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.
That’s what I suspected.
I’ll have to buy one of the mini bags of flour, and maybe in lieu of chocolate chips, I’ll just spread a bit of Nutella on a slice of [just] pumpkin bread. 🙂
Thanks for the reply!
I used whole wheat flour. Could that be the reason mine turned out looking brown like devil’s food cake?
Plus, I can’t taste pumpkin. It tastes more like a spice cake with chocolate chips.
I’ve used other recipes (with regular flour though), before, and never had this problem.
Any ideas? I followed the directions, but cannot figure out what happened.
:_~(
Hi JB, whole wheat flour will change the color, texture and flavor of this pumpkin bread. We recommend sticking with all purpose flour for the most consistent results!
This is a delicious recipe! I want to make it for Easter but use gluten free flour. Has anyone tried this? Of so how did it turn out ? I’ve used gluten free flour in banana bread and it always turns out dry and super dense . Any suggestions?
Hi Kim, We haven’t tested this recipe with GF flour ourselves, but would love to hear how it goes if you give it a try!
Honestly i am a baker and this recipe is not good! Bland, mushy in the interior, .zero flavor…what a disappointment when you spend your time and money to end up with a lousy result.
Hi there too much sugar in this! I’m a health nut lol Use only brown sugar omit the oil use applesauce instead and there you’ve an updated more healthier pumpkin bread that’s good for the soul and for your waistline!
PS: use whole wheat flour instead too
First time making pumpkin bread or anything with pumpkin and I’m sooooo excited to taste it. Struggled to find pumpkin purée in any of my grocery stores but i’ve finally stumbled upon it and the first thing I thought was “OMG I CAN MAKE PUMPKIN BREAD” so I literally went to your blog at that exact moment in the grocery store to see if you had a recipe and you did so I read the ingredients to make sure I had everything and I’m currently making this the next morning. It’s currently in the oven and the house is smelling absolutely DIVINE Wanted to make this a plain bread so didn’t add any chocolate chips but i’m gonna pair this with a pumpkin cream cheese frosting as I had a little bit of leftover pumpkin from my can. Baking for a bit longer because it’s in a glass pan. What a shame because now I have to wait longer 🙁 Giving this 5 stars even though I haven’t even tasted it yet because it already smells so good and the process was so straightforward. Thank you so much for the recipe!!
Sally you always have such great recipes and this one didn’t disappoint. I made muffins to take to work and everyone said they were so moist and delicious. Next is mini loaves so my husband can give to his 3 co workers. Thanks so much just found my only recipe for pumpkin muffins and bread❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Made it and love it. I doubled the recipe, used whole wheat flour, and put it in six mini loaf pan rather than two full sized. Split the mix, with walnuts in one and chocolate chips in the other. Cooked them all at same time, but at 45 minutes did start testing doneness with toothpick and kept them in oven until toothpick came out clean. They can be refrigerated, or frozen, for later use.
Great recipe. Up for debate if I freeze some for later or eat it all this week! My cake needed almost 70 minutes in my oven, but used foil on and off to keep it from getting too brown. I also doubled chocolate chips.
I love this recipe! I’ve made several different versions of pumpkin bread, and this is my favorite. The proportions are just right.
I am at an elevation of 5500 feet in Mexico and baked the local squash/pumpkin in a wood-fired adobe oven which gives the pumpkin purée just a hint of smokiness. Great flavor when I baked the bread in a gas oven indoors. Because of the altitude, I cut back on the sugar a bit, added a tablespoon more of flour (mix of whole wheat and white) and a couple teaspoons of water. Perfect.
Can this recipe be made into two, smaller loaves?
P.s. I love all of your recipes!!!
Definitely! We’re unsure of the exact bake time so keep an eye on them in the oven.
Hello, I made this but it turned out uncooked in the middle and totally hard on the outside! It tastes pretty good but I’m wondering where I went wrong, if someone could help me out..?
I baked it for 1 hr and 30 min in a glass loaf pan at 350 F (I couldn’t cover it with foil because we didn’t have it on hand.. perhaps that explains the browning? I also kept checking every 5 min after the 55 min mark; our oven usually takes longer for recipes). I understand the hard crusty outside could have happened because of this, but why would the inside still be uncooked? I also accidentally used baking powder instead of baking soda in a scatterbrained moment.
Hi Sarah! Thank you so much for giving this pumpkin bread a try. The foil will help keep the bread from browning too much – definitely recommended for next time. We also always suggest using an in-oven thermometer for best results, most ovens have more temperature variability than we think! The baking powder/soda mix up will also play a role; here’s more on the difference between the two if you’re interested.
My grandkids love this pumpkin bread! We’ve made it in a small Bundt pan, squares and even mini Whoopie pies!
