Healthy Pumpkin Bread is moist, fluffy and full of warm cozy spices. With no refined sugar and whole wheat flour, no one will guess it is healthy!
Whole Wheat Pumpkin Bread
This is my 3rd version of healthy pumpkin bread. I think over last 7 years I finally reached perfection. This easy quick bread is moist, fluffy and moderately sweet. And the best part, if you ask me – minimum ingredients.
Do you love pumpkin year round? We are more of “baking with pumpkin in fall” household.
Like a clock, between September and October you will find me alternating between this healthy pumpkin bread recipe, healthy pumpkin muffins with cream cheese (just like Starbucks) and healthy pumpkin chocolate chip bread.
Ingredients You Will Need
- Canned pumpkin purée. Do not confuse with pumpkin pie filling that has added sugar and flavours.
- Whole wheat flour
- Maple syrup or honey
- Eggs
- A tad of oil
- Pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Flours That Are Good to Use
- Whole wheat flour – It is wheat flour with germ and bran in it. It contains fiber, vitamins and nutrients. When germ and brain is removed, it becomes all purpose white flour.
- Spelt flour – Spelt is a cousin of wheat. You can use whole grain (sprouted) spelt flour. It tastes a little bit lighter than whole wheat. Light spelt flour is equivalent to white flour which I don’t recommend.
- Einkorn flour – Einkorn is another cousin of wheat flour. It is not as common as whole wheat or spelt but tastes and acts similarly. It usually comes from small farmers and can be found in coop and natural stores.
All above mentioned are gluten flours. I recommend to buy organic flour to avoid exposure to cancer causing pesticide Roundup. It is commonly used in farming of non organic wheat crops to eliminate weeds.
Which Flours You Can’t Use
I listed above flours that contain gluten. These are the only flours I tested this healthy pumpkin bread with.
Gluten helps bread to rise and requires different amount of liquids than gluten free flours. Baking is a science and likes precise measurements.
Flours that will not work in this recipe are almond, coconut, oat etc. You might get away with using all purpose gluten free flour but I haven’t tried.
You can check out my almond flour banana bread or healthy lemon zucchini bread for a delicious gluten free treat.:)
Sweeteners That Will Work
You can use any liquid sweetener like maple syrup, honey, brown rice syrup, date syrup, agave etc. The goal is to keep liquids and dry ingredients ratio the same.
If your honey is hard, warm it up on the stove. If you like more sweet breads, increase maple syrup to 1 cup.
Dry sweeteners like cane, brown, coconut sugar etc. will not work. Neither will work stevia or monk fruit extract etc.
How to Make Healthy Pumpkin Bread
- Whisk eggs. You want to whisk eggs first.
- Add liquids and spices. Now add pumpkin purée, maple syrup or honey (make sure it’s liquidy), oil, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder and soda, salt. Whisk well. There is no need for 2 bowls with quick breads.
- Add flour and mix ins. Stir gently with spatula until you see no more white spots. You can add up to 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, pumpkin seeds, chocolate chips, raisins, dried cranberries as mix ins. I just sprinkled 1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds on top.
- Bake for 50-60 mins at 350 degrees F. Toothpick should come out clean when inserted in the middle and deep. Make sure to remove bread from the loaf pan after cooling in it for 10 mins. Otherwise, hot pan keeps baking it and bread might be dry.
- Cool and slice.
Storage
Day 1-2: I like to place cooled pumpkin bread back into the loaf pan and keep covered with a towel on counter. Sliced bread dries out faster.
Day 3-5: If you have any bread left at this point, refrigerate it tightly wrapped in plastic or in a plastic bag.
Freezing: Freeze baked and cooled bread in a plastic bag for up to 3 months. Thaw on a counter for 3-4 hours. Again, it’s better to freeze bread whole and not sliced.
If You Love Pumpkin
- Pumpkin protein oat bars
- Healthy pumpkin cookies
- Healthy pumpkin blondies
- Healthy pumpkin bars
- Flourless pumpkin pancakes
More Healthy Quick Breads Recipes
- Healthy banana bread
- Healthy zucchini bread
- Healthy chocolate bread
- Healthy apple bread
- Browse all quick breads and muffins.
I bake this healthy pumpkin bread recipe every Fall. It is hearty, healthy and delicious!
Healthy Pumpkin Bread
Healthy Pumpkin Bread is moist, fluffy and full of warm cozy spices. With no refined sugar and whole wheat flour, no one will guess it is healthy!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 60 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 10 slices 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: North American
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- 15 oz can pumpkin purée (not pumpkin pie filling)
- 3/4 cup maple syrup or honey
- 2 tbsp avocado or olive oil
- 2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 1/4 cups spelt or whole wheat flour
- 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
- Cooking spray (I use Misto)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and spray ceramic non-stick 9 x 5 loaf pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs for 10 seconds.
