Pumpkin Nut Bread (Moist)

This pumpkin nut bread recipe produces an extra moist & nutty “quick bread”. It is perfect as a delicious snack or dessert. You can make this pumpkin nut bread with either chopped walnuts or chopped pecans. Both are perfect for making nut-based pumpkin breads. They add a nice crunch without being too hard.

Pumpkin Nut Bread

As you probably know, “quick bread” recipes use faster rising baking soda and/or baking powder (versus slower rising bread yeast). This often results in a delicious muffin-like “bread” that rises & bakes quickly. Quick breads (such as pumpkin bread and banana bread) are perfect for snacks and desserts.

I like to use vegetable oil (instead of butter) for this pumpkin nut bread recipe because vegetable oil “quick breads” tend to be moister (after baking) than butter-based “quick breads”. This is due in part to the fact that most vegetable oils are a liquid at room temperature whereas butter is a solid.

Vegetable oil also has the benefit of potentially lowering the cost of your homemade pumpkin bread (because many vegetable oils are relatively cheaper than butter on an ounce-to-ounce basis).

Recipe Sections

• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Helpful Tips

Pumpkin Nut Bread – Fresh from the Oven

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 Cups – Pumpkin Puree – 281 grams – Do not use canned pumpkin pie mix. See the “helpful tips” section below for more information.
• 2 – Large Eggs
• 1/2 Cup – Vegetable Oil – 115 grams – Use a neutral tasting vegetable oil such as corn or canola.
• 1 1/4 cups – White Granulated Sugar – 250 grams
• 2 Cups – All Purpose Flour – 240 grams
• 1 Teaspoon – Vanilla Extract – 5 milliliters
• 2 Teaspoons – Pumpkin Pie Spice – 4 grams
• 1 Teaspoon – Baking Soda – 5 grams
• 1 Teaspoon – Baking Powder – 4 grams
• 1/2 Teaspoon – Salt – 3 grams
• 1 Cup – Chopped Walnuts – 115 grams – Or you can use chopped pecans.

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.

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Key Ingredients – Pumpkin Puree, Pumpkin Pie Spice & Chopped Nuts

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Grease the bread pan (if necessary).
• Lightly beat eggs.
• Add pumpkin puree, eggs, oil & sugar into a large mixing bowl. Stir until fully mixed.
• Mix in the remaining ingredients (except the chopped nuts). Stir until the batter is fully mixed.
• Add 3/4 cup of chopped walnuts (or chopped pecans) to the batter. Stir them into the batter so they are evenly spread throughout. FYI – Save the remaining 1/4 cup to sprinkle on top of the batter after pouring the batter into the bread pan.
• Pour the finished batter into a nonstick bread pan. Smooth out the top of the batter within the bread pan.
• Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts (pecans) on top of the batter.
• Bake in the oven for 65-70 minutes.
• Take out of the oven and let the pumpkin nut bread cool down in the bread pan for 10 minutes. Do not remove the pumpkin nut 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 pumpkin nut bread from the bread pan. Place the pumpkin 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 pumpkin bread and the bread pan walls if the pumpkin bread is stuck in the pan.
• Please read the tips section below for extra information on how to make this recipe successfully & to avoid common pumpkin bread problems.

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• Ingredients – Pumpkin puree, etc.

Add Chopped Walnuts on Top of Batter for “Nuttier” Appearance

Helpful Tips

• The tips below are designed to help sweet quick 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 Quick Bread Recipes.

• Use FRESH walnuts (or pecans). After you have opened a bag of chopped walnuts, the walnuts can go rancid (bad) quickly due to their high oil content. Once the walnut package has been opened, you should store the chopped walnuts in an airtight container in your refrigerator or freezer. Do not use old walnuts that have been sitting in your pantry in an already opened bag. Also check the expiration date on sealed (unopened) walnut packages in order to make sure that they are still good.
• Optional – Instead of chopped walnuts, you can also use chopped pecans to make this moist pumpkin nut bread. Pecans tend to be a little sweeter & drier than walnuts.
• Nutty Topping – Of the 1 cup of chopped walnuts or pecans, I like to stir 3/4 of the cup into the batter and then sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup on top of the batter after pouring the batter into the bread pan. This adds a nice “nutty” appearance to the top of the pumpkin nut bread.
• However, you can also stir the full 1 cup of chopped nuts into the batter (and add nothing to the top) if you prefer to have a plain/non-nutty top to your pumpkin bread.
• FYI – This is the nut version of our classic Pumpkin Pie Bread.

