Pumpkin Bread
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My perfectly spiced homemade Pumpkin Bread recipe is simple to make and is topped with a simple vanilla glaze. Recipe includes a how-to video!
An Easy, No-Fail Pumpkin Bread
Those of you who’ve been following the blog for some time (👋🏻) know that I’ve never really been a big pumpkin fan myself. I’ll eat it and even enjoy it, but I’d much rather have something chocolate.
Zach, however, loves pumpkin and every year insists upon at least a few recipes (and I get a lot of requests from readers every year, too!). You have him to thank for my pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin muffins, and he takes the responsibility of being my #1 taste-tester on all things pumpkin very, very seriously.
After begging me for weeks for a pumpkin bread, I finally caved and set to work developing the perfect recipe (by his standards, anyway!). It took nearly ten tries but here we are, and I hope you love this recipe as much as Zach does!
What You Need
Brief overview. Recipe is easy, here’s what I use.
- Pumpkin. Canned pumpkin is perfect for this recipe, but make sure you grab a can that is 100% pumpkin and not “pumpkin pie mix” which contains additives that you do not need.
- Oil & Butter. Oil adds to the moisture of the bread while butter gives us a great flavor.
- Sugar. I use both brown sugar and granulated. I like dark brown because it adds extra moisture and flavor, but light brown will work instead.
- Eggs. You will need two. I recommend large eggs but have successfully used extra large and even jumbo in this recipe.
- Buttermilk adds moisture and flavor to pumpkin bread.
- Flour. Make sure you don’t accidentally over-measure your flour! I only recommend using all-purpose flour.
- Baking powder & baking soda. The two work together to give this cake the proper lift and texture.
- Pumpkin spice & cinnamon. While pumpkin spice already contains cinnamon, I like to amp up the cinnamon tones by adding a bit extra. Don’t forget you can always make your own pumpkin spice!
- Salt & vanilla extract. For flavor.
Tip: If you don’t have buttermilk, try my easy buttermilk substitute instead! Pour 3/4 teaspoon of either white vinegar or lemon juice into a measuring cup, then add whole milk and fill to the 1/4 cup line. Stir briefly and let sit for 5 minutes before using!
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Pumpkin Bread
Pumpkin bread batter couldn’t be easier to prepare:
- Whisk together your dry ingredients
- Whisk together your wet ingredients separately
- Carefully combine the two (I fold mine together with a spatula or wooden spoon — never use an electric mixer!).
- Bake batter in a bread pan
- After cooling, drizzle with my vanilla glaze.
It’s very similar to my well-loved banana bread, only there’s no banana-mashing required.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! Stir in 1-1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips, raisins, or your favorite chopped nuts after combining the wet and dry ingredients.
Store in an airtight container (or wrapped in plastic wrap or foil) at room temperature for up to 5 days. Good luck getting it to last that long!
Yes, this bread freezes well. Allow it to cool completely and then wrap tightly in plastic wrap (and I usually wrap in foil for good measure, too). It will keep frozen for several months.
You can easily make your own using my pumpkin spice recipe!
Vanilla Glaze
I like to drizzle the top of my pumpkin bread with a vanilla glaze. This is essentially the same one I use on my bundt cake and is slightly enriched with a bit of melted butter.
You can skip this glaze and either sprinkle the batter with some granulated sugar for texture/flavor just before baking (which I did in my video) or skip it entirely.
More Recipes For The Pumpkin Lover
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! Be sure to check out the how-to VIDEO in the recipe card!
Pumpkin Bread
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin spice
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups (345 g) pumpkin puree
- ¼ cup (60 ml) avocado, canola or vegetable oil, (any neutral cooking oil will work in this recipe)
- ¼ cup (60 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until no longer hot
- ⅔ cup (135 g) dark brown sugar¹, firmly packed
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (60 ml) buttermilk
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten, room temperature preferred
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
Glaze² optional
- 1 cup (125 g) powdered sugar
- 1 Tablespoon melted butter, salted or unsalted
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2-4 teaspoons milk, plus more as needed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and grease and flour the bottom and 1" up the sides of a bread pan³. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, pumpkin spice, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt, and set aside.2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour, ¾ teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, 2 teaspoons pumpkin spice, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon salt
- In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin puree, oil, and melted butter. Stir until well-combined and then stir in sugars.1 ½ cups (345 g) pumpkin puree, ¼ cup (60 ml) avocado, canola or vegetable oil, ¼ cup (60 g) unsalted butter, ⅔ cup (135 g) dark brown sugar¹, ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- Add buttermilk, eggs and vanilla extract and stir until combined.¼ cup (60 ml) buttermilk, 2 large eggs, 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- Add dry ingredients to wet and gently fold together with a spatula or spoon until just combined. Do not over-mix, it will make your bread dense/dry.
- Evenly spread batter into prepared pan. If you will not be using the glaze you might wish to sprinkle the batter generously with coarse sugar.
- Transfer to 350F (175C) preheated oven and bake for 55-60 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean (or preferably with a few moist crumbs).
- Allow to cool for 15 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack to cool completely before decorating with glaze (if using).
