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 love this recipe… but just wondering, can I substitute the sugar or some of it with maple syrup?
Hi Al, we don’t recommend it — it would take some recipe testing to determine the right swap, since it would be adding additional liquids to the batter. Best to stick with the recipe as written!
Just made again. Excellent recipe!
While making the pumpkin bread recipe a full page Prius ad continually popped up covering the ingredient list every two minutes or so. There was no apparent way to manually close the ad so had to wait until it closed itself. This was extremely irritating and obstructionist. I won’t be using your website again as I don’t need the irritation and inconvenience of a monetized website.
Hi, thank you for visiting our site. We do not allow pop-ups on this website, and the ad placements we do allow should never be blocking any content. We wonder if there was a spammy ad campaign that somehow got through, so we will let our ad network know. Sorry for the trouble!
try using an ad blocker or try using a different device, they have no control over where the ads pop up (I’m not affiliated with this website)s
Chocolate chips all sank to the bottom, disappointing.
try tossing the choc chips in flour or the dry mix before adding them (and add right before you put in pan), it will help keep the chips from sinking
I have always sugared my loaf pans when making sweet quick breads – it makes a nice crunchy outside to the crust. Do you think that would work with this recipe?
Hi Tanis, we’ve never tried that with this pumpkin bread recipe. Sounds delicious. Let us know if you do!
Hi, all I have available to bake this in is a 9” square metal cake pan with 2.25” tall sides. Is it still possible to make this work? What adjustments will I need to make?
Hi B, this bread would be quite thin in a 9×9 pan. We would make our pumpkin crumb cake recipe instead (it’s very similar!). It is baked in a 9×9 pan. You can leave off the crumb topping, if desired.
I’ve now made this recipe twice and it’s a massive WOW!!! I made some changes; some because of error and some due to ingredients available. Also, I took the chance to double this recipe even though it was not suggested to do so. I always have doubled my spices in holiday bread recipes. I love a big punch of cinnamon and ginger and all of those delicious aromatic smells. The recipe calls for orange juice which I never have. I remembered I had little cans of pineapple juice in my pantry. I also did not add chocolate chips because it’s not my thing. I divided the batter into my two loaf pans and realized I forgot the oil. Not only that, I had EVOO and no other kind of oil. But, I did have homemade applesauce. I added the amount directly into the loaf pans, swirled it around with a spatula till it was as mixed in as possible. I baked them at 325 in a convection oven because my other settings don’t work. They baked for 65 minutes, but I turned off the oven and partially opened the door for well over an hour because they weren’t done. All that to say, they turned out PERFECT!!! I’ve sliced them all up, put them in the freezer so I can have one every night! Sally’s website has never failed me, and I really don’t enjoy baking!! Thank you, Sally!!
I am currently baking 2 loaves in glass loaf pans (that is all I have) at the temperature in your recipe however at 60 minutes it is still wet inside. I have cooked it an additional 10 minutes and the loaves are still wet inside. I am cooking the loaves for another 10 minutes and will check them at that time. Do you have any guesses what is going on?
Hi Kathleen, Baked goods usually take longer to bake in glass pans. Let us know how they turn out!
I made the following substitutions and it turned out yummY!
I used leftover cooked squash and baked it in a glass 9″12″ glass cake pan.
Baking time was about the same, very moist and I served it with softened cream cheese as a frosting choice.
How long would it cook if I used mini bread pans?
You can definitely use this batter to make mini loaves. Same temperature, but bake time will depend on the exact size of your loaf pans, so keep a close eye on them and use a toothpick to test for doneness.
I am not really sure what’s wrong with this recipe. The first taste tastes weird like the taste you get when there is too much baking soda in something. It isn’t particularly sweet. The texture is OK. But I would not make it again
I have used several of your recipes and loved them all. I am a HUGE fan of your pastry recipes.
I have a question about oils. I typically always have on hand olive oil, regular and extra virgin. hen a recipe calls for vegetable oil, would using the regular olive oil be ok? It’s a slightly heavier oil than vegetable. Would its effect depend on the recipe? I have made olive oil cake and it came out wonderfully, but that is specifically for that recipe (cuz you didn’t know that, right 🙂 ).
Thank you!
Hi Linda! Olive oil would work, but it would change the flavor quite a bit. You really want a neutral-tasting oil for most baking recipes.
I only bake with extra virgin olive oil as we produce that on our farm & airbnb here in Portugal – and this recipe turns out great with it! In fact I’ve had someone order one for Christmas!
Love this, made it twice using evoo, turns out moist and lovely. Also added toasted walnuts and some orange zest.
Wonderful recipe
In a 7-rack oven, I know the top, #7, is for broiling and the bottom, #1, is for roasting/pizza, but where exactly is the lower 3rd? Is the placement based on where the middle of the baked item falls or the actual rack itself? Recipe looks delicious and I getting ready to bake now.
Yep, quit looking, the search is over. This is the only pumpkin bread recipe you’ll ever need. Not too sweet, lovely balanced flavor. You will be pumpkin bread royalty with this one!
