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 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
- Recipes to Make With Leftover Pumpkin Puree
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 (spoon & 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: Glass Mixing Bowls | Rainbow Whisk | Loaf Pan | Cooling Rack | Kitchen Scale
- 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.
Keywords: pumpkin bread
This recipe is amazing! I’ve been trying to add flaxseed powder for nutritional value (not fully replacing eggs or oil or anything) but having trouble finding the right balance of reduction of each ingredient. The taste is pretty good but it doesn’t rise as much. Tips?
★★★★★
Love this recipe
Sally why does your website always glitch on the iPad? The page reloads frequently for most of your recipes driving me crazy
★★★★★
Can I use Pioneer baking mix instead of flour. Realizing that I would skip the soda.
Hi Nancy, we don’t recommend that swap as it may not be a simple 1:1 ratio.
I assume you are weighing the actual product to get the metric conversion rather than using a generic conversion chart. Looking at multiple recipes I find descrepancies in metric weights.
Love this recipe, wanted to try a gluten free version. Can I use gluten free flour instead of all purpose with no other changes?
★★★★★
Hi Anne, we don’t have much experience with GF flour, but many readers have commented that they’ve used a 1:1 substitute and had success. Give it a try and let us know how it turns out!
Hi Sally! This is my son’s favorite and I’d love to send him a loaf via FedEx. Should I bake, freeze, pack and send or bake and send? Any suggestions are appreciated! I’d do two-day shipping. Thank you!
★★★★★
Hi Jenny, if you choose to send a frozen loaf, it should be packaged in dry ice so that it doesn’t thaw out during shipping. Otherwise, it would be best to just bake and send!
I loved how you just recipe was I did end up substituting applesauce for the orange juice but it turned out great thanks
I I substituted applesauce for the orange juice and it turned out wonderful thank you for such an easy recipe
I’d prefer nuts over chocolate chips. Same volume of nuts?
Also, an ATK pumpkin bread recipe suggests cooking gently the pumpkin and spices, reducing moisture and blooming spices. Would this work with your recipe?
I’m anxious to find a moist, dark and spicy pumpkin-bread recipe that replicates my deceased mother’s luscious pumpkin bread, and yours might be the one!
Hi Randy, correct, simply swap the optional chocolate chips for nuts. We haven’t tested that method, but fear it *may* reduce too much moisture (we don’t recommend blotting canned pumpkin in this recipe, although you can if using homemade pumpkin puree), but let us know if you give it a try!
I would love to know if it possible/anyone has tried replacing the oil in this recipe with apple sauce? I find it is a good replacement for some recipes but very much not so for others. Any feedback?
Hi Ronin, The bread would turn out with a less-than-desirable texture if you replace all the oil with applesauce. We don’t recommend it. You could try substituting a smaller portion to see how that goes!
I’m short on King Arthur AP flour, is it possible to substitute a small amount of KA whole wheat flour? Would there be anything else to change with the WW flour?
Thank You.
Hi Kristy! It depends on how much flour you’ll have to substitute. Up to half the flour should be ok, but whole wheat flour will dry out the bread a bit.
The texture and taste of this bread were excellent. I did not add any chips, but still found it a bit too sweet. Can I omit the 1/2 cup granulated sugar without compromising the texture?
Hi Ruthie, while you can experiment with reducing the sugar, it will change the taste, texture, and structure of the bread.
My lady,
Your recipes are an absolute gold mine! I google recipes often and usually go with the ones that have ingredients that I have on hand. Yours have been the ones I go with on more than one occasion and ALWAYS turn out. Now if I see your name I go for it because I know it’ll be a winner. Thank you thank you!
★★★★★
This is my second time making this recipe since Thanksgiving! My daughter calls it her “kryptonite” she can’t resist it. Thanks for sharing!
