Pumpkin Bread recipe using canned pumpkin, dark brown sugar, molasses, and lots of spices! It’s moist and flavorful and absolutely the best pumpkin bread we’ve ever tasted!
One of my favorite breakfasts is a slice of warm, spicy pumpkin bread with fresh strawberries and blackberries.
But of course, you don’t have to limit yourself to breakfast. This pumpkin bread, just like our banana bread, is perfect all day long, especially with a cup of afternoon tea or this lovely pumpkin spice latte.
The best pumpkin bread recipe
Most pumpkin breads are too sweet and light on flavor to me—they taste like pumpkin-flavored sugar bread. I wanted something more complex, a little less sweet, and more spicy.
Molasses seemed like a good place to start, along with upping the amounts of cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and nutmeg. Most recipes call for light brown sugar and white sugar or just white sugar, so I thought dark brown sugar would lend a more complex flavor.
After several attempts, I think I’ve got just the right combination that’s moist, spicy, and just sweet enough. Whip this up today and your kitchen will smell exotic and mysterious, filled with cinnamon and cloves and pumpkin.
Tools needed
This recipe makes two loaves so you’ll want to have two loaf pans ready. I like these from Fat Daddio because they’re inexpensive but great quality.
You can use a stand mixer like this classic from KitchenAid, or you can use a hand mixer. This one from KitchenAid is my favorite.
How to make pumpkin bread
Prepare pans and dry ingredients.
Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour two 9×5 loaf pans. In large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Add the other dry ingredients and whisk together until smooth.
Blend wet ingredients.
Using stand mixer, or a large bowl and hand mixer, blend together the eggs, butter, canola oil, pumpkin, vanilla, buttermilk and molasses.
Mix together and bake.
Turn off mixer and slowly fold in the dry ingredients, until well blended. Spoon into the prepared loaf pans and bake for one hour.
Check out our Bread Recipe Collection!
Can you freeze pumpkin bread?
Yes! You can freeze the whole loaf or slice and freeze individual slices. Here’s how:
- Wrap whole loaves or slices in plastic wrap.
- Next, cover the plastic wrap with foil and place the bread in large zipper freezer bags.
- The bread will be good in the freezer for 2-3 months.
More tips
- Use room temperature eggs and buttermilk.
- The should be puffy and slightly cracked on top when done.
- To test for doneness, stick a tester all the way to the bottom AND stick a tester just halfway to make sure the top part of the loaf is cooked through. Sometimes the bread may appear done but may not be cooked all the way through in the top.
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Pumpkin Bread
Ingredients
- 3 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon cardamom
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup melted unsalted butter
- ¼ cup canola oil
- 2 cups pureed pumpkin
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ cup buttermilk
- ⅓ cup molasses
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour two 9×5 loaf pans.
- In large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the other dry ingredients and whisk together until smooth.
- Using stand mixer, or a large bowl and hand mixer, blend together the eggs, butter, canola oil, pumpkin, vanilla, buttermilk, and molasses.
- Turn off mixer and slowly fold in the dry ingredients until well blended.
- Spoon into the prepared loaf pans and bake for one hour.
Video
Notes
Tips for Making the Best Pumpkin Bread
- Use room temperature eggs and buttermilk.
- The bread should be puffy and slightly cracked on top when done.
- To test for doneness, stick a tester all the way to the bottom AND stick a tester just halfway to make sure the top part of the loaf is cooked through. Sometimes the bread may appear done but may not be cooked all the way through in the top.
How to Freeze Pumpkin Bread:
You can freeze the whole loaf or slice and freeze individual slices.- Wrap the whole pumpkin bread loaves or the slices in plastic wrap.
- Next, cover the plastic wrap with foil and place the bread in large zipper freezer bags.
- The pumpkin bread will be good in the freezer for 2-3 months.
Nutrition
Update Notes: This post was originally published February 25, 2011, and on August 5, 2020, was updated with one or more of the following: step-by-step photos, video, updated recipe, new tips.
More pumpkin recipes you’ll love:
Pumpkin Roll with Cream Cheese Frosting
Pumpkin Bars with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
This recipe is a conglomeration of the best parts of many different recipes, with my own touches added in. Here are a few that I adapted from that you might like to try:
- Martha Stewart’s pumpkin bread – Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook
- Pumpkin Bread – The Joy of Cooking
- Williams-Sonoma’s Orange-Spice Pumpkin Bread
- Three Many Cooks’ Julie Potter’s Pumpkin Bread
I enjoyed this bread, but I think I’d change the title to Best Pumpkin “Ginger” Bread, as it seems more like a ginger bread to me with all of the spices and molasses in it.
Pumpkin Bread is the BEST!!! I love this recipe! ๐
xoxox
Kathleen
Pumpkin Bread is the BEST!!! I love this recipe! ๐
xoxox
Kathleen