Looking for the best pumpkin loaf ever? Look no further because this recipe helps you make the best pumpkin loaf ever (gluten free and better than Starbucks)! It is absolutely delicious and a perfect fall and winter staple. Plus, we love to give it as a gift.
The number of times people have called this the best pumpkin loaf ever is too many to count. Plus, since it’s not made to last on a shelf forever, we’ve even heard that it is better than it’s Starbucks copycat!
We just love loaves and breads (see my recipe for a pumpkin butter pumpkin loaf or zucchini banana nutella swirl loaf or this one for a double chocolate loaf) and this pumpkin loaf is definitely always top of the list because it is so delicious! Perfect to make, season after season.
This loaf is one of those recipes you’ll find yourself making over and over again – it seems like we’ve made it like a million times! You can choose your favorite way to enjoy it; add chocolate chips or make it without. It’s flat out amazing either way. This loaf has a great dense texture and spice profile; it’s pumpkiny, but not too pumpkiny – it’s just delish!!
We promise, even people who swear they don’t like pumpkin will love this loaf. And hey, if you’re feeling super creative, you could try adding a cream cheese frosting for an extra layer of decadence.
Notes on making this gluten-free pumpkin loaf:
- Flour – It can be made with either gluten free flour (we recommend this gluten free flour) or regular flour or even whole wheat flour – because there’s pumpkin puree in the recipe, it keeps the loaf nice and moist.
- Pumpkin puree – This recipe uses pumpkin puree. You can also use sweet potato puree or butternut squash puree and have had equally amazing results.
- Recipe size – This recipe makes one big loaf and can easily be doubled or tripled.
- Loaf pan size – we prefer to use a 9 x 5 loaf pan – like this one.
- Alternative sizes – you can also made this loaf recipe as muffins. The bake time is reduced to 18-20 minutes.
How to store and freeze this pumpkin loaf:
- This pumpkin bread never lasts long (because it’s so tasty), but you can keep it in an airtight container on the counter, for up to a week.
- Or to freeze, let the loaf cool completely, then wrap it with plastic wrap and put it in a freezer safe storage bag.
- Alternatively, you can slice the cooled loaf, and then wrap the individual slices with plastic wrap and put them in a freezer bag or put them in a freezer safe container divided by pieces of parchment paper.
- This pumpkin bread is good in the freezer for up to 3 months (but Phi has had some in the freezer for 6 months and it was a-ok.)
- To enjoy from frozen, remove a slice (or the loaf) and allow it to come to room temperature on the counter.
Give this delicious pumpkin loaf a try this fall and let us know what you think!
Other recipes you might enjoy:
- Double Chocolate Loaf Recipe
- Gluten free lemon loaf with frosting
- Pumpkin Spice Latte Chocolate Chip Cookies
The Best Pumpkin Loaf Ever (Gluten Free and better than Starbucks)
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 cups flour can use gluten free flour, all-purpose flour or whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon each of ground nutmeg, all spice, pumpkin pie spice
- ½ cup semi sweet chocolate chips optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Line a 9 x 5 loaf pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer (or you can do this with a hand mixer) beat together the eggs, sugars and vanilla extract (1 minute on medium speed or until well combined).
- Add in the pumpkin puree and oil and beat until combined.
- Next add all the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, salt, nutmeg, all spice and pumpkin pie spice) and stir until combined, you could also use your mixer to combine. If using chocolate chips, add them and mix them in.
- Spoon batter into the lined loaf pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven, allow to cool for at least 10 minutes, then serve warm or allow to cool completely, then slice and serve and enjoy.
Notes
Nutrition
If you’re looking for a similar loaf recipe that is out of this world, I came up with a pumpkin loaf made with pumpkin butter…it’s truly delish too!
Linda says
Hi, has anyone tried natural cane sugar instead of white sugar for this recipe? I would prefer to use it as I don’t use much white sugar anymore. I’ll be making it with Bob’s 1-1 flour so I’ll let you know how it goes!
Sweetphi says
You could definitely sub natural cane sugar instead of white sugar 🙂 Hope you love this loaf 🙂
Linda says
Well it turned out GREAT!! I made 2 – the first one my friend thought was a big gingery and so I dropped the ginger to 1/4 teaspoon on the 2nd try. I sprinkled some raw sugar on the top before baking the 2nd one too. I used Bob’s 1 to 1 gluten free flour and Trader Joe’s natural cane sugar. My friends loved it. My BF said the texture was a bit different with the GF flour but he’s kind of against me giving up gluten so…. 🙂
Thanks for great recipe!!
