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
I accidentally doubled the spices and didn’t realize it until it was too late and it still came out delicious! Will definitely be making this recipe again!
I do 1 Tbs cinnamon, a rounded 1/2 teaspoon of all the other spices when I make this bread. Plus, I add a 1/2 tsp of mace and a tsp vanilla.
So good!
Love your recipes they always turn out great and are easy to make. Thank you.
Why do my cupcakes always fall when weigh and temperature of butter taken and beaten etc as called for
Muffins are always awesome and I have baked many
Hi Annette! When cupcakes fall or sink, it’s usually caused by one of two things: 1) too much batter in each cupcakes or 2) the cupcakes are under-baked. Both are simple fixes – hope this helps.
How can I adjust this recipe for high altitude? (7500ft)
Hi Tori, I wish we could help, but have no experience baking at high altitude. Some readers have found this chart helpful: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html
Is it ok to substitute Apriva and the Splenda brown sugar mix or must I use sugar, please?
Hi Karen, We’d love to help but we are not trained in baking with sugar substitutes. For best taste and texture (and so you don’t waste your time trying to adapt this recipe since it may not work properly), it may be more useful to find a recipe that is specifically formulated for sugar substitutes. Thank you!
Perfect as all her recipes are. I followed her exact recipe but accidentally messed up by mixing all dry ingredients and all wet ingredients then combining them. It still came out perfect. I’m obsessed!
Fabulous. One of a few recipes that uses 1 1/2 cups of pumpkin instead of just one cup. Check 10 minutes before due time.
Please don’t read if you dislike when people make changes but then review! So I followed this recipe with a few modifications bc 1) wanted to try them and 2) what I had in hand. I thought I had canned pumpkin, but didn’t, so in place of the pumpkin I used a leftover baked Japanese sweet potato (the purple skin, white flesh ones) that I mashed up. It’s a lot drier than pumpkin, though, so I had to add a little more liquid (in the form of buttermilk) — maybe and extra 2-3 tbs. I didn’t measure . I also didn’t have enough vegetable oil, so I melted butter to make up the difference to make 1/2 c. I omitted the white sugar, and used 1/3 whole wheat flour. At this point, I’m sure you’re thinking, why are you even reviewing this?! Well, one, Sally’s recipes NEVER disappoint, and I know I appreciate reading what people did/do differently that worked. Bottom line: OMG. It is delicious! I can’t wait to try this with pumpkin. My usual go-to pumpkin bread recipe is from another site, but I’m trying Sally’s next time I make it!
Can you add sour cream instead of the milk (OJ)?
Hi Suzan, sour cream would be a bit too thick—milk or OJ is best.
Hi Sally. In Australia canned pumpkin does not exist. Could cooked and mashed pumpkin be substituted?
Hi Sandy, You can! Homemade pumpkin puree can often be more watery than canned pumpkin puree. If you decide to try this bread with homemade puree, you may find it helpful to blot out some of the moisture if it seems especially wet. Thank you for giving this recipe a try!
I always make this with roasted pumpkin puree, it’s so much nicer than canned! After cooking I press and drain the pumpkin in a colander/strainer then do it again after pureeing. Takes some time but keeps the excess water much lower.
This recipe is a great base! If I want to bake for my vegan friends, I replace the egg with a 1/4 cup pumpkin puree per egg, then replaces 3/4 cup flour for cocoa powder and it makes a wonderful chocolate loaf. Thank you for this recipe! Its a staple for my partner and I
Sooooo good. Especially with using orange juice!! And I use tons of chocolate chips. Sooo moist and delicious
Made these 4 times in one week because my family could not get enough! With chocolate chips, without, they still loved them. I used the recipe and followed the directions for pumpkin muffins and they are gone in a day lol. Thank you so much for posting this!!!
Adjusted the recipe slightly and came out great. Used 3 large eggs rather than 2 by accident. 1/4 c coconut oil. Grapefruit juice is all I had!
It’s absolutely perfect and delicious!
Delicious! One substitution, instead of pumpkin I had a large sweet potato to use so made a puree. Combined with the warm spices and pecans it’s sooo good.
I didn’t read the comments first and I doubled the recipe and it came out way too moist just making one at a time it’s perfect
Hello Sally, The best pumpkin bread. I love it.
Can I double the ingredients so I can make 2 loaves?
Hi Lucrecia, We’re so glad you love it! For absolute best results, we recommend making two separate batches rather than doubling.
