This vegan pumpkin bread is The Fall Aesthetic™ baked up in a loaf pan. It’s low-fuss to whip up (no fancy gadgets required!) and as it bakes, it perfumes your home with eau de autumn, a richly-spiced warmth courtesy of the homemade pumpkin spice.
It’s soft and light, moist and lusciously tender, never soggy or dense like many pumpkin bricks—ahem, breads.
Cut yourself a slice for an indulgent breakfast, snack on it with your afternoon latte, or hit it with a maple tahini drizzle or swoop of cream cheese frosting for a dessert that will catapult you into cozy autumnal bliss (… and that no one will guess is vegan!).
Pssst! This recipe is adapted from my vegan banana bread…so you know it’s a winner 😉
Watch me make this recipe ⤵️
Check out the YouTube video to see how easily this one comes together!
With 200K views, this recipe was a huge hit with my audience. I hope you love it just as much!
Avoiding the main pitfalls of pumpkin bread
After many rounds of testing, I’m pleased to present a recipe that sidesteps the two major perilous pitfalls of pumpkin bread:
Pitfall 1: Dense, soggy texture
Solution: Pumpkin purée is thick by nature, which often translates into a heavy, sodden loaf—but not this one, thanks to vegan buttermilk for a soft, tender crumb, and whipped aquafaba (read more in the Ingredient notes), a secret weapon that provides extra rise!
Pitfall 2: “Pumpkin spice” that tastes flat
Solution: Ground spices lose their punch the longer they sit around, and pre-made “pumpkin spice” blends add extra variability (it’s impossible to know when each individual spice was grown), leaving you with underwhelming pumpkin flavor.
This recipe uses a homemade blend of spices that takes two minutes to throw together but really changes the flavor game.
Ingredient notes
- Vegan buttermilk: This is simply a mix of plant-based milk and a source of acid, like apple cider vinegar or lemon juice. I use oat milk for its superior browning capabilities in baking, though some readers have used soy milk successfully.
- Aquafaba: AKA the liquid from a can of chickpeas! By whipping it slightly to incorporate some air, it gives this loaf lift and lightness.
Trust me—aquafaba will level up your vegan baking game in a major way. It’s my go-to egg substitute for so many baked goods, including my best ever vegan brownies, incredible vegan lemon cake, fluffy gingerbread cake, and lemon olive oil cake!
- Canned pumpkin: This recipe calls for a whole can for serious pumpkin flavor (AND you don’t have to figure out what to do with a weird amount of leftover canned pumpkin!). If canned pumpkin isn’t available where you live, check out the FAQ section to see how to make this with fresh pumpkin.
- Homemade pumpkin spice: This easy homemade blend—featuring freshly grated nutmeg for spicy zing and a generous amount of warmly sweet cloves—elevates this pumpkin bread to a league all its own. SO much better than pre-bought pumpkin spice blends.
- All-purpose flour: Necessary for structure. Unfortunately, I have not had good results with gluten-free flour and would not recommend it, though some commenters have given it a try (with mixed results).
Step-by-step instructions
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and homemade pumpkin spice.
In a large bowl, mix the brown sugar and oil using a hand mixer until well combined.
Add your lightly whipped aquafaba to the brown sugar mixture. Mix until the aquafaba is well incorporated.
Add in the pumpkin puree, maple syrup, vegan buttermilk, and vanilla. Mix again until smooth.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Use a silicone spatula to gently fold the ingredients into each other.
Mix just until the flour pockets are gone, then stop mixing. The batter should be somewhat lumpy and thick.
Pour the batter into a lined 9×5” (23×13 cm) loaf pan and smooth out the top with the spatula.
Bake at 350ºF/176ºC for 55 to 60 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack for 10 minutes. Using the parchment paper handles, remove the bread from the pan and cool on the wire rack for 30 minutes before slicing.
When ready to serve, drizzle with tahini icing (or serve on the side), or spread with the cream cheese frosting.
