Easy Pumpkin Bread

This easy pumpkin bread recipe mixes up in one bowl and bakes into a moist and cozy loaf. Top it with a quick maple glaze for my family’s favorite fall bake!

A good pumpkin bread recipe is an essential for any home cook. As a cookbook author and professional recipe developer, I’ve made more pumpkin bread recipes than I can count. But this one is my very favorite.

It’s so cozy-spiced and moist, with the perfect tender texture. And it’s so simple to whip up: all you need is one bowl, no special equipment: just dump and stir! When I’m feeling fancy, I top it with this maple glaze to take it over the top.

5 Star Reader Reviews

“So very yummy! This recipe was in this week’s email and I had to make it immediately! We devoured it! The glaze – lip smacking good!” -Jeni

“The best pumpkin bread! Thank you” -Cher

Ingredients You’ll Need

There are many ways to make a great pumpkin bread. I created this one to be ultra moist, with the perfect sweet, cozy spiced flavor and soft, tender crumb. There’s no need for a mixer or waiting for butter to come to room temperature: you can mix it all up in one bowl! Here are a few ingredient notes:

Pumpkin puree: Use canned or homemade; the most consistent brand I’ve found is Libby’s (we’re not affiliated).
Eggs: These bind the bread together. For egg-free, go to our Vegan Pumpkin Bread.
Granulated sugar: You can substitute the solid sweetener of your choice; I don’t recommend using maple syrup here.
Neutral oil: Oil makes a moister quick bread than butter; it also allows the recipe to be made in a bowl with no stand mixer.
Cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice (or ginger, allspice, and nutmeg): Individual spices make the boldest flavor, but you can also use pumpkin pie spice.
All purpose flour: You can substitute up to ¼ of the flour with whole wheat flour. For a gluten-free option, go to our Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread.

How to Make Pumpkin Bread, Step by Step

Here’s an overview of how to make this pumpkin bread recipe (or jump to the recipe card for quantities):

Prep the oven and pan. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan and line it with parchment paper.
Whisk the wet ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, then whisk in the pumpkin puree, sugar, oil, and vanilla.
Add the spices and baking powder. Whisk these in first. This method of adding the dry ingredients in two batches eliminates the need for a separate bowl.
Fold in the flour. Sprinkle in the flour half at a time, mixing with a spatula.
Bake. Pour the batter into the pan and bake 60 to 65 minutes, until the top is set and a toothpick comes out with a few clinging crumbs. Cool at least 30 minutes, and longer if you’d like to add a glaze.

Tips For A Perfectly Baked Loaf

Here are a few things to keep in mind for baking success with this pumpkin bread recipe:

Use an aluminum baking pan for best results (9 x 5-inch). Ceramic and glass pans don’t cook as evenly. This recipe is optimized for a 9 x 5 inch pan, but also works in a 8 x 4 inch pan.
Don’t overmix. Overmixing a quick bread can lead to holes in the texture of the crumb.
Let it cool fully before serving. This bread has an even more developed flavor once it is fully cooled: eating it after 2 hours is ideal.

Try It With Maple Glaze

This easy pumpkin bread is delicious plain, but we like it best with a glaze! This maple glaze is simple to whip up and has a sweet, maple-forward flavor.

Using maple glaze adds a pop of maple-forward flavor. It’s easy to find at the grocery store and it’s worth buying. However, the glaze tastes delicious without it!
Butter is helpful for storage. One advantage of the maple glaze is that the butter helps to make for a more solidified glaze that holds up better over time.
Want a solid glaze? Make double the glaze recipe below and glaze the cooled bread in the pan, so the glaze doesn’t run down the sides.
Try my simpler variations. You can also use this 1-Minute Powdered Sugar Icing or Vanilla Glaze for topping.

Variations and Mix-Ins

OF course, there are lots of ways to riff on a pumpkin bread recipe. Here are a few ideas for adding to the top or inside this bread:

Chocolate chips: Fold in 1 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips before baking; go to Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread.
Nuts: Top the bread with ⅓ cup chopped pecans or walnuts. Toast the pecans or walnuts to bring out the flavor.
Cream cheese frosting: Top with a half recipe of this Cream Cheese Frosting.
Drizzle: Drizzle this bread with Powdered Sugar Icing.
Banana: Make Pumpkin Banana Bread instead.

Leftover Pumpkin and Baking Extra Loaves

This recipe calls for 1 cup of pumpkin puree, and a 15-ounce can holds 1¾ cups. That leaves roughly ¾ cup leftover. To use it up, you can stir the leftovers into pumpkin pancakes or pumpkin baked oatmeal, or freeze the pumpkin puree for later.

To bake two loaves, you can double the recipe and use two loaf pans. You’ll need 2 cups of puree, which is a little more than one 15-ounce can.

What to Serve With Pumpkin Bread

Here are some fun things to serve with pumpkin bread for a super cozy gathering:

A warm drink: Pour a Pumpkin Spice Latte, a Chai Latte, or a mug of Mulled Cider.
Something to spread: Try almond butter, or Whipped Cream Cheese with a drizzle of honey.
A brunch spread: Set it out with scrambled eggs or a fall themed omelette.
Dessert: Serve a thick slice with Vanilla Ice Cream and a drizzle of apple cider syrup.
A gift: Wrap a cooled, unglazed loaf for a neighbor or teacher.

How to Store and Freeze Pumpkin Bread

This pumpkin bread recipe tastes even better the next day, because it picks up moisture during storage. Here are a few tips for storage of this quick bread:

Stores at room temperature for 4 days, wrapped tightly in aluminum foil.
Stores refrigerated for 10 days. Cold temperatures can make it taste dryer, so bring to room temperature before serving.
Stores frozen for up to 3 months. Slice the cooled bread, then freeze it in slices for up to 3 months. Freezing works best without the glaze.

Dietary Notes

This easy pumpkin bread recipe is vegetarian. For vegan, go to Vegan Pumpkin Bread. For gluten-free, go to Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread