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 just made this bread and it is delicious! One issue for me though, the bread rises perfectly and the tooth pick comes out perfectly dry, so I know it’s done. In a few hours, though, the bread ‘collapses’ and there are wet sections. This has happened with other loaf breads too. I use a convection oven (not my choice). Any ideas why this is happenening?
Hi Paul! When quick bread collapses it is usually underbaked. You may need to use an extra-long skewer for testing if your toothpick isn’t getting far enough in the bread for proper testing. And make sure you’re using a true 9×5 inch pan – smaller pans will be too full to bake through properly.
Hi Melissa! We’re unsure exactly how many mini loaves this batter will make. You can let the batter sit covered at room temperature while you wait to use your pans again. So glad you love this recipe!
Thank you so very much for your quick reply Trina! I was hoping that would be the case. You all must be working hard during baking season.
I am curious about the case of chemical leaveners like baking soda and baking powder. I have seen some trusted sources (perhaps even here) say that some batters should be baked right away. Perhaps this is something to consider with light and airy cupcakes, or perhaps when combining soda and powder… or maybe it’s when using different kinds of cocoa.
I have learned so much from this blog and hope that you can share some info or point me to a post that might explain when we must bake right away and when it’s okay to let things sit if we must.
Happy to help! It is best to bake right away, but in the case of mini loaves, they don’t take too long to bake and the batter should be fine. Let us know how they go!
Excellent pumpkin bread! I doubled the batch and split it between a regular loaf and a tray of eight mini loaves. My additions were: chopped toasted walnuts and chopped dried cranberries. It was so good that I ate an entire mini loaf in one sitting. 🙂
Hi Sally! I am about to make your pumpkin bread, which I love (a spur of the moment bake) but I don’t have any oranges. I do have fresh mandarin oranges, the little cutie type? Was wondering if I could substitute or it would change the flavor too much? Do you think this would work?
Hi Donna, I don’t see why that wouldn’t work! You could also do half that and half milk, if you’re unable to get enough juice from the cuties. Hope it turns out great!
I used three cuties and the zest, it turned out perfect! Thank you
I’m not one to review recipes but I had to pop in here to say this one was perfect on the first try. I had a couple subs just as I’m baking for kiddos: I used 3/4c coconut sugar and 1/2c maple syrup instead of the white and brown sugars. I roasted a med size pumpkin and had 1.5c exactly of fresh pumpkin puree. We did use chocolate chips. I had to bake it for 74 mins at 350°. It was soooo good. Thank you!
Yep, it’s perfect, alright!
As another reader commented, I had to use King Arthur Measure for Meaure gluten free flour (celiac family member) but otherwise followed the recipe, no chocolate chips. I also use a 9″x4″ pan as GF baked goods benefit from the extra support of the narrower pan. It baked up beautifully at 64 minutes, with a moist, perfectly even crumb, top to bottom. No soggy areas. It truly is delicious and “perfect.”
LOVE this recipe, the best pumpkin bread ever! I have not done it with chips yet, but I did add some grated orange peel. I buy an organic orange and use the rind from that, and the juice in the recipe. It wakes it up just a touch and people wonder why it’s so much better than other pumpkin breads. 😀
Thank you for sharing this with us.
Had apple juice on hand for the season and that fit fine in the flavor profile. Left out the white sugar and was sweet enough for this house.
Awesome recipe- cooked about 75 mins in my oven.
I love your recipes but your website format and the ads that pop up and block the entire recipe is extremely annoying
Hi Jojo, I’m so sorry for the trouble. That Amazon pop-up ad was not supposed to appear on the site (we do not allow ads to block content). We’ve flagged it with our ad team several times, and it should already be blocked. If you’re still seeing it, a quick refresh or trying a different browser usually clears it.
Made the pumpkin bread yesterday substituting 2% milk for the orange juice. I baked it 55 minutes then started checking it for doneness. At 65 minutes the inserted toothpick came out fairly clean with a couple of crumbs so I took it out and cooled it for several hours. I sliced two pieces for dessert then wrapped the rest in bees wrap. This morning I sliced more pieces and the top center of the bread hadn’t cooked thoroughly and looked like pumpkin purée. I put back in 350 oven for 20 minutes (sliced) and am hoping it’s not too dried out. I’m just wondering how long I should have baked it. My oven has proven to be spot on with all other recipes so I was very surprised when this came out underdone on top.
Excellent recipe. Made x 2 and it was perfectly delicious
This is so delicious!! Thank you for this recipe.
I added 175gr of light brown sugar and left the caster sugar out altogether and I find the sweetness to be just right for my taste! I also added dark chocolate instead of semi-sweet, a bit of vanilla extract and the zest of one orange
Hi Sally, We love your recipes. This sounds amazing. Do you have any experience/advice with baking this in an air fryer? Oven is broken, and I have a 8 x 3” round pan that fits in the air fryer.
Thank you
Hi Denise, we’ve never tried baking this pumpkin bread in an air fryer before but let us know if you do!
Hi! Does dark brown sugar work for this recipe?
Hi Zahra, sure does!
Sally, your recipes NEVER miss and this one is now basically my entire personality for the fall. I made several loaves last year and I’ve made 4 in the past week for various events and it’s perfect *every* time.
I am curious if you’ve ever had anyone try with a successful vegan substitute for the eggs? I’d love to make for a vegan friend – I’ve got plenty of vegan cooking experience but basically no vegan baking experience. Just curious!
Regardless, this is literally the best pumpkin bread I’ve ever made and ever tried – everyone I’ve made it for thinks I bought it because it’s that perfect. I swear the orange juice makes it. Thanks again!
Hi Olivia, we’re so glad you love this recipe! We haven’t tested any egg substitutes, but please let us know what you try!
I tried this today and it was a hit. I substituted pumpkin seeds for the chocolate chips and it was really nice! I’ll be making it again for sure.
Excellent! I’ve made it several times now and it is a favorite!
Followed the recipe using a scale, I did use the suggested substition of milk instead of orange juice, it smelled great while baking and texture was nice, I let it sit overnight before trying it but it was only just okay in flavor. Maybe I’ll try it again the next time we have OJ in the house.
Why change a recipe and then leave a negative comment on the author’s recipe? It would be far more helpful if you make the recipe as written and then if you want to make it again with your changes, write a review on what you liked/disliked.
Can I use an 11×5 loaf pan. Google is telling me to double recipe and cook for 5-10 minutes less? Looking for any guidance. Thanks
Hi Mich! Double the recipe would be too much batter. You could use your pan with the recipe as written for a thinner loaf, or slightly scale up this recipe. Here is everything you need to know about converting recipes to different Cake Pan Sizes.
This was delicious! I made them as muffins, and they came out so moist and tender! So so good! I would give this recipe TEN stars if I could!
I made this recipe yesterday, and it’s gone. I had to make another one today. Mind you it’s just me and my wife.
That should tell you everything you need to know.
Loved this recipe! Our house loves spices so actually tripled them. Doubled the recipe and since that used 6/7 of a large can of pumpkin, used the full can.
Thankful for the note that said milk could be substituted for orange juice since I didn’t have any. Used buttermilk.
Results were outstanding and everyone loved it!
Love this recipe! I usually don’t like the smell of carving pumpkins so I wasn’t sure if this would be to my taste, but it was so moist and spiced and yummy. I doubled the ginger and left out the cloves, and milk chocolate chips were a great addition so the pumpkin flavour was incredibly mild.
Does anyone know how many calories this contains?
Hi Claire, 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
Followed Sally’s Notes especially lowering the rack in the oven. Bumped up the spices a bit. Came out delicious!!
Hi! I made this pumpkin bread and I loved it, and would like to make it for my grandmother who has Celiac. How could I alter this recipe for her gluten allergy? Thanks!
Hi Andrea, we haven’t tested it ourselves, but some readers have reported success using a 1:1 gluten free all-purpose flour blend in many of our recipes. We’re unsure of the results may change, but let us know if you do give it a try!
I’m using Cup4Cup gluten free flour that seems to work well for any baking. Bread smells great…it’s in oven and 5min away from being done, but has bearly risen at all. Not sure why…followed recipe diligently and didn’t over stir batter. Maybe would add some baking powder next time?
This is my staple pumpkin bread- so good! Question though- when I make it, it’s so moist almost wet? Is that normal? I also get this line along the bottom of my bread that I know isn’t raw but can give the look of uncooked…any thoughts or tips?
Hi Jess, yes, this is a very moist bread! Is it possible that it needs just an additional minute or two in the oven to finish baking through on the bottom? We’d give that a try on your next batch. So glad this is a favorite for you!
Sooo good and lovely
Incredible recipe. Made this to the recipe, but doubled and increased baking time by 30mins in 10inch square cake tray, lined with baking paper. Added chopped crystallized ginger instal of choc-chips. Thank you Sally. Halloween pumpkin was roasted an mashed in a sieve for puree and to remove water…rest is in the freezer for next bake.
Barry, I have made this recipe before, only without chocolate chips. Today I decided I was going to use some of my crystallised ginger! How much did you add?
I made this yesterday and it is so soft and flavorful. It’s definitely better second day after cooling and then sitting in the refrigerator overnight. I added in the chocolate chips and used canola oil because it was all I had. Don’t be afraid to use orange juice because it adds a little brightness to the bread without actually tasting the orange flavor. I cooked mine for 60 minutes and it was perfection!
The best ever recipe! Love this, turned out great!!!