Tips for making this recipe
Opt for conventional over organic canned pumpkin purée
If you live in the U.S.: For whatever reason, organic canned pumpkin puree is more watery than conventional canned pumpkin from Libby’s. In my recipe tests, the organic canned pumpkin yielded a more liquidy batter and a loaf with a soggier bottom.
If you only have organic canned pumpkin, I recommend straining the pumpkin purée over a fine-mesh sieve to remove excess water.
Baking Precision Tips
Baking is a science, so here are tips to help you nail this pumpkin bread!
- Use a digital scale to measure your ingredients. It yields the most exact results! If you don’t have a digital scale, measure your flour using the spoon and level method: Fluff the flour with a spoon, then spoon the flour into the measuring cup, spoon by spoon, until mounded and overflowing on top, then use a butter knife to level it off.
- Get an oven thermometer. Every oven is different, and if yours isn’t calibrated, chances are it’s a bit off. Most home ovens don’t reach the stated temperature when the preheat cycle is over.
- Test for doneness with a toothpick. Insert a toothpick into the bread at an angle, not straight down. This angled position is a much more reliable indicator of whether a tall loaf cake is baked through. See a few moist crumbs? The bread is done.
- If the toothpick reveals batter that is still a bit gooey: return the pan to the oven for 5 to 10 more minutes. Worried about the top browning before it cooks through on the inside? Loosely tent the pan with aluminum foil.
Beware of overmixing!
Mixing develops the gluten in the batter, and overmixing = overdeveloped gluten = a cake that is dry and tough, or dense and gummy.
Less is more here—once the wet and dry ingredients are just incorporated and there are no flour pockets remaining, stop mixing. The batter shouldn’t be perfectly smooth (just like in my Pumpkin Pancakes!).
Make for breakfast, a snack, or dessert!
If you want to eat this pumpkin bread for breakfast or as an afternoon teatime snack, you can serve it plain.
If you want something more dessert-like, there are two icing options!
- Maple tahini icing: The tahini brings a unique nutty flavor that pairs beautifully with the classic pumpkin spice flavors.
- Vegan cream cheese icing. A more decadent option reminiscent of cake. The frosting is a bit tangy from the cream cheese and lemon juice and it perfectly balances the sweetness. When you refrigerate the bread, the icing sticks to it like a traditional frosting and it is SO good.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Here’s how:
1. Slice a sugar pumpkin or pie pumpkin in half using a sharp knife and rocking motion (you can also use a kabocha squash). Don’t use the really large carving pumpkins – they are pretty flavorless and don’t have much flesh. If it’s too tough to slice, pop the pumpkin in the microwave for 1 minute, then try again.
2. Lightly salt the flesh of the pumpkin, then place the pumpkin halves on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, cut side down.
3. Bake in the oven at 400°F/205°C until fork tender, about 30 minutes for a small pie pumpkin, or 40-45 minutes for a larger one.
4. Once cool enough to handle, peel the skin and add the flesh to a food processor. Puree for about 2 minutes, or until you have a really smooth puree.
5. Place the puree over a fine-mesh sieve and press down with a spoon to drain excess water. If you have cheesecloth, line the sieve with that and drain. This step is essential since homemade puree is more watery than canned.
6. Finally, measure 425 grams of pumpkin puree for this recipe (2 tablespoons shy of 2 cups).
Aquafaba is one of the ways I keep this pumpkin bread light and tender, so I wouldn’t recommend substituting it.
A lot of recipes suggest using flax eggs but in my experience, they work much better in denser baked goods (like my vegan chocolate chip cookies).
I personally think this is better without chocolate chips because it allows the pumpkin flavors to shine and the pumpkin bread is already sweet enough.
That said, if you love them, feel free to fold in 1/2 to 1 cup of chocolate chips when combining dry and wet ingredients.
If unfrosted, store it covered or wrapped in plastic on the counter for up to 5 days. If you make the maple tahini icing, you can leave it at room temperature but it’s best to pour the icing only over the amount of bread you plan to eat that day (to prevent sogginess).
