Name: How to Make Moist Pumpkin Bread
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 70 min
Total time: 75 min
Ingredients: 1/3 cup Shortening; 1 1/3 cups Sugar (granulated); 1 cup Pumpkin; 1/3 cup Water; 2 Eggs; 1 1/2 cups + 5 Tbsps + 1 tsp Flour; 1 tsp Baking Soda; 3/4 tsp Salt; 1/4 tsp Baking Powder; 1/2 tsp Cinnamon (ground); 1/2 tsp Cloves (ground); 1/3 cup Raisins; 1/3 cup Nuts (pecans or walnuts)

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This easy, moist Pumpkin Bread Recipe creates a soft, tender loaf packed with pumpkin puree, warm spices, juicy raisins, and crunchy nuts.

A sliced loaf of tender pumpkin bread, showing the soft crumb of the first pieces with crunchy pecans and sweet raisins, on a cutting board, with cute little pumpkins in the back.

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The third vintage recipe card picked in my “Mystery Recipe Box” series was for Pumpkin Bread!!!

Which is absolutely perfect for the fall season.

The recipe is handwritten, with some misspellings. I have NO idea who wrote it. I definitely don’t recognize the handwriting.

The pumpkin bread is good. It’s definitely moist. It tastes like fall with rich pumpkin flavor, cozy spices, and crunchy nuts.

The raisins are a delightful, chewy addition.

Ingredients

This Pumpkin Bread Recipe includes simple ingredients.

Nuts

The recipe card only says, "nuts".

I chose to use pecans because, to me, they are the perfect fall nut and pair well with pumpkin.

Walnuts would also work well in this easy recipe.

Pumpkin

The recipe card states, “1 cup pumkin”.

I just used Libby’s 100% Pure Pumpkin.

The amount leftover in the can, after making this quick bread recipe, was the exact amount needed for this Pumpkin Sauce for Coffee recipe.

A full fall morning was obviously meant to be!

A moist slice of soft pumpkin bread with nuts and raisins sits on a small, white plate, next to the sliced loaf of pumpkin bread on a wooden cutting board.

Tips & Tricks

Based on what I encountered while making this moist pumpkin bread with raisins and nuts.

Pan

The recipe calls for a "9" x 5" x 3” loafpan". If yours is a tad smaller, that’ll work too. You just may have to adjust the baking time.

The most important pan-related advice is to make sure you grease it before adding the batter.

I don’t think I greased mine enough and had trouble getting it out of the pan.

Moist, soft bread was left behind. The loaf, itself, split.

So oil up!

Baking

The top, especially the ends, of my loaf started to brown fairly quickly.

I panicked a bit because the middle was NOWHERE close to being done.

After about 45 minutes, I “tented” the loaf with foil.

Which means I created a loose, dome-like shield over the loaf with aluminum foil (as best as I could without burning myself).

This prevents the top from burning while the inside still cooks.

A blue oven mitt covers a hand as it pushes an oven rack that holds a loaf of pumpkin bread, loosely covered with aluminum tin foil, into a small oven.

Mixing

I had a difficult time creaming the shortening and sugar together by hand. I definitely recommend using an electric mixer, if you have one, for this part.

Even after using the hand mixer, the shortening and sugar didn’t look “creamed”. So I continuously pushed the mixture against the inside of the bowl with my rubber spatula. This helped to reach the correct consistency of creaming.

I didn’t use an electric mixer to mix in the dry ingredients though. Just stuck with the spatula.

How to Store

Store in an airtight container or ziplock bag at room temperature for 3-4 days or in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Two slices of soft pumpkin bread with pecans and raisins sit on a small, white plate, next to the handwritten, vintage recipe for Moist Pumpkin Bread.

Mystery Recipe Box

I randomly pick a new vintage recipe card, from this old recipe box, every week to make, try, and share.

Make sure to follow Love Mischka on Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, and/or TikTok so you don’t miss out on the fun!

You can also come back here, LoveMischka.com, to catch up on the series.

A close up of a perfectly moist loaf of orange-tinged pumpkin bread, sliced showing the first slice that is full of soft crumb, crunchy nuts, and sweet raisins.

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How to Make Moist Pumpkin Bread

This Moist Pumpkin Bread Recipe combines rich pumpkin, cozy spices, and a wonderfully soft crumb for a homemade fall treat that’s great for breakfast, snacking, or dessert.

Prep Time5

Cook Time1 10

Total Time1 15

Course: Breakfast, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American

Servings: thick slices (1 loaf)

Calories: 413kcal

Ingredients

⅓ cup Shortening
1 ⅓ cups Sugar granulated
1 cup Pumpkin
⅓ cup Water
2 Eggs
1 ½ cups + 5 Tbsps + 1 tsp Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
¾ teaspoon Salt
¼ teaspoon Baking Powder
½ teaspoon Cinnamon ground
½ teaspoon Cloves ground
⅓ cup Raisins
⅓ cup Nuts pecans or walnuts

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9” x 5” loaf pan with oil, butter, or nonstick spray.
In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar together until fluffy.
Add pumpkin, water, and eggs. Mix.
Add flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and cloves. Mix until just combined.
Stir in the raisins and nuts.
Pour and spread batter into the prepared bread pan.
Bake for 70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean with only a few small, moist crumbs. If the top is browning too quickly, loosely cover the bread with aluminum foil (I did this after 45 minutes of baking).
Allow bread to cool completely before removing and slicing.

Video

Nutrition

#3 - Moist Pumpkin Bread Recipe

Ingredients