• Make sure to use chopped nuts as the smaller pieces will spread more evenly throughout the pumpkin bread (versus fewer large nuts). Chopped nuts are also less of a potential choking risk vs full sized walnut halves, etc.
• If you find large nut pieces in the chopped walnut/pecan package, you can easily break these pieces into smaller chunks. Walnuts & pecans are relatively soft nuts.
• Optional – Instead of 1 cup of chopped nuts, you can make a chocolate chip pumpkin nut bread with 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts/pecans and 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips. However, be aware that chocolate chips can make the pumpkin nut bread stick to the bottom of the bread pan. Therefore, you should consider using baking parchment paper to line your bread pan (as this helps to prevent the pumpkin bread from sticking to the pan).
• Optional – Instead of 1 cup of chopped nuts, you can make a cranberry pumpkin nut bread with 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts/pecans and 1/2 cup of fresh cranberries. However, baked cranberries also have a problem sticking to the bottom of the pan. See the baking parchment paper tip above to avoid this issue.
• Visitors – What do you like to add to your pumpkin nut bread? Do you add extra spices, different types of nuts, chocolate chips or something else? Please leave your thoughts in the comment section below. Help beginning bakers to make an even better or more unique pumpkin nut bread.

• 1 1/4 cups of pumpkin puree equal roughly 10 ounces (versus the normal 15 oz in many pumpkin puree cans). So you do not use an entire 15 ounce pumpkin puree can to make this pumpkin bread recipe.
• Be careful when measuring and do not add too much pumpkin puree (or your pumpkin nut bread will come out soggy). It can be kind of hard to measure exactly with a measuring cup since the pumpkin puree is not a complete liquid.
• In addition, be sure to level off the top of the pumpkin puree in the measuring cup and to avoid any large “air pockets” in the pumpkin puree. Pumpkin puree doesn’t flow like liquid so you can get some empty spaces near the bottom of the measuring cup if you are not careful. Too many air pockets mean that you are not adding enough pumpkin puree and your pumpkin bread might be a little dry.

• Make sure that you are using pumpkin puree (and NOT a pumpkin pie mix). Pumpkin pie mix contains extra ingredients such as water, sugar & spices and this can throw off the taste & consistency of this pumpkin bread recipe if used. If you combine pumpkin pie spice with canned pumpkin pie mix, you will also be adding far too much spice & sugar.
• Pumpkin puree is NOT the same as canned pumpkin pie mix. Pumpkin puree is just cooked & pureed pumpkin (or sometimes other squashes). Canned pumpkin pie mix generally consists of pumpkin (or squash), water, sugar & spices.
• I prefer to use powdered “pumpkin pie spice” (versus canned pumpkin pie mix) because you have better control over the flavor (i.e. you can add less spice to tone down the flavor or you can add more spice for an extra punch of flavor). It is much harder to adjust the flavor when using canned pumpkin pie mix.
• Pumpkin pie spice is usually a bottled mixture of ground spices such as cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, etc. You can find bottles of pumpkin pie spice in most major supermarkets or online. Try to find a brand that your family likes because the flavor of pumpkin pie spice can vary between manufacturers (i.e. some mixes might have more or less ground cinnamon, ginger, etc.).
• Optional – For a slightly richer taste, you can use brown sugar (packed) instead of white granulated sugar. However, be aware that the brown sugar will change the orange color of the pumpkin bread and make it darker.

• This recipe is for pumpkin nut bread with oil and not butter. I find that pumpkin breads with oil tend to stay moister than pumpkin breads made with butter. Vegetable oil is a liquid at room temperature whereas butter is a solid at room temperature.
• You should use a NEUTRAL flavored vegetable oil (i.e. corn or canola oil) in order to make this moist pumpkin bread recipe. Stronger flavored oils (i.e. peanut oil or olive oil) may negatively impact the taste of this moist pumpkin bread.
• Economic Benefit – Many vegetable oils (i.e. canola and corn oil) are less expensive than butter (on an ounce-to-ounce basis). This helps to lower the cost of homemade baked goods.
• Many vegetable oils contain less saturated fat than butter.
• This pumpkin nut bread recipe is made with all purpose flour. You should NOT use bread flour to make this recipe. If you use bread flour, it will come out heavy, dense and chewy.
• If you would like to add a glaze to your pumpkin bread, you should visit our Banana Bread Glaze page. It has recipes for vanilla & chocolate glazes and both work will on a finished pumpkin bread. Glazes aren’t just for banana breads!

