Homemade pumpkin bread is a favorite fall recipe packed with cinnamon spice and tons of pumpkin flavor. Extra moist and easy to make, this recipe has been a fan favorite for years. You don’t even need a mixer! The days of bland pumpkin bread are behind us.
I originally published this recipe in 2014 and have since added new photos, a video tutorial, and a few more success tips.
One reader, Laura, commented: “Wanted to say this bread is really good! And last year when I took some of my farmers markets breads to our county fair, this is one of the breads I entered for judging, got a blue ribbon, 1st place, for it! Very good! ★★★★★”
When September rolls around, I have the sudden urge to make every quick bread recipe under the sun. Some of my favorites are banana bread, apple cinnamon bread, and this orange beauty: the BEST pumpkin bread I’ve ever had. This is a favorite pumpkin bread recipe because each slice is incredibly moist and the process is very straightforward. There are no dry crumbs here! This pumpkin bread is also packed with pumpkin and pumpkin spice flavors. I’m telling you… this is some good stuff.
Perfecting This Pumpkin Bread Recipe
When I was testing this pumpkin bread recipe, it took me about 6 or 7 tries to get it just right. After plenty of sunken, soggy, and flavorless loaves, I finally mastered what ingredients and how much of each to use, and the result is pumpkin perfection. The recipe is a lot like these pumpkin muffins.
Here are the key ingredients you need & why:
- Pumpkin: There’s a lot of pumpkin in this recipe because it not only adds flavor, but moisture as well. I always bake with canned pumpkin, but homemade pumpkin puree works too. If you’re interested, here’s how to make pumpkin puree. Make sure you blot your homemade pumpkin puree to rid some of the moisture (not necessary if using canned pumpkin). Simply measure your homemade pumpkin puree, then squeeze out some of the moisture with a paper towel.
- Oil: Adds incredible moisture and lightens up the crumb. Vegetable oil is best, but you can substitute melted coconut oil instead.
- Favorite Fall Spices: Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves… the gang’s all here! These 4 spices complement the pumpkin flavor wonderfully (and are often found together in pumpkin pie and many other pumpkin recipes). You could also use pumpkin pie spice—see my recipe Note below.
- Orange Juice: I know orange juice seems strange here, but don’t be nervous. This bread will NOT taste like oranges. I use orange juice because a little liquid keeps the bread from tasting too dense. Milk works too if you don’t have orange juice, but the subtle orange flavor is like magic in this bread. It just works.
- Chocolate Chips: Optional, but if you’re a chocolate lover, pumpkin + chocolate is always a good idea. You can also add chocolate chips to other quick bread recipes like zucchini bread and peanut butter chocolate chip zucchini bread.
Here’s the batter and a couple pictures of the bread without chocolate chips:
Why You’ll Love This Pumpkin Bread Recipe:
- Delicious in the fall
- Smells wonderful while it bakes
- Easy to make—no mixer required
- Extra moist
- Tons of pumpkin flavor
- Loaded with warm spices
- Adaptable—studded with chocolate chips, or use chopped pecans, add a swipe of cinnamon butter, or leave plain
- Similar to banana bread, it tastes even better on day 2 (if it lasts that long!)
I love this pumpkin bread recipe so much that I included it in my first cookbook, Sally’s Baking Addiction. It’s always a hit, especially when pumpkin spice season picks up!
But after 1 taste, you might not want to limit this quick bread to the fall season. 🙂
Another reader, Liz, commented: “This is by far the best pumpkin bread recipe I have made… It’s moist and loaded with flavor. I love the orange juice that adds a fresh flavor to it. I add some orange zest that kicks up the orange flavor a bit. It goes well with the chocolate chips too. ★★★★★”
More Perfect Pumpkin Recipes
- Pumpkin Muffins & Mini Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Muffins
- Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies & Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
- Pumpkin Roll
- Brown Butter Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies & Pumpkin Oatmeal Cream Pies
- Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Pumpkin Bundt Cake
- Pumpkin Coffee Creamer
- Pumpkin Hand Pies
- Recipes to Make With Leftover Pumpkin Puree
For even more inspiration, here are my 30+ best pumpkin dessert recipes.
Print
My Best Pumpkin Bread
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
- Yield: 1 loaf
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Homemade pumpkin bread is a favorite fall recipe packed with sweet cinnamon spice, tons of pumpkin flavor, and optional chocolate chips.
Ingredients
- 1 and 3/4 cups (219g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg*
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves*
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger*
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup (150g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 and 1/2 cups (340g) pumpkin puree (canned or fresh)
- 1/2 cup (120ml) vegetable oil, canola oil, or melted coconut oil
- 1/4 cup (60ml) orange juice*
- 2/3 cup (120g) semi-sweet chocolate chips*
Instructions
- Adjust the oven rack to the lower third position and preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Lowering the oven rack prevents the top of your bread from browning too much, too soon. Grease a metal 9×5-inch loaf pan with non-stick spray. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, and salt together until combined. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together until combined. Whisk in the pumpkin, oil, and orange juice. Pour these wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently mix together using a rubber spatula or a wooden spoon. There will be a few lumps. Do not over-mix. Gently fold in the chocolate chips, if including.
- Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 60–65 minutes, making sure to loosely cover the bread with aluminum foil halfway through to prevent the top from getting too brown. The bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean with only a few small moist crumbs. This may be before or after 60–65 minutes depending on your oven, so begin checking every 5 minutes around the 55-minute mark.
- Allow the bread to cool completely in the pan on a wire rack before removing and slicing.
- Cover and store leftover pumpkin bread at room temperature for up to 3–4 days, or in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Tip: Baked pumpkin bread can be frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9×5-inch Loaf Pan | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Cooling Rack
- Spices: You can use 1 teaspoon store-bought or homemade pumpkin pie spice instead of nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. Be sure to still add 2 teaspoons of cinnamon to the batter.
- Oil: Oil is a better choice than melted butter in this recipe. The bread is not as moist and soft if using butter.
- Orange Juice: You can substitute milk (any kind) for orange juice.
- Chocolate Chips: If desired, try using milk chocolate, white chocolate, dark chocolate, or even chopped pecans/walnuts instead of the semi-sweet chocolate chips. You can leave the pumpkin bread plain, too.
- Pumpkin Muffins: This recipe makes 15–18 pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. Bake for about 20 minutes at the same oven temperature, or try this similar pumpkin muffins recipe.
- Bundt Cake: Simply make this pumpkin Bundt cake (pretty much this exact recipe) and leave out the cream cheese filling. Add 1 and 1/2 cups chocolate chips if desired. About 1 hour bake time.
Reader Comments and Reviews
This is the ONLY pumpkin bread recipe in use now! Love it! I’m not a fan of cloves, so I just as a bit more cinnamon and nutmeg to make up for it.
Made these as muffins today. I only had 1 cup and a 1/4 of pumpkin leftover from other pumpkin stuff so I used that. I also used only 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Had my 5 year old and almost 3 year old do a lot of the work so that was nice to have an easy recipe for them to help me with. It made 20 muffins in 20 minutes. They were delicious. Perfect pumpkin and spice flavor. The right amount of chocolate and very moist. This will now be my go to pumpkin muffin recipe. I’m pretty sure I easily ate half a dozen in a sitting. Family loved them as well.
I’ve been making this bread for several years now and it has been a HIT! I even beat out a professional baker with this recipe. Depending on how I’m feeling I use either dark chocolate chips or cinnamon chips and it’s deeeellliiiccciiouusss. I’ve never gone wrong using your recipes. Thank you, Sally!
Just made two loaves this weekend! Soo good. I did have to cook it quite a bit longer, but I blame that on my old oven.
This recipe is fantastic! I always make it every Fall 🙂 I used dark chocolate chips, added an extra teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice, and baked the batter in three mini loaf pans. The loaves never last longer than three days!
I love this recipe. I like making muffins instead of the bread. I’ve been using whole wheat pastry flour in each batch I made. You can’t tell it’s whole wheat. I’ve also started using coconut sugar to replace all the sugar and it is wonderful! One time I added a cream cheese frosting when I took them to work. The muffins were a hit! I can’t believe there is orange juice in these. You can’t tell but it sure makes the taste awesome! Thanks for the recipe!
this was dynamite! I baked it for my dad’s birthday, and he loved it. it was so so soft, practically melted in my mouth! I used Nestle Tollhouse Dark Chocolate Chips which are much bigger than the semisweet ones. Every bite was a perfect mix of pumpkin, spices, and soft chocolate. I used milk instead of OJ and swapped out one egg for a “flax egg.” Might just go full on flax as an egg replacement next time, for my mother who’d prefer to not eat eggs at all. Thanks for this outstanding recipe!
I made this in an 8×4 + some muffins with the extra batter, and it was good on day 1, great on day 2, and AWESOME on day 3 after spending the night in the refrigerator–not sure what happened, but it aged into a delicious, ultramoist, almost fudgy deliciousness. My boyfriend (who insists he doesn’t like pumpkin) even loved it!!
I sprinkled some cinnamon sugar on top of some of the muffins before baking, and that came out nicely–may repeat that the next time I make this…
I love this recipe and have made it several times in 2 different ovens.
I always find I have to increase the cooking time by at least 20 minutes. Should I increase the oven temperature to 375 degrees or even higher?
I made this, with dark chocolate chips, for work and it was a hit. It took about 90 minutes to cook though. Thanks for a great recipe.
Sally, just put your pumpkin chocolate chip bread in the oven. I used apple juice instead of orange and I took a hint from America’s Test Kitchen and cooked the canned pumpkin puree for a few minutes to intensify the flavor and reduce the volume. I saw that a can of puree was a bit more than you called for and I hate having little bits of stuff floating around in my fridge so by cooking it I had the perfect amount for the recipe. Looking forward to tasting this treat!!
