a pack of instant vanilla pudding to the mix. The clove taste was a little overpowering for all of us. Still, it was different.
Flavor of this loaf is lovely.
Mine didn’t rise to great, could I have over mixed it? Got a new counter top mixer for Mother’s Day and just had to try it. Tasted good and will try again.
Janet
Hi Janet, Did you by chance use larger loaf pans?
Fabulous, easy and turned out great….grandchildren are asking me to make it for Thanksgiving. Will make again very soon. Thanks for the great recipe.
This pumpkin bread is so good! Was doing some baking and had never made pumpkin bread before, but wanted to try it. This recipe seemed tried and true so I gave it a shot. I didn’t have nutmeg and cloves so I substituted pumpkin pie spice for them. Other than that I followed the recipe. It is a hit with my family and I have made it five times. I like that the recipe makes two loaves because it doesn’t last long around here.
Try adding fresh (or frozen, then thawed) cranberries. Tastes like Thanksgiving all year round. I haven’t tried your recipe yet – just wanted to make the comment.
I had seen a complicated recipe for pumpkin bread earlier this week and since then I couldn’t stop thinking about pumpkin bread! But I didn’t want it to be overly complicated, yet I wanted it to be tasty. That’s how I found this recipe. I halved the recipe to make one loaf (it’s just me). I followed the recipe exactly, but did immediately regret using so much sugar. The bread came out amazing nonetheless. And my entire house smelled delightful. Other than adding less sugar next time (I plan to reduce it by half), I’ll keep using this recipe! I can’t wait to have more bread tomorrow morning with coffee.
I was looking for a recipe for pumpkin bread that did not use oil or shortening. I used butter in this one and it is absolutely an amazing recipe. The only thing I changed was that I added a little more cinnamon, but I always do that in recipes. This baked up beautifully in the loaf pans and is so moist and tender. I sprinkle the top with sugar before I baked it to give it a little crust on it. Delicious. This is a keeper.
Cooks better at 350 deg