This pumpkin banana bread is the BEST!! It’s super moist, filled with pumpkin spice and bananas and is a delicious, easy fall recipe.
I love all of the pumpkin recipes! Pumpkin Bread, Pumpkin Muffin Top, and Pumpkin Bubble Bread help me get my fill. But this pumpkin banana bread is also a must! It is soft, tender & super flavorful!!
The Best of Both Worlds!
I don’t know about you, but when fall rolls around I start to crave everything pumpkin. It’s also the best time to start baking because temperatures have cooled down and after a summer with little time in the kitchen – I’m always excited to turn my oven back on.
This fall I kicked off the pumpkin baking with this pumpkin banana bread—it combines the best of both worlds! It’s the most flavorful banana bread you’ll ever try, and it’s also the moistest & most tender pumpkin bread recipe around.
The banana isn’t too potent in this recipe, but it makes this bread very moist and helps enhance the delicious pumpkin spice flavor that’s perfect for fall.
How to make pumpkin Banana bread
PREP. Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Grease and flour a 9×5 inch loaf pan.**
DRY INGREDIENTS. In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder & salt.
WET INGREDIENTS. In a large bowl whisk together the oil, sugars, eggs & vanilla extract until no lumps remain.
COMBINE. Stir in the mashed bananas & pumpkin puree. Carefully stir the flour mixture into the wet ingredients using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Then stir in the chopped nuts.
BAKE. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50-60 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean and the top feels firm to the touch. The loaf shouldn’t wobble if you nudge the pan.
Variations:
- Use pumpkin pie spice if you have it on hand – or check out the notes section of the recipe for a substitute.
- Add a ½ cup chopped walnuts for a little texture. Skip if nuts aren’t really your thing.
- Substitute nuts for chocolate chips for an extra decadent pumpkin loaf.
- Add ½ cup mini chocolate chips
- Toss in dried cranberries or chopped dried apricots
- Make 2-3 mini loaves. (5 ¾ x 3 x 2-in. pan) Bake for 25-30 minutes.
- Bake batter into muffins. Bake 18-20 minutes
Tips + SToring Info
Use room temperature eggs. Eggs at room temperature will mix better into the other ingredients. If you forgot to pull them out of the fridge beforehand you can place them into a bowl of warm water.
The bananas should be older and soft with a lot of brown spots.
Note that the recipe calls for 1 CUP not 1 can of pumpkin puree. Be sure that you do not accidentally use canned pumpkin.
The one thing with quick bread recipes like this one is that they need to bake for a long time. To prevent the sides of the loaf from getting too brown, I recommend using a light colored loaf pan. If you notice that the top of the bread is getting too brown but the middle isn’t baked through yet, you can tent a piece of aluminum foil and place it over top of the loaf while it’s still baking.
STORE at ROOM TEMP for a day or two, then wrap it up and FREEZE it! When you’re ready to have some more, let it thaw and heat it up. Top it off with some butter or cinnamon butter and you’re set!!
This bread is absolutely delicious on its own. Eat it warm, at room temperature, or even chilled from the freezer. Enhance the flavor by spreading a warm slice with butter, add a layer of peanut butter, or drizzle it with honey. You can toast it as well.
Another delicious way to eat this bread is to make it into french toast. Since this bread is quite moist you will want to let it dry out before making the delicious breakfast food.
For More Quick Breads:
- Amish Friendship Bread
- Lemon Poppy Seed Bread
- Blueberry Bread
- Snickerdoodle Bread
- Lemon Zucchini Bread
- Pumpkin Streusel Bread
Pumpkin Banana Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice*
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup oil
- ½ cup white sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 medium bananas , mashed
- 1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
- ½ cup chopped walnuts , optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Grease and flour a 9×5 inch loaf pan.**
- In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder & salt.
- In a large bowl whisk together the oil, sugars, eggs & vanilla extract until no lumps remain.
- Stir in the mashed bananas & pumpkin puree.
- Carefully stir the flour mixture into the wet ingredients using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Then stir in the chopped nuts.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50-60 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean and the top feels firm to the touch. The loaf shouldn't wobble if you nudge the pan.
DelIcious!! I Only used regular sugar didnt have any bRown.. and made 12 muffins and put the rest in a mini loaf pan. About 20 min for the muffinS and 25 for the mini loaf. My kitchen smElls like oCtobEr! Love it thaNk you!
You are welcome!! Glad you liked them! Thank you!
Great recipe! Thanks for sharing.
I am so glad to share 🙂 Thank you for letting me know!
Im not sure what i did wrong…but this bread was so dense and heavy. I baked it for 65 minutes and it still DIDN’T seem fully done. I thinK the bananas and a full can of pumpkin wAs too heavy. Going to try TOMORROW with only 1 banana and half a can. The flavor was pretty good.
Darn, I am sorry that happened. I haven’t had that issue, so you will have to let me know how they turn out by changing the amounts.
She mentions using a can of pumpkin, not a cup as per recipe. Maybe she was reading too fast and didn’t notice the correct amount. A can is quite a bit more than a cup so it would have been way too much wet ingredients.
I made it exactly as written and it turned out fantastic! Great flavour and very moist and tender.
I did bake 5 minutes longer, but that’s just my basic oven, everything takes 5 minutes longer.
Yes – a using a cup of pumpkin instead of a can should help. Hopefully it will turn out better this time. Let me know if that does the trick!
This was a great quick bread recipe! I don’t have a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan, so I made the recipe as regular size muffins and had enough batter for 12 muffins and one mini loaf. (The muffins needed 20 minutes and the mini loaf needed 27 minutes in my oven at 350.) They turned out really good! I think next time I’ll try adding some extra nutmeg, ginger, or cloves for an extra bit of spice. Thanks so much! I always enjoy your recipes.
Great idea!! Thank you so much for sharing that!
Can I use apple sauce instead of oil
You sure can!
So delicious even though I had to use some substitutions. Used Gluten Free flour that was 1 to 1 ratio, substituted 1/2 cup of applesauce and 1 tablespoon of coconut oil for the 1/2 cup
Oil and added some mini chocolate chips. Baked for 50 min and it turned out Perfectly. Our family loved it! Thank you for the recipe.
You’re welcome!! Thanks for sharing what you did. Sounds delicious and I’m glad to hear it was a hit with the family!
Super tasty! I accidentally used an extra banana and it was still really good.
The easiest to make, smells wonderful in the oven. I used a pyex glass bread pan so I could keep an eye on the sides. It took 60 minutes to bake on 350° in my oven. It’s still hot and I can’t wait to taste it!!