BEST Pumpkin Bread {+VIDEO} | Lil’ Luna

Deliciously tender Pumpkin Bread topped with cinnamon and sugar is a favorite fall treat in our family. It’s irresistible!

Pumpkin Bread is one of our favorite fall breads. We love it so much we’ve now tried other variations like our Pumpkin Streusel Bread and Pumpkin Banana Bread!

Easy Pumpkin Bread

My mom is known for her bread. It always turns out so good, and so soft. She usually gets requests not only from the kids, but from anyone who has had her bread before (cinnamon bread, banana bread, etc).

Today’s easy Pumpkin Bread recipe is another one my mom adapted. It is so good and soft and has become a fall favorite. It’s just bursting with pumpkin flavor.

We changed it up a bit by adding some cinnamon and sugar on top and love how moist and fall-ish it is. We have a feeling you’ll agree. Slice it up for snacks, or for a not-too-sweet dessert!

How to Make Pumpkin Bread

One of the best parts about this bread is that it doesn’t require any yeast!! Yay for quick breads! Breads without yeast are so much faster, they don’t have to rise, and they’re pretty much fail proof. This recipe is no different!

PREP. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour two 5-x-9-inch loaf pans.

WET INGREDIENTS. In a large bowl, mix pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. 

DRY INGREDIENTS. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Combine dry ingredients with the pumpkin mixture and stir until just blended. Pour batter evenly into the prepared pans. 

TOPPING. To make the topping, combine sugar and cinnamon and mix well. Sprinkle over the top of the bread mixture in the pans before baking.

BAKE. Tent with foil and bake for 75–80 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Serve warm, or let cool before serving.

Told you it was simple. The result is a very delicious and moist Pumpkin Bread with a cinnamon and sugar topping everyone will go nuts over!!

Lining the Pan

One of the most exasperating aspects of bread making happens when the bread does not come out of the pan in one piece. One way to avoid this is to line the pan with parchment paper.

1. Spray the pans with cooking spray. 
2. Cut 3 pieces of parchment paper 7 inches by about 12 inches. 
3. Lay a piece of parchment paper across the long sides of the pans and the bottom. Press the paper, the cooking spray will help it cling to the pan. 
4. After the bread has been baked and cooled a little, slide a butter knife along both of the short sides to help release the bread from the pan. 
5. Use the parchment paper to lift the loaves up and out in one piece. Place the loaves on a wire rack to finish cooling.

recipe tips

Room temperature. Using room temperature eggs helps them incorporate into the other ingredients better.

Don’t Overmix. Once the dry ingredients mix with the wet ingredients the gluten in flour is activated. The more it is mixed, the more the gluten activates. Overmixing can cause a dense and chewier bread.

This is why Quick Bread utilizes the muffin method when making the bread batter. This just means that the dry ingredients are sifted together in a separate bowl. This is important because it ensures everything is properly distributed without having to over mix the batter. 

Split Bread. Don’t worry if the top of the bread splits right down the center. It happens to most all quick breads. A top crust develops pretty quickly. As the bread bakes, the steam from the center pushes its way up to the top and splits the crust open in order to escape. 

How to tell if it’s done. The easiest way to tell if the bread is done is to poke a cake tester, or wooden skewer, into the center of the bread. If it comes out clean, it’s done. If the crust is baking more quickly than the center, tent a piece of tin foil over the pan to help keep the crust from burning.  

Ingredient tips

Seasoning. Replace the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves with an equal amount of Pumpkin Pie Spice. 

Baking Soda. This bread uses baking soda as its leavening agent. If the baking soda is too old, it won’t activate properly, yielding a flat dense bread. 

Pumpkin Puree. This recipe calls for a can of pumpkin puree and NOT canned pumpkin pie filling. Pumpkin puree is only pumpkin whereas the canned pie filling already has spices and other ingredients mixed into it. 

Variations

To change up this moist pumpkin bread, try making these changes:

Flavor variations.

• pumpkin + chocolate chips combo can’t be beat
• enhance the cinnamon flavor by adding 1 cup of cinnamon chips
• add butterscotch chips
• white chocolate chips are also great with Pumpkin
• mix in chopped pecans or walnuts
• slice it up and drizzle with maple syrup

Cream Cheese. Add a layer of cream cheese by mixing the following ingredients. Pour half the batter in the pan, then ⅓ of the cream cheese mixture, followed by the remaining batter.

Blend together:

• 8 oz. softened cream cheese
• ⅓ cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp flour

Make into muffins

Line muffin tin with cupcake liners. Fill to 2/3 full and bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Makes 24-30 muffins.

We also have a few other recipes for Pumpkin Muffins that I think you’ll want to try:

Storing info

STORE. Remove bread from pan and let cool completely. Wrap in plastic wrap and store in a Ziploc bag on the counter for up to 2 days or up to 1 week in the refrigerator.

FREEZE. Let the pumpkin bread cool and then wrap in plastic wrap and place in freezer bag or wrap again with aluminum foil. Freeze for up to 2 months.

For more pumpkin recipes, check out:

NOTE: Pictures for this recipe were re-taken by Alicia of The Baker Upstairs.