Healthy Vegan Pumpkin Bread
This vegan pumpkin bread is made healthier with whole wheat flour, less oil, and less sugar but is still packed with fall flavor.
Why We Love This Vegan Pumpkin Bread
- The Perfect Texture: This recipe makes a vegan pumpkin bread that is perfectly fluffy, moist, and tender!
- No Leftover Pumpkin: We use an entire can of pumpkin puree, so you don’t have to worry about random amounts of leftover pumpkin.
- 50% Less Sugar: This pumpkin bread is made with about half as much sugar as most recipes, meaning you can actually taste and appreciate the flavor of the pumpkin and spices.
- Flavorful and Wholesome: Despite being made with half the sugar, it’s still packed with flavor from the pumpkin (use a good quality pumpkin puree), walnut butter, and spices. Whole wheat flour adds extra fiber, protein, and micronutrients, and the walnuts add healthy fats along with buttery, rich flavor.
Key Ingredients
- Pumpkin Puree ⟶ I recommend Libby’s canned pumpkin*. It’s thick and not too watery. Different brands will vary in moisture content, so if your pumpkin is very watery, start with just 30-40ml of milk and add more if your batter is too dry.
- Spices ⟶ I used cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. You can also add cloves and/or all spice, or use a premade pumpkin spice blend.
- Walnut Butter ⟶ Walnuts pair wonderfully with the flavor of the pumpkin and spices. It also makes the bread more moist and tender.
- Ground Flax ⟶ Just a tablespoon to help bind the bread so it isn’t too delicate. Technically you can omit it if necessary, but your bread will be more crumbly.
- White Whole Wheat Flour ⟶ I like to use white whole wheat since it has a milder flavor and lighter texture compared to regular whole wheat. You can also use all purpose flour or half whole wheat and half all purpose flour.
- Baking Powder and Baking Soda ⟶ These are the leavening agents that make the bread rise. I find that adding some baking soda helps the bread brown better on the outside.
Tips for Success
Fold batter together with a silicone spatula ⟶ This helps prevent over-mixing the batter which can make your bread dense. It’s also a thick batter, so whisking isn’t very efficient.
Tightly pack batter in loaf pan ⟶ Add a couple scoops of batter to your pan, then tightly pack it down before adding more batter. This helps remove large air bubbles.
Cool bread out of loaf pan ⟶ Do not leave the bread in the pan to cool for more than 10 minutes! Moisture will pool on the bottom of your bread and can make the bottom of your bread dense. Remove the bread from the pan and carefully peel off the parchment paper. Place the bread directly on a wire rack to cool.
Use a metal loaf pan ⟶ Do not use glass or ceramic as these are poor conductors of heat, meaning the outside of your bread will cook much faster than the inside. My first five tests of this pumpkin bread flopped in large part I think because I used a glass pan – the bottom half of my breads were always dense and underbaked. Some breads turn out fine in a glass pan and slightly lower temperature (my banana bread for instance is practically fail-proof), but this pumpkin bread is very moist.
Vegan Pumpkin Bread FAQ
More Vegan Quick Breads
- Almond Flour Cornbread
- Cinnamon Apple Bread
- Carrot Bread
- Carrot Cornmeal Banana Bread
- Japanese Sweet Potato Bread
- Blueberry Lemon Okara Bread
- Zucchini Bread
- Best Healthy Banana Bread
- Chocolate Banana Bread
If you try out this recipe, don’t forget to leave a comment/rating down below and tag me in your photos on instagram @ellielikes.cooking. I love seeing all of your tasty recreations!
Vegan Pumpkin Bread
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 2 cups (240g)
white whole wheat flour* or all purpose flour - 2 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon1
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg1
- ½ tsp ground ginger1
- ⅛ tsp salt
Wet Ingredients
- 15 oz (425g)
pumpkin puree* - 5 tbsp (60g) brown sugar
- 3 tbsp (36g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (60g)
walnut butter - 1 tbsp ground flax
- 2 tbsp neutral-flavored oil
- 100 ml dairy-free milk
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (or 325°F for convection/fan-forced oven). Line a 9×5-inch metal loaf pan with parchment paper.
- Whisk together dry ingredients in a bowl.
- In a large mixing bowl, add all the wet ingredients and whisk until well combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and fold together until no dry flour is left. Try to smooth out any big lumps of flour, but be careful not to over-mix the batter. (Batter should be thick.)
- Scoop the batter into your lined loaf pan. Tightly pack the batter into your pan, then gently drop the pan on the counter a couple times to remove any large air bubbles.
- Bake for 55-75 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few cooked crumbs (not wet batter).
- Place the loaf pan on a wire rack and cool the bread in the pan for 10 minutes. Then use the sides of the parchment paper to remove the bread from the pan. Carefully peel off the parchment paper and place the bread directly on the wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
*Disclosure: This page may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, but the price remains the same to you. Thank you for supporting Ellie Likes Cooking!
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