Best Easy Pumpkin Bread Recipe (One Bowl)

The Best Easy Pumpkin Bread Recipe made with canned pumpkin is a simple quick bread with a delicious cinnamon glaze. Perfect for fall! Enjoy this easy homemade pumpkin bread for a quick breakfast or snack with a cup of coffee or your favorite tea.

Easy Pumpkin Bread

This is the absolute best pumpkin bread recipe right here. It’s packed with pumpkin flavor, lightly spiced and slightly sweet. And, you make the bread in 1 bowl for easy clean-up!

Best of all, it’s topped with a sweet cinnamon glaze for a taste that’s nothing short of amazing.

Of course, I’m biased. I admit it. But this recipe for pumpkin bread is something my daughter and I worked on, and since she handled the baking on her own, I’m definitely going to love it!

We basically looked to our favorite one bowl pumpkin muffins for recipe inspiration. After a few test runs and several pounds later, we knew this quick bread recipe was a definite winner!

Proud mama moments aside, you can’t go wrong with this easy one bowl pumpkin bread recipe. It’s not exactly a healthy pumpkin bread recipe, but it’s homemade, which makes it healthy enough for me!

Ingredients

You only need a few simple ingredients for this homemade pumpkin bread. The exact amounts are in the recipe card below

• Eggs — large
• Flour — all purpose flour
• Brown sugar
• Pumpkin pie spice
• Ground cinnamon
• Baking soda
• Baking powder
• Sea salt
• Milk — We use 2 percent. For the bread and for the glaze
• Can pumpkin puree — pure pumpkin puree, NOT pumpkin pie filling, as this has other ingredients. You could also use homemade pumpkin puree from fresh pumpkin for this recipe if you’d like.
• Butter — for the glaze
• Powdered sugar — for the glaze

How to Make Pumpkin Bread in One Bowl

This pumpkin bread recipe is made in just one large bowl. Why wash more dishes if you don’t need to?!

Start by adding the eggs to a large mixing bowl, beating them slightly, and then add your dry ingredients. Stir them lightly.

Then, add your wet ingredients. Beat with a hand mixer until the batter is smooth and well combined.

If you don’t have a hand mixer, use a stand mixer. Or, use a large spoon to mix by hand.

Pour the pumpkin bread batter into a greased prepared loaf pan. Then, smooth the top with a knife or spatula until it’s nice and even.

This recipe for pumpkin bread makes enough batter to fill one 1.5 – quart loaf pan.

If you have smaller pans, you can divide the batter and make mini loaves.

Bake Time

Bake the batter at 325F for 70-80 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

You bake the bread uncovered, but you can tent the loaf pan with foil if the top of the bread is getting too brown.

When the pumpkin bread is done, allow it to cool down for about 15 minutes Then, transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Cinnamon Glaze

You can eat thick slices of this delicious bread in its pure, natural state. Or, you can whip up a super easy cinnamon glaze to pour over the top. This is optional, but very highly recommended — which really means don’t skip it!

To make the glaze, add powdered sugar, milk and cinnamon in a small mixing bowl–a separate bowl from what you made the batter in– and stir until combined.

Let the pumpkin bread cool completely, then pour the glaze over the top of the entire loaf.

Allow the glaze set before serving. You could also let people pour their own glaze on their individual slices, in case some want to eat less sugar.

Easy peasy, quick and easy! This is a favorite food for fall because it’s so simple to make.

Variations

This pumpkin loaf is absolutely delicious on its own or with the glaze, but there are many ways to enjoy this favorite fall recipe. If anything, you’ll have a hard time deciding the best way to eat it!

Add more pumpkin pie spice for a stronger pumpkin spice flavor. Bake mini chocolate chips into the loaf cake to make chocolate chip pumpkin bread.

Serve the bread with a cream cheese frosting instead of glaze for an even richer treat.

How to Store Homemade Pumpkin Bread

You can store pumpkin bread in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days. Pumpkin bread freezes well. You can freeze the cooled loaf of bread wrapped in plastic wrap and aluminum foil for up to 3 months.

For best results, glaze the bread after it thaws out.

Helpful Tips

Make sure you are using pure pumpkin and not pie filling.

Beat the eggs first, then add the other ingredients and mix until just combined. Don’t over mix the ingredients as the bread will be too dense.

Test to see if the bread is done after 1 hour of baking time. All ovens are different.

Remove the baked bread to a wire rack when it’s cool enough to handle. This will prevent it from possibly drying out.

More Quick Breads to Try

Love bread? Try my classic zucchini bread recipe or my easy cake mix banana bread or my rosemary beer bread, and check out more delicious bread recipes.

So if you’re looking for an easy, moist pumpkin bread recipe that you can make in one bowl, this is a great recipe for you!

I hope you enjoy this Easy Pumpkin Bread Recipe! For more easy pumpkin recipes and other easy recipes perfect for pumpkin season, be sure to subscribe to the newsletter!

Recipe was first published in 2018 and updated in 2023.