Glaze
- Whisk together powdered sugar, butter, vanilla extract and 2 teaspoons milk. If glaze is too stiff, add additional milk, one teaspoon at a time, until glaze falls in a ribbon from the whisk (if glaze is too runny, add more powdered sugar).1 cup (125 g) powdered sugar, 1 Tablespoon melted butter, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, 2-4 teaspoons milk
- Drizzle over cooled bread, allow to cool and then slice and enjoy!
Notes
¹Brown sugar
You can substitute light brown sugar if needed. The dark brown gives the pumpkin bread more moisture and a deeper, richer flavor.²Glaze:
You can skip the glaze entirely or, after pouring the batter into the pan sprinkle generously with additional granulated sugar before baking.³Bread pan:
I linked to the bread pan that I used in the equipment section above. It’s slightly smaller than a standard 9×5 bread pan, but this recipe will work in either size pan.Storing
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Bread may also be tightly wrapped and frozen for several months.Gluten free:
This recipe has been successfully made using Cup4Cup flour. It was noted that the batter can become very viscous and difficult to work with, but the bread has turned out!Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
Loved this recipe! Thank you! May add a bit more spice next time 🙂
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Nancy! 🙂
Just made the bread, exactly as the recipe said and it was excellent. Better than my old favorite. I didn’t have any course sugar to put on top except my sugar for cookie decorating, red and green, and it looked so festive! I also don’t make blueberry muffins or banana muffins but your recipes, they’re the best.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Janice! 🙂
Mmmmm! Just made this for my first fall baking and it’s terrific. Perfect blend of spices and sweetness. I always like when you use oil (I use avocado) and butter plus white and brown sugars! I just did the sugar sprinkle and it was a half-time hit! Will try to post a picture on Facebook! Thanks Sam! 💗
So glad you enjoyed this one, Fran! Thanks for coming back to leave a review 🙂
This Pumpkin Bread served with a chicken dinner was a big hit! I’m loving your pumpkin recipes this October. You’re magically bringing an autumnal feel to the Gulf Coast! For that, I’m buying you some butter!
Thank you so much, Gina! I’m so glad you are enjoying everything so much and I truly appreciate your support! 🙂
Hi Sam,
Gosh I just love this Pumpkin loaf recipe and have made it at least five times since last fall. I love to share, but rather than a slice, or two I’d like to bake mini loafs as gifts. Can you tell me time & temp for smaller versions?
Happy Halloween 🎃
I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed it so much, Denise! Unfortunately I haven’t personally made it in a mini loaf pan so I’m not sure how long it would need to bake. The temperature would remain the same it will just need a lot less time in the oven.
One of my Zoomer coworkers just called this pumpkin bread “S-Tier pumpkin bread,” raved about the texture, and demanded the recipe, so I think that says a lot about how great this recipe is–especially since my runs-too-hot oven totally burned the top edges of the bread before it was done baking, but the reviews have still been 10 out of 10 great, and the bread is almost gone within a few days of its arrival at the office! Next time I make it, I’ll have to tent some foil over the top during the last 15-ish minutes of baking. Either way, this recipe is yet another winner!
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Erica! 🙂
I am baking this right now and I already know it will be the best pumpkin bread! How? Because the freaking batter was better than any batter I’ve ever tasted!!! I come here for all baking recipes. Thank you so much for posting!
Thank you so much, Tia! I hope the final product was perfection! 🙂
It absolutely was!
Insanely soft, insanely moist – but the flavor wasn’t where I expected it be after having made the crazy delicious “best pumpkin muffins” on this site.
Absolutely love this bread. So moist and such flavor!!! Best pumpkin bread I’ve ever made. Thank you for making these recipes readily available to us to bake with confidence.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Linda! 🙂
WOW!!! This pumpkin bread is absolutely delicious. I will only follow this recipe. It was a huge hit ! You are amazing Sam. I watched your video and I know pumpkin is not your thing but this bread rocks with texture and flavor 😋
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Lynette! 🙂
I baked two pumpkin breads. Followed the recipe for the bread, did not do any kind of icing/topping. It was fantastic!
Will definitely bake again and will use small loaf pans for gifting.
Thank you for this and all the other beautiful recipes you create and for the easy to follow instructions. I appreciate it!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Barb! 🙂
Ok, I’m sitting here trying to decide if I should make this pumpkin bread or your scones (might make both if I get ambitious on this rainy day). But even before I make either, I have to tell you that I LOVE the way you wrote out the recipe, with the ingredients also listed right below each step. That has always driven me crazy with recipes – that you have to keep scrolling up and down the page, trying to match up ingredients with the steps, losing your place along the way. So, right off the bat, thank you! Now I’ll go make the bread or the scones!
You’re so welcome, Marlene! You really can’t go wrong with either of them so I think you should just make and enjoy both. 😉
Last night I made this pumpkin bread recipe and I made my own butter milk( recipe that you share 😄). It was amazing with the look and definitely the taste.I just sprinkle granulated sugar on top before baking. The bread is moist and fluffy.
Im not a big fan of pumpkin either, but this is super good pumpkin bread recipe.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Siriwan! 🙂