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 since 2014. You don’t even need a mixer! The days of bland pumpkin bread are behind us.
Reader Laura says: “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.
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, 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, says: “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 & Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies & Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
- Pumpkin Roll
- Brown Butter Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies
- Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Pumpkin Bundt Cake
- Recipes to Make With Leftover Pumpkin Puree
For even more inspiration, here are my 30+ favorite pumpkin dessert recipes.
PrintMy 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.
Adore this pumpkin bread recipe. I usually leave it plain but just tried it with chocolate chips. Ok I’m never going back! It’s out of this world!
My frist time trying was delicious
I followed the recipe except for substituting chocolate chips for almonds. Delicious, but I will use less sugar next time. Soft and very flavorful.
Followed it exactly but it turned out dense and oily. Didn’t rise at all and Ive baked myself for years. Not sure what happened. I never use oil in my recipes as for some reason they always turn out oily. So going to try with butter instead.
Hi Sally, can I replace the oil with butter? Thank you
Melted butter won’t create the same moist texture. I recommend sticking with the recipe.
I made this last fall and its April and I am CRAVING it !! The most flavorful and moist bread that will be gone as soon as it’s out! I use canned puree and use just a tad less white sugar than called for. I make this bread more often than banana bread simply because it is just way more tasty. You will not regret this recipe.
Excellent , moist, flavorful.
I always make quick breads in 3 smaller pans . One to eat, one to freeze and one to share.
I loved this recipe a lot although like someone else who commented above, I feel it needs more spice. Next time I will double some of them. I did have to cook about 70 mins but this is going to be my go to recipe for pumpkin bread! It is by far the best I’ve had yet! I used golden raisins instead of chocolate chips. I made the first loaf last night and going to make another today! Can’t wait to try some of your other recipes. Thank you! So happy I found you. ❤️
This bread is absolutely delicious. I used pumpkin and bananas. Omitted the orange juice. Added walnuts and chocolate chips. Love this recipe. Thank you for sharing.
Just baked it. Reduced the sugar: so only added 3/4 c brown sugar and no white sugar at all. Sprinkled some pumpkin seeds on top. Pretty And Yummy! We’ll make it again.
5 stars from our family. Thank you!
It was great although I recommend adding more cinnamon, just adding the 3/4 granulated sugar, adding one more tsp of cinnamon, and a bit of baking powder.
Truly, the BEST pumpkin bread. I’ve been baking a lot during the stay-at-home orders, so my neighbors have been quite happy with me. All agreed this bread is phenomenal. I substituted chopped pecans for the choco-chips and sprinkled the top with pepitas (pumpkin seeds). My mouth is watering just thinking about this bread. TRY IT!
Made it because my grandson loves pumpkin and chocolate chips. He gives it a big thumbs up.
So. Good. Came together fast and was amazing.
Absolutely delicious and smells wonderful. I don’t normally have juice so we just used juice straight concentrate (thawed) so maybe this made the loaf not rise. I was surprised it so dense. Do you think I should add a bit of baking powder? (I also didn’t use the chocolate chips but next time I might put in some toasted nuts). I also used my own pumpkin (not canned) but it was really boiled down and so good.
Great recipe! Easy, moist, tasty… my son and I both think it needed more cinnamon however. The ginger gave a great subtle flavor but the chocolate overshadowed the cinnamon.
This is the sh*t!!!!! It is too good. SO moist and so airy. Seriously, you will not regret making this.
This is a 10/10 recipe. So moist and delicious. Only change I made was lowering the white sugar to 1/2 cup, as per other reviews.
I love this bread! I’m allergic to ginger, so I made it without and I didn’t have any cloves on hand so I made it without that as well. I love the orange juice in this recipe! I made it a second time and I added in a little more OJ 🙂 thank you!
I just made this pumpkin bread and it was AWESOME! Great texture and super easy. Bookmarked forever now!!!!
Really loved this recipe !! I used the coconut oil option and orange juice . So moist and just perfect sweetness . I would like to try with walnuts next time .
Made this as directed, other than adding a dash more of each spice, because I love the taste of the blend, and it was delicious! Got the seal of approval from the family, too. Added both chocolate chips and pecans. Thank you, Sally, for sharing the recipe!
Can I add raisins instead chocolate chips?
Absolutely. Same amount.
Can I substitute pecans for the chocolate chips? My grandmother made an amazing pumpkin nut bread growing up, I e been trying to recreate it for year!
Sure can!
How would I add banana into this recipe along with the pumpkin?
Hi Kate, If you want to try it I recommend keeping the total amount of puree the same so 1 and 1/2 cups of pumpkin and banana in whatever ratios you wish (i.e. 3/4 cup each if you want to make half of each).
This recipe is literally perfection! I made it for the first time today and it came out so good! Only difference is I used about a half a cup of mini semi sweet chocolate chips instead of what the recipe says. But it is so soft and moist and just delicious! Thank you!
As a brand-new baker, I am so glad I found your page!! The bread turned out AMAZING and my husband absolutely loved it too. I will be trying more of your recipes 🙂
This recipe is perfect, I made some and froze some, too! I made it without the chocolate chips. After thawing a loaf, it’s still great, moist and flavorful! And, as As nice surprise, I made some butter/cream cheese icing leftover from daughter’s birthday, spread some on top of bread and OMG, so amazing! I can’t stop eating it.
I loved this bread!!!!!! Sooooooo gooood!!!!! I added some cream cheese frosting instead of butter and wow have gotta try it !!! Over the top and to the moon baby. Thank you
This recipes is delicious! We just left off the white sugar because its seemed like a lot and I don’t like very sweet foods ,so for me it was perfect!
I made this bread a few weeks ago and it was delicious, although I did not let it bake long enough and it wasn’t quite baked all the way through in the middle. All my fault–I live at 6,000 feet and should have known better!!! Large bread pans are difficult at this elevation, as is all baking. I need to follow my own rules for high altitude baking and sometimes don’t and just hope for the best, later regretting it.
So….the next week I made this as regular size and mini muffins and they turned out perfectly!!! Took them to a friend’s house on Christmas morning and they were a great hit.
For both the bread and the muffins I followed the recipe exactly except used chopped walnuts instead of chocolate chips because that is my preference with pumpkin bread.