Easy Vegan Pumpkin Bread Recipe

Fall into your fall feelings with this gorgeous vegan pumpkin bread recipe! Made with real grated pumpkin and lashings of pumpkin pie spice, this pumpkin bread has a perfectly formed crumb and is moist and satisfying.

It holds together well for a firm tasty slice you can pick up and enjoy with your coffee.

Eggless and dairy-free, it’s super easy to make and requires just one bowl and an hour in the oven.

I do love pumpkin bread but most vegan recipes call for canned pumpkin puree. It’s hard to get (plus really expensive) here in Spain, so that’s why I decided to try to make pumpkin bread with freshly grated pumpkin.

After all, if grated carrot works for carrot cakes, why wouldn’t it work for pumpkins? Plus I just grab those vacuum-packed hunks of peeled pumpkin from the grocery store, so no messy peeling is needed. As it’s a quickbread, no yeast or rising/proofing time either!

If you’re a fan of quickbreads (I certainly am, I swear I can make yeast fail just by looking at it) then you might also want to try:

• Vegan Irish soda bread
• Vegan herbed tomato bread
• Vegan jalapeño cornbread
• Vegan strawberry bread
• Vegan banana bread
• Vegan chocolate banana bread
• Vegan barmbrack with whiskey

I particularly recommend the barmbrack, which is a traditional fall and Halloween treat back home in Ireland.

What do you eat with pumpkin bread?

This bread is definitely delicious enough to have by itself, but it’s also gorgeous sliced, optionally toasted, and served with:

• Vegan nutella
• Vegan cream cheese
• Vegan cinnamon cream cheese
• Vegan butter
• Apple butter

If you’re entertaining and want to impress, simple vanilla or orange glaze on top with toasted chopped pecans, pumpkin seeds, or walnuts sprinkled over will definitely catch the eye as well!

Can I freeze it?

Yes. Like most quickbreads, this vegan pumpkin bread freezes up beautifully. Wrap it up tightly with a layer of aluminum, then cover with a layer of plastic wrap or put in a large freezer bag and then freeze.

It’ll keep for a long time in the freezer, at least five months. I usually slice it before freezing as it can be a bit more “crumbly” when trying to cut it after defrosting.

If you’d like to eat it bit by bit, know that it will keep in the fridge for five days wrapped in aluminum. You can also freeze individual slices in baggies, take them out to defrost overnight, and pop in the toaster for a delicious breakfast (with a vegan pumpkin spice latte, naturally!).

How to make it (from scratch!):

This vegan pumpkin bread is ridiculously easy to make but I’ve included some photos here in this section just so you can keep an eye on them and make sure you don’t go too far from the recipe.

First, turn on the oven and set to preheat at 375F (190C). Then add the lemon juice to the unsweetened plant-based milk and set aside in the warmest part of the room. I prefer soy milk for baking as I find it gives a softer silkier crumb, but any milk should do.

Strictly speaking, given that this is a sweet recipe, it’s not even 100% necessary that it’s unsweetened milk either. You do you.

Grate the peeled pumpkin (like I said, I just grab the precut prepeeled vacuum packed pumpkin from the refridgerated vegetables section in the supermarket).

Add to a bowl along with the flour, brown sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and pumpkin spice.

I had actually ran out of pumpkin spice by the time I got around to photographing this recipe so if like me, you don’t have any to hand, you can substitute with:

• 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon plus
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg plus
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger plus
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves

Mix up all the dry ingredients.

The soy (or any plant-based milk) should be a bit curdled now (see the picture on the left below). Measure out and add the oil to the soy milk and lemon juice.

I use sunflower oil but you can use any plain flavourless oil such as canola oil, for example. Mix well until combined (it might be a little frothy, like the picture below on the right).

Make a well in the middle of the in dry ingredients and add in the wet ingredients (milk, lemon juice and oil).

Mix together until just combined. As with most quickbreads, overmixing will result in a tough bread so check there is no dry mix in the bottom of the bowl and leave it at that.

Pour into a greased 9 x 4 inch loaf pan. I use dairy-free margarine for greasing, but you can also use a little extra oil.

If you want, you can slightly dampen your hand and use it to smooth over the top, but it’s purely for aesthetic purposes (not really necessary).

Bake for one hour in the lower third of the oven. Depending on how hot your oven runs, you may want to loosely cover the loaf pan with tented aluminum foil for the last 15-10 minutes to avoid overbrowning.

Remove after an hour and check it’s done by inserting a skewer into the middle. If the skewer is clean, your bread is done. If there is wet dough clinging to it, pop the bread back in and check in ten-minute increments.

Leave to fully cool in the tin, covered with a dampened cloth (prevents a hard crust forming which can make cutting quickbreads difficult).

When your scrumptious vegan pumpkin bread is cool to the touch, gently remove from the pan.

It should be fairly easy to remove, use a knife to loosen the sides and invert and it should tip right out.

Note that trying to slice it while it’s still warm will result in crumbling slices – it’s not worth it, try and be patient!

Will keep in the fridge for up to five days tightly wrapped in aluminum foil and is even tastier the day after baking.

Enjoy!

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Or take a picture and tag me on Instagram (@the_fiery_vegetarian), I love seeing all your creations!