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This classic pumpkin bread recipe is perfectly moist, easy to make without a mixer, and full of the best pumpkin flavor!
Most of the time when I’m craving pumpkin bread, I turn to my favorite recipe for these gluten-free, sugar-free, healthy pumpkin muffins. (Which, fun fact, can also be baked into bread!) But on those days when I find myself craving the real deal…
…this is the classic pumpkin bread recipe that I absolutely adore. ♡
It’s made with butter, sugar, flour, and all of the indulgent stuff you need in a good old-fashioned slice of pumpkin bread. And I’m especially partial to this recipe in particular because it adds extra pumpkin purée and pumpkin spice in the batter to bring out the best of those cozy fall flavors we all love, and makes this bread ultra-moist as well. This pumpkin bread recipe is also super-easy to make without a mixer. And of course, it beats any fall candle you can buy in the store and is guaranteed to make your entire home smell downright heavenly.
I’ve been tweaking this recipe bit by bit over the years and think I’ve reached the point where I’m finally happy with it. So if you happen to be looking for a classic moist pumpkin bread recipe to add to your repertoire, I highly recommend bookmarking and giving this one a try. It’s one of my favorite treats this time of year and I always look forward to it.
Let’s make some pumpkin bread!
Perfect Pumpkin Bread | 1-Minute Video
Pumpkin Bread Ingredients:
First, a few notes about the ingredients you will need to make this easy pumpkin bread recipe:
Flour: I have only tested this recipe with basic all-purpose flour. If you try it with a different flour, though, please let us know the results in the comments below.
Spices: A mix of pumpkin pie spice (either homemade or store-bought) plus some extra ground cinnamon.
Baking soda and baking powder: We will use both in this recipe.
Salt: Please note that I wrote this recipe using fine sea salt, which is less potent than iodonized (table) salt. That said, if you only have table salt on hand, you can add it and just use a bit less (1/2 teaspoon).
Sugars: This recipe calls for both granulated (white) sugar and light brown sugar.
Butter: Which I prefer instead of oil in this recipe to add lots of rich butter flavor.
Pumpkin purée: I used canned pumpkin purée, but you can make your own from scratch if you prefer. (Just be careful not to accidentally buy canned pumpkin pie filling, which is a different product altogether.)
Eggs: Just two regular large eggs.
Vanilla extract: Finally, some pure vanilla extract, which will pair beautifully with all of those cozy pumpkin flavors.
How To Make Pumpkin Bread:
Here is a brief overview of how to make pumpkin bread (full instructions included below):
Mix the dry ingredients. First, we’ll whisk together all of the dry ingredients (minus the sugars).
Mix the sugars and wet ingredients. Then in a separate large mixing bowl, stir together the sugars and melted butter until evenly combined, and then mix in the pumpkin purée, eggs and vanilla.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients. Next we’ll combine all of those ingredients. (Be sure not to over-mix!)
Bake. Then we will pour the batter into a parchment-lined (or greased) bread pan, and bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out clean.
Cool. Then I recommend transferring the bread pan to a wire baking rack to let it cool for a bit, invert the bread onto the rack to let it cool a bit more, then slice and enjoy! The texture of this bread (especially the crust) is definitely best the same day that it is baked, but I’ve included instructions below for how to store it at room temperature or in the freezer if you would like.
Pumpkin Bread Recipe Variations:
I’m one of those people who loves my pumpkin bread plain without any extra mix-ins. But if you would like to customize yours, feel free to…
Add nuts or dried fruit: Feel free to stir in 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts, pecans, or dried fruit (such as dried cranberries or chopped dried apricots) to the batter before baking if you would like.
Add chocolate chips:Feel free to stir in 1/2 cup of chocolate chips (semisweet, dark, or white) to the batter before baking, if you would like to make chocolate chip pumpkin bread.
Add orange zest: This batter would also be delicious with the zest of one orange stirred in.
Add fresh ginger: If you love the flavor of ginger in your pumpkin bread, feel free to stir in 2 to 3 teaspoons of grated fresh ginger.
Add a streusel crumble on top: If you really want to get decadent and make a streusel pumpkin bread, just stir together 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1/4 cup melted butter, 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice and a pinch of salt together until it is chunky and crumbly. Then sprinkle it on top of the batter before baking.