Linda
Sweetphi says
So happy you liked the recipe, thank you for sharing your feedback, really appreciate that!
Anna says
Hello, I can t find pumpkin pie spice where I live, what do you suggest?
Sweetphi says
Pumpkin pie spice can be made with 3 tablespoons ground cinnamon, 2 teaspoons ground ginger, 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg, 1 ½ teaspoons ground allspice and 1 ½ teaspoons ground cloves 🙂
Deirdre says
Mine came out still wet after an hour. I followed the recipe, but this is a common problem I have with gf recipes. My recipes are always too wet. Any suggestions? I use the Pillsbury gf flour, if that helps.
Sweetphi says
Oh my goodness, yours came out wet after an hour in the oven? That I have not heard of, so I’m really sorry to hear that. I’ve literally made this recipe over 50 times by now and have never had it wet after an hour. The only thing I can think of is that maybe your oven is not working correctly? do cakes/loaf recipes usually bake ok?
ellen says
Thank you! I’m going to bake it today…. have a wonderful day!
Ellen
Sweetphi says
Hope you love it!
Julie says
What if your flour doesn’t have xanthan gum? Is it needed?
Sweetphi says
I have made this recipe dozens and dozens of times with multiple different flour blends (some with but most without xanthan gum) and never had any issues, so I do not add it in. If you’d feel more comfortable adding it in, please feel free to do so, I just have not and it was great 🙂
Melissa Webb says
This is the BEST gluten free pumpkin bread I’ve ever had. Thank you so much for this amazing recipe.
Sweetphi says
You’re so welcome, thank you SO much for your awesome comment!
Stephanie says
Has anyone made this in a bread machine? Would you bake for the same amount of time on a quick/ bake setting, or less time? New to bread machines, but here in AZ, it’s still been high 90s this week and I don’t want to turn on my oven, but this sounds amazing!!!
Sweetphi says
Oh that’s such a great question, i’d love to know if you try it and it works for you in a bread machine.
Cheyanne says
I made this in my bread maker today. I mixed all of the wet ingredients then put them in the bread maker, then mixed all the dry and added them in. I used the quick setting for an hour and 50 minutes. It turned out great! Highly recommend!
Sweetphi says
OMG so happy to hear how it worked in a bread maker, how neat!!
Siena says
Will this work with Betty Crocker’s all-purpose rice flour blend?
Sweetphi says
I believe it would! Please let me know how it turns out for you if you try it with the rice flour blend.
Krystal says
Very excited to try this recipe for the fall. Do you know if rice flour is okay to substitute?
Sweetphi says
I have never tried it with rice flour, but I think it would be ok. Just a small note that it might not rise as high with rice flour, but it should still taste amazing. Please let me know how it turns out for you!
Valerie says
This pumpkin loaf is sheer perfection! It has just the right ingredients and spices. I have made gluten free and regular, and both are absolutely delicious! Thank you!
Sweetphi says
So happy to hear that Valerie, thank you so much for the awesome feedback!
Pauline Vale says
I will be hosting a celiac relative for a week and was looking for ideas. Will buy ingredients and try it out first. Gluten free flour is first on my list Thank you.
Sweetphi says
You’re so welcome, I hope your relatives love this recipe 🙂
Shelly Sizemore says
I’m new to the gluten free world and it’s been HARD! Finding this recipe and having it succeed enough that it could easily pass for a non-gluten free bread is incredible! It was SO amazing. Soft, moist, bread-like…and the flavor profile was spot on. I live in a small town and gluten free products are hard to find, but I found a gluten free all purpose flour blend from Pillsbury that worked perfectly. Thank you for this wonderful recipe…definitely a keeper!
Sweetphi says
Oh my goodness Shelly, thank you SO MUCH for your incredible comment and feedback. I know how hard it can be finding recipes that work and that taste good that are gluten free, so I’m so glad you found this recipe 🙂
Best,
Phi
Rebecca Paul says
It is so hard to find truly good gluten free recipes, but this one is awesome! The whole family loved it! Thank you so much.
Sweetphi says
Thank you so much for the awesome feedback, I’m so glad you love the recipe as much as I do!
