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
Hi from the UK Sally! I made this on July 1st as I was craving something pumpkin-y. As usual the recipe turned out perfectly although I substituted the chocolate chips for chopped pecans. Absolutely delicious spread with butter- although every time I walk into the kitchen I want to cut myself another slice!
As you know in the UK its not always easy to find canned pumpkin but I had a Whole Foods version in my cupboard from my visit to Denver last November to stay with family. I love the US so much and crave all the amazing food products you have there especially if they contain cinnamon or pumpkin!
Next on my list is your amazing Coconut Cake – I have 2 packets of Bakers Coconut (also from my visit) to use up! Thanks Sally for all your amazing recipes – please keep them coming xx
Why wait until Fall to bake this? Consider me crazy, but I had a pumpkin craving and this bread was exactly the ticket! We all devoured it. My family requested it again this weekend.
This was my first time making pumpkin bread and it turned out delicious! I used fresh pumpkin puree and it took around 65 minutes to bake. The recipe was extremely easy to follow. Would highly recommend!
Loving this pumpkin bread. Easy and great flavor!
I make pumpkin bread all year long and this is our new favorite recipe! The bake time was exactly 1 hour.
Pumpkin bread is so moist and flavorful! I used chopped pecans instead of chocolate chips. Great recipe!
Everyone stop what they’re doing and then make this pumpkin bread!!! 5 stars isn’t enough!
Hi Sally! I make this recipe all year around! My oldest son’s favorite bread is pumpkin bread!! This time I’m using Bob Mill’s Egg replacer to make this batch! I’ll let you know how it turns out! From a taste point-it’s insanely delicious! Without eggs I get to taste the batter lol! Once it comes out the oven and cools we will see! The batter looked just like batter with eggs-uniform and slightly thick. Thanks for a wonderful recipe!!
Unforgettable pumpkin bread. We used canned pumpkin and loved the flavor.
Help please, this is the 2nd time I’ve made this bread and this time it didn’t cook all the way through. What can I do? Made in mini loaf pans and cooked for 45 minutes. I cut open one loaf and saw the lower 1/4 still not cooked. Darn! Last time they cooked beautifully in 35 minutes! Can I put them in again? Thx!
Hi Monique! Strange they aren’t cooking through this time. Is your oven temperature off? I recommend baking until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
I loooooove this recipe! Everyone who tries it loves it too! The only thing I do different is use cinnamon chips instead of chocolate chips (I do love the chocolate chips though!). Thank you for a great recipe!
Looking forward to making this! Question: I have a glass Pyrex loaf dish. Will the bread turn out the same using glass vs. aluminum/metal?
Yep! Bake time may be a couple minutes longer with a glass pan.
Hi Sally, can this recipe be doubled without issue? Also, does the pumpkin puree need to be blotted at all to remove moisture? Thanks!
Hi Christina! No need to blot the pumpkin for this pumpkin bread recipe. You want all that moisture! Doubling is fine, but I recommend making the batter twice. Working with more batter risks under or over-mixing, ruining the bread’s texture.
This is such an amazing recipe! It is so wonderfully moist and the taste is perfect. I won’t have to look any further, I’ve found the perfect pumpkin bread… thanks so much!
Just tried this recipe last night and it was so yummy! The bread had great flavor and was so moist. Thank you for the great recipe!
Have you tried this recipe with a cream cheese swirl added?
I have! I use this cream cheese swirl recipe, only halved.
Great, thanks! Just to clarify, do you use just the swirl recipe in the pumpkin bread recipe or do you just bake the pumpkin bundt cake recipe in a loaf pan?
Use this pumpkin bread recipe (not the Bundt cake recipe) and add the cream cheese swirl– halved. It would be:
6 ounces full-fat block cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1/2 of a large egg (beat 1 egg, use 2 Tbsp)
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Can the recipe be made without chocolate chips? Are any adjustments necessary?
No adjustments needed, simply leave the chocolate chips out. 🙂
This is by far my favorite pumpkin bread recipe! I’ve made it the last few years and am planning to make a double batch to share with my coworkers this week. Thank you, Sally, for the BEST recipes! You’re my “go-to” whenever I’m looking to bake something. 🙂
This bread is delicious! So moist and flavorful! Thanks for the recipe, Sally!
SOO good! Doubled this recipe and they were all gone in a day. Out of all the pumpkin breads I have made, this recipe is my favorite. I recommend putting more chocolate chips in.
Finally, a foolproof pumpkin bread recipe! I never have the right ingredients on hand so I substituted or used less of pretty much every other ingredient (half butternut half sweet potato, walnut oil, lemonade instead of OJ, a mix of whole wheat and gluten free flour etc) and yet it turned out extraordinary. Thanks so much for the recipe! Happy New Year!
This recipe is wonderful! I’ve made it 3 times (one loaf & 2 batches of muffins) using cushaw puree instead of pumpkin. Lots of compliments! Thanks for the recipe 🙂
I must have done something wrong, but not sure. I followed the steps exactly, had it in the lower 1/3rd of my new natural gas oven. Halfway through I covered it with tinfoil on top, just loose fitting and it never burned. However, the middle never cooked all the way and was still liquid. I didn’t know it was still uncooked after 67 minutes of cooking, and turned it upside down after letting it cool for 10 minutes, and a bunch of the batter poured out on the counter.
I like the taste of this recipe, but next time I’ll do two or 3 smaller pans versus one large pan. Any ideas for what I did wrong would be greatly appreciated
Hi Dana! How about adding a little crumb topping on top like I do with these pumpkin muffins? The muffin top won’t be directly exposed and run the risk of getting too moist.