Nothing tastes better than making a loaf of homemade pumpkin banana bread! One of the best fall bread recipes you will make, every bite is extremely moist, soft, and delicious!
If you love a moist and soft homemade loaf of banana bread, then you are going to devour this pumpkin banana bread! When banana is paired with pumpkin puree and mixed together to make a bread loaf, the results are amazing! You're getting the best of both worlds with this pumpkin banana bread recipe.
When the pumpkin and banana is combined, the flavor combination is not overbearing and provides the perfect balance flavor wise with the cinnamon and nutmeg. The key to extremely moist pumpkin bread is adding a slightly overripe banana. The starch will slowly turn to sugar making the bread sweeter, but when paired with the pumpkin puree and other ingredients, it's a game changer texture and flavor wise!
I've created some of the best pumpkin recipes you'll ever taste, like these extremely moist pumpkin chocolate chip muffins and these soft pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I've even have a recipe for pumpkin gelato that you can make at home! But this was my grandmother's pumpkin banana bread recipe and while it's tried and true, I've made some adjustments to perfect the recipe over the years making it a super-soft loaf that contains just the right amount of fall flavors everyone loves!.
Jump to:
ℹ️ Why This Recipe Works
1. It's extremely moist. More so than many other bread loaf recipes.
2. Easy to make and perfect for the fall season.
3. Stores well and is perfect for breakfast, a snack, or even as a dessert!
🛒 Ingredients You'll Need
- Flour: use all-purpose flour in this recipe, not self-rising flour.
- Eggs: a binding agent. The fat in the eggs combined with the sweetness in the sugar, pumpkin puree, and banana will help obtain the perfect moisture level.
- Baking soda: needed for the perfect rise and contributes to the overall texture.
- Sugar: use granulated white sugar for the right amount of sweetness.
- Canola oil: works extremely well when baking breads, cookies, and pastries. It also has a very neutral flavor.
- Banana: use very ripe/slightly over ripe bananas.
- Water: added in during the mixing process to ensure the moisture level is maintained.
- Pumpkin puree: adds the perfect amount of pumpkin flavor.
- Salt: helps balance the flavor and cuts some of the sweetness.
- Spices - ground cinnamon and nutmeg add that wonderful pumpkin spice flavor that pumpkin bread is well known for.
Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full ingredients list & instructions!
📋 Variations
- Nuts: for added crunch, add chopped pecans or walnuts.
- Oil: vegetable oil or olive oil is a good substitution for canola oil.
- Chocolate chips: To add a chocolate flavor, add some semi-sweet chocolate chips. Simply fold in ⅓ cup of your favorite chocolate chip morsels to the batter before adding it to the loaf pan.
- Add dried fruits: Adding raisins and other dried fruits like dates or cranberries also provide great flavor!
- Muffins: while this recipe calls for a 9x13 loaf pan, you can also use a muffin pan to make pumpkin banana bread muffins! Simply fill a muffin tin lined with cups a little over half-way full and bake until done.
- Gluten free version: Gluten free flour works well as a substitute for all-purpose flour. It's a 1:1 ratio so you'll use the same amount as you would if you were using all-purpose flour.
- Pumpkin puree: I often make my own homemade vegetable puree recipes, so if you don't want to use canned pumpkin puree, you can roast a pumpkin, puree it in a food processor, and use it to this recipe. It won't be as sweet as the pumpkin puree and will remove quite a bit of sweetness. But it's still delicious making this pumpkin banana bread more of a savory and slightly sweet loaf.
- Pumpkin pie spice mix: can be substituted for the cinnamon and nutmeg.
👩🍳 Before You Start Baking...
It's important to note that this recipe makes 2 loaves of pumpkin banana bread.
🥣 Step-By-Step Recipe Instructions
Step 1: Start by preheating the oven to 350°F. Heavily grease the bottoms and sides of a 9x5 loaf pan with butter. Set aside.
👩🍳 Expert Tip: Do not add flour after buttering the loaf pan. The butter is all you need to ensure no sticking will occur on the sides and bottom of the loaf pan.
Step 2: If using a standing mixer, attach the wire whisk attachment. In the large mixing bowl of a standing mixer, add the sugar and canola oil. Mix on low for 1 minute until combined.
Step 3: Add in all 4 eggs. Continue to mix on medium-low until well combined, about 2 minutes. Set aside. Go ahead and remove the wire whisk attachment and put on the paddle attachment.
Step 4: In a separate large bowl, add in the all-purpose flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Using a large spoon or hand whisk, mix to combine.
Step 5: In batches, slowly add in all the dry ingredients to the large mixing bowl of wet ingredients and mix on low until combined. As the batter starts to thicken, slowly add in the water.
Step 6: Put the banana in a small bowl and smash with a fork. The consistency should be smooth with no chunks.
Step 7: While the mixer is still running, slowly add in the pumpkin puree and mashed banana.
Step 8: Mix until well combined, about 2-3 minutes. Use a spatula to push any dry ingredients that are hanging on the side of the mixing bowl down and into the batter.
Step 9: Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan, a little over half-way full.
Step 10: Bake for 1 hour and 8 minutes. When done, remove the loaf pan from the oven and allow to completely cool, about 30-45 minutes. After it has cooled, slowly and gently remove it from the loaf pan.
👩🍳 Expert Tip: The secret to ensuring the bread does not stick to the loaf pan when trying to remove it is heavily buttering the pan before adding the batter and letting it completely cool before removing.
To remove the pumpkin bread, take a butter knife and gently move it along the sides of the bread and pan. From there, turn the loaf pan upside down on a cutting board and gently shake.
