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This classic pumpkin bread recipe is loaded with warm spices and full of delicious pumpkin flavor. This recipe makes two loaves and freezes beautifully, so you can enjoy one loaf now and freeze the second for later or share it with a friend.
Okay, let’s chat about this pumpkin bread. There is nothing that signifies fall for me more than this recipe. I’ve been making it for years — long before my blog, and it shows up countless times in my kitchen throughout the season.
It’s sweet, spicy and incredibly moist. I know, I know, moist is not my favorite word either, but there is really no way to adequately describe this Pumpkin Bread recipe without mentioning that word.
I have fed this bread to so many people and every one of them has declared that this recipe is the best Pumpkin Bread they have ever tasted.
This particular recipe gets better with time, so whip it up a day or so in advance before you plan on eating it or giving it away. The batter can be assembled in 20 minutes and makes 2 loaves, perfect for freezing for later or sharing with a loved one.
What readers are saying
“This is my favorite pumpkin bread recipe. I make a crumb topping for it and it’s out of this world!…The only “change” I make is I use dark brown sugar and granulated sugar and I add some extra cinnamon. Awesome!” -Paula
“I am obsessed with this recipe…I love how it tastes, how easy it is to put together, how it doesn’t take all the butter in my house to make, and also just how much everyone I share it with loves it.” -Molly
“This is my go to recipe for pumpkin bread. My family requests this every holiday, and all through the winter months. It’s so moist and taste delicious! I highly recommend.” –Laura
Jamie’s testing notes & tips
- This pumpkin bread does take about an hour to bake, but you can easily whip the batter up while your oven is preheating. You can use an electric mixer, but I often skip it and just use a whisk and spatula instead.
- This recipe is the perfect base for your family’s favorite mix-ins. We make it as written multiple times each year, but also love adding everything from chocolate chips to a streusel topping. Scroll down to “recipe variations” for some of our favorites.
- Enjoy this bread plain or toasted, add a spread of butter or cream cheese, or get a little adventurous and fry it up in a pan and make Pumpkin Bread French Toast! You can even use it to make pumpkin trifle for Thanksgiving.
A note from Jamie
2026 update: I’ve been making this pumpkin bread recipe since before I even started blogging, but I first shared the recipe here in 2011. It has been a seasonal favorite every year since. I have updated the post and photos over time to include more helpful tips and tricks, but the recipe itself remains the same. I know you’re gonna love it!
Ingredient notes
⬇️ For the full recipe, including ingredient amounts, scroll down to the recipe card below!
- Pure pumpkin puree: Make sure to buy pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling. Canned pumpkin pie filling is not the same thing; it has a bunch of added ingredients that we don’t need in our Pumpkin Bread.
- Large eggs: These help bind the bread, add moisture, and provide a lot of leavening power to help the loaves rise.
- Vegetable oil: Just like when we make carrot cake, oil is key to keeping the bread moist. This is because it is liquid at room temperature. If you don’t like vegetable oil, you can use any neutral-flavored oil you prefer.
- Water: Adds extra moisture to the batter without throwing off the flavor.
- Vanilla: Extract or vanilla bean paste.
- Granulated sugar: For just the right amount of sweetness in the bread.
- All-purpose flour: Make sure you know how to correctly measure flour before you start baking so your pumpkin bread turns out perfect every time.
- Baking soda: For leavening.
- Kosher salt: To round out the flavors. I have also used fine sea salt with success.
- Pumpkin pie spice: This mix contains all of the warm spices that complement the pumpkin. I like to make my homemade pumpkin pie spice, but a store-bought mix will work just fine.
While you’re at the store, grab a few extra cans because I can guarantee you’ll want to use them in Pumpkin Cheesecake, Pumpkin Bundt Cake, Pumpkin Crunch Cake, and more.
Storage and freezing
Wrap the cooled loaves of pumpkin bread tightly in foil and store at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
If you’d like to freeze the bread, you can either freeze it whole or as individual slices.
To freeze the whole loaves, wrap the bread well in plastic wrap and then wrap them tightly in heavy-duty foil. To freeze slices, cut nice, thick slices and wrap them each in plastic wrap. Pop them in a zip-top freezer bag.
Freeze the bread for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to enjoy, take the whole loaves out of the freezer and let them thaw on the counter overnight, or grab as many slices as you like and microwave them for 30-60 seconds to thaw and warm them through.
Pumpkin Bread
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 (15-ounce) can pure pumpkin puree
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- ⅔ cup water
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
Video
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour (2) 8.5 x 4 x 2.5 inch loaf pans.
- In a large bowl with an electric hand mixer, combine pumpkin, eggs, oil, water, vanilla and sugar until well blended. This can also be done by hand with a whisk if you do not have or do not wish to use an electric mixer.1 (15-ounce) can pure pumpkin puree, 4 large eggs, 1 cup vegetable oil, 2/3 cup water, 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract, 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice until combined.3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, 2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
- Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Divide the batter between the prepared pans.
- Bake in preheated oven for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pans for about 20 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Ingredients
- If you choose to use homemade pumpkin puree, keep in mind that the bread will not be as orange, since homemade puree is typically lighter in color than canned pumpkin.
