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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Excellent recipe! Turned out beautifully and very tasty. I made a couple of modifications to accommodate for the fact that I only have 1 bread baking pan and wanted to reduce the sugar (per another reviewer’s suggestion above):
1. I poured all the batter into one 20cm x 10cm bread baking pan, and baked at a reduced temp of 320F for 85 min. Perfectly baked and still moist!
2. I reduced the sugar by 1/3 of a cup, and ended up only using 1 and 2/3 cups of sugar. Still perfectly sweet. I might even try 1 1/2cups of sugar next time but reducing the sugar didn’t impact the flavor at all since the pumpkin purée is already sweet.
H! I’m wanting to make these into cupcake sizes. Do you know how long they should cook for or any modifications I should make to the recipe if needed?
Hi Lindsey, I’d use this recipe (and feel free to omit the topping). Hope you enjoy!
I used only 1 1/4 cups sugar and baked it only 55 min. and it was perfect. Everyone loved it.
Question: What would be the best way to preserve this bread? We are thinking about freezing it until Thanksgiving but I just wanted to get the best taste from it when thawed.
Thanks!
Hi Shannon, this freezes nicely. See the bottom of the recipe for freezer-friendly instructions. 🙂
We doubled the recipe and went all out! We also used pumpkin spice instead of the individual spices it called for due to us only having pumpkin spice 🙂
This recipe is THE BOMB!! For it being my first Pumpkin bread bake I am REALLY impressed! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Pros: OMGOSH Moist!, Easy to follow instructions!, moist, easy…. Did I mention moist and easy to follow?
Cons: Everyone saw my post/pictures and came over to eat it all. :o|
How much pumpkin spice did you use? Thank you!
Hi Paula, If you’re making the original recipe (not doubling it), you’ll need 1 tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice. Hope that helps!
I have 9×5″ loaf pans, NOT 8×4″ pans. Can you please tell me what to adjust the cooking time to and whether or not I need to adjust the oven temperature??
Btw, I noticed that on that old newspaper recipe photo you included in your post, it notes the loaf pan sizes as 9×5 even though you have stated to use 8×4 loaf pan sizes. Did you change the pan size deliberately and, if so, why?
Anyway, please lmk if the bake time or oven temp needs to be adjusted for 9×5 loaf pans.
Thanks,
Ellen
Hi Ellen, If you want to use two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans, I’d recommend making 1.5 times the batter. The oven temp and baking time should remain the same. And I tweaked the original recipe from using the 9 x 5-inch pans because I thought they came out too dense and flat that way. Hope that helps and that you enjoy!
Thank you Jenn for your very clear response and instructions! I will make 1.5 times the batter…great solution.
Warm regards,
Ellen
Hi Jenn. I made this recipe for the first time today. It’s delicious! My husband is diabetic so I used Splenda (same amount) instead of sugar. I also used 2 9×5″ loaf pans. The 2 loaves came out about 1 1/2″ tall, not as fluffy as I thought they would be. I realize the pans might have been the problem. The loaves (1/2 eaten already) were dense but still taste great! I was wondering if the problem was using Splenda? They say to use the same amount and it’s supposed to be for baking?? Any ideas? Thanks for the recipe, I will be making this again, probably soon!
Hi Trish, I’ve never worked with a sugar substitute like Splenda but a number of readers have commented that they have successfully. And because the recipe calls for 8 x 4“ pans, I feel confident that using the 9 x 5“ loaf pans was the problem. Glad it tasted good though! 🙂
Thanks Jenn for the response. I will try again and use the correct size pans!
This recipe is perfect. My husband who doesnt even like pumpkin and earthy spices said he really likes the bread and ate it every day with his coffee. I just have one question…the bottom of the bread turned out denser and did not rise so I had some unevenness in baking. I put the entire recipe in a 23×13 cm ceramic dish (I technically should have made 3/4 of the recipe for that size) …Im wondering if this is because of the ceramic baking dish which has a fairly thick bottom or because I put too much batter in the dish. I mean it all fit, I filled it up almost to the surface.
Hi Tomi, Baking it all in one 23 x 13-cm dish will give you a dense loaf. Using two 20 x 10-cm loaf pans will give you a better result.
Perfect texture, perfect spice, everyone loved it. This will be my go-to pumpkin bread recipe from here on out!
Thank goodness I didn’t use the amount of cloves called for. I thought it must be a typo so I cut the amount in half and the taste of cloves was still way too overpowering. Also, the receipe is much to sweet, cut the sugar by a quarter, next time I’ll cut it a bit more. I substituted organic canned pumpkin. Otherwise, the loaf is very light, wonderful texture.
My son planted 5 pumpkin plants so I have been experimenting with different fresh pureed pumpkin recipes. I used 2 cups of pureed pumpkin and Krusteaz Gluten Free flour (but did not sift since GF flour needs a little more). It looks just like your pictures and should be ready soon!
This recipe is the Bomb!!