This moist and delicious, fall inspired Apple Pumpkin Bread is beyond easy to throw together and pairs perfectly with a hot cup of tea or coffee. My favorite Autumn treat!
Pumpkin vs apple. The classic Fall Foodie debate. But what if you could combine the two into an insanely easy, moist and delicious bread that will give you all the cozy Autumnal feels you've been looking for? Seasonal perfection!
This bread is sweet without being too sweet and is just packed with Fall flavor. It's fantastic for breakfast or a midday snack. And honestly, griddle it up with a little butter and serve with ice cream and you've got yourself a tasty dessert.
This recipe doesn't require and electric mixers. Simply stir together and enjoy!
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Equipment
- Mixing bowls: I like these Pyrex Glass Mixing Bowls.
- Large loaf pan: This recipe fills a loaf pan that has ⅕ lb capacity, around 10 x 5 x 3. I use this WIlliams Sonoma Goldtouch Loaf Pan.
- Whisk: My favorite Oxo Balloon Whisk.
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Cutting board and knife
Ingredients
- Canned pumpkin
- Apples: I like using a mix of green apples and Honeycrisp apples, but honestly you can use whatever you have on hand.
- All purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Baking powder
- Cinnamon
- Allspice
- Salt
- Vegetable Oil
- Buttermilk: You can make your own by combine a little lemon juice to regular milk. You can also substitute sour cream.
- Eggs: Ideally at room temperature.
- Vanilla extract
- Sugar
Recipes FAQs
You can actually make your own buttermilk at home! All you need is milk and a little lemon juice or white vinegar. Simply add ½ tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar to a ½ cup measuring cup and then fill to the top with whole milk.
Let it set for a couple minutes. Once the liquid has started to separate a little it's ready.
You can also substitute buttermilk in this recipe with an equal amount of sour cream.
The easiest way to know when breads or cakes are baked is to insert a toothpick or skewer into the thickest part of the bread. If it comes out clean you know the bread is fully baked. If it comes out covered in wet batter then the bread needs more time in the oven.
No, pumpkin pie filling will not work for this recipe. It is already heavily sweetened and the texture is not right.
Tips & Tricks for the Best Apple Pumpkin Bread
- Do not over mix the batter. Basically you want to mix the batter until you no longer see any white streaks of flour and then stop stirring. This will give you a more tender loaf.
- Let the bread cool completely before slicing. I know it's hard to be patient when there's a gorgeous loaf of Apple Pumpkin Bread cooling on your counter but I promise it's worth it. The bread actually continues to cook a little once you take it out of the oven and it needs time for the moisture to redistribute. Cutting it too early stops that process and can results in bread that is a bit too wet and gummy.
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Made this Apple Pumpkin Bread recipe? Let me know what you think in the comments!
Recipe
Apple Pumpkin Bread
Equipment
- Mixing bowls
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Large loaf pan (10 x 5 x 3 or 1.5 lb capacity)
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon allspice
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- pinch of salt
- 2 eggs ideally at room temperature
- 1 15 oz can of pumpkin NOT pumpkin pie filling
- ½ cup vegetable oil You can also use lite tasting olive oil or canola oil.
- 1.25 cups sugar
- ½ cup buttermilk see above for substitutions
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the apple filling and topping
- 1.5 cups peeled and diced apples about 1 extra large OR 2 small-medium apples
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 1.5 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a loaf pan with butter and flour or baking spray. In a small bowl combine ⅓rd cup sugar with 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon. Mix to combine and set aside. Peel apples and dice. Set aside.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, 2 teaspoon cinnamon, ½ teaspoon allspice, ½ teaspoon ground ginger and a pinch of salt. Stir until well combined.
- In a separate mixing bowl crack two eggs and whisk together. Then add canned pumpkin, vegetable oil, sugar, buttermilk and vanilla extract. Whisk together until well combined.