★★★★★
Good flavor but dry, I was hoping for a more moist loaf
★★★★
I was so disappointed. Did the foil thing and baked 65 minutes at 350. 3/4 of the loaf was not even close to being done. I have a new oven and have had no issues with baking other things
Hi Kae, always use a toothpick to test for doneness. This deep and moist quick bread can take a while to bake through. Thank you for giving this recipe a try!
Tried this recipe and it was so delicious. I doubled the ingredients, substituted milk for the orange juice and added nuts. My family absolutely loves it. Will definitely make this again.
Thanks for sharing your recipes
I had the same experience and SUCH a disappointment. Followed the recipe exactly and ended up with a loaf that rose high but literally molten lava inside. Thinking there has to be something incorrect within this recipe
★
Possible to use raisins instead of chocolate chips?
Absolutely! Same amount.
Can I use pumpkin pie mix instead of pureed pumpkin and spices?
Hi Gail! You really need pumpkin puree for this recipe – pumpkin pie mix has other additives and sweeteners added that don’t make it a good substitute.
Do you have any idea what the calorie count on the loaf and it’s delicious by the way…
Hi Tony, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
The spices sound like pumpkin spice mix which I have. Can I use that instead of them all seperately? How much would I need?
Hi Hadas, absolutely! 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.
BEST pumpkin bread I’ve had. It made me feel like a better baker than I am lol. Thanks!
★★★★★
I’ve made this pumpkin bread a number of times. Delicious and never fails! Lately I’ve been using espresso chips. SO good with a cup of coffee!!
I get rave reviews on these muffins .. everyone loves them .. I use cider rather than orange juice . If I dont have cider i use cider syrup and water .. cant wait to try more .. thank you !!
This is a FANTASTIC recipe that I’ve made a few times. I’d like to try baking 4 mini loaves (in 5″x3″ pans) instead of a big one. How long should they bake?
★★★★★
Hi Amy, we’re unsure of the exact bake time for smaller loaves, but keep a close eye on them and use a toothpick to test for doneness. Enjoy!
I recently baked 4 small loaves of a different type of bread. The full loaf time was 50-55 minutes. I checked my small loaves at 25 minutes and they were baked perfectly. I have a convection oven so don’t know if that makes a difference but the full loaves I have previously made I needed 50 minutes.
can’t wait to try the pumkin recipe.
I have been using this recipe for several years now and my husband and I absolutely love it! Simple, flavorful, and always moist and delicious! The chocolate chips add depth and “texture”. Thank you!
★★★★★
This is the best pumpkin bread I’ve ever tasted so delicious. I had pumpkin purée left from Thanksgiving and the rest of ingredients on hand. I used the toothpick method to make sure it was done inside. Came out perfect!
Has anyone tried making this with an egg substitute? Any recommendations for which option might work best in this recipe — aquafaba, or soda water, or applesauce, or … ?
We haven’t tested any egg substitutes, but pleas let us know what you try!
I was thinking of trying the vegan egg brand called Just Egg, next time I make it.
I made this using a flax egg and it turned out fine!
Try ground flax seed and water.
I made this recipe today, and it was very easy to do, at some point when it was in the oven I thought it was going to burn, but it did not happen, just when it was getting too dark it was just cooked all through. Is very soft and fluffy, I did not add cloves because I did not have them, and I am really happy with the result, I think the chocolate chips are a so great idea, and is a very big cake.
I just made this recipe but haven’t tried it yet. I accidentally mixed the sugars with the dry goods, not the wet goods as recommended. How will this change the outcome?
I just made this delicious pumpkin bread with chocolate chips and it was absolutely delicious!!! All of the flavors just really go so well together and the orange juice I think added to the overall flavor! Yum! So glad you created this recipe!! Great for this time of year especially!
★★★★★
This recipe was delicious and everyone I gave some to said the same. I subbed water for OJ because I never have any and added cardamom, Ginger, nutmeg, cloves and allspice since my sister is allergic to cinnamon. Will be sticking to this recipe from now on!
★★★★★