Francine says
Mine fell. New oven and temperature is right by thermostat. Any idea why? I was so looking forward to a nice slice of pumpkin bread. Thank you , blueangel
Sweetphi says
Hi there blueangel…could you tell me what you mean by it “fell”? I’d love to help trouble shoot with you, because I personally made this recipe this weekend, I was making it for a work party (also I make this recipe about 5-10 times a year) and it came out perfectly, so I know it’s been thoroughly test by me, let alone the numerous people who have made it with rave reviews…so I’m not exactly sure what could have happened. What type of flour did you use? Did you make any changes to the recipe? Thanks, we’ll get you making perfect pumpkin bread in no time 🙂
Francine says
Thank you for your reply. I used almond flour. I did not change your recipe. Followed your directions. The middle of bread fell. The sides seemed ok I read your rave reviews and was excited to try. I will try again of course but wanted to trouble shoot if I could. ???Blueangel.
Sweetphi says
Hi there Blueangel, I think the flour you used could explain it…there is no almond flour in my recipe so that is a change to the recipe. I haven’t tested the recipe with almond flour so I don’t know what kind of results it would yield. Perhaps try the recipe as written with gluten free all purpose flour (I like Bob’s Red Mill brand) or with regular all purpose flour and your pumpkin loaf will be delicious and won’t fall 🙂
Francine says
Thank you the almond flour was Bobs Red Mill. I thought it was gluten free. I will definitely try again. Our local store carries a wide variety of Red Mill flours. Blessings ?
Sweetphi says
Hi again, almond flour IS gluten free (it’s made from almonds) but it’s not the same thing as flour (made from wheat) or gluten free flour (Bob’s 1-1 Gluten Free flour which is the one most people use -is made from a combination of Sweet White Rice Flour, Whole Grain Brown Rice Flour, Potato Starch, Whole Grain Sweet White Sorghum Flour, Tapioca Flour, and Xanthan Gum). Almond flour cooks/bakes very differently because it’s made from nuts and has a completely different texture. At least we solved the mystery 🙂 Best of luck.
Hajar says
Did you open the oven at any point during the baking process? Opening at critical points can cause this to happen sometimes.
Sweetphi says
Thanks for adding to the suggestions of what might have happened, I think we discovered it was actually that the wrong type of flour was used 🙂
Clarissa Whitehead says
Are you in a higher elevation because since moving from ak to co 6 yrs ago, I noticed that my apple breads kept falling. Trick was to add more flour…..experiment with a 1/4 c and if it’s still falling, keeping adding a little more. Good luck
Sweetphi says
Thank you so much for that feedback, I think we determined that she used almond flour instead of a gluten free baking blend or ap flour 🙂 That’s really interesting about the higher elevation!
Tara says
I grew Sweet Meat winter squash in my garden this year and have been looking for various recipes to use them in. This is definitely my favorite so far! I did make muffins/cupcakes instead of the loaf–baked at the same temp for about 25 minutes. They turned out great! Moist but not too dense or soggy like a lot of gluten free stuff comes out. My biggest squash so far was 17 pounds–I got about 12 cups of puree out of it. I think I’m going to be using this recipe a LOT in the next few weeks!
Sweetphi says
Oh my goodness, a 17 lb squash, that’s crazy!!! So glad you’ll try this recipe with the squash 🙂
Christina says
What size can of pumpkin purée do you use?
Sweetphi says
I use a 15 oz can, but please note that the recipe calls for 1 cup
Christina says
Oh shoot! Thanks for pointing that out I was going to put 1 can in ?
Sweetphi says
Hahah, it still would have been delicious that way 🙂
Ellen says
I was always taught to use xantham gum if the gf flour is without it. I noted King Arthur’s does NOT contain xantham gum. Please clarify… Thank you, Ellen
Sweetphi says
Hi Ellen, I did not use xantham gum in this recipe and have made it with several different gluten free flours and it’s come out great every time. If you feel the need to add it, please feel free to do so 🙂
Shelly says
Hands down THE BEST pumpkin loaf I’ve ever had, gluten free or other… AhhhhMAzing! Moist, flavorful and perfect balance of spices.
Sweetphi says
Oh my goodness, thank you SO MUCH for your amazing feedback and comment, I’m so happy you love this recipe as much as I do!
Reannon Miller says
Absolutely delicious!!! It’s moist, keeps moist and soft for….well…at least two full days….they were eaten by then, although I imagine they last several days longer. It’s even better than the regular pumpkin loafs I used to make before going gluten free!!
Sweetphi says
So happy to hear how much you liked this recipe!!! Thank you for your awesome comment, truly made my day!
Heather says
This recipe truly is the best. I made this for my son who has celiac. He loved it! It came out so moist, and is the perfect combination of spices and not too sweet! The texture is great also, which is hard to come by sometimes with gluten free breads. Definitely a keeper. I made it without the chocolate chips. Next time I will try it with.
Sweetphi says
Oh my goodness, thank you SO MUCH for the amazing comment, so glad you liked it!