If making the cream cheese icing, store the bread covered in the fridge for at least 5 days.
If you love this Vegan Pumpkin Bread recipe, please rate and review the recipe below 🙂
Introducing
Big Vegan Flavor
Techniques and 150 recipes to master vegan cooking.
The Best Vegan Pumpkin Bread You’ll Ever Eat
Ingredients
Pumpkin Bread Ingredients
- 1/4 cup + 2 TBSP (90g) aquafaba
- 1/4 cup (60 mL) oat milk, or unsweetened plant-based milk of choice
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/3 cup (75g) sunflower oil, or any neutral-flavored oil
- 1 cup + 2 TBSP (170g) organic brown sugar, loosely packed
- 1 15-ounce (425g) can pumpkin puree (ideally NOT organic pumpkin, see Note 1)
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
Homemade Pumpkin Spice
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves (see Note 2)
- 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (see Note 3)
- 1 handful pepitas (optional, for topping)
Frosting option 1: Cream Cheese Icing
- 4 tablespoons (56g) vegan butter, softened at room temp
- 2 ounces (56g) vegan cream cheese, softened at room temp (see Note 4)
- 1 cup + 2 TBSP (135g) organic powdered sugar, sifted
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Pinch of sea salt
- 1/2 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Frosting option 2: Maple Tahini Icing
- 1 cup (120g) organic powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons good-quality tahini
- 3 tablespoons oat milk or unsweetened plant-based milk of choice
- 1 teaspoon pure maple syrup
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F/175°C. Arrange a rack in the middle or bottom third of the oven. Line a 9×5-inch loaf pan (23×13 cm) with parchment paper, letting the excess hang over the long sides to form a sling.
- Make the "buttermilk": Stir the vinegar into the milk and set aside for a few minutes.
- Pour the aquafaba into a small bowl. Using a handheld electric mixer, whip the aquafaba on medium speed for 45 seconds, or until uniformly foamy.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the brown sugar and oil. Mix using the electric mixer or a whisk until well combined. Add the whipped aquafaba and mix until well incorporated. Add in the “buttermilk,” pumpkin puree, maple syrup, and vanilla. Mix until smooth and the ingredients are very well incorporated (this is important so you don't overmix).
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and Homemade Pumpkin Spice. Whisk well to ensure the leaveners and spices are evenly distributed.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and gently stir using a silicone spatula or wooden spoon until just barely combined and no flour pockets remain, then stop mixing! The batter doesn’t need to be totally smooth—some lumps are normal. It should be quite thick and almost fluffy at this point.
- Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth out the top.
- Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the top sides of the cake comes out mostly clean with just a few moist crumbs.I like to check the bread at 53-55 minute mark. To test if it's done, insert a toothpick downwards at an angle (not just straight down). If the toothpick has batter that is a bit gooey, bake for 5-10 more minutes. If you’re worried about the top browning too much, loosely tent the pan with foil.
- Transfer the pan to a wire rack and cool for 10-15 minutes. Then, using the parchment paper handles, remove the bread from the pan and cool on the rack for at least 30 minutes before serving. Serve plain, or with the Cream Cheese Icing or the Maple Tahini Icing and scatter with handful of pepitas. See Note 5 for storage instructions.
Cream Cheese Icing (optional)
- To a medium mixing bowl, add the softened butter. Beat on low speed with an electric hand mixer until smooth. Add the softened cream cheese and beat until well incorporated and creamy. Add HALF of the powdered sugar, mix on low speed to combine, and then add the rest of the sugar. Mix until well combined and fluffy, scraping down the sides as you go. Add the vanilla, salt, and lemon juice and mix until smooth. If too thick, add a splash of plant-based milk. If too thin, briefly refrigerate.
Maple Tahini Icing (optional, see Note 6)
- Sift the powdered sugar into a large bowl (sifting gets rid of the lumps in the sugar). Add in the tahini, milk, and maple syrup. Whisk to combine until the icing is thick but pourable. If too thin, add more sugar. If too thick, add more milk. Pour icing ONLY on the amount of bread you plan to eat (or serve it on the side).
