Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Recipe

Pumpkin chocolate chip banana bread is moist, delicious… and orange! Our recipe uses ingredients such as ripe bananas, pumpkin puree and chocolate chips. This pumpkin banana bread makes a wonderful dessert. We also like to use our pumpkin banana bread recipe in order to make easy fall & autumn desserts (i.e. Thanksgiving desserts or Halloween desserts).

Key Ingredients – Bananas, Pumpkin Puree & Chocolate Chips

Your family will love the taste (and orange color) of our sweet & chocolaty pumpkin banana bread. My kids prefer pumpkin banana bread to any kind of “regular” pumpkin bread (those made without bananas). They think the addition of sweet bananas helps to “mellow out” the pumpkin taste. Therefore, this dessert is a great combination of pumpkin & banana flavors.

This pumpkin banana bread recipe is also simple & easy to make. It should take you only 10-15 minutes or so to prepare and clean up. Please be aware that this is an oven-baked banana bread recipe. It is not made with a bread machine. For more banana bread ideas, please visit our main section on Banana Bread Variations. You will also find a printable and “pin-able” recipe at the bottom of this page. If you liked this recipe, please leave a comment below and give us a 5 star rating. Thanks!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Banana Bread – An Easy Fall Dessert

Ingredients – Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Recipe

• 8 Tablespoons – Unsalted Butter (softened)
• 2 – Eggs
• 2 – Bananas (ripe & medium sized)
• 1 Cup – Pumpkin Puree
• 2 Cups – Flour (all purpose flour)
• 1 Cup – Granulated White Sugar
• 1 Teaspoon – Vanilla Extract
• 1 Teaspoon – Baking Soda
• 1 Teaspoon – Baking Powder (aluminum free)
• 1/2 Teaspoon – Salt
• 1 Cup – Chocolate Chips (semi-sweet)

Servings – Roughly 12 slices

Equipment Needed – Measuring cup & spoons, mixing bowl, long wooden spoon, 9 by 5 bread pan, oven mitts, silicon spatula, cooling rack and an oven. 

Instructions – Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Recipe

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Grease bread pan (if needed).
• Mash bananas with a fork.
• Soften butter in a microwave.
• Lightly beat eggs.
• Stir eggs, bananas, pumpkin puree and butter together until completely mixed.
• Mix in remaining ingredients (except the chocolate chips). Stir until batter is completely mixed.
• Add the chocolate chips to the batter. Stir in chips until fully mixed into batter.
• Pour batter into bread pan.
• Bake in the oven for 65 to 70 minutes.
• Take out of oven and let the banana bread cool down in the bread pan for 10 minutes. Do not remove the banana bread from the bread pan during this 10 minute cool down period. Use oven mitts as the bread pan will be very hot coming out of the oven.
• After 10 minutes, remove the banana bread from the bread pan. Use oven mitts. Place the banana bread on a cooling rack in order to completely cool. This cool down may take 1-2 hours. Gently slide a silicon spatula between the banana bread and the bread pan walls if the banana bread is stuck in the pan.
• Optional – If you want a more “chocolaty” top to your pumpkin banana bread… right after the 10 minute cool down when you remove the pumpkin banana bread from the bread pan (and while the pumpkin banana bread is still warm), you can gently press a handful of chocolate chips into the top of the pumpkin banana bread.

If you liked this recipe, please leave a comment below & give us a 5 star rating. It is ALWAYS great to hear from someone who has enjoyed our recipes! Jump to comment section

Other Bread Dad Sections

• Bread Machines – My favorites
• Bread Machine Cookbooks
• Bread Mixes – Ingredient kits
• Bread Tools – Baguette pans, etc.
• Books, Tools & Ingredients

Helpful Tips – Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Recipe

• The tips below are designed to help banana bread “novices” and/or people with limited baking experience.
• Click on our “print recipe” link if you want to print out this recipe. It includes all of the recipe’s ingredients and instructions. However, the recipe print function does not include our tips section. Please read the tips section in order to avoid common recipe problems.
• This recipe is part of our series on easy Banana Bread Recipes.
• Pumpkin banana bread is a great fall “harvest” dessert. It is perfect for many fall occasions such as Thanksgiving, Halloween, harvest festivals, autumn family gatherings, etc. Of course, since our pumpkin banana bread tastes great and has a unique orange color, it is fantastic for any occasion!

• One cup of pumpkin puree is roughly 8 ounces and thus it accounts for roughly half of the puree contained in a normal 15 oz pumpkin puree can. You can freeze any “leftover” puree. It should be stored in your freezer and will last for at least several months. Place the puree in a resealable container before you put it in the freezer. You can then thaw out the frozen puree later in order to use it in pumpkin pies, pumpkin muffins, etc.
• Use RIPE bananas for the best taste. Ripe bananas are soft and usually yellow with many small black spots. Hard yellow/green(ish) bananas are too starchy and have much less banana flavor.
• A reminder that this recipe uses 2 bananas (versus many of our other banana bread recipes that use 3 bananas). The pumpkin puree adds a lot of moisture and thus the “removal” of 1 banana.
• In case, you like to use cups versus banana “sizes”… 2 medium-sized bananas equal roughly 2/3-7/8 cups of mashed bananas (not sliced bananas). Of course, banana sizes can vary greatly… and my version of medium and large-sized bananas may differ from yours!