This is the BEST recipe!! I use walnuts instead of chocolate chips. And I make my own pumpkin puree. I love this bread!!
Subbed shredded zucchini for the chocolate chips. It’s amazing!!
This is my second time in a week making this bread. It’s super moist, and the spice amount is perfect! Also lowering the rack to the bottom third and covering it halfway through was a great tip! Thank you for the wonderful recipe. As a side note, I used milk instead of oj because it’s what I had on hand. Works beautifully.
I made this last week, but I had a bit of an issue. I won’t call it a failure, as the family, especially my husband, LOVED it. But I definitely think I did something wrong. The flavor was amazing (and I now want to add orange to every pumpkin recipe from now on!) But the texture was all wrong. It came out closer to pumpkin PIE texture then pumpkin bread. At first I thought it was just under cooked, but I don’t think that was it. It definitely set up, not goopy, but it really was like pie level of dense. So you have any idea what I might have done wrong? I’m curious both so I can fix it for myself, but also to try and recreate it, as my husband is begging for more.
Hi Katillac, We are so happy your family enjoyed this! Any chance you used fresh pumpkin puree? If so you will need to blot the excess moisture out of it before using so that your batter isn’t too wet. If you use canned pumpkin be sure to measure it out, you want 1 and 1/2 cups (340g) and not the entire can. All ovens and pans bake differently so don’t be surprised if yours takes longer. You can cover the loaf or cake with aluminum foil about halfway through if the top is getting brown before the center bakes.
I love this bread! I have made it once a week for the past two months. Just wanted to see if others had suggestions on storing. I have put it in a ziplock bag and kept it on the counter but I find it gets kind of mushy. Suggestions to keep it more fresh? It doesn’t usually last more than 7 days or so!
Hi Raquel, We recommend only storing the bread at room temperature for up to 3-4 days, after that you can store it in the refrigerator.
Made this for Thanksgiving. Doubled the recipe and it easily made three loaves (in disposable aluminum foil). It was fantastic!!! I forgot to tent it so I had to cook it a bit longer which made the outside crusty which was also delicious. I think I’ll tent it next time though.
Amazing recipe!
I made muffins and used milk chocolate chips. I made 12 large muffins and they baked for 35 minutes. First time making muffins and they’re a hit!
Thanks for sharing !
I have made a lot of delicious pumpkin bread, but this may be the best. I omitted the chocolate chips and served with a whipped cream cheese spread (8 oz. cream cheese, 1/4 c brown sugar, 2 t pumpkin pie spice, 1/2 c. pumpkin puree). So good! Next time I’ll add pecans. Thanks for a great recipe!
This is the best! I made it in an 8×8 glass pan, 30 minutes at 350 in my toaster oven. Omitted cloves ( allergic) and the second time I cut the sugar by a smidge. I cut the cinnamon a bit and topped off the nutmeg, because I don’t like cinnamon to be too dominant. It uses about 1/4 cup less than a full can of pumpkin. I use that to top my oatmeal or yogurt! Husband loves the chocolate chips. The whole thing is decadent and lovely. Putting half in the freezer for this year’s quiet Thanksgiving. Thank you for this terrific recipe!
Very tasty! Made this 11/7. Very easy. Used milk. Think I will try white chips for a different flavor and then raisins. Definitely better day after baking. Froze well. Only lasted 1 day in freezer ; was too good.
Made this today and followed the recipe exactly except for leaving out the chocolate chips. Weighed all the ingredients according to the recipe…. This really is “The Best Pumpkin Bread”!!! So moist and perfect and exactly what I’ve been looking for. Thank you for a wonderful recipe!
This is in my oven right now!
The center of my loaf really puffed up, but the ends stayed with the top of the pan, so I’m still cooking the center which is quite wet and I’m worried the ends will over bake. Any tips for this problem next time? I’m not sure why only the center would rise so much or not bake as quickly?
Instead of choc chips, I added walnuts and orange flavored cranberries.
If I substitute with pumpkin pie spice, do I use the same amount of cinnamon?
Hi Patti, that’s correct. See recipe note.
Hi Sally! I was so excited to make this yesterday. It was easy to make. However, when I cut a slice of it, J noticed the bottom of it, about an 1/8 of an inch of the entire loaf was not entirely cooked. Almost The top was beautiful and I put in a toothpick in at the 60 min mark, and it was clean. Any specific reason why that could have happened?
Hi Brenda, Any chance you very heavily greased or buttered your pan? If so that can cause a soggy bottom. Next time try lowering your oven rack and baking for a few extra minutes and that should help!
Excellent recipe! Just made it for the first time- I doubled it and got two loaves that were perfectly tender and moist with a great flavor. Definitely a keeper! This will be my go-to pumpkin bread from now on.