Hi Sally! Making this recipe today and was wondering about how much the loaf rises in the oven. I ask because I am using 8×4 loaf pans and was wondering how full to fill the pan! Thanks.
Hi Ashley! They rise quite a lot. I suggest filling 2/3 full.
I want to make this in a bundt pan. Should I double it and cook for the same time?
Hi Trena! See my recipe note.
I just made these as muffins and after eating three (quality control, you know ☺️), I must say these are amazing! I used homegrown pumpkin purée and whole wheat flour (makes them healthy, right?), and fresh from the oven they are so soft and yummy! Can’t wait for tomorrow to try them on day 2. Thank you for sharing!
Made this recipe as muffins this morning and the were delicious… and even better as a little evening snack! This recipe is a keeper. Thanks!
I made this today and I love the way it tastes. I followed the recipe exactly but used some mini chocolate chips since that is what I had on hand. It was super easy and is so moist. It definitely is going to be a family favorite.
I just needed to say that I have made this bread many times since I found the recipe last fall, and I always get compliments on it, and I can hardly stop eating it myself. Thank you for sharing it with the Internet! It’s definitely one of my favorite ever. I like it equally with chocolate chips or with lightly toasted pecans. (:
This recipe looks amazing! I have already made three of your pumpkin recipes this fall and I can’t wait to try this one. Regarding the oil, do you have a preference for one of the three choices listed?
Hi Kaitlyn, great question! I always use vegetable oil.
This is the best pumpkin bread recipe I have ever tried…and I have tried a bunch.
Hello Sally!
I’m wondering if this bread can be made into mini muffins?
Definitely– the recipe will yield a ton of mini muffins. I’m unsure of the exact bake time, but it will be about 11-13 minutes.
One of the only pumpkin bread recipes that I have tried that turns out every time. If you are looking for a go to pumpkin bread recipe, try this one! So much pumpkin flavor in one loaf!! Thanks Sally!
This bread is fantastic! My 5 year old picky eater who doesn’t like pumpkin has eaten almost the whole loaf! Thank you!!
I have to say over the years I have tried MANY pumpkin bread recipes and this is by FAR and without one single doubt the VERY BEST ONE I have ever made. It is so moist and flavorful and I made a lot of these in the mini loaf pans and gave them as presents. I like to bake and often give baked goods along with other gifts. NEVER have I received the amount of compliments that I have on anything I baked like I did with these, and not to brag but I am a pretty . I made these both with and without chocolate chips and this bread is absolutely wonderful both ways. I have had people calling me for days asking for the recipe and I directed them right to your site. I just wanted to let you know how very much this was enjoyed at my house and many family and friends homes. You have some wonderful recipes here, the best of any baking site! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
The chocolate chip pumpkin bread is hands down the most delicious thing I have ever made! I made it for Thanksgiving and it was a huge hit with my family, so making it again for Christmas (and maybe even New Year’s!)
I’ve made this twice now and I’m going to make it again this week! Definitely the best pumpkin bread recipe I’ve ever had. The only “drawback” is that it’s impossible for us not to overindulge – my husband and I hover over it in the kitchen and keep cutting pieces, each time saying, “just one more piece”…….it’s addictive, watch out! 🙂 I made my own pumpkin puree and broke up Lindt dark chocolate bars into tiny pieces. Delicious!!
I’ve made this pumpkin bread 3 times now and it’s amazing! Everyone loves it and it always disappears in a matter of days. I love your blog and am always inspired by your beautiful pictures and delicious recipes. 😀
Hey Sally!
I have been wanting to make your pumpkin cake cheesecake but think that might be a little too ambitious for me at this point as I have never made a cheesecake before 🙂 will try someday though.
However I was wondering if instead of making your pumpkin cream cheese muffins, if I could make this load bread and layer in cream cheese filling so that it is a pumpkin cream cheese loaf? Could I do that if I make this bread recipe and then make the cream cheese filling amount that is in the recipe for the pumpkin cream cheese muffins? Not sure if it would work or if it would actually work and I could just bake it till a toothpick comes out of the bread clean.
Thanks for your help!
I’m sure it would work! It sounds delicious. Enjoy.
This is really good pumpkin bread, but I liked it better as muffins. The bread almost was a little too moist, kind of sticky as you got toward the center of the loaf. But the muffins were perfect! Even my husband, who will not touch pumpkin pie, loves them.
This was so amazing! I made it yesterday and got nervous about the middle that just wasn’t firming up (after 60 minutes). The first time I make something I follow the recipe religiously. The second time, I typically make tons of tweaks-not for this recipe though! Next time I’m making a double batch + muffins
Just made these as muffins and one very small bread loaf and they are AMAZING. Exactly what I was hoping for. Thank you!