Aga says
Wow this is the best pumpkin bread I have ever tasted. I used Bob Mills 1:1 Gluten Free Flour, 1/2 cup coconut palm sugar, 1/4 cup stevia and 2tbs maple syrup, added chopped pecans and pumpkin seeds in batter and on top. I didn’t have baking powder so I used 1/4 tsp apple cider vinegar and 1/8 tsp baking soda as a substitute. I didn’t have all spice or cloves so I just increased cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. I baked for 60 minutes. It baked beautifully….very moist and cooked throughout. Pure perfection. The only thing I will do next time is use a little less sugar as my family prefers low sugar baked goods.
Sweetphi says
Thank you so much for your awesome comment Aga, so happy to hear how much you enjoyed this recipe!
Ada says
Can domata flour be used., thks.
Sweetphi says
I don’t know what domata flour is, sorry
Shelley S says
I made this bread with high hopes, following recipe and I too turned out a moist tasty bread that did not taste anything like pumpkin. I used organic fresh puree, and all my spices are fresh, the only one I omitted was nutmeg but I over compensated with allspice and cinnamon. Weird only one other person commented same. I used gluten free oat flour and coconut oil (all organic ingredients including eggs). I will definitely try again and add more pumpkin and clove!!
Shelley S says
Oh, I also only used one half cup of Brown sugar and honey, total, and it was plenty of sweeter for those looking for less carbs, my 9 piece brownie pan made each serving, counting sugar and flour approx 26 carbs!! Approx 15 carbs from sugars and 11 from the oat flour 🙂
Sweetphi says
Hi Shelley, that is odd that it tasted nothing like pumpkin. I’ve only used all purpose flour and gluten free all purpose flour, so I’m not sure if oat flour had something to do with that… sorry, I can’t provide any other feedback. Perhaps the oat flour flavor cancelled out some of the pumpkin? Again, I’ve never made this recipe with it, so I don’t know how that affected it.
Shelley S says
Thank you for reply, like I said, it was still tasty, in fact it was gone in 24 hours so I’m going to play with it and maybe mix flours versus using one kind. Add a little extra spice and pumpkin. I’ve only recently started using gluten and yeast free flours so I don’t know them well enough yet to compensate as needed. Excited to try more of your recipes, so thanks for sharing!! 🙂
Shelley
MARY says
Anxious to try it soon because I have put away a lot of pumpkin puree and usually make soup with it but now I have something exciting to make next to my zucchini loaf. Thanks.
Sweetphi says
I think you’d love this loaf Mary, so many people have made it and let me know how much they love it – and I’ve made it SO many times lol, it’s definitely one of my all time favorite recipes 🙂
Theresa says
I made it with the Gluten free flour and it was very good. I had a soft cube of butter on hand so I used that instead of oil and I didn’t have any ginger so I used extra pumpkin pie spice. I look forward to making it again.
Sweetphi says
So glad you liked it Theresa!!
Janie says
Hi I’m new to all this. ! Love your blog. Do you have a cookbook. ?? I need to back down the sugar a bit also. Do you have suggestions ? I’m thinking coconut sugar instead of those truvia or steevia. Or would you know a source that has yummy low gylcemic conversions?
Sweetphi says
Hi Janie, thank you so much for visiting my blog! Yes, I do have a cookbook, here is a link to my cookbook page which lets you know where it can be purchased: https://sweetphi.com/cookbook/
You could totally try using coconut sugar, or truvia or steevia, I think it would be great with any alternative sweetener.
Shelley S says
Hi Janie, I just made this pumpkin bread, which calls for 1 cup white sugar, 1/2 cup brown, but I’m watching sugar intake so I only used 1/2 cup or just under of brown sugar and honey total and it was plenty sweet for all my family who tried it. With my oat flour and sugar it came out to approx 26 carbs per serving, I didn’t calculate grams of sugar, but not much!!
Sharon says
Can someone please tell me how to convert the flour in this recipe to almond flour? I am trying to make this for my husband who was just diagnosed with type2 diabetes. Have never cooked with almond flour before.
Shelley S says
I’ve just started baking with almond, oat, rice and coconut flours…. I find the coconut the only one that you need to play with as everything comes out dense, the other flours seem to be fine as is and in same amounts! You can try mixing two gluten free flours too to get best texture for your tastes. 🙂
Autumn says
This is the best recipe EVER!!I’ve made this bread so many times..my family loves it! I’m now making it for Christmas gifts. Sooooo Tasty!!!!
Sweetphi says
Your comment totally made my day – thank you! So happy to hear you love the recipe and making it!