This easy Pumpkin Banana Bread recipe stays moist for days. Turn ripe bananas and canned pumpkin into the best bakery-style loaf with quick prep, soft crumb, and big flavor.
Pumpkin Banana Bread Ingredients
Here’s what goes into this soft, moist loaf.
- Pumpkin puree: I designed the recipe to use up a full 15-oz can of pumpkin, yay! I personally love recipes that do that.
- Banana: Spotty bananas add the best sweetness, moisture and flavor.
- I don’t use fully black bananas, as they tend to make a gummier layer at the bottom of the loaf.
- If you use frozen bananas, discard any accumulated liquid after thawing.
- Milk
- Vegetable oil
- Eggs or one of my egg substitutes for baking.
- Pure vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Sugar
- Spices: Cinnamon, ginger and cloves
- Baking powder
Full recipe quantities listed in the recipe card at the bottom of the article.
Variations and Substitutions
- Chocolate chip: Fold in chocolate chips or chunks for a sweet snack.
- Spices: You can use 1 1/2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice in place individual spices. Add 1/2 tsp nutmeg if you like your pumpkin recipes with a stronger pumpkin spice profile.
- Nuts: Sprinkle walnuts, pecans or pepita seeds on the loaves before baking for crunch. Tent with foil when they start to turn brown.
- Gluten-free swap: Use a 1:1 baking blend and rest batter 10 minutes.
Craving more fall bakes? Try my moist pumpkin muffins, pumpkin zucchini muffins and pumpkin cookies (no butter) recipes, too!
Grab These Tools
- Two 8×4″ loaf pans or one 9×5-inch loaf pan + a few muffin cups (option to bake as pumpkin banana muffins instead).
- Parchment to lift loaves out cleanly.
- Two mixing bowls to separate wet and dry.
- Whisk and spatula
- Kitchen scale, optional for perfect accuracy.
- Instant-read thermometer, optional, for foolproof doneness
- Wire rack so bottoms don’t steam.
How to Make the BEST Pumpkin Banana Bread
I keep this simple. Mix wet, mix dry, bring together, and bake until the center hits 200°F. The batter is thick and forgiving.
Prep the Pans and Oven
Heat oven to 350°F. Grease two 8×4-inch loaf pans and line with parchment. Leave overhangs for easy lifting. This helps neat slices.
Whisk the Wet Ingredients
In a large bowl, whisk pumpkin, mashed bananas, milk, brown sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. No lumps needed. Smooth means even crumb.
Whisk the Dry Ingredients
In another large bowl, whisk flour, granulated sugar, spices, baking powder, and salt. Whisking distributes leaveners evenly.
Combine Without Overmixing
Make a well in the flour mixture. Add the wet. Stir gently until a few flour streaks remain. Batter should look thick and a bit lumpy.
Fill, Bake, and Check Early
Divide batter between pans and smooth the tops. Bake 45–60 minutes. Start checking at 45 minutes. They are done at 200°F in the center, or when a toothpick comes out with just a few moist crumbs.
Protect and Cool
If tops brown early, tent loosely with foil for the last 10–15 minutes. Cool in pans 10 minutes. Lift out and cool completely on a rack.
4 Common Mistakes When Making Banana Pumpkin Bread
Here are the most frequent mix-ups to avoid when making pumpkin bread recipes:
- Overmixing: Tough crumb comes from excess gluten. Stop when you see faint flour streaks.
- Underbaking: Aim for 200°F in the middle to take out the guesswork.
- Wrong pan size: Larger loaf pans bake faster and flatter. It’s fine, but they’ll be done quicker!
- Packed flour: Scooping compacts flour. Spoon and level, or use a scale + the “Metric” button in my recipe card.
Make Ahead and Storage
Bake once, enjoy for days. It keeps beautifully.
Storing Leftovers
- Room temperature: Wrap tightly and store up to 3 days.
- Slice smart: Slice as you go to prevent drying.
- Avoid the refrigerator: Refrigeration stales bread faster.
Freezing
- Whole loaves: Wrap in plastic, then foil (or place in a freezer-safe container). Freeze up to 3 months.
- Sliced: Freeze slices with parchment between for easy grabbing.
- Thawing: Thaw wrapped at room temperature until soft.
How to Serve This Pumpkin Banana Bread Recipe
I love any pumpkin or banana bread recipe served warm with butter, chai coffee, or chai tea. Here are a few more ideas:
- Maple butter.
- A swipe of cream cheese frosting or a drizzle of this quick easy frosting recipe turns it into something closer to a pumpkin spice cake.
- Cinnamon sugar dusted over warm slices.
- Toasted pepitas for crunch.
Other Fall Recipes You’ll Love
- Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies
- Moist banana bread recipe
- Pumpkin Zucchini Bread
- Soft apple cinnamon muffins
- Pumpkin dinner rolls
Pumpkin Banana Bread (Moist for Days!)
Ingredients
- 1 15-oz can pumpkin puree (1 ¾ cups)
- 2 cups mashed banana see notes
- ½ cup milk
- ¾ cup vegetable oil
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ tbsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp kosher salt
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F. Grease two 8×4″ loaf pans and line with parchment paper (overhanging at the edges).
Bowl 1: Mix Wet Ingredients
- Whisk pumpkin, banana, milk, oil, eggs, and vanilla until smooth.
Bowl 2: Mix Dry Ingredients
- In another large bowl whisk flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, spices and salt.
Combine
- Make a well in the dry ingredients, add the wet, and stir gently until a few streaks of flour remain.
Fill Pans and Bake
- Divide batter evenly between two pans. Smooth tops. Bake loaves for about 60-70 minutes. Tent lightly with foil for the last 10–15 minutes to prevent the tops getting too brown.They are done at 200°F in the center or when a skewer has just a few moist crumbs.
- Cool in pans 10 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
Notes
-
Fully black bananas contain more free water and tend to sink to the bottom of the loaf. Still fine, if that’s all you’ve got!
-
If you use frozen bananas, discard any accumulated liquid after thawing
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I am waiting for them to cool for 10 minutes then I’ll move them to a cooling rack. My kitchen smells heavenly. I did cut the cinnamon to 1Tbsp., added the ginger and a couple pinches of pumpkin spice (ran out of cinnamon). Baked for 65min. without having to tent and they look perfect! Turned out delicious. Thank you!
The recipe lists baking powder and milk, but the picture of ingredients shows baking soda and buttermilk. Also, if I use pumpkin pie spice (1 1/2 /Tbsp.) it equals the amount of cinnamon alone. Just making sure I do this right because it looks delicious. I really enjoy your recipes and I am going to make this tomorrow. Thank you for your awesome recipes.
Great catch, thank you! The written recipe (milk + baking powder) is the correct, final version; the photo was from an earlier buttermilk + baking soda test and I’ll update it.
For pumpkin pie spice: yes, if you are replacing all the individual spices with pumpkin pie spice, I would keep it at 1 1/2 tbsp even though the total spice volume is less. It has more ginger/nutmeg/cloves and you wouldn’t want the loaves to get too heavy with spices.
You could always add an extra 1/2 tsp cinnamon in addition if you’d like more.
Can’t wait to hear how your loaves turn out!