Pumpkin Bread Recipe

Baking pumpkin bread has never been a thing for me. I wasn’t a pumpkin-flavored everything in the fall kind of girl. That is until our pumpkins grew like crazy last summer and I suddenly had a ton of them to use up. Imagine my surprise when I first made this recipe and loved it. More than banana bread! And the kids even agree! Try our pumpkin bread recipe, you will love it!

We are lucky enough to have a cold storage room in our basement so I have been storing my excess pumpkin, acorn and spaghetti squash down there. Which has been super handy, up until I went down to grab a few jars the other day to find that some of my pumpkins and acorn squash had gone bad. Oh no! So now to use up what is left quickly so they don’t go to waste. I'll be baking pumpkin bread!

Cooking Pumpkin in Instant Pot

So the best way I have found to cook a pumpkin for puree is to steam it whole in my instant pot. It is probably my favourite kitchen appliance! I just poke the pumpkin a few times to allow steam to escape and place in the instant pot on a trivet with a cup of water in the bottom. I find 17 minutes and a natural pressure release to be about perfect for the size of pumpkins I have. If you don’t have an instant pot, no worries! You can scoop out the inside and bake in the oven as usual too! Your pumpkin puree will taste just the same!

Once the pumpkin cools enough to handle, remove it from the pot and the skin will peel right off. Then just cut open and gently scoop the insides out. Once I have done that I will use a potato masher to break it up before using a stick blender to make the pumpkin puree nice and smooth for an even texture in your pumpkin bread. Once cooled completely it is ready to either continue with the recipe or freeze the puree to use another day.

I use my sugar pumpkins, or pie pumpkins, since that is what we grew and what we have on hand. Any canned pumpkin puree would work just as well though, so feel free to use whatever is easiest for you. This recipe is definitely worth a try no matter what kind of puree you use.

Pumpkin Bread Recipe

1 2/3 cups of flour

1 ½ cups sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

¾ tsp salt

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp nutmeg

¼ tsp cloves

2 eggs, room temperature

1 cup pumpkin puree

½ cup oil

½ cup water

½ cup walnuts (optional)

½ cup raisins (optional)

In a bowl mix together the first 8 ingredients and mix well. Then in a large bowl, beat eggs then mix in pumpkin puree, oil and water. Once well combined begin mixing in the dry ingredients, slowly. Once well incorporated you may add the optional ingredients, walnuts and raisins. Stir to mix evenly throughout the batter. Pour into a greased 9x5 loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 65-70 min. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing to rack to cool.

I always make a bigger batch than what this recipe calls for. I just measure out how much puree I got from my pumpkin and adjust the rest of the ingredients accordingly. I do not have enough bread loaf pans for this big of a batch so I will bake these in glass baking dishes. If you are worried about the bread sticking you can line the pan with parchment paper, but I have never had a problem with it sticking to a well greased pan. When completely cooled, I will cut the bread into roughly muffin sized squares and individually wrap in plastic wrap before freezing in either zip lock freezer bags or a large air tight container.

For another bread idea, check out our apple sauce bread recipe.