Crumbly Pumpkin Bread
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Mini pumpkin bread (lightened up) to satisfy that fall pumpkin craving! So moist + so flavorful.
why i love this recipe
- So perfect for the holidays and pumpkin season
- An easy peasy recipe without any special equipment (no mixer required!)
- Tastes even better the very next day, letting the flavors really meld overnight
- Mini sized loaves makes for great gifts for friends, family, neighbors and teachers (a guaranteed crowd-favorite)
- Includes an out-of-this-world crumb topping to go along with the super moist, light, pumpkin-cakey-inside
- Made lighter with whole wheat pastry flour, coconut oil and applesauce but just as indulgent to satisfy that fall sweet tooth craving
why use whole wheat pastry flour
A combination of all-purpose flour and whole wheat pastry flour will create a healthier swap, still yielding that favorited soft, moist texture when compared to using all whole wheat flour, which could lead to dense, heavy pumpkin bread.
how to make the easiest pumpkin bread without a mixer
- Make the crumb topping and set aside
- Coat 3 mini loaf pans to prevent sticking
- Combine the dry ingredients
- Combine the wet ingredients
- Combine wet to dry using a rubber spatula, being careful not to overmix
- Add the batter to the mini loaf pans, sprinkling the crumb topping in an even layer
- Bake, cool, slice and serve (or freeze, more on that below)
variations
One of the best things about pumpkin bread is how highly adaptable it is, dressing it up or down as needed with any of these add-ons.
Chocolate
Chocolate chips (semi-sweet or dark), white chocolate chips or cinnamon chips
Nuts
Chopped almonds, walnuts or pecans
Fruit
Raisins, dried cranberries or dried cherries
Coconut
Shredded coconut
tips and tricks for success
- Use pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling. Canned pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie filling are not the same, and are not interchangeable. Pumpkin pie filling comes pre-mixed with sweeteners and spices.
- Avoid overmixing. Using a rubber spatula, stir the batter until everything is just combined and moistened with a few lumps here and there. Overmixing will lead to dense, tough pumpkin bread.
- Serve at room temperature or warm. Pumpkin bread is so versatile, and can be served with a morning cup of coffee or as an after school snack for the kids. Serve at room temperature or warm (lightly toasted) with a slather of butter.
- Make muffins instead. This recipe can easily be made into muffins. Line a 12-cup standard muffin tin with paper liners or coat with nonstick spray, scooping the batter evenly into the muffin tray (about two-thirds full), sprinkling with the crumb topping. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Freeze as needed. Let the pumpkin bread cool completely on a wire rack prior to freezing to prevent sogginess and freezer burn.
freezing and storage
Make ahead
Similar to banana bread, pumpkin bread tends to taste even better the very next day, allowing all the pumpkin flavors to really meld overnight. If time permits, bake the pumpkin bread 1 day prior, covering tightly with plastic wrap and storing overnight at room temperature.
Storage
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days or in the fridge for 5-7 days.
Freeze
Pumpkin bread can keep in the freezer for a few months. Cool completely and cover the pumpkin bread tightly with plastic wrap, then aluminum foil (this will help prevent freezer burn). Label, date and freeze up to 2 months. To reheat, remove the plastic wrap and thaw at room temperature on a wire rack for 2-3 hours (or in the fridge overnight for a slow, consistent thaw). Optional: once thawed, reheat in the oven at 250°F, covered in aluminum foil, until warmed through.
more favorited pumpkin recipes
- Pumpkin Donut Holes
- Pumpkin Cake Donuts
- Pumpkin Spice Waffles
- Baked Pumpkin Donuts with Maple Glaze
- Starbucks Pumpkin Scones Copycat Recipe
Tools For This Recipe
Mini loaf pans
Crumbly Pumpkin Bread: Frequently Asked Questions
Pumpkin pie spice is a blend of ground spices such as cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and allspice.
A blend of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and allspice can be substituted in place of pumpkin pie spice. For example, a common substitute for 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice = 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon + 1/4 tsp ground ginger, 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg + pinch of cloves + pinch of allspice.
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days or in the fridge for 5-7 days.
Yes! You can freeze pumpkin bread (whole or sliced) for up to 2 months.
Crumbly Pumpkin Bread (SO EASY, NO MIXER!)
Video
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup whole wheat pastry flour
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar, packed
- 1 ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup pumpkin purée
- ⅓ cup coconut oil
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
- ¼ cup applesauce
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the crumb topping
- 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly coat 3 mini loaf pans with nonstick spray.
- In a large bowl, combine flours, sugar, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk together pumpkin, coconut oil, butter, apple sauce, egg and vanilla.
- Pour mixture over dry ingredients and stir using a rubber spatula just until moist.
- Scoop the batter evenly into the loaf pans. Sprinkle with reserved topping, using your fingertips to gently press the crumbs into the batter.
- Place into oven and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes before inverting the cake onto a wire rack.
- Slice and serve.
For the crumb topping
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugars, pumpkin pie spice and butter.