Love your recipes! Could you please explain why in your banana bread, you cream butter with sugar, and here you use oil? Thank you
Hi Michael, this bread benefits from oil to keep the crumb light and moist. The bread won’t be nearly as soft if using butter. In the banana bread recipe, we find it better to used creamed butter both for texture and for a buttery taste that is signature to banana bread. Hope you’ll give this one a try!
Trying to go gluten free. Has anyone tried it with 1-1 gluten-free flour?
Hi Nancy, we haven’t tested this recipe with gluten-free flours, but some readers have reported success using 1:1 flour substitutes (like Cup4Cup). If you try it, let us know how it goes!
Yes! Used a 1-1 flour, and it turned out nicely, delicious actually!
So delicious and moist. I didn’t have enough coconut or vegetable oil on their own, so it was half and half of both. Also used milk instead of orange juice. This replaces the recipe I was previously using. I’ll definitely make this again!
This was not only the best pumpkin bread we have ever had, but it’s most likely the single greatest baked good my wife or myself have ever eaten! PHENOMENAL….. We were given a loaf of it by a lovely neighbor. After devouring the loaf, we asked for the recipe. I proceeded to make eight loaves of it!!! Some with orange juice, some with milk, some with nuts, some without nuts, and all with chocolate chips except one plain loaf. Needless to say, everybody who we shared with was blown away and we had a blast trying all of the different variations. Nothing was frozen and everything was gone in a few days. THANK YOU SO MUCH for publishing this incredible recipe!!!!!
Hi EA, we’re so glad to hear you love this recipe! Happy baking!
This is just the most wholesome comment. Because of this comment, im trying this bread here in a few. 🙂
Hey, Melissa! That’s so sweet and it’s funny timing because I randomly just pulled up the Comment section after sharing with a close friend of ours a few minutes ago. DID YOU MAKE IT? ARE YOU AS IMPRESSED / OBSESSED AS WE ARE?
Hi, Michelle! Please thank Sally for me whenever you get the chance and please pass along how blown away we are with this recipe!!!!!
Marvelous! I’ve been making pumpkin bread for decades, but this is the best. I used all the spices and didn’t add chips or nuts.
I didn’t have any ground cloves or nutmeg so I had to omit them but it still came out delicious!! Great recipe!
Excellent bread, moist and delicious. The pumpkin flavor would come out better with half the cloves and half the ginger, and nutmeg
Excellent bread, moist and delicious. The pumpkin flavor would come out better with half the cloves and half the ginger, and nutmeg
I love this recipe and have made it so many times over the years.
But, Sally, I’m begging you: please make a recipe that uses an entire can of pumpkin puree!! What am I supposed to do with the 85 grams leftover in a standard can?!
I feel like there used to be a recipe that used one full can. Does this ring a bell for anyone?
Hi Megan, this post with recipes that use leftover pumpkin puree should be helpful! There are a handful of recipes listed there that use an entire can.
I wanted to try this recipe out instead of the 2 old reliable pumpkin breads I typically make. Have you ever tried using apple cider in place of the oj? I have some left over from my kiddos to use up and it seemed to be a good choice. I know cider is a little sweeter than oj though. Any thoughts? My kids love pumpkin cake and apple cider cake.
In my 55 plus years of baking this is the best pumpkin loaf ever! Followed the recipe exactly, adding a half cup of walnuts instead of chocolate chips, the only change. Despite a power outage a few minutes into baking that lasted several minutes, it baked perfectly, with a delicious crispy outer crust.
I have made your pumpkin bread about 3 times, and each time, it comes out moist and delicious. I would never make it any other way but this way. Thank you!
DELICIOUS!!! You can not taste the OJ – don’t be scared. HAHA SOOO GOOD
I love this recipe! So easy and flavorful. Thrilled I whipped it together without a mixer. Can’t get any easier and was delicious. Thank you
I have made this recipe dozens of times over the last 2 or 3 years, and the recipe is perfect exactly as written. I subbed in milk once when we didn’t have orange juice, but that 1/4 of OJ really does perfectly complement all the other flavors, so I’ve stuck with it. I’ve occasionally deviated from the recipe in some small way or another just to see what happens, but always end up preferring the original recipe.
I love your recipe and forgot I had made it before. Tried another and was unhappy. Found yours again and ready to bake.
One question. I only have glass bread pans. The old corning ware. Large loaves. Do I stick with same heat level, same amount of time bak8ng and same level for rack?
Hope you answer soon!
Hi Debra, are the pans 9×5? Glass pans can take a few more minutes to bake through.