- If you do not have pumpkin pie spice, you can use ground cinnamon instead.
Variations
- This bread is a fantastic base for all sorts of additions. Get creative by adding in chopped nuts, chocolate chips, dried cranberries, or whatever else sounds good to you.
Yield
- Makes (2) 8.5×4-inch loaves
Storage
- Store well wrapped at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Bread can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Recipe variations
This bread is perfect as it is, but it is also a great base for adding extra flavors! Some of my favorite variations that I’ve made over the years include:
- Add chocolate chips to make Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread. If you’re not into chocolate, chopped nuts or dried cranberries also make great add-ins.
- Make a cream cheese filling to create Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread.
- Streusel-Topped Pumpkin Bread with Maple Glaze adds a sweet streusel and a seasonal glaze to this already great recipe.
- Swap the oil for brown butter to make Brown Butter Pumpkin Bread.
- Divide the batter into muffin tins and add some pumpkin seeds on top for delicious Pumpkin Muffins!
I’ve made this pumpkin bread every week since Oct 1!! Amazing!!! My kids and husband are addicted, I’ve shared this page, (and the bread), with numerous friends, and am now baking it for our Thanksgiving feast. Thank you so much for an awesome and delicious recipe!
Jules-
Wow, that’s fantastic! I’m thrilled that you and your family enjoy the recipe so much. Happy holidays and thank you for following MBA!
-Jamie
I have a similar strange love for pumpkins over the autumn/fall months. I think this bread would be the perfect accompaniment for my http://www.smileyculture.com/chilli-pumpkin-soup/. Minus the vanilla flavours of course!
Sounds great! Thanks so much for stopping in and have a wonderful holiday season!
-Jamie
Very, very nice. I wonder if the folks who are reporting that it stayed flat and dense and didn’t rise started with cold ingredients, especially the eggs. I find that having everything at room temperature makes a huge difference.
Elaine-
Thanks so much for the tips! I’m so happy that you enjoyed the recipe. Have a wonderful day and thanks for following MBA!
-Jamie
I made this several weeks ago. I added 1/2 cup of walnut.The smell reminded me of being home for the holidays. The honey colored bread was moist and it had the right balance of pumpkin and sweetness. I plan to make it again for the holidays. I’m considering giving it as gifts as well. Yes, it was that good. Thank you!
Hi Jamie!
I just found your blog while searching for applesauce receicps! (I’ll be making the crockpot receipe this weekend!) One thing led to another and now I’m looking for your pumpkin pie spice! Only problems is I can read the blog but there is no receipe! Could you help! I really would like to use the pumpkin pie spice!!
Thanks, Lynn
Hi Lynn, the recipe is here: https://www.mybakingaddiction.com/pumpkin-pie-spice-recipe/
– Jamie
Does anyone else get hard pieces (like sand or shell bits) in pumpkin bread? I can’t decide if the problem is with the pumpkin puree or the spices (cloves, nutmeg, or allspice). This makes me hesitant to give loaves as gifts.
Wynn, I’m trying to think what that could be from and am completely at a loss. I’ve never had that issue.
– Jamie
Hi Wynn-
I have run into your problem of hard pieces like sand or pebbly like things in your pumpkin bread or other things! I am from Louisiana where we raise sugar cane and had a sugar guy tell me one time that tiny lumps in your sugar that are caused by humid conditions in processing can cause clumping in the sugar and if it is bagged and then stored in the warehouse for a long period of time they turn to actual crystally glued rocky lumps and will NOT bake out. I almost broke a tooth one time biting into a large one I had not seen! After that, I now pour out my 5 lb. bag of sugar into a fine sieve over a large bowl to get any and all lumps out then I rebag it inside of a gallon size plastic freezer ziploc so it doesn’t happen again. You can also crack your eggs over a bowl just in case you have “crumbly egg shells” I call them. Lol . Some egg shells seem to be more crumbly than others and if you get egg shell in your bread batter when you run into a piece it will feel just like chewing sand! By cracking eggs into a bowl first you can watch for bits of crumbly shell falling in by accident and you will be able to see them and fish them out before it gets into your bread. Hope this helps Wynn!! God bless and happy baking! :)
Are you using whole cloves instead of ground?
I made this very good I did use half oil and half applesauce and raisins will make it again
I made this I did use half oil half applesauce and raisins very good this will be my recipe to go to when I want to make pumpkin bread. Linda
Linda-
Sounds great! Thank you so much for stopping in to share and have a lovely day!
-Jamie
Can you use these ingredients for pumpkin pie?
Hi Lisa,
Pumpkin pie is very different in texture. I would not use this recipe to try and make pumpkin pie.
– Jamie
Have you ever made mini loaves with this recipe?
Aggie,
I haven’t, but I’m sure it would work fine. The yield would be hard to guess though, because there aren’t any standard sizes for mini-loaves. You may have some extra batter leftover.
– Jamie
Made 4 loaves with this awesome with a few tweaks. They came out delicious. Gave a loaf out to friends already. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
That’s great to hear! I’m so happy that you enjoyed the recipe and are sharing! Have a great day and thank you for following MBA!
-Jamie