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!

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

1. Whisk eggs. You want to whisk eggs first.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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

Print Recipe

★★★★★

5 from 4 reviews

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!

• Author: Olena of ifoodreal.com
• 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

Scale 1x2x3x

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

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and spray ceramic non-stick 9 x 5 loaf pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs for 10 seconds.
3. Add pumpkin puree, maple syrup, oil, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, salt and whisk until combined.
4. Add spelt or whole wheat flour and stir gently just enough to combine. Be careful not to over mix.
5. Add desired mix ins like walnuts, raisins, pumpkin seeds, chocolate chips etc. and give a few more gentle stirs to combine.
6. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and level gently with spatula. Sprinkle with pumpkin seeds on top, if you wish.
7. Bake for 50-60 minutes our until the toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
8. 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.

1 slice26421 g126.1 mg8.5 g43.6 g8.1 g46.5 mg

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