Video
Notes
- Organic canned pumpkin tends to be more watery than regular. If that’s all that is available, strain the puree in a fine-mesh sieve first to get rid of excess water. To make homemade pumpkin puree, read the FAQ section.
- If you are grinding whole cloves, use less as it’s more potent, about 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground cloves.
- Freshly grated whole nutmeg makes a difference! If using pre-ground nutmeg, use only 1/4 teaspoon.
- My favorite vegan cream cheese brands are Violife and Tofutti.
- See FAQ for how to store pumpkin bread depending on how you serve it.
- If you are not serving the entire bread now, pour the maple tahini icing only over the amount you plan to eat; otherwise, it will get soggy the next day.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Love this? Leave a rating below!
I love making this without the icing, it’s the perfect sweet treat as-is without the icing (if you’ve got a sweet tooth but don’t like absurdly sweet treats).
We appreciate your feedback and support, Melissa. Thank you for leaving a review!
Love, love, love!
We’re so happy you do, Megan!
Everything I’ve made from here is incredible and no one even realizes it’s vegan until I tell them. I LOVE this pumpkin bread! I had to use organic pumpkin and I think it resulted in the bottom not fully cooking but I just cut it off and the rest was perfect 🤩
Aw, thanks for trying so many recipes, Madeleine! Great to hear you enjoy the pumpkin bread 🙂
Made this for fun for my 21st birthday tonight and in my boyfriend’s words, this recipe is “bitchnn’!”. I have never baked a bread that had as perfect of a texture as this. It is so soft and moist. I didn’t make any icing because I don’t have that much of a sweet-tooth but the bread was perfect on it’s own to me. I have never been disappointed by a recipe by you. Thank you!!
Amazing! We hope you had a lovely 21st birthday, we’re so delighted you chose to make a RPL recipe in celebration!
This really is the best pumpkin bread! I love the amount of spices- so flavorful! I skipped the icing just because I didn’t want the extra sugar. My son said the bread felt like cake, and the whole family enjoyed it!
Thanks for the lovely feedback, Coby!
I screwed up..but it still turned out amazing! I accidentally bought and opened “pumpkin pie mix” instead of pumpkin puree. I could have cried in the moment of having all ingredients spread out with an opened can of pie mix in my hand. Luckily my 92 year old grandmother was visiting and she helped save the day. She told me to reduce the sugar..and cut spices in half ( due to those things being in the pie mix already).
Well it worked!!!! BEAUTIFUL pumpkin bread was the result 😍. My family loved it. Next time I will make it the proper way…but damn sometimes those grandma’s know how to improvise a recipie 🙂 We were all super happy with this gem.
Wonderful! Shoutout to grandma for saving the day! Thanks for the wonderful review of the pumpkin bread 🙂
You were right, best pumpkin bread ever. I brought it to an Omni thanksgiving and people loved it and asked for the recipe. The cream cheese frosting took it to another level, I can’t believe it was optional!!
I used miyokos cream cheese and earth balance butter, and it was delicious but after sitting for a bit after mixing, the consistency looked a bit off, like the oil was separating or something. Curious to see if other brands would be better but it didn’t impact taste or texture so it was all good.
Hi Amanda, thanks for making the pumpkin and sharing it with others! You could try using another butter possibly? Which Earth Balance butter did you use? We love Miyoko’s vegan butter.
This was absolutely delicious! Even my picky kids and pumpkin hater husband loved this. I made the tahini icing to go along with it but wasn’t a fan, but I think it was because my tahini was a little on the bitter side. Can’t wait to try it with the cream cheese icing, but it is amazingly good on it’s own!
Wonderful, thanks for trying the recipe Erica!
Very very very good! Making for the second time now!
