This healthy & delicious pumpkin spice bread tastes so good that it will disappear as fast as you can make it, and you'll feel good about giving it to your family!
Pumpkin season, here we come! I love, love, love, love pumpkin everything (can you tell)!
Pumpkin bread is comforting and delightful. It's one of my favorite Fall treats. In fact, it's so wonderful, I can eat it all year long…it just tastes even more mouth-wateringly scrumptious in the fall when the weather turns crisp.
However, I don't want to feed my kids bread that's full of unnecessary sugar and fat. So I've developed this light and flavorful version that sacrifices no flavor at all.
Making Pumpkin Bread Healthy
Classic pumpkin spice bread is full of sugar and oils.
I just never felt good about giving my kids heavy, fattening breads that are full of ingredients like that. However, I do love having healthy versions on hand to give to my kids for snacks or add to their lunches.
Making some simple changes to the ingredients doesn't change the flavor or fluffiness of the bread, but it makes a huge difference in how healthy the bread is.
Including Your Kids in Making Healthy Pumpkin Bread
Do your kids like to help you cook or bake?
Mine often couldn't care less about making food of any kind unless they are grabbing a quick breakfast on the go. Maybe it's because they're boys?
Or maybe it's because they have so much energy to burn and are outside playing every chance they get. Then again, it could be a combination…I don't know!
Honestly, though, because two of them have very grabby hands (think hands in the pot before thinking through what that actually means), I haven't minded that they stay out of the kitchen.
I do have them help me make things that don't involve heat. Things like: cereal, sandwiches, toast, homemade Lunchables, oatmeal in the microwave…
However, now that my oldest is 10 years old, it's time for him to start developing life skills like cooking basic foods. That way he starts learning how to take care of himself in basic ways.
To that end, I have begun doing informal cooking lessons with him…boiling water to cook noodles and cooking eggs and pancakes. They even help me mix ingredients together on an irregular basis.
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Baking Pumpkin Spice Bread
Recently, he needed to make a baked item to take to school as part of an exchange. I was throwing out ideas of things we could make, and he jumped at the idea of making our pumpkin spice bread.
So began our first (solo) baking lesson!
We read through the ingredients list and gathered everything we needed. Then I let him get started as I supervised the process. He did an amazing job measuring out each ingredient and mixing them together.
He asked me to crack the eggs 🙂
Once he mixed everything together, I helped him portion the batter into the loaf pans and handled all the oven work.
About 40 minutes later…success! He was so proud of all his work! He even went around telling anyone who would listen how he made the bread all by himself!
Can I Freeze This Bread?
Yes! They freeze (and thaw) extremely well! In fact, if you don't plan to eat it within about 3-4 days, I highly recommend freezing each loaf individually.
Tools Needed for Making Pumpkin Spice Bread
- Basic Muffin Tins – You can use the classic version
- Or a good quality silicone muffin pan
Or Bread Pans (classic or silicone)
Or Bread Pans (classic or silicone)
Let us know in the comments…how much of the baking process do your kids do on their own?
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| Servings | Prep Time |
| 6 mini loaves | 5 minutes |
| Cook Time | Passive Time |
| 40 minutes | 10 minutes |
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Lightened up, but still moist and flavorful, this pumpkin bread is easy to make and disappears quickly!
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- 1 15 oz can pumpkin puree
- 4 large eggs
- 1/2 cup olive oil or any other cooking oil
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2/3 cup water
- 3 cups sugar
- 3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 6 mini bread loaf pans.
- In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, applesauce, water, and sugar until well blended.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger.
- Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture just until blended. Pour batter mixture into the prepared loaf pans.
- Bake for about 40 minutes, rotating 180 degrees halfway through baking. The loaves are done baking once a toothpick (or cake tester) inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.
This looks so good! I think I might need to try it.
Hey Nisha! It’s crazy good! Plus, it’s crazy easy – my requirement for any recipe!
This looks yummy and super easy to make 🙂 ?
Hey Heather looks yummy!! I have 2 regular sized loaf pans though, how would that affect baking time?
Hey Tristin! Thanks! For 2 regular loaf pans, increase the cooking time to about 50-60 minutes. Start checking the loaves around 50 minutes and give another 5 minutes if not finished. Then do the same process again.
One easy way (besides the toothpick trick) to check to see if it’s done is to lightly press on the top of the loaf (near the center) with your finger. If the bread pops right back up, it’s cooked. If a tiny indentation stays where you pressed, it needs a few more minutes.
No kids, but I firmly believe they should help in the kitchen and learn where food comes from.
Hi Sarah! I completely agree with you – it’s important for kids to learn where food comes from and the process involved in preparing it. Both to appreciate food (be grateful for what they have) and to have the skills necessary for taking care of themselves 🙂