I love this recipe but always always end up having to bake it way overly long in the pan to not be mush in the middle. The batter is too much for a 9×5 inch loaf pan. Droops over the sides if you use it all. Really unclear to me why this is. I am even able to split it into two pans… I measure everything exactly.
Hi Elsa! Are you sure your pan is 9×5? Some are smaller, like 9×4 or 8.5×4.5. This does need a full size pan. We’ve never had trouble with overflowing batter here.
Family loved it for thanksgiving! Curious to know if you have an estimate on the nutrition?
Hi Natasha! 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
Hi Sally, how long can a batter sit at room tempeture before I put it in the oven to bake.
Hi Linda, we recommend baking right away, as the leaveners in a recipe are activated once they are mixed with the wet ingredients.
We had the neighbours over for a drop in today, and this pumpkin bread was the hit of the afternoon! Super moist and flavourful. I substituted 1/3 cup each of craisins and chopped walnuts for the chocolate chips. I don’t care for the combination of chocolate and pumpkin.
Can we use raisins for the pumpkin bread recipe ?
Absolutely!
This is FANTASTIC! I made this for my co workers (hubby doesn’t like pumpkin, so I have to have someone else to share with). Hands down the best Pumpkin bread I have ever had! I made it again for my daughter who thought it was incredible. Thank you for the recipe. It will be used many times!
Hi Sally, can I double this recipe?
Hi Linda, for best results, we recommend making two separate batches rather than doubling.
Love it!
Hi I love this recipe however I do run into a bit of trouble or with it why does my bread brown up so much with it being raw in the middle? I put the same temp and time and also halfway through put some foil on it and it still comes out that way any advice?
Hi Madison! Is it perhaps too close to the heating element in your oven? You could try moving it to a different position. We also always recommend using an in-oven thermometer for best results, most ovens are not the temperature they say they are!
We love this pumpkin bread! Have made so many modifications to accommodate dietary restrictions, reduced sugar, used maple syrup in place of sugar, used gluten free flour. Turned out great everytime!
When you used the gluten free flour instead of regular flour, how much did you use? Is it the same amount? And did it change how your bread turned out?
I haven’t made the recipe yet . Just wondering if I can double or triple it. I have a lot of pumpkin!
Hi Angela, for best results, we recommend making separate batches rather than doubling or tripling the recipe. Hope it’s a hit for you!
Hey Sally! Your recipes are always a hit! Thank you so much for sharing your love for baking with us ❤️ I have a quick question about the impact of different sized baking tins for this recipe! I want to make mini loaves (6x3x2.5) for neighbors, but am unsure about how that would impact baking time and how many of these mini loaves you think this recipe would yield? Thank you so much for your help!
Hi Emma, love this idea! You can definitely use this batter to make mini loaves. Same temperature, but bake time will depend on the exact size of your loaf pans, so keep a close eye on them and use a toothpick to test for doneness. Here’s everything you need to know about Pan Sizes & Conversions.
I made the pumpkin bread for gifts last Christmas. Recipe makes 4 mini loaves.
I loved this recipe so much, even with my subs. Ok, folks here are my subs.
Subbed out all purpose flour for 90%whole wheat flour 10% white, by weight.
I subbed out half the oil with applesauce.
I used soymilk for the orange juice and a few splashes more.
I used fresh pumpkin, which I know is wetter.
Finally, I added chopped pecans and mint choc chips, 2 TBS brewers yeast, and 2 TBS ground flaxseeds.
Flaxseeds and whole wheat needs more moisture so the extra soy milk and wetter pumpkin puree assisted with this. I did these things to make the recipe more “lactation” friendly.
It tasted amazing. I hate when the loaf pan overflows so I filled 5 muffins first and the rest in the loaf.
I will be making this again and again until the massive number of sugar pumpkins I have is gone.
This pumpkin bread recipe is great I added cinnamon chips with the chocolate chips it is so moist we are going to use this for our Thanksgiving traditional meal from now on.
This IS the best pumpkin bread recipe I’ve ever tried (and I’ve tried my share over my 72 years). Just one thing, I find it a little too sweet for my taste…although I’m sure the grandkids would love it as is. Can I eliminate the white sugar and leave everything else as written?
Hi Cindi, we haven’t tested the recipe with that change, but if you want to give it a go, maybe start by reducing the white sugar by half, and see how it is. Let us know how it turns out!
Can I make the bread with pumpkin pie mix
Hi Linda, we recommend using pure pumpkin puree, not the can labeled pumpkin pie filling, for this bread.
Made this today and everyone loved it. I have a Gluten free friend and wanted to make it for her for thanksgiving. Can I sub Almond Flour for the regular flour? If so how much?
Hi Rima, We don’t recommend almond flour as it has very different baking properties and is not always a 1:1 swap. We haven’t tested it, but you might have success experimenting with a gluten-free all-purpose flour like Bob’s Red Mill or Cup4Cup. If you give anything a try, we’d love to know how it goes for you!