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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Hello!! Has anyone adapted this recipe to be vegan with success? I’d love to hear what you did! Otherwise I might trial some options myself… this is my all-time favorite pumpkin bread recipe, but my youngest daughter has and egg and dairy allergy. Thank you, all! And thanks to Jenn for the best recipes.
I bake a lot, I was attracted to this recipe because it uses the whole can of pumpkin and it is very simple/easy. I followed the directions as stated, and added 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 tablespoon pumpkin extract, and 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips. The bread/cake turned out moist and delicious! The loaves rise, but not the full height of a bread pan (if you want full height slices, I believe you can use just 1 bread pan – depending on the size of the bread pan). This is now my go-to pumpkin bread recipe – I plan to also use this recipe for pumpkin muffins!
Made it and was delish, but a little sweeter than preferred. I made it with roasted pumpkin, so not sure if that’s the reason, but next time I will use 1 1/2 cups of sugar instead of 2. Thanks for sharing
Oh my goodness this pumpkin bread is HEAVENLY! So moist, just the right amount of pumpkin, and spice. I ended up using pumpkin pie spice but added a little more than a tablespoon (a little extra pumpkin spice never hurts!) Will definitely make again!
So glad you mentioned pumpkin spice. I have that as well and I was missing 2 out of the 3spices.
*Have not given it a rating, since I haven’t baked it yet
so easy, sooo moist, soooo good !
I discovered this recipe about 6 months ago, it is the BEST.
We make this just about every other week, put one loaf in the freezer so we can have a loaf on hand every weekend. No kidding, is that great.
This bread is super good. Definitely making it again. I’ve read the comments beforehand and used only half of the amount of sugar and it was still very sweet so I too recommend using much less sugar. But other than that it’s moist, fluffy and delicious.
Plan to make in a 9×5 pan plus some muffins. What will the respective baking times be? Thanks!
Hi Peggy, baking time for the 9 x 5-inch loaf pan should be about the same if not just a touch longer. And you can use this recipe as a guide for the muffins. Hope you enjoy!
I have made pumpkin bread for 35 years and am anxious to try this recipe with butter instead of oil. Hope it is moist. I also add pecans sometimes and bake in metal coffee cans that I’ve had for 35 years! Makes a pretty loaf. Thanks for sharing!
This is my favorite pumpkin bread! I love the amount of spices used in the recipe! Very easy to make.
The texture is perfect and I like the amount of spices. But it was way sweeter than I like. I will probably use just 1 cup of brown sugar next time instead of 2 cups of white. I only had one loaf pan so I had enough batter left for 11 muffins. Took those out at 40 minutes, left the loaf for the whole 75 minutes.
OMG! We decided to try this recipe for our fresh grown pumpkin that we baked and puréed. It was so good! We are a family of 4 and the first loaf was gone within minutes of taking it out of the oven!
Did you squeeze out any water? Did you use 15 oz? I used to make this almost weekly in San Francisco for my daughter’s school– it was great even with flax eggs and coconut oil. We moved to Australia and are without canned pumpkin so have been experimenting with different kinds of squash/pumpkins, but have been boiling; baking might be better. In any event, we love, love, love the recipe. Lately, I’ve used 1.5 cups wholemeal spelt and .5 cup buckwheat flours.