Wonderful, Sarah! Thanks for sharing 🙂
A lovely fall/ winter recipe! The bread turned out great! It’s fluffy, moist, warm spiced and not to sweet (which I prefer) 🙂 the glaze turned out a little less great. The taste was good but when I added the lemon juice it was no longer smooth, like the lemon juice and butter didn’t want to emulsify. the glaze/frosting the tendency to slide off the bread. However I still was able to put it on the bread. It didn’t look as smooth as in this recipe, but it was fine and still tasted delicious! Definitely would make this again!
We’re delighted you think so, Jella! Too bad about the icing, we’re sorry to hear it. Good to hear you’re still a fan despite the icing not going as well as originally intended.
Fantastic recipe! Very moist and flavourful. Everyone loved it including my non vegan colleagues. They could not believe the icing was not dairy.
Lovely, Maddalena! Thanks for sharing the recipe with everyone 🙂
This was sooo good!!!!! 😋😋😋
Awesome, Alisa. Thanks for your comment and for taking the time to review!
Perfect amount of spices, soft texture, and pairs perfectly with the cream cheese icing (used the brand Fynd for the first time which worked great). My only blunder was remembering 5 minutes into baking time that I had forgotten the salt, so I quickly took the pan out of the oven and stirred it in as best as I could…. Another delicious go-to seasonal recipe!
Kimberly, So glad to hear you loved this recipe! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Absolutely delicious! The only modification I made was using a mixture of brown sugar and cane sugar because I didn’t have enough brown sugar. To make up for this, I added about a tsp of molasses. The end loaf was a touch sweet but it’s likely because I didn’t think about adjusting the amount of overall sugar to accommodate the addition of molasses.
I also used organic pumpkin puree but it wasn’t watery and the end loaf texture was perfect. The brand I used was the Thrive Market organic pumpkin puree.
I made it with the maple tahini icing and it was amazing – I’ll be making again!
Thanks for sharing your experience, Kim! Great to hear you’re a fan of the recipe 🙂
Nisha!! You are a star!! I made this pumpkin bread for an Halloween 🎃 party we had in my office: I am already quite lucky as all my colleagues are very open minded and always like to try my vegan food, but THIS! This one was super delicious and everyone was amazed by it.
I love all of your recipes and I’m always recommending your channel to everybody, vegan and non-vegan!
You’re doing an amazing job, lots of love from Italy! ♥️
We’re so honored, Federica! Thank you for making the recipes and sharing them with coworkers! Sounds like you had yourself a great time on Halloween 🙂
Best vegan pumpkin bread recipe ever! Sooooo good. The acqufaba is definitely the secret weapon that makes it the best. I didn’t even do the frosting, subbed date sugar and it was perfect. Also great as muffins. Thank u Nisha! Genius.
Thanks for the lovely review, Christie! Glad you love this recipe as much as we do 🙂
I made this like 2 weeks ago and it was amazing. My husband and I loved it. Even my 1 year old daughter had a piece. I added extra spices and it was extremely tasty. Thank you for this recipe. 👍🏾👍🏾
Meka, So glad to hear everyone loved this recipe! 🙂 You’re very welcome for the recipe!
This is very moist and the spices are just right in it.
Janine, So glad to hear you loved this recipe!
Ive made this many times and it always comes out great. This time i was out of pumpkin but I swapped out the pumpkin for applesauce, omitted ginger, and replaced cloves with nutmeg and it worked perfectly! Such a versatile recipe thanks again!
Stefani, I’m glad this version worked for you, I would have never guessed! Thanks for your comment and for taking the time to review!
Pumpkin is my favorite, and this bread is yummy! I made a couple of tweaks to use what I had on hand, using a whole wheat flour and canned organic pumpkin. Due to whole wheat flour generally needing more moisture, I decreased the amount of flour to 225 grams and did not drain the pumpkin. Baked at 60 minutes, I was pretty happy with the way it came out! My only complaint is the high sugar content in the bread, I may try to find a way to decrease next time I make. While it seems like less sugar than many recipes, I prefer to use even less sugar or a healthier alternative when possible.
Thanks for sharing, Sabrina!