Banana Pumpkin Bread is easy and moist and doesn’t require a mixer! Just whip this quick bread up in one bowl and top with a yummy streusel cinnamon topping! It makes a great breakfast or snack!
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Did you know that banana bread is the most searched for bread recipe? Incredible, but it's no surprise that this moist, easy to make, versatile quick bread is so popular. Adding pumpkin only makes it better!
What are quick breads?
Quicks breads are breads made with a chemical leavening agent such as baking powder or soda instead of yeast.
The name "quick bread" refers to how quickly such breads come together. Baking powder and baking soda allow the dough or batter to be baked immediately rather than the longer leaving process of yeast doughs.
What's in Banana Pumpkin Bread?
- all-purpose flour
- baking soda
- salt
- cinnamon
- pumpkin pie spice
- nutmeg
- ripe bananas, heavily speckled or black, mashed
- pumpkin puree
- butter
- brown sugar
- white sugar
- eggs
- walnuts or pecans (optional)
How do I make Banana Pumpkin Bread?
Please see recipe card below for complete instructions.
This recipe comes together in one bowl. The best part? No mixer required (one less thing to wash)!
- Grease or spray (with cooking spray) a 9x5 inch loaf pan. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the pan with some overhang you can use to lift bread out of pan. See photo below. I have made this bread with and without parchment paper and it releases from the pan well.
- In a large bowl, mash banana. Add pumpkin, cooled melted butter, brown sugar, white sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Whisk until well blended.
- In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and nutmeg. Add flour mixture to banana/pumpkin mixture.
- Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, gently mix the batter until just combined. Don’t over mix the batter! 10-15 strokes is plenty. It’s ok if you have a few flour pockets visible.
- Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Smooth the top.
- Make streusel topping: in a small bowl mix ½ teaspoon cinnamon, ½ cup flour and ½ cup brown sugar. Add cold, diced butter. Using a fork, pastry cutter, or two knives, blend streusel until mixture resembles course crumbs. You can also use your fingertips, but the butter may start to melt. If it does, place the mixture back in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes.
- Spread streusel over the top of pumpkin banana bread batter.
- Bake for about 50 minutes to an hour and 5 minutes. Ovens do vary, so it's a good idea to check for doneness at the 50 minutes mark. The key to moist quick bread is not over baking!
Recipe Variations
Quick breads seem to have an endless amount of variations. Here's some suggestions on how to make this recipe a little different!
Add ½ cup of the following:
- chocolate chips
- chopped and toasted walnuts or pecans
- chopped candied nuts
- dried fruit such as cranberries or golden raisins
Other variations
- skip the streusel topping and replace with a dusting of powdered sugar
- make a basic sugar glaze using 1 and ½ cups powdered sugar, 3-4 tablespoons of water or milk. Flavor it with 1-2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, or citrus zest.
Equipment needed to make this recipe
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- Loaf pan (this is the exact pan I use). Glass pans work well too!
- Rubber spatulas
- Parchment paper
Serving Suggestions
- quick 'on the run' breakfast
- snack for friends and family during the holidays
- dessert
- potlucks
- holiday gift for friends, co-workers, and neighbors
Other holiday recipes you'll enjoy
- Graham Cracker Pralines
- One Bowl Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake
- Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins
- Pumpkin Ice Cream
📖 Recipe
Banana Pumpkin Bread
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 ripe bananas heavily speckled or black, mashed
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 8 tablespoons one stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ¼ cup white sugar granulated
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup walnuts or pecans lightly toasted and chopped (optional)
Streusel Topping
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 6 tablespoons cold butter diced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Be sure rack is placed in the center. Spray a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray. Line with parchment paper if desired.
- In a large bowl, mash banana. Add pumpkin, cooled melted butter, brown sugar, white sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Whisk until well blended.
- In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and nutmeg. Add flour mixture to banana/pumpkin mixture.
- Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, gently mix the batter until just combined. Don’t overmix the batter! 10-15 strokes is plenty. It’s ok if you have a few flour pockets visible.
- Stir in nuts, if using.
- Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Smooth the top.
- To make the streusel topping, combine cinnamon, flour, and brown sugar to a small bowl. Cut 6 tablespoons of very cold butter into cubes and add it to the flour/brown sugar mixture. Use a pastry blender, fork, two knives or your fingertips to blend mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.
- Spread streusel topping over batter.
- Bake in center of oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour and 5 minutes.
- Cool in pan for 5 minutes.
- Remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack.
