Delicious Pumpkin Bread Recipes

Have you ever stopped to think about why banana bread is one of the items that people overwhelmingly chose to bake during the pandemic? Why not pumpkin or some other quick bread? I’d wager to say that banana bread is seasonally agnostic and popular throughout the year. Plus, it makes us feel like we are doing our part when we use up the overripe bananas on the counter. A beautiful thing about quick breads is that they are very approachable. No yeast or proofing times are involved. Typically, these easy breads require one bowl, one stirring utensil and a loaf pan. There must be thousands of banana bread recipes on the internet. A quick Instagram look this morning tells me that #bananabread has over two million posts (2,058,899), while #pumpkinbread has a mere 183,104 posts. Pumpkin, somewhat surprisingly, beat out zucchini bread (85,923 posts). While I’ve tried several banana bread riffs, it’s hard to believe that I’ve made the same pumpkin bread recipe for the past 20 years. So today I’m stepping out. I made a new recipe for pumpkin bread that includes a dusting of cinnamon and sugar before going into the oven. And she’s gourd-geous.

First, a few pumpkin-bread rules

1. No raisins. Period. No exceptions.

2. The recipe needs to use one 15-oz. can of pumpkin puree. I don’t want to have to use part of a can and let the rest squander in the back of my fridge, finding it a month later. Not pretty.

3. No nuts mixed in. I like a few on top for crunch but keep my pumpkin bread unadulterated.

4. Chocolate chips (preferably mini) are the exception to no mix-ins. But I need to be in the mood for chocolate with my pumpkin.

My original pumpkin bread

My go-to pumpkin bread recipe is one that I got years ago from the mother of one of my daughter’s grade school friends. It’s pumpkin bread in pure form. No nuts, no raisins and no chocolate chips. I like that it makes either three large loaves or seven small ones. I buy the small foil bread pans, and then either share the small loaves with friends or place in my freezer for breakfast when company comes or for when I have a pumpkin craving. I still love this recipe. It smells so good baking.

Recipe continued on back: Bake at 325 degrees F for 1 hours. Makes 3 regular or 7 small loaves.

Cinnamon & Sugar Dusted Pumpkin Bread 

This recipe (in photos) from Smitten Kitchen had me at the cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on top that develops a nice crust. I’ll definitely be making it again. 

Ingredients

• 1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree

• ½ cup melted butter

• 3 large eggs

• 1 2/3 cups granulated sugar

• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

• ¾ teaspoon baking soda

• ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt

• ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon

• Heaping ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

• Heaping ¼ teaspoon ground ginger

• Two pinches of ground cloves

• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

To sprinkle on top: 

• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Full instructions here.

My notes:

• After sprinkling with the mixed cinnamon and sugar, I went ahead and added a few pepitas and walnuts down the center for fun. 

• I love that this had fresh nutmeg! I also went a little heavier on the cloves.

• Okay, so I own four loaf pans. What a dilemma. I couldn’t decide which one to use but finally settled on the shallower (11x5”) pan. because I like aqua. That’s the reason. The recipe calls for baking at 350 degrees for 65-75 minutes. Since my pan was shallower, I checked the bread at 55 minutes, covered loosely with foil and took it out just under 65 minutes. Just make sure to give it a good poke in several spots in the middle and along the sides the make sure batter is cooked. 

More pumpkin bread options

While you can tell that I like my pumpkin bread plain, this pumpkin bread recipe with a maple glaze is on my list to try – even though it breaks the “use an entire can of pumpkin puree” rule. My love for maple trumps that rule. And maybe because it’s baked in a beach house kitchen. 

Cream Cheese Swirled Pumpkin Bread with Salted Maple Butter (I love how Tieghan Gerard crams every ingredient into the title of her recipes) from Half-Baked Harvest looks amazing. Ok, so she doesn’t use the entire can of pumpkin either. Hmm. I sense a pattern. Anyhow, this one is a mash up of banana and pumpkin. It uses coconut oil for the fat and maple syrup is the only sweetener. Except she too sprinkles cinnamon and sugar on top before baking. I haven’t made it yet, but you guessed it. The salted maple butter is calling my name.

Also swirling around in the back of my mind is the impressive Pumpkin-Mocha Swirl Bundt Cake in the Zoë Bakes Cakes book. It’s not made in a loaf pan, but I’m adding it to my list anyhow just so I can buy a kugelhopf pan.

Which of these pumpkin breads are you going to try first?