More Favorite Pumpkin Recipes:
Looking for some more pumpkin recipes to make this season? Here are some of my faves:
Prepare oven and bread pan. Heat oven to 350°F. Line a 9 x 5-inch bread pan with parchment or mist with cooking spray.
Mix the dry ingredients. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, cinnamon, baking powder and salt until combined. Set aside.
Mix the sugars and wet ingredients. In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together the granulated sugar, brown sugar and melted butter until evenly combined. Add in the pumpkin purée, eggs and vanilla and stir until evenly combined.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until they are just combined and no dry streaks remain. (Try to avoid over-mixing!)
Bake. Pour the batter into the prepared bread pan, and smooth the top of the batter so that it is even. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out clean.
Cool. Transfer the pan to a wire baking rack and let the bread cool for 10 minutes. Then run a knife around the edges of the bread and carefully invert the bread onto the wire baking rack to continue cooling for 5-10 more minutes. Then slice, serve and enjoy!
Storage instructions: This bread can be stored in a food storage container or zip-top bag at room temperature for up to 3-4 days. If you would like to freeze the bread, let it cool completely to room temperature. Then wrap the bread tightly in bees wrap (or plastic wrap), enclose it in a food storage container or zip-top freezer bag, and freeze for up to 3 months.
This bread turned out very good! I’m eating it now for breakfast. I added chocolate chips and walnuts to the batter. The bread is moist and delicious. I’ve never made pumpkin bread before but this is a keeper!
I’m one of those people who loves my pumpkin bread plain without any extra mix-ins. But if you would like to customize yours, feel free to… https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/pumpkin-bread/
Oh goodness, this was SO SO good and there are so many different things you can do to tweak it, can hardly wait to make it again! I’m new to this website and have already printed several recipes to try out!
I made a loaf yesterday and a loaf today. Yummy! Not sure if it’s intentional but this is nearly identical to the Starbucks pumpkin loaf IMO!
Jan Reissenweber —
Perfect! I made it for Thanksgiving last year, and will do so again this year. I made one plain and one with raisins – equally good. I had to freeze, but still thought they turned out great!
I made this the other day and this is such a great CLASSIC pumpkin bread recipe. I was tempted to add chocolate chips but I’m actually glad I didn’t – the flavor was phenomenal. I will definitely be making this again (for years to come) and have already sent the recipe to some friends to try as well. I baked mine for 60 minutes and followed the instructions for cooling/flipping and had no issues with the middle sinking – it was perfect.
This looks great. I am going to make this as written in the next day or so. I think a mini loaf version might be a nice little treat for a few neighbors as we are all staying pretty close to home. My question is how is cooking time impacted? The mini loaf pans I have are 14.5 cm x 8.4 cm x 4.7 cm. Any suggestions on how long it should bake?
This was amazing! Added crushed pumpkin seeds/walnuts to top of one half (toddler requested his side be plain) and it was SO GOOD. Loaf was eaten within 24 hours … thank you!! (and tasted better than starbucks pumpkin loaf which I love!!!) … will be making again soon!
Absolutely delicious! I put walnuts in it and everyone from my little granddaughter to my husband couldn’t get enough. Next time I’ll add ginger for a kick.
This was so good!! I live in Germany so some spices are hard to find. So I used cocoa powder and ginger instead of pumpkin spice. Added a little extra brown sugar and it came out really good. I used Kürbis instead of pumpkin; and then puréed the Kürbis. The pecans were a nice touch as well. Super good!!
Hi from Chicago! I’ve made this recipe twice now and it’s perfect. Each year I try different pumpkin bread recipes in hopes of find them best and now I’ve found it! Thank you.
This came out so delicious. It was crispy on the outside and moist and flavorful on the inside. I had made my own pumpkin pulp from a princess pumpkin I had and used farm fresh eggs. Wow, thanks for a definite keeper. Blessings to all you baking folks and happy baking!
It’s absolutely Delicious. Thank you for a wonderful and easy recipe. I discovered your website and Everything I’ve tried has been incredible. You are my secret weapon!
I used Bob’s Red Mill unbleached flour and Trader Joe’s pumpkin and it was absolutely delicious. Very easy to make and best recipe I have tried (and I have plenty)! I also did a light butter frosting on to, very thin and it added a great touch of yum! Thank you, your recipes are always so good.
