Warm, tender, and speckled with chocolate chips, this is the best homemade pumpkin bread you’ll ever have! Every crumb is moist and so delicious! Use the chocolate chips, or leave them out – totally your call!

pumpkin bread with chocolate chips in baking pan

Pumpkin bread brings on all the fall feels.

This tender and moist (I’m so sorry for using that word) pumpkin bread is sure to become a family fave! Speckled with chocolate chips and flavored with ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Every bite of this bread is perfectly sweet, tender, and delicious. And the best part is, that it takes just 10 minutes to mix up and pop in the oven. I call recipes like this, dangerously delicious!

I ran a poll on Instagram the other day asking if you guys would like to see a cookie butter swirled pumpkin bread or a chocolate chip version the other day. I thought I’d be sharing a recipe for swirled cookie butter pumpkin bread today. But you guys voted and an overwhelming amount of you said you wanted a chocolate chip pumpkin bread. And I am here to please!

This pumpkin loaf is everything you wanted it to be and so much more!

slices of pumpkin bread on parchment speckled with chocolate chips

Ingredients to make homemade pumpkin bread:

  • All-purpose flour: both bleached and unbleached flour will work for this recipe
  • Kosher salt: I always use salt to balance the sweetness in homemade baked goods
  • Leavening agents: we’re using both baking soda and baking powder to help the bread rise
  • Ground spices: ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves help flavor this loaf of pumpkin bread. I’ve also tested this with allspice in the past and it just didn’t sit right for me with the chocolate chips
  • Salted butter: make sure to use softened butter here. We’re going to cream it together with the sugar, so if the butter isn’t soft, it won’t cream together correctly.
  • Sugar: white sugar gives this loaf a lighter flavor. I’ve tested it with both brown sugar and white sugar, and I found that the white sugar allows more of the pumpkin flavor to carry through (since it’s such a mild flavor, to begin with!) Brown sugar will add more of a caramel flavor to the bread – still delicious if you prefer it that way!
  • Eggs: eggs play a critical role here. They add structure and stability to the pumpkin bread batter as well as adding moisture.
  • Pumpkin puree: pumpkin puree is added for moisture and flavor. You can use homemade pumpkin puree or pureed pumpkin from a can. Just be sure to not use pumpkin pie filling!
  • Toppings and mixings: I’ve added bittersweet chocolate chips to this loaf because everyone I know loves pumpkin bread with chocolate chips. You could also use semi-sweet chocolate chips if you’d like! If I were making this just for myself, I would add pepitas (or pumpkin seeds) to the top of the loaf to make it more similar to Starbucks Pumpkin Bread!
process shots of making pumpkin bread

How to make the best homemade pumpkin bread:

  1. Prepare the basics. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 325ºF. Once the oven is preheating, you’ll want to grease the pan or line it with parchment paper. Once the pan is prepped, set it aside. Add the dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk them to combine, set this aside for now.
  2. Make the batter: Add the butter and sugar to a stand mixer or you can use a hand mixer if you’d like. Beat the butter and sugar together for 3 minutes until the butter is creamy. Then, add the eggs, one at a time waiting to make sure the first is mixed before adding the next. Then add the pumpkin puree and combine. Add the flour and mix until the flour is halfway mixed, so you still see pockets of dry flour. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand. You’ll want to make sure that there is still some unmixed flour so that it coats the chocolate chips while you stir and so that all your chocolate chips don’t sink to the bottom of the loaf! 
  3. Bake the bread: Once the batter is completely combined, pour the batter into the prepared baking pan. I like to reserve a handful of chocolate chips and speckle them on top right before baking. That’s what gives chocolate chip pumpkin bread that immediate eye appeal! Bake the bread for roughly 65 minutes. You want to test the center of the bread with a toothpick to make sure it comes out clean or without any wet batter on the toothpick. Allow the loaf to cool for several minutes in the pan before turning out on a wire rack and letting it cool completely.
pumpkin bread batter in baking pan before baking on white marble

Important equipment tips:

  1. I suggest using a good quality loaf pan for this recipe. I purchased this one at Home Goods, but here’s one that you can buy online if you don’t have one already!
  2. One thing that I highly encourage everyone to invest in is this simple oven thermometer. It’s very inexpensive but will take your baking to the next level. Not all ovens actually heat up to the desired temperature when they say they do. So an oven thermometer allows you to double-check. This little tool allows you to adjust your oven temperature should it read something other than what we’re looking for!
hand lifting slice of pumpkin loaf from wire trivet

Overall, homemade pumpkin bread is:

  • A great fall baking project with kids! They’ll love mixing in chocolate chips!
  • Makes the house smell like fall! Seriously, chocolate and pumpkin spice wafting through the home makes it feel so warm and cozy!
  • Shareable! You can keep a few slices and share some with family, friends, or neighbors!
  • The perfect breakfast with a warm cup of coffee
sliced pumpkin loaf in baking tin

How to store leftover pumpkin loaf:

  • Room temperature: Pumpkin bread can be covered tightly and stored in an airtight container for two to three days if it’s not too warm where you live! After that, you can either refrigerate or freeze the bread for later. 
  • To freeze: If I know we won’t be able to finish the bread off, I usually make slices and pop half into a zip-top bag and freeze it once the bread it cooled to room temperature. Bread will last for 3 months in the freezer!

If you like this pumpkin recipe, you might also like:

cascading slices of pumpkin bread on white plate on white marble
Yield: 8-10 slices

The Best Homemade Pumpkin Bread

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Warm, tender, and speckled with chocolate chips, this is the best homemade pumpkin bread you’ll ever have! Every crumb is moist and so delicious! Use the chocolate chips, or leave them out - totally your call!

The Best Homemade Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients

  • 1¼ cup all-purpose flour
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ¾ teaspoon baking soda
  • 1¼ teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon EACH: baking powder, ground ginger, AND ground nutmeg
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
  • ½ cup (1 stick) salted butter, softened
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • 1 cup pure pumpkin puree
  • ¾ cup chocolate chips, optional

Instructions

    1. PREP: Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 325ºF. Spray an 8½ x 4½ (or 9x5) baking dish with cooking spray, or rub with butter and dust with flour. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, baking powder, ground ginger, ground nutmeg, and ground cloves; set aside for now.
    2. MIX: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together for 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until mixed before adding the next. Add the pumpkin puree and mix. Add the flour mixture on the stir setting half mixed (so you still have flour left to mix.) Stop the mixer, stir in the chocolate chips by hand until the mixture is *just* combined.
    3. BAKE: Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake for 63-68 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean (mine took exactly 65 minutes.) Allow the loaf to cool for several minutes in the pan before turning out onto a wire rack.

Notes

  • You can use bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate chips for this recipe, entirely your call! We like dark chocolate, so I used bittersweet!
  • if you don't want to add chocolate chips, pepitas are delicious sprinkled on the loaf just before baking!

Have you made this recipe?

If you enjoyed this recipe, please consider leaving a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating and a comment below. You can also share a picture on Instagram with the hashtag #LITTLESPICEJAR, I'd love to see what you made!