- Add about half of the dry mixture to the wet mixture and stir together until just combined. Then add the remaining dry mixture to the bowl and stir until there are no more white streaks and just combined. *Be careful not to over mix.*
- Transfer about half of the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Then take about half of the diced apples and sprinkle evenly over the top of the batter. Sprinkle about half of the cinnamon and sugar mixture evenly over the apples. Then, with the back of a large spoon or spatula gently press the apple cinnamon sugar mixture into the batter. Pour the remaining batter over the top of the apples and repeat with the process with the remaining apple pieces and cinnamon sugar mixture.
- Place in the oven and bake uncovered for around 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. *Note* As all ovens cook a bit differently be sure to start checking the bread for doneness around the 1 hour mark and know it could take closer to 1 hour and 20 minutes in some instances. For me 1 hour and 10 minutes is perfect!
- Remove the bread from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for at least 10-15 minutes before transferring it to a wire rack to cool completely. Make sure to cool the bread completely before slicing (it really makes a difference). Serve and enjoy!
Nutrition
Luke Ratford
The perfect autumn treat the family loved this with a good cup of tea 🙂
Thanks for sharing, I've passed this recipe over to my sister as she wants to make it over the weekend!!
Jill
This is definitely all of the Fall flavors in one bite and it is really amazing! Loved it so much!!
Jeri
This bread has two of my favorite fall flavors, so I had to try it! It was so moist and flavorful! Great recipe!
Leslie
Well this looks easy and delicious! What a perfect fall treat to enjoy with the family!! YUM!!
Chris Manion
Recipe calls for 1/2 vegetable oil. 1/2 what? Cup?
jamjarkitchen
Hi there! Yes, 1/2 cup vegetable oil.
Katie
This was delicious! It doesn’t need all the sugar though. I used 3/4 cup sugar in the batter and just coated the apples in cinnamon with no extra sugar and it was still perfectly sweet and really tasty.
Pat L
I followed this recipe to the letter - it filled my loaf baking pan to the top! It baked well “above the apple line” but below it was pretty much unbaked - I even added time to almost 1 hour & 35 min of baking time (at 350) and shielded the ends with a bit of foil as they were almost burning. Why could you not mix sugar coated apple into the batter rather then layer it, for a better “bake”. Flavour is nice, but the unbaked lower layer is not!
Krystal Carter
I did not add the extra sugar&cinnamon at the end and I also just folded the apples into the batter. The bread turned out great! Very moist! One question: will this recipe work if I omitted the apples?
jamjarkitchen
Hi Krystal - Glad you enjoyed it! Yes, the recipe would work without the apples. I also have a recipe on the blog for Pumpkin bread with pecans (which you can leave out if desired) if you're just looking for a plain pumpkin bread recipe. Hope this helps!
Jennifer
How much vegetable oil? It just says 1/2. Is this 1/2 cup?
jamjarkitchen
Hi Jennifer - Yes, 1/2 cup. I will fix that! Thanks!
Robin
I made this with gluten free flour and applesauce instead of oil. I also ran out of regular sugar so I used brown sugar in the batter (and added a little sprinkle of ground cloves and nutmeg).. It was delicious!! Thank you for sharing- this is a great recipe!
Robin
Forgot to mention 5 stars plus;)
Jacqueline
A truly delicious recipe!! I love that it combines two amazing fall flavors. It was a hit when I brought it to a group!
jamjarkitchen
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it!
Trista
Really solid bread. Moist and flavorful with a tantalizing aroma. It took a good while longer to bake, so I covered the top with foil so the sugar wouldn't get burnt.
jamjarkitchen
So glad you liked it!
Erin
I’m sorry but this turned out terrible. I should have listened to some of the comments. It turned out rubbery. I used Apple sauce to sub the oil but that was the only difference. I’ve never seen a sweet bread rise so high. The bottom half below the apple layer did not bake right and was chewy and rubbery. So sad
jamjarkitchen
Hi Erin — I’m really sorry it didn’t work out for you. I’m not sure which comments you’re referring to, as I’m not seeing any that describe this recipe as “rubbery,” and I haven’t personally had that issue when making it.
Substituting applesauce for oil can definitely change both the texture and the way a quick bread bakes and rises, especially since oil plays a big role in moisture and crumb structure. Perhaps that swap is what changed the texture.
I know it’s disappointing when a bake doesn’t turn out but I appreciate you giving the recipe a try and sharing your experience.