Notes
Nutrition
Suzanne
This is literally the best banana bread I've ever made! I made a little extra streusel for the top and it's just SO GOOD my husband and I can't stop eating it!
Thanks so much for the recipe!
Nikole Berg
Your welcome Suzanne! I'm so glad you and your husband are enjoying it! Happy Fall!
Cassie
This is my absolute go to recipe when I have aging bananas! I usually make it without the topping. So so good. My kids devour it! I currently have it in the oven as jumbo muffins with the topping! Thank you so much for this staple 💜
Nikole Berg
Your welcome Cassie! So happy to hear how much you love this! It will be on repeat for us as well as we head into fall, my favorite season!!
Catie
I tried this recipe it didn’t bake. The streusel didn’t get crumbly like it should, twice.
Nikole Berg
Sorry it didn't work for you! Thanks for your feedback.
Jadrianna Negron
Thank you for this recipe. Delicious. I made two loaves and didn't make the strussle. Its perfect in every way.
Nikole Berg
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave such a nice comment! I really appreciate it!
Karen
I made the receipe as written and the bread did not cook at all. I checked for doneness after an hour and it seemed done but when I took it out of the over it started to fall. I put it back in the oven for 25 minutes and it still did not cook completely. It only had crust on the bottom and edges.
Nikole Berg
Sorry it didn't turn out as expected. Do you have an oven thermometer to check if it's heating evenly?
Karen
I do. I bake every week and haven't had any issues with other recipes. I'm not sure what happened.
Nikole Berg
I was thinking maybe it was your oven, but it sounds like something else...so sorry Karen! I appreciate your feedback about the recipe.
Karen
I figured out what I did wrong. I added too much pumpkin. I remade the recipe and it came out perfectly. It’s definitely a keeper.
Nikole Berg
Thank you so much for trying it again and letting me know! I really appreciate it Karen!
Christina
Very tasty! My family and I gobbled it up. I like the texture and taste - it’s the perfect Fall treat. Thanks for the recipe!
B Saxton
I made this recipe today, but I doubled it and baked it as a 9X13 cake. I used the chopped nuts in the topping, and it was perfect! I will make it again and again. I baked it at 345 degrees (convection) for 40 minutes and it was cooked perfectly. Thanks!
Nikole
Thank you for sharing these great tips B! I appreciate your kindness and your feedback on the recipe!
Vickie
This is by far the best thing I've ever made. Doubled the recipe and added more pumpkin spice. Will definitely make again!
Megan B
This is a wonderful recipe! Easy and amazing tasting. All my in-laws love love loved it! I don’t have a large loaf pan so if you have a smaller pan, make sure to put a baking sheet under to catch any bubbling over
Nikole
Yay Megan! So glad to hear everyone loved it! Thank you for your comment!
Christina
Made it and it is Delicious! Should I store this in the fridge or just cover with foil and keep out?
Nikole
Hi Christina! So glad you liked the banana bread! You can keep it wrapped tightly on the counter for a couple days (in a coolish place, not next to the stove or by a sunny window). If there's any left after that then is should go in the fridge. You can store it in the fridge right away, but it will dry out slightly. I like to warm a slice in the micro for 8-10 seconds then smear some butter on it. Thanks so much for your comment and rating! I appreciate it very much!
Carol
I’m rating this recipe a 5 .. it is in the oven now and looks and smells wonderful! However after an hour in the oven , it will probably be a “1” because of my error. I noticed testing the inside , it was very”undone” because I MISREAD THE INSTRUCTIONS AND USED FULL CAN OF PUMPKIN! Not one cup 🙁 Is this salvageable?????
Nikole
Oh no Carol! How did it turn out? If it did not cook because of too much pumpkin, I would slice it and make it into French toast then drizzle it with maple syrup.
Meredith
Just took this baby out of the oven, it smells great. I used mashed sweet potato because that’s what I had on hand. I did one with walnuts and one with chocolate chips and didn’t do the topping on either one. The first one is perfectly baked after about an hour and 15 minutes. It couldn’t be better. Thank you!
Nikole
That's awesome Meredith! Thank you for your helpful comment and star rating! I appreciate it so much!
Mj Lister
Wonder if cake strips would help under/over baked bread?
Nikole
It's possible-MJ. I used to use them with layer cakes. I haven't tried them with a quick bread like this one.
Anita
This was a very tasty recipe, but mine, too, was sunk in and exceptionally moist & uncooked from end-end after an hour, & 20 minutes more. My bananas were about 6-8 inches long & very ripe, so maybe there was too much liquid. My batter looked like yours in the picture so I thought I was doing well. Who knows, with my baking luck!