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
Love the look of that crumb topping. Makes for a great texture balance (:
1 can of pumpkin puree
If you use fresh pumpkin, what is the equivalent
It would be the same. 🙂
Hi Chungah, thanks for a yummy recipe! I have made this recipe twice, and the bread itself tastes lovely. It is much less sweet than the pumpkin bread I am accustomed to, and such a nice change! Yet I am having trouble with the crumb topping. Mine seems to melt together and coat the entire top of the loaves. How do you get yours to keep that crumbled look about it?
Oh no – what a bummer! I hate it when that happens. Are you making any substitutes to the crumb topping?
love this recipe but wanted to make an apple version and take the pumpkin out.What do i substitute in its place
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
Delicious! Thanks for the recipe. I made muffins and they turned out perfectly. The recipe made 12 normal sized muffins. I baked them at 350 for a little over 25 minutes. I added 1 tsp of cinnamon to the batter and also 1 tsp cinnamon to the crumble topping. I tried to use up all the crumbles and had a little bit left over. I normally love the topping but it ended up being a bit too much for me. Next time if I make muffins again I’ll probably make half the amount of topping– I think that would be sufficient. All in all, wonderful recipe and perfect for a crisp fall day.
Can I substitute applesauce and coconut oil?
It really depends on the substitutes. What were you thinking of using instead?
Can I use all white flour?
Yes.
I made this once before when I didn’t have coconut oil (I think I did as you suggested in a comment and substituted more applesauce). This time I did. Coconut oil is solid at room temperature, and since the recipe specified that the butter should be melted but not the coconut oil, I assumed I should leave it solid (I probably should have kept checking comments!). But it might be helpful to future users of this recipe to specific that the coconut oil should be melted/liquid form. (Otherwise, this is a fabulous recipe…I just have to figure out how to salvage my batter with its solid coconut oil pieces… 🙂 )
*specify not specific 😛
This may help the people inquiring about gluten free possibilities. I made this for a GF friend of mine, and simply subbed in my GF flour. The streusel was maybe a bit firmer than it might have been otherwise, but the loaf turned out great. I also made some high-altitude adjustments, but not quite enough, since I got a bit of a hollow in the center, where the butter melted out of the streusel pooled. Still delicious.
Easy GF flour ( 80 g. finely ground nonfat dry milk, 180 g. superfine white rice flour, 105 g. cornstarch, 100 g. superfine brown rice flour, 85 g. tapioca starch/flour, 20 g. potato starch, 10 g. xanthan gum).
So bottom line, YES it adapts nicely to gluten free. Thanks for the recipe!
Made this today. Turned out wonderful. I did have to use AP flour and canola oil still turned out great.
I have the best luck with your recipes even when I have to substitute. We enjoy your recipes and ease of ingredients.
Thank you for sharing and bringing fabulous food to our table
For these recipe with the coconut oil i have coconut oil that is liquid form and solid which would be best??
I recommend using coconut oil in liquid form.
I’ve never baked with coconut oil. Do I need to melt it first or should I use it in solid form?
The coconut oil should not be in solid form.
The crumble topping recipe must be a mistake?? The amount of butter doesn’t make sense; way too much. It came out looking as wet as the bread batter. I added twice as much flour and then it turned out alright…
The measurements are correct. A little bit of wetness is completely normal.
You are very patient with these people. 😉
A mom in our preschool made these for us this week and I have to say that this is one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted!!! Bravo!!
Hi! I just made this and it’s fantastic! I did do one big loaf baked for 55 minutes and added some cinnamon to the batter. This is going into my regular holiday season rotation. 🙂 I love your site and your recipes – thank you! 🙂
Just a thought…would it work to substitute additional pumpkin for the applesauce? I used canola oil and the loaves are baking right now but since I had extra pumpkin left, I wondered if that would work as well? Smells delicious and I’m super excited to try out that topping!
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer this with certainty. Substitutions may also lead to a mediocre outcome but as always, please use your best judgment.
Your recipe good. I will try in coming weekend. Can’t say now what will be happen. 🙂 But undoubtedly it will be a challenge for me. If i get perfectly, I’ll share….
Your recipe sounds amazing I want to do it tonight but I have a couple of questions:
Can I substitute sugar with coconut sugar? And how much can I use?
For the brown sugar and butter what can I use that makes it helthier (for the topping)?
And can I substitute the butter with more applesauce? And how much?
Thank you!!
Zio, these are all great questions but without further recipe testing, I cannot advise appropriate substitutes that will not alter the overall taste/texture of the bread. Using a substitution(s) may also result in a mediocre outcome but if substitutions must be made, please use your best judgment.
The combination of substituting regular flour for pastry, and using a regular sized bread pan instead of mini loaf pans must have been the reason for my failure. It has been cooking for over an hour and is still pretty soupy inside, with burnt outsides. In the future, I would probably attempt muffins instead. I hope no one else makes my mistake, it was very disappointing. 🙁 My only other solace is to blame my crappy apartment oven lol.
Julie, I’m so sorry that this didn’t turn out! But it is really best to use all of the ingredients listed in the recipe without any substitutions to obtain the best results possible. But if substitutions because of what you have on hand or due to dietary restrictions, please do so at your discretion.
Hello there,
I just made this recipe yesterday, but I made it as muffins. My boyfriend is obsessed, and they are already almost gone. I posted a link onto my blog because we are so smitten.
-Autumn