• What to do with leftover pumpkin puree? I freeze my leftover pumpkin puree to use for future pumpkin breads, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pies, etc. Just make sure to label the container so you can easily find it in your freezer. Containers with unlabeled frozen “lumps” (i.e. frozen pumpkin purée, frozen mashed bananas, etc) look very similar and it can be hard to figure out what the heck is inside!!!
• Make sure that your oven has been COMPLETELY preheated. If the oven has not been properly preheated, this quick bread could come out undercooked.
• If your oven does not have a built-in thermometer, you consider buying an inexpensive oven thermometer that you can place inside your oven (in order to correctly gauge the temperature). This will tell you if your oven has been preheated to the correct temperature.
• An oven thermometer will also tell you if the internal temp gauge of your oven is off (as some ovens run hotter or colder than the temperature that you set on the dial). This temperature discrepancy can cause homemade baked goods to be overcooked or undercooked.
• Make sure to “grease” the bottom of the bread pan. Or you can use baking parchment paper to line your bread pan in order to help prevent the pumpkin bread from sticking to the bottom of the bread pan. Baking parchment paper is usually the best option if you have a frequent problem with things (i.e. chocolate chips or cranberries) sticking to the bottom of your bread pan.

• Pumpkin bread can dry out if left unprotected. After the pumpkin bread has been completely cooled (and you have eaten some of this delicious quick bread), you should wrap it in aluminum foil or plastic wrap and then store it in an airtight container or bag. Depending on the heat & humidity of your kitchen, pumpkin bread generally only lasts for 1-2 days at room temperature before it starts to spoil. For longer storage, you should freeze the pumpkin nut bread.
• This doesn’t happen often but if the top of the pumpkin bread looks too moist or under cooked, you should try the “toothpick test”. Gently push a long wooden skewer into the top of the bread and see if any batter sticks to the skewer. If batter is sticking to the skewer 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 pumpkin bread again with a long wooden skewer.
• Please use the suggested 9 x 5 bread pan to make this recipe. If you start using different sized pans, there is a greater potential for bread top collapses (potentially less bread pan “wall” support for the quick bread as it rises), different interior batter to exterior crust ratios (thus the need for different baking lengths), smaller pans are more likely to overflow, etc.

• 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 rising problems and/or leave small bitter clumps in your pumpkin bread.
• If you have a problem with a pumpkin 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.

• My recipes are based on US ingredient measurements (i.e. US cups & tablespoons). However, as a courtesy to our European visitors, I have also included some very ROUGH European equivalents (i.e. grams & milliliters). Since I rarely use European measurements when baking, please let me know in the comment section below if any of the European ingredient measurements need to be changed (i.e. for XYZ ingredient, milliliters are more commonly used versus the grams information listed in the recipe).
• Always wear oven mitts/gloves when dealing with bread pans & a hot oven.
• This pumpkin bread recipe contains nuts. Please do not serve it to anyone with a tree nut or peanut allergy. Always check your guests for potential food allergies before serving food to them.
• Do not serve food with nuts to small children as nuts are a potential choking hazard.
• For other delicious quick bread recipes (i.e. banana bread, strawberry bread, blueberry bread or cornbread), please visit Bread Dad’s main section for sweet Quick Bread Recipes.
• Did you make this recipe? Did it come out great? We would love to see a picture of your masterpiece! Please post a photo of it on Instagram and tag it with @BreadDadRecipes

If you liked this recipe, please leave a comment below & give us a 5 star rating. We LOVE to hear from people who have enjoyed our recipes! Jump to comment section

Other Bread Dad Recipes

• Bread Machine Recipes
• Bread Recipes
• Banana Bread Recipes
• Quick Bread Recipes – Pumpkin bread, cranberry bread, etc.
• Cookie Recipes

Reference Sources

• Wikipedia, Pecan
• Wikipedia, Pumpkin
• Wikipedia, Pumpkin Pie
• Wikipedia, Quick Bread
• Wikipedia, Walnut

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

• Pumpkin Banana Bread
• Pumpkin Banana Muffins
• Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread
• Pumpkin Cranberry Bread
• Pumpkin Pie Bread
• Bread Machine Pumpkin Bread

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