Nikole
Gosh Anita-I'm so sorry that it didn't bake up in the middle like it was supposed to. So many seem to have had luck with the recipe. The amount of bananas sounds right...I can only guess that maybe the baking soda was bad? I've also heard that opening the oven door during the baking process can lower the temperature and cause this to happen. My only other guess is that the oven temperature may be slightly off...do you use an oven thermometer?
Kenna
I made these into muffins and used plant butter and they are the best muffins I have ever made!! My husband calls them “crack” muffins lol and my 1 year old loves them. They are the perfect blend of pumpkin and banana!
Nikole
So glad this was such a hit with your family, Kenna! I was really hoping it would be a perfect blend of banana and pumpkin and I'm so happy you think it is! Thanks for your sweet comment and rating-I really appreciate it!
Ann
Needed to use up some bananas and wanted to incorporate pumpkin! Came out great! Very moist and the fall spice mix was perfect. I opted not to do the streusel topping - it was late and I was lazy - just the bread is delicious.
Nikole
Yay Ann! So glad you loved it. The fact that you made the bread when you were tired proves you're not lazy at all! Have a great day!
Cherylann Jeffery
I just made this recipe, I doubled it to make 2 loaves. I baked it for 1 hour and 20 minutes. The tester came out clean, but the texture was very dense and moist almost wet. Although it tasted cooked and had a nice flavor. I thought it took longer to cook because there were two loaves in the oven. Can you give me any ideas where I went wrong?
Nikole
Hi Cherylann--I'm so sorry to hear the bread did not cook properly in the middle. This is a very moist bread, but it should not be wet inside! There may be a couple of things going on: it may be undercooked due to oven temperature variations. You could tent the top with foil and try bake for another 20 minutes or so, even if the bread has already cooled. The other things is that it's possible that there was too much wet ingredients added to the recipe, or not enough flour for the amount of wet ingredients. Maybe your bananas were quite large? Did your batter look like the one in the picture, or was it runny at that point? Another reason could be that the baking soda did not do its job right. I hope this helps- let me know if I can try to help in any other way! Hugs!
Cherylann
I just made this recipe again, it came out perfectly the second time. Thanks for your feedback.
Nikole
Yay! I'm so happy to hear it Cherylann! Thanks for coming back to let me know and for the star rating. Do you know why it worked better the second time?
Taly
This bread was amazing!! My 5yo grandson asked for it for breakfast and found your recipe.... only did it come together quickly..I had in the oven in like 15mins....I followed the recipe to a T and it came out perfect! Now I need institutions on how to keep a 5yo from eating it all. He keeps asking for more! Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Nikole
Your welcome Taly! So glad you and your grandson liked it so much! Happy New Year!
Kristen
Hi, just made this and it’s delicious! I was wondering if you have tried freezing it? I’d love to put half away so I can control how much I eat 🙈
Nikole
Hi Kristen! Thanks so much trying the recipe out and leaving me a comment and rating!! I'm so glad you liked it! That bread is eaten up so quickly at my house that I haven't stored it in the freezer. But...I can recommend two ways of freezing: you can go ahead and slice it, wrap each slice in plastic wrap, the put the slices in a freezer bag or container. Just pull out a slice when you're ready and let it thaw in the fridge (slower) or on the counter (faster). If you want to freeze the leftover loaf, wrap it tightly in plastic then place in the freezer bag. Thaw the same way! I hope that helps!! Let me know, I'd love to hear your thoughts!!
Skye
What type of brown sugar is used here? The recipe card doesn’t specify. Thanks!
Nikole
Hi Skye! I used light brown sugar in the recipe. I'll make a notation in the card. I think one would get similar results with dark brown sugar, but I haven't tested it. Thanks for the clarifying question! I hope it turns out well for you.
Janet S
Hi Nikole,
It’s my first time trying this recipe not sure if you have received any other comments regarding the ingredients but in the directions you mentioned vanilla but it’s not noted in the list of ingredients.
Thank you,
Janet
Nikole
Hi Janet! You are so kind to let me know! I've fixed the typo in the ingredient list to add one tsp vanilla extract. I hope the recipe turns out well for you-please let me know!
Janet S
Your very welcome!
The recipe turned out beautiful, super moist, best pumpkin banana bread, the streusel topping was a perfect compliment.
This will be my go to recipe for sure.
Nikole
That's awesome Janet! I really appreciate your kind comment and 5 star rating!! I hope you have a wonderful holiday weekend!