- Add pumpkin puree, maple syrup, oil, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, salt and whisk until combined.
- Add spelt or whole wheat flour and stir gently just enough to combine. Be careful not to over mix.
- Add desired mix ins like walnuts, raisins, pumpkin seeds, chocolate chips etc. and give a few more gentle stirs to combine.
- Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and level gently with spatula. Sprinkle with pumpkin seeds on top, if you wish.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes our until the toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Then transfer to a cooling rack to cool off more. Cut into 10 slices with serrated bread knife and enjoy!
Store: Store covered in a cool dry place for up to 2 days. Refrigerate covered for 3 more days. Freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
Notes
Any gluten free flour will not work in this recipe.
If you like very sweet breads, increase maple syrup to 1 cup.
Did you make this recipe? Please give it a star rating in the comments.
Would it be alright if I made it with agave syrup .Also, I have only metal non stick pans. In case I don’t have whole wheat flour, can I use white . I realize it is not as healthy but just in case. My husband is diabetic so I am h experimenting with agave
Agave is fine. And I have a few readers subbing white flour in my recipes and they say it works. 🙂 Enjoy, Carol!
I have made four of these and given them as thank you gifts to people who have helped me. Rave reviews! There’s one baking right now, perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon because they are so easy to whip up!
★★★★★
Fantastic! Glad everyone enjoyed my recipe.:)
We loved this!!!!!!!
You’re cool to me because I also stay home with 2 small boys. 🙂
But mostly you’re cool because this is so tasty with not much sugars. Finally a winner muffin!
PS I did a full cup of almond flour (so almond-wheat mix) and it came out great. Worth a try! Then you get a little extra protein
★★★★★
That is awesome. Good to know about the half and half ratio, I would do the same for myself.
My boys are not so little anymore but those times were exhausting and yet now I fondly think of them with a tear here and there. Enjoy your boys! The best thing I ever did – raised kids myself no matter how hard it was.
Everyone in my family loved this! It was delicious.
★★★★★
Delicious pumpkin bread! You are right, Starbucks can’t even compare!
★★★★★
Hi Olena, just made your pumpkin bread and I can’t stop eating it, it is AMAZING, seriously AMAZING !!!!!! I’ve eaten half the loaf, thank god it’s healthily. It’s SO fluffy and tasty !
Thank you Olena ???☺️?
You are welcome, Monica!:)
Can I use parchment paper if I do not have ceramic pan?
Definitely.
So…I’m starting a thirty day challenge this Friday. No white flour, or refined sugar. I’m making my husband join the party because he could benefit from this as well. Your blog saves me! lol Oh and wish me luck!
Good! You will be fine! Combine it with a few HIIT workouts a week and you will see a big difference. Not to mention how much your gut flora will improve with good bacteria!
I just finished off the last of this bread – it was perfect! I was looking for a recipe to use up some halloween pumpkin puree and found this one. It is absolutely delicious and I feel good about giving it to my family. Thank you! I love the blog and will be coming back often for inspiration ; )
Thank you, Lana! We love that bread too.:)
I just made this pumpkin bread and it cooked perfectly & right on time. Instead of using parchment paper, I sprayed the pan with cooking spray and then floured the pan. It came out of the pan easily. One thing I would do next time is make it sweeter. It is fine for my taste, but others in the family may not be so easily convinced! Thank you for the recipe!
Haha, yes for some people out there with not so cleaned up taste buds it might be not sweet enough.;) I feel like you though.:) Glad you liked it.:)
Community Health Store now carries the “Farmer’s Market” brand that you had in your picture. With BPA free liner. And they were on sale for Thanksgiving, so I stocked up. I am going to try the crumb muffin next. I am taking a “staycation-vacation” week, so cooking and freezing treats. I cannot stick to any healthy eating plan if I don’t have a treat, so just with this bread I am set for a few weeks of treats 🙂
Oh, cool. I hear you. I do the same. I’d rather bake healthy treats and stock up on organic dark chocolate, than reach for [email protected] And we know, the sweet tooth devil moment will come.:) Have fun!:)
Thanks for a great recipe! I made it today and it took me less than 10 minutes to get it in the oven. I did not have any apple sauce on hand, but substituted with blended bananas 1:1. Bananas did not overpower at all and i could definitely taste the pumpkin flavor. I also used 1/3 cup of coconut sugar instead of agave. I mixed it in 1/2 cup of warm water and added to wet ingredients. If i was using apple sauce and not bananas, i would probably go up to 1/2 cup of coconut sugar. This bread is a keeper!
You are welcome.:) Great substitutions, I’ll keep that in mind. Did you manage to find BPA free organic pumpkin puree?
This bread looks AWESOME!! So moist looking! Love that you added 2 whole cups of pumpkin!
Love – “stop dreaming and start eating” 🙂