Healthy Pumpkin Bread Recipe With Less Sugar: Moist, With Whole Wheat

Whisk 1 cup of canned pumpkin, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup of Greek yogurt, 1/2 cup of maple syrup and 1/4 cup of olive oil, fold them into the flour mix and bake at 350°F (175°C) in a 9 x 5 pan for 50 to 55 minutes. A slice comes to about 163 calories.

The difference between a dry pumpkin loaf and a moist one is one detail: how little you mix the batter. Stir until the flour disappears and stop. This healthy pumpkin bread recipe uses canned pumpkin, part whole wheat flour, Greek yogurt and a half cup of maple syrup in place of the cup or more of sugar many loaves use.

Pumpkin bread recipes at a glance

Version	What changes	Where to find it
This loaf (basic pumpkin bread)	Canned pumpkin, whole wheat flour, yogurt, maple syrup	The recipe card below
Recipe for pumpkin loaf bread	The same batter, baked as a 9 x 5 loaf	A section below
Pumpkin bread recipe from pumpkin	Fresh roasted pumpkin puree instead of canned	A section below
Easy or easiest pumpkin bread	One bowl for dry, one for wet, no mixer	The method below

What goes in this pumpkin bread

Mise en place first: measure everything before you start, because quick bread batter rewards speed. The loaf is built on five choices.

• Canned pumpkin puree. Plain puree, 1 cup (245 g). It gives color, moisture and a mild flavor. Pie filling is a different product.
• Two flours. One cup of all-purpose and three quarters of a cup of whole wheat. The whole wheat adds a nutty taste and some fiber, and the all-purpose flour keeps the crumb tender.
• Maple syrup. A half cup for twelve slices. It sweetens and adds moisture. Taste the batter before baking if you like your bread sweeter and add a tablespoon, no more.
• Greek yogurt and olive oil. The yogurt replaces part of the fat and adds a slight tang. The olive oil keeps the crumb soft for days.
• Spice. One and a half teaspoons of cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Spice in layers: cinnamon in the dry mix, vanilla in the wet.

Recipe for pumpkin loaf bread

The pan matters. Use a 9 x 5 inch (23 x 13 cm) loaf pan lined with parchment, which lets you lift the loaf out without breaking the crust. A darker pan browns faster, so check the top at 40 minutes. If it is dark before the center is set, tent the loaf loosely with foil. The recipe card has the full steps and photos.

Pumpkin bread recipe from pumpkin

You can use fresh pumpkin instead of canned. Choose a small sugar pumpkin (a pie pumpkin), cut it, roast it until a knife slides in without resistance, scoop out the flesh and puree it. Fresh puree is often wetter than canned: let it drain in a sieve for 10 minutes, then measure 1 cup. A carving pumpkin is stringy and watery, so it is a poor choice for bread.

How many calories are in a slice of pumpkin bread?

We calculated this loaf with USDA FoodData Central values for each ingredient. Cut into 12 slices, one slice has about 163 calories, 4 g of protein, 25 g of carbohydrate and 6 g of fat, with about 241 mg of sodium. It is an estimate: the slice size changes it more than anything, and the yogurt weight is a documented assumption rather than a USDA measure.

Most of the calories come from three ingredients: the flours, the maple syrup and the olive oil. If you want fewer calories, cut thinner slices. Cutting the oil to save a few calories makes the loaf drier, so we would not.

Pumpkin bread recipe with cream cheese and other toppings

Plain, toasted, or warm with something spread on it. A thin layer of cream cheese is the classic partner for a pumpkin bread recipe with cream cheese and it is simply a topping here; we do not give a recipe for a swirl. Greek yogurt or a little nut butter also work. Each topping adds calories to the 163 in the slice, so measure it.

Tips and common mistakes

• Do not overmix. Fold until the dry flour is gone. A smooth, thin batter after long mixing gives a tough, tunneled loaf.
• Measure the flour by weight if you have a scale (125 g and 90 g). Flour scooped and packed into a cup weighs more than flour spooned in, and too much flour is a common reason for a dry loaf.
• Know your leaveners. The loaf uses both baking soda and baking powder, and our baking powder vs baking soda guide shows what each one does if you want to adjust the recipe.
• Use plain puree. Pie filling brings sugar and spice you did not measure.
• Check at 50 minutes. Take the loaf out when the toothpick shows a few moist crumbs. A clean toothpick often means the loaf is already a little overbaked.
• Cool before slicing. A warm loaf crumbles. Fifteen minutes in the pan and fifteen on a rack is enough.
• Common mistakes: too much flour, overmixing, an oven that runs hot, and slicing a loaf that is still warm.
• Troubleshooting a loaf that sinks in the middle: the center was underbaked or the oven door was opened early. Bake it a few minutes longer next time and keep the door closed for the first 40 minutes.

To understand what each leavener does in a loaf like this, read baking powder vs baking soda.

Healthy banana pumpkin bread recipe, nuts and chocolate

• Healthy banana pumpkin bread. A variation: replace the Greek yogurt with 1/2 cup of mashed ripe banana and reduce the maple syrup by 1 tablespoon, because the banana is sweet.
• Chocolate chips. A handful folded in at the end. Adjust the calories upward.
• No dairy. Swap the yogurt for an unsweetened plant yogurt.
• Cookie version. If you prefer something handheld, these healthy oatmeal cookies use the same Greek yogurt and maple syrup approach.

Pumpkin banana nut bread recipe

For a pumpkin banana nut bread, make the banana version above and fold 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts into the batter at the end. Nuts add calories and fat, so a slice will have more than 163 calories.

From Alin's kitchen

Nothing needed fixing when Alin baked this loaf: the flavor landed just right, the texture was great, and the method was easy enough that it is going back on the baking list.

Storage

Let the loaf cool completely, then wrap it. Keep it at room temperature for a day or two, in the fridge for longer, and slice and freeze what you will not eat soon (our rule of thumb, not an official shelf life). Toast a frozen slice straight from the freezer.

For breakfast, a toasted slice goes well with plain Greek yogurt, like the one in our Greek yogurt parfait. If you like to prepare breakfast ahead, our high-protein overnight oats keep well in the fridge too.

What the evidence says about fiber and less sugar in a loaf like this

The loaf uses part whole wheat flour and maple syrup instead of a cup of sugar. Here is how far the research goes, and where it stops.

• Fiber and whole grains. A 2020 systematic review and meta-analysis (PMID 32142510) pooled 42 trials with 1,789 adults with prediabetes or diabetes. Higher fiber intakes were linked to lower HbA1c and fasting glucose. It concerned people with diabetes and fiber in general, and it did not test bread.
• Whole grain foods and cholesterol. A 2021 review of reviews (PMID 33762150) rated the evidence as moderate that high-fiber and whole grain foods bring small to moderate reductions in LDL cholesterol, and that sugar causes a small increase.
• The recipe itself. Only part of the flour here is whole wheat, so a slice adds a modest amount of fiber. Maple syrup is still sugar. We found no study on pumpkin bread, and we do not claim one.

These studies describe whole grains and fiber in the diet as a whole. They do not show that a slice of this bread does anything on its own.

Safety: eggs, gluten and dairy

This bread contains eggs, wheat (gluten) and dairy (yogurt). Check the labels if you or your family have an allergy or intolerance. Managing diabetes? Check this baking recipe with your doctor or a registered dietitian: it is not dietary advice. Baked goods with eggs should be fully cooked, so use the toothpick test.

How we checked this

• Nutrition: values come from USDA FoodData Central for each ingredient (for example canned pumpkin and whole wheat flour); the Greek yogurt weight is a documented assumption, so the total stays an estimate.