Recipe and reviews are excellent. I follow KETO and low carb WOE. Can almond flour and sugar substitute such as Swerve and Swerve brown sugar be substituted for flour and sugar? Has anyone experimented with these ingredients? Thanks.
Looks like a great recipe! Could you tell me…is it an overly sweet recipe? Could I decrease the white sugar without it impacting the chemistry of the recipe too much?
Love the taste, made it twice, toothpick came out
clean, but undercooked. Cooked for 60 minutes in a glass
loaf pan, maybe try 65-70 minutes & a different pan, next
time
Your thoughts?
Charlene
Penny —
I made this and it sounds delicious but my bread did not cook? Any ideas on where I went wrong? I doubled the ingredients bc I wanted to freeze one and cooked them both at the same time for about 55 minutes. Clean tooth pick and felt cooked through but they were heavy when lifting which I thought was odd. Went to cut into later after cooking and they were not cooked. Used dark metal loaf tins. I’m not a great baker and do not have much experience with baking so any help/advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Is the butter measurement 1/2 cup of melted butter or 1/2 cup of butter melted?
Carter —
Some of the butter will evaporate if you decide to melt the butter in the microwave or stove. But that’s okay: you still have the majority of the butter. Just melt one whole stick of butter {1/2 cup} and use it.
This was a fantastic recipe! I wanted just one loaf buy made a second loaf to freeze because it was delicious and I leftover puree. I used fresh pumpkin and mixed my own spices (cloves, nutmeg, ginger, allspice) instead of using pumpkin pie spice. A winner!
Loved this pumpkin bread! We made it vegan by using Just Egg (substitute) and Earth Balance butter and you couldn’t tell the difference! We also used a smaller bread pan, 4.5×8.5 and baked it for 20-25 minutes, and topped it with some pumpkin seeds. We will be making this again!!!
Delicious. I tasted original recipe and thought it was just amazing so I made gf version for friends. 1 cup green banana flour + 3/4 cup gf flour + I used flaxseed eggs. Didn’t rise as much as your original recipe, but turned out and tasted lovely.
Any suggestion on what I should add to give it that lovely lift you have in yours?
Sounds delectable! If you wanted to substitute oil for the melted butter, would you use the same 1/2 cup measurement?
Yep, that would work!
This bread turned out very good! I’m eating it now for breakfast. I added chocolate chips and walnuts to the batter. The bread is moist and delicious. I’ve never made pumpkin bread before but this is a keeper!
I’m one of those people who loves my pumpkin bread plain without any extra mix-ins. But if you would like to customize yours, feel free to… https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/pumpkin-bread/
Oh goodness, this was SO SO good and there are so many different things you can do to tweak it, can hardly wait to make it again! I’m new to this website and have already printed several recipes to try out!
I made this and this turned out so good! So far one of my favorite pumpkin bread recipes!
This recipe is amazing! I will definitely be making more!
I made a loaf yesterday and a loaf today. Yummy! Not sure if it’s intentional but this is nearly identical to the Starbucks pumpkin loaf IMO!
Perfect! I made it for Thanksgiving last year, and will do so again this year. I made one plain and one with raisins – equally good. I had to freeze, but still thought they turned out great!
I made this the other day and this is such a great CLASSIC pumpkin bread recipe. I was tempted to add chocolate chips but I’m actually glad I didn’t – the flavor was phenomenal. I will definitely be making this again (for years to come) and have already sent the recipe to some friends to try as well. I baked mine for 60 minutes and followed the instructions for cooling/flipping and had no issues with the middle sinking – it was perfect.
This looks great. I am going to make this as written in the next day or so. I think a mini loaf version might be a nice little treat for a few neighbors as we are all staying pretty close to home. My question is how is cooking time impacted? The mini loaf pans I have are 14.5 cm x 8.4 cm x 4.7 cm. Any suggestions on how long it should bake?
Thank you!
Made this today and it was wonderful. It was a hit with everyone. Hoping to do the mini loaves to give to the neighbors.
this is the BEST pumpkin bread recipe!!!
This was amazing! Added crushed pumpkin seeds/walnuts to top of one half (toddler requested his side be plain) and it was SO GOOD. Loaf was eaten within 24 hours … thank you!! (and tasted better than starbucks pumpkin loaf which I love!!!) … will be making again soon!
