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This apple pumpkin bread is the most delicious fall quick bread recipe. It’s a twist on traditional pumpkin bread by adding in apple pieces highlighted by warm fall spices. Easy to make, super moist, and freezes beautifully.
Apples and pumpkin go extremely well together in an autumn-spiced blend where soft bread is complemented with the delightful texture of apple pieces mixed throughout. It pairs perfectly with coffee or a warm cinnamon milk for a breakfast treat or light dessert.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
For this recipe I tested out 6 of the most popular pumpkin bread recipes to see what I loved most about their texture and flavor. I combined all the best parts and added fresh apples! Here’s why you’ll love it.
- Easy recipe – Made with 12 ingredients, all pantry staples except fresh apples!
- Perfect for autumn – I give this apple pumpkin bread as gifts for teachers (it’s nut-free!), friends, and make it for the kids. It’s a huge hit.
- Apples and pumpkin – Two of the best fall flavors in one quick bread.
- Dairy free – Oil is used here for the best texture, but it also makes this bread dairy free friendly.
- Lighter recipe – No crazy streusel toppings, cream cheese frostings, or extra sugar, this is just a solid pumpkin bread recipe.
Table of Contents
Ingredients
Here are some notes on what ingredients I used with the full recipe card that has amounts below.
- Flour – I use Gold Medal All Purpose flour or Bob’s Red Mill Organic Flour. Both work great.
- Pumpkin puree – Get canned pumpkin puree, NOT pie filling. I also do not recommend getting “Organic” pumpkin puree as I find them to be more watery for baking. Something simple like Libby’s is your best bet for texture and flavor.
- Sugar – Here we use a mixture of both white and brown sugar for moisture and flavor. Mixing both types of sugar results in retaining more moisture and a touch of caramel flavor, while still having a light crumb.
- Vegetable oil or canola oil – Oils are most commonly used in quick bread because they result in a tender, light crumb. If you use butter, which contains more water, the bread will be more dense and can often be more dry too.
- Apple juice – This is added for flavor. I recommend honeycrisp apple juice, but you could also use apple cider here.
- Fresh apples – Again, I’m a huge fan of honeycrisp with this pumpkin bread, but you could also use Fuji apples or granny smith.
- Pumpkin spice – This is a mixture of spices that usually contains cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves.
Substitutions & Variations
- Oil – While you can use melted butter, this will result in a different, more dense texture. I’d recommend doing half butter and half oil if you want to add butter. You could also use olive oil, but that will have a stronger taste to it.
- Chocolate – You can add 1/2 cup chocolate chips to the batter before baking, or melt it and drizzle on top.
- Apple juice – Apple cider can be used instead.
- Gluten free – This recipe works with Bob’s 1:1 gluten free flour.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease your loaf pan (9×5) and combine flour, baking soda, spices, and salt in one large bowl then mix together.
Step 2: In another bowl, whisk eggs and both sugars till combined. In a separate large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree and apple juice till smooth, then fold in the egg/sugar mixture.
Step 3: Combine the wet ingredients into the flour mixture, stirring till just incorporated. There may be a few small lumps and that’s ok. You don’t want to overmix.
Step 4: Stir in the apples and then pour the pumpkin apple mixture into the prepared loaf pan. Add a tented foil cover.
Step 5: Bake for 30 minutes, uncovered, on the lower rack of the oven at 350F. After 30 minutes, add a tented tin foil cover, giving enough room at the top for the bread to rise. This will keep it from overly browning.
Step 6: Bake another 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out almost clean (60 min total baking time). Cool for 10-15 minutes in the baking pan, and then you can remove it from the pan to place on a wire rack.
Recipe Tip
Grease your bread tin well and it will just come right after after cooling for 10-15 minutes. You may have to run a knife along the sides of the pumpkin bread to get it out, but I rarely need to do this. You can also add parchment paper to the bread pan and just lift it out!
Storage and Freezing
Immediate storage – Store apple bread in an airtight container on the counter for 1-2 days. You can also put into the refrigerator, but the bread will start to dry out in the fridge past 1-2 days.
Freezer – This pumpkin apple bread freezes beautifully! It’s best to slice into individual pieces and place wax paper or parchment between the pieces, then store in one large freezer bag for up to 4 months.
Defrosting – Defrost the bread at room temperature for about 1 hour, or you can microwave it in 20 second increments.