• This recipe does not use pumpkin pie spice, etc. I didn’t want this pumpkin banana bread to taste just like a pumpkin pie. Rather, I wanted it to taste like a type of banana bread!!
• Since this banana bread is very moist (given the mashed bananas and pumpkin puree), there might be a few cracks in the top of the bread. However, most banana breads have these types of cracks. Moreover, this pumpkin banana bread tastes great with or without any small cracks.
• Optional – As mentioned in the instructions above, you have hide any small cracks by gently pressing a handful of chocolate chips into the top of the pumpkin banana bread (right after you remove the pumpkin banana bread from the bread pan and while the pumpkin banana bread is still warm). These extra chocolate chips also help to make the pumpkin banana bread look & taste even more “chocolaty”.

• If you want to make only a pumpkin banana bread (without the chocolate chips), you can simply exclude the chocolate chips when making this recipe. Everything else stays the same.
• You might also like to try some of our other delicious pumpkin-related “quick breads” such as Pumpkin Pie Bread, Pumpkin Cranberry Bread and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread. Or if you have kids, you might like to try our easy Pumpkin Banana Muffins (topped with mini chocolate chips) recipe.

• This doesn’t happen often but if the top of the banana bread looks too moist or under cooked, you should try the “toothpick test”. Gently push a toothpick into the top of the bread and see if any batter sticks to the toothpick. If batter is sticking to the toothpick then it hasn’t completely cooked. Place the bread pan back into the still hot oven for another 2 or 3 minutes. Make sure to wear oven gloves because the bread pan will be very hot. After the 2 or 3 minutes, remove the bread pan and test the banana bread again with a tooth pick.
• Consider “greasing” your bread pan with butter (even if it is non-stick) because the chocolate chips may stick to the bread pan after melting during the baking process. Melted chocolate chips can sometimes make it difficult to get the banana bread out of the bread pan without breaking (unless the bread pan has been greased with butter). When greasing the pan, please give extra attention to the bottom of the bread pan (which is hard to reach with a silicon spatula).
• You can also try using baking parchment paper to line your bread pan if you have a problem with the chocolate chips sticking to the bottom of the bread pan. Baking parchment paper will also help you to avoid disturbing (smudging) any warm/soft chocolate chips on top of the bread when you lift the banana bread from the bread pan.

• If you have a problem with a banana bread recipe, please make sure that you are following the recipe exactly (i.e. using the correct oven temperature), using the correct amounts of ingredients (i.e. don’t eyeball the measurements versus using a measuring cup or accidentally add a tablespoon when a teaspoon is called for), using the correct ingredients (i.e. baking soda/powder versus yeast or all purpose flour versus bread flour), etc. Please don’t “wing” things with recipes.
• In addition, you should always try to use relatively fresh baking soda & powder for the best results. For example, using baking soda from an open container (that has been deodorizing your refrigerator for months) may lead to subpar results. Old & hard baking soda/powder may lead to the rising problems and/or leave small bitter clumps in your pumpkin banana bread.
• Always wear oven mitts/gloves when dealing with a hot oven, bread pan, etc.
• For more easy banana bread recipes (i.e. blueberry, cranberry, chocolate chip, vegan, oatmeal, etc.), please visit Bread Dad’s main Banana Bread Recipes section.

If you liked this recipe, please leave a comment below & give us a 5 star rating. It is ALWAYS great to hear from someone who has enjoyed our recipes! Jump to comment section

Other Bread Dad Sections

• Bread Machines – My favorites
• Bread Machine Cookbooks
• Bread Mixes – Ingredient kits
• Bread Tools – Baguette pans, etc.
• Books, Tools & Ingredients

Pumpkin Banana Bread Questions

What is the pumpkin puree used in pumpkin banana bread?

Pumpkin puree is cooked and mashed pumpkin and/or squash. It is used in a wide variety of pumpkin-related recipes such as pumpkin banana bread, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin cheesecake, etc. In contrast, canned pumpkin pie mix is usually a blend of pumpkin puree, water, sugar, spices, etc. Many cooks like to use pumpkin puree (versus pumpkin pie mix) because they can create their own delicious & unique flavors versus relying on the generic “company flavor” of a canned & pre-made pumpkin pie mix.

How many cups are in a can of pumpkin puree?

A 15 oz can of pumpkin puree holds approximately 1.9 cups of pumpkin puree. Leftover pumpkin puree can be frozen for later use in recipes for pumpkin banana bread, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin cheesecake, etc.

Reference Sources

• Wikipedia, Banana Bread
• Wikipedia, Types of Chocolate
• Wikipedia, Pumpkin

If you liked this recipe, please leave a comment below & give us a 5 star rating. Your comments help us to improve & clarify our recipe instructions. Moreover, it is ALWAYS great to hear from someone who has enjoyed our recipes!!!

Related Recipes

• Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
• No Butter Banana Bread
• Bread Machine – Pumpkin Bread
• Pumpkin Banana Muffins
• Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread
• Pumpkin Cranberry Bread

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