Absolutely delicious! I put walnuts in it and everyone from my little granddaughter to my husband couldn’t get enough. Next time I’ll add ginger for a kick.
This was so good!! I live in Germany so some spices are hard to find. So I used cocoa powder and ginger instead of pumpkin spice. Added a little extra brown sugar and it came out really good. I used Kürbis instead of pumpkin; and then puréed the Kürbis. The pecans were a nice touch as well. Super good!!
Hi from Chicago! I’ve made this recipe twice now and it’s perfect. Each year I try different pumpkin bread recipes in hopes of find them best and now I’ve found it! Thank you.
This came out so delicious. It was crispy on the outside and moist and flavorful on the inside. I had made my own pumpkin pulp from a princess pumpkin I had and used farm fresh eggs. Wow, thanks for a definite keeper. Blessings to all you baking folks and happy baking!
It’s absolutely Delicious. Thank you for a wonderful and easy recipe. I discovered your website and Everything I’ve tried has been incredible. You are my secret weapon!
I used Bob’s Red Mill unbleached flour and Trader Joe’s pumpkin and it was absolutely delicious. Very easy to make and best recipe I have tried (and I have plenty)! I also did a light butter frosting on to, very thin and it added a great touch of yum! Thank you, your recipes are always so good.
This was amazing and so easy! I made it with gluten free 1 to 1 flour and it turned out perfect!
This came out perfect! Exactly what I envisioned for pumpkin bread. Thanks for sharing this recipe :)
I used all-purpose gluten-free flour. It came out perfect. My family loved it. So delicious and moist ?
Recipe and reviews are excellent. I follow KETO and low carb WOE. Can almond flour and sugar substitute such as Swerve and Swerve brown sugar be substituted for flour and sugar? Has anyone experimented with these ingredients? Thanks.
Great recipe! ?
This is the best pumpkin bread if you are looking for a moist, sweet like a pumpkin muffin bread. My family loved it, especially the kids.
Looks like a great recipe! Could you tell me…is it an overly sweet recipe? Could I decrease the white sugar without it impacting the chemistry of the recipe too much?
Love the taste, made it twice, toothpick came out
clean, but undercooked. Cooked for 60 minutes in a glass
loaf pan, maybe try 65-70 minutes & a different pan, next
time
Your thoughts?
Charlene
I made this and it sounds delicious but my bread did not cook? Any ideas on where I went wrong? I doubled the ingredients bc I wanted to freeze one and cooked them both at the same time for about 55 minutes. Clean tooth pick and felt cooked through but they were heavy when lifting which I thought was odd. Went to cut into later after cooking and they were not cooked. Used dark metal loaf tins. I’m not a great baker and do not have much experience with baking so any help/advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
I tried this pumpkin bread recipe this week and this will now be my go-to recipe! It isn’t dry at all and the spices are just right. So yummy!
Is the butter measurement 1/2 cup of melted butter or 1/2 cup of butter melted?
Some of the butter will evaporate if you decide to melt the butter in the microwave or stove. But that’s okay: you still have the majority of the butter. Just melt one whole stick of butter {1/2 cup} and use it.
This was a fantastic recipe! I wanted just one loaf buy made a second loaf to freeze because it was delicious and I leftover puree. I used fresh pumpkin and mixed my own spices (cloves, nutmeg, ginger, allspice) instead of using pumpkin pie spice. A winner!
Made this using GF 1:1 flour and it turned out AMAZING!!!
Oh and I used olive oil instead of butter – so GF and DF! Yummo
Very yummy recipe!!
Loved this pumpkin bread! We made it vegan by using Just Egg (substitute) and Earth Balance butter and you couldn’t tell the difference! We also used a smaller bread pan, 4.5×8.5 and baked it for 20-25 minutes, and topped it with some pumpkin seeds. We will be making this again!!!
Did you use. 15 oz can of pumpkin puree? Or the larger can?
Best pumpkin recipe! This bread came out perfect, super moist and flavorful. Thank you for the great and easy to follow recipe :)
Delicious. I tasted original recipe and thought it was just amazing so I made gf version for friends. 1 cup green banana flour + 3/4 cup gf flour + I used flaxseed eggs. Didn’t rise as much as your original recipe, but turned out and tasted lovely.
Any suggestion on what I should add to give it that lovely lift you have in yours?
I just made this and OH MY !!! I’m so glad I doubled the recipe. This is a winner!