Serving Recommendation
This pumpkin apple bread can be served as a breakfast with a protein like quiche florentine or cottage cheese with fruit. Or if bringing to a party, you can pair it with these cinnamon oatmeal muffins or cinnamon scones.
It’s wonderful with a warm rooibos latte or a fall mocktail!
Recipe FAQ
In baking recipes, it’s good to avoid red delicious, gala, yellow delicious, and McIntosh as they are softer apples that don’t always hold up as well or have the best flavor for apple breads. Honeycrisp, braeburn, granny smith, pink lady, cosmic crisp have great flavor and maintain their texture when baked.
Pumpkin bread can come out gummy or soggy if too much moisture is used. This could be from substituting butter for the oil or using a canned pumpkin that had a lot of moisture. This is why I prefer non-organic canned pumpkin.
Canned Pumpkin Recipes
Breakfast
Jumbo Pumpkin Muffins (Bakery-Style)
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 review in the recipe card! Don’t forget to tag me @thedizzycook on Facebook and Instagram, and follow along on Pinterest for more great recipes!
Pumpkin Apple Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin spice, *see post for suggestion
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1 15oz can pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil or canola oil
- 1/4 cup apple juice
- 2/3 cup honeycrisp apples (about 1 apple), chopped small
Instructions
- Adjust your oven rack to the lower 1/3rd of your oven. Preheat oven to 350°F/177℃. Grease a 9×5 loaf pan well with extra oil and/or add a strip of parchment paper to the inside of the pan to easily lift out after baking.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin spice, and salt and mix till combined.
- In a small bowl, whisk the eggs and add white and brown sugar, mixing till combined. In another separate bowl, combine the pumpkin puree with oil and apple juice till smooth.
- Fold in the egg/sugar mixture, then mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. There will be a few lumps, this is ok. Finally add in the apples, stirring till just combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake at 350°F/177℃, uncovered, for 30 minutes on the lower rack. Pull the loaf pan out and add a tented tin foil cover to the top of the loaf pan, leaving enough room at the top for the bread to rise more. This keeps the bread from browning too much on the top.
- Place the covered loaf back into the oven and bake another 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean. Allow it to cool 10-15 minutes before removing from the baking pan and placing on a cooling rack. The loaf should slide right out if oiled correctly, but running a knife along the sides to loosen it may help if an apple gets stuck (you won't need to do this if you add parchment).
Notes
- The best apples for this are honeycrisp, pink lady, cosmic crip, or granny smith.
- I used Simply Organics pumpkin spice and Libby’s pumpkin puree. I do not recommend “organic” pumpkin purees here as they can be more watery and affect the texture.
- This recipe freezes very well. I let thaw at room temperature for about 1 hour or microwave for 10-15 seconds.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This is a great bread! It’s hard to have just one piece 🙂 I subbed white sugar for the brown sugar since I’m still eliminating it.
Mine turned out great! Thanks so much for this wonderful recipe!
So happy you enjoyed it!
So much oil! can we substitute with applesauce?
You can do anything you want! I just can’t guarantee the texture will be as good.
Is xylitol okay to substitute for sugar?
Hey Bonnie – if that is what works for you, I would try it but not sure how the texture would turn out. Sugar is not just added for sweetness but can also help with the texture of the crumb too.
I made this with 1:1 GF flour and it turned out pretty good. I also reduced the sugar by half because I’m sensitive to sugar. No one noticed! It’s plenty sweet. I think it could also be good with pumpkin seeds to add a little crunch. Has anyone experimented?
The best pumpkin bread ever!
Thanks, Rachel!
Do most pumpkin pie slices have lemon peel in them ? I never knew that . Could that trigger a migraine ? Also I was drinking a Tazo hot tea until I read the ingredients and it contained orange peel … of course it was caffeine free . It was the Elderberry one … not sure if I really needed to give that up or just be cautious 🤷🏼♀️
Not for everyone, but some are sensitive to citrus so I just like to call it out so people pay attention to it. Citrus is a part of the elimination process.
made it with Bob’s 1:1 flour. came out OK, moistish. nice flavor.
I did the same and agree with the moistness. it could use some adjustment but I’m not sure what?
Hey Jonni, Cutting down the sugar significantly like you did will definitely decrease the moisture content in your recipe. It can also depend on the pumpkin you use, but I think that’s you’re issue here.