If needed, use the butter knife to help gently pull the loaf from the bottom of the pan. You can even tap the bottom of the loaf pan with the end of the knife to help release some of the pressure if it's stuck.
Using a perforated bread knife, slice, and serve! Baked to perfection and perfectly spiced, this homemade pumpkin banana bread is great for breakfast, as a snack, or even as a dessert!
🙋 Recipe FAQs
Using a standing mixer makes baking a lot easier and more convenient, but if you don't have one you can use an electric handheld mixer. One of the main advantages to using a standing mixer is the ability to switch out the attachments. The wire whisk attachment does a great job of combining the sugar, oil, and eggs. When adding in the dry ingredients, the paddle attachment is stronger and works well when mixing heavy and thicker ingredients.
Yes! The goal is to ensure the banana is completely smashed before adding it to the bread batter. To smash a ripe banana, cut it into small pieces and add 1-2 Tablespoons of water. Using a fork, smash the banana and continuously stir until the mixture is smooth there are no chunks.
Every oven is different and depending on the elevation where you live, 1 hour and 8 minutes may not be enough time to get this pumpkin banana bread completely done in the center. I always use a toothpick to test for doneness. At the 1 hour mark, insert a toothpick into the center of the bread loaf. If it comes out with any trace of batter, the bread needs more time to cook. Check in 5 minute intervals until done.
💭 Expert Tips
- Don't over mix the batter. Over mixing will cause the bread to be dry.
- For best results, use a slightly overripe banana. If the banana is too ripe, you will taste a slightly rotten flavor in the bread.
- When filling the loaf pan with batter, don't fill it to the top. It will overflow when baking and cause a big mess. Fill the loaf pan a little over halfway full since this bread recipe rises well.
- Using a non-stick loaf pan will yield best results when making this bread recipe. While greasing the loaf pan works great, non-stick pans work better. Silicon flexipans also work well.
- Use a 9x5 loaf pan for this recipe.
- I don't recommend baking these 2 loaves of bread in the oven at the same time because it will take longer for them to evenly bake.
- Wrap any leftover bread in plastic wraps and store on the counter for 3-4 days. It will last 4-5 days in the refrigerator.
🍞 More Baked Bread Recipes You'll Enjoy!
If you tried this pumpkin banana bread or any other recipes on my website, please let me know how it turned out in the comments below. I love hearing from you! And, please leave a 🌟 rating while you're there!
📧 Don't forget to subscribe to my newsletter, so that you don’t miss out on any of my delicious recipes!
Pumpkin Banana Bread
Equipment
- mixer
- mixing bowls
- 9x5 loaf pan
Ingredients
- 3 cups sugar
- 1 cup canola oil
- 4 eggs
- 3 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 banana, mashed
- 15 ounce can pumpkin puree
- ⅔ cups water
Instructions
- Before you start, it's important to note that this recipe makes 2 loaves of bread. Preheat the oven to 350℉
- Grease the bottoms and sides of a 9x5 loaf pan with butter. EXPERT TIP: Do not add flour. The butter is all that's needed to ensures no sticking on the side of the loaf pan.
- If using a standing mixer, attach the wire whisk attachment.
- In the large mixing bowl of a standing mixer, add 3 cups of sugar and 1 cup of canola oil. Mix on low for 1 minute until just combined.
- Add in all 4 eggs. Mix on medium-low until well combined, about 2 minutes. Set aside.
- Remove the wire whisk attachment and put on the paddle attachment.
- In a separate large bowl, add in 3 ½ cups of flour, 1 ½ teaspoons of salt, 2 teaspoons of baking soda, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, and 1 teaspoon of nutmeg. Stir until combined.
- In batches, slowly add in all the dry ingredients to the large mixing bowl of wet ingredients and mix on low until combined. As the batter starts to thicken, slowly add in the water.
- While still mixing, slowly add in 15 ounces of pumpkin puree and 1 mashed banana.
- Mix until well combined, about 2-3 minutes.
- Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan, a little over half-way full.
- Bake for 1 hour and 8 minutes.
- When done, remove the loaf pan from the oven and allow to completely cool, about 30-45 minutes.
- Slice and serve.
Notes
- This recipe makes 2 loaves of bread.
- Don't over mix the batter. Over mixing will cause the bread to be dry.
- For best results, use a slightly overripe banana. If the banana is too ripe, you will taste a slightly rotten flavor in the bread.
- When filling the loaf pan with batter, don't fill it to the top. It will overflow when baking and cause a big mess. Fill the loaf pan over a little halfway full since this bread recipe does a great job rising.
- Using a non-stick loaf pan will yield best results. While greasing the loaf pan works well, non-stick pans work better. Silicon flexipans also work well.
- Use a 9x5 loaf pan for this recipe.
- I don't recommend baking these 2 loaves of bread in the oven at the same time because it will take longer for them to evenly bake.
- Use a toothpick to test for doneness. At the 1 hour mark, insert a toothpick into the center of the bread loaf. If it comes out with any trace of batter, the bread needs more time to cook. Check in 5 minute intervals until done.
- Wrap any leftover bread in plastic wraps and store on the counter for 3-4 days. It will last 4-5 days in the refrigerator.
Lori | The Kitchen Whisperer
Such a great fall bread! It was perfect this morning with a cup of tea and then later for brunch. So flavorful!
Amanda Mason
I'm so glad you enjoyed it to much!! It's good with tea. coffee, and milk!
LaKita
Love the combination of pumpkin and banana in this bread! It's so delicious, flavorful, and simple to make.
Amanda Mason
I'm so glad you all enjoyed it! It is really easy to make!