Healthy Pumpkin Bread
A delicious, healthy pumpkin bread recipe – the BEST pumpkin bread I’ve ever had! And, it’s made with half the amount of sugar, half whole wheat flour, greek yogurt and coconut oil. A healthier pumpkin bread you can enjoy without the guilt!
Every laundry day, I like to play a little game. It’s called “How Many Things Can I Find in Shawn’s Pocket”. My guy is a pocket hoarder. And he never cleans out his pockets before throwing his clothes in the laundry basket.
Wait, did I say in the laundry basket? I meant on the floor in front of the laundry basket. Because actually putting his dirty clothes in the laundry basket is apparently my job. That’s ok, he works hard. I can lift his clothes the extra 2 feet for him to put them in the basket.
At least he puts them very close by, right?
At his job his jeans get really dirty, so he goes thru at least about 4 pairs of jeans a week. And there is an endless amount of goodies in those jeans.
This week I found 2 sharpies, 1 ball point pen, 1 construction pencil, 4 different drill bits, some plastic zip ties, a piece of paper folded up about a million times with measurements written on it, and a business card.
I forgot to check his shirt pockets before doing a load this week. Big mistake because there was a sharpie in one of those pockets. I didn’t realize that until putting the clothes in the dryer. Thank goodness the cap stayed on. That would have been an ink stain disaster!
Another fun game I’ve been playing the past few week is “Create the Perfect Healthy Pumpkin Bread Recipe”. And after attempt number 3, I nailed it!
Of course I wanted to make a healthy pumpkin bread recipe. The ones I’ve made in the past have oh so much sugar and butter in them, they’re really cake in bread form. I was determined to make a healthier version that still tasted great.
I started off with my healthy zucchini bread recipe that I perfected this summer, which is seriously amazing. It uses half the amount of sugar than normal quick breads. And it uses coconut oil instead of butter, half whole wheat flour, and non fat greek yogurt to keep it extra moist.
After making a few minor tweaks, I had the perfect healthy pumpkin bread recipe. Shawn and I cannot get enough. Ummm, we ate a whole loaf of this in 3 days. It’s healthier, so that’s ok, right? Right?!
My favorite part of this healthy pumpkin bread is the delicate crumb. Usually when I eat pumpkin bread it’s really dense and “spongy”, usually because it has so much oil and sugar in it. But this is light and fluffy, and really does taste like a bread instead of a cake. It tastes like you’re eating a pumpkin cloud.
So delicious, especially when you spread on a little butter.
Healthy Pumpkin Bread
Ingredients
- 1 cup white, unbleached all purpose flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 15-oz can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling!)
- ½ cup white granulated sugar
- ¼ cup honey
- ½ cup plain, non fat greek yogurt
- 2 large eggs
- 6 tablespoons coconut oil, melted and cooled
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with the rack in the center. Line a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with 2 sheets parchment paper, 1 running the length and 1 running the width, both cut to fit. This will make it extremely easy to lift the pumpkin bread out of the pan. I use binder clips to clamp down the parchment paper so it stays in place.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flours, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to combine.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the pumpkin puree, sugar, honey, greek yogurt, eggs, and coconut oil. Stir to combine.
- Transfer the pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture. Fold until combined.
- Transfer the batter to the parchment lined loaf pan. Bake for 60 minutes, or until a wooden inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs attached. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then lift it out of the pan using the parchment paper and cool on a wire rack for another 10 minutes. Slice and serve.
- Wrap bread in plastic wrap and store at room temperature for 3 days.
More Quick Bread Recipes
Healthy Cherry Oatmeal Muffins
Healthy Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins
83 Comments on “Healthy Pumpkin Bread”
I just made this, but completely forgot to add the Greek yogurt. It still came out tasting amazing. Can’t wait to make it again…with the Greek yogurt. Thank you!
I am so happy you liked my pumpkin bread Melissa! I am so glad to hear it turned out well even without the yogurt. I’ve forgotten things in recipes myself and they didn’t always turn out very good. LOL! That is fantastic that you will be making this again.
Made this for breakfast and added lots of raisins. Absolutely delicious, moist, and nutritious. Thank you.
I am so happy you liked my pumpkin bread Cher. I am so glad it was delicious and moist. That is music to my ears. That is a fantastic idea to add raisins! I can’t wait to try that!
Do delicious! I used 1 cup of almond flour instead of whole wheat flour and my family devoured the whole loaf immediately. It was so moist. The perfect fall treat.
I am so happy your family enjoyed this Janene! What a compliment that they devoured it! I just love that.
I just made this and it is delicious! I used all whole wheat flour and maple syrup instead of honey and regular yogurt. Do you know how many calories per serving in the original recipe?
Yea! So happy to hear you liked it! Those substitutions sound great. Even healthier! You can calculate the calories with the ingredients you used with MyFitnessPal.com!
This bread is so WONDERFUL – I love the option of doubling or tripling the recipe at the top of the recipe – just makes it easier to avoid mistakes. BUT on this recipe the amount of Pumpkin Puree does not double or triple like it should. The other ingredients are doubled or tripled. For 2X RECIPE there should be 2, 15 OZ CANS PUMPKIN PUREE. For 3X RECIPE there should be 3, 15 OZ CANS PUMPKIN PUREE.
Yea! So glad you liked it! Thanks for the heads up! I let the plugin developer know theres a glitch!
This is my go-to recipes for years for pumpkin bread. I actually cut down on the added sugar even more by omitting the honey, and I find that it’s sweet enough just like that.
Yea! I’m so happy to hear that Hope! I love the idea of adding honey. I’m going to try that next time!
I just made this recipe last night and it was absolutely delicious! I made them into 24 small-ish muffins and they were super moist and fluffy and yummy and perfectly sweetened. I had to make some minor substitutions since I didn’t have all of the ingredients. I ended up using 1.5 cups white all purpose flour and 0.5 cups whole wheat flour since I ran out of whole wheat flour. And I used maple syrup instead of honey since I didn’t have enough honey. But I kept all the measurements the same and I added mini chocolate chips and sliced almonds and I am super happy with those additions cause it made it that much better. I will definitely be using this recipe again in the future and I highly recommend this recipe to anyone craving pumpkin bread/muffins.
Yea! So happy to hear you liked them Kelly! All those substitutions sound great! Thanks for sharing them, this will be so helpful to others when making the recipe. Aren’t you just so happy it’s almost October?! Hurray for pumpkin baking!
How much butter would you use in place of the coconut oil?
The same amount! Just replace the coconut oil with melted butter.
I made your pumpkin bread for Thanksgiving 2018. It was simply DELICIOUS! My SIL and husband just finished the leftovers for breakfast this morning. The only change I made was to add a Cream Cheese Filling Swirl in the middle. I found the swirl idea from Home is where the Boat Is blog/ recipes/pumpkin.
Thank you, tastes lovely! I’m printing out a copy of your recipe now for my sister-in-law, at her request.
Well this just made my DAY! I’m so happy to hear this Carol! I love the idea of adding a cream cheese filling. I want to try that next time!
The best pumpkin bread I’ve made and eaten. The fluffiness! Also, first recipe of yours I’ve made (or even seen) and definitely following you now based on this alone. Thanks :)
I’m so glad you liked it Monica! Yea yea yea! So glad you found me, and hope you find lots more recipes you like. Thanks for letting me know you liked my recipe, you made my day!
Hi!
Can this be made in a bread maker? My mom just gifted me one and I am dying to use it!
Oooh! I’m not sure! I’ve never used a bread maker. I think bread makers are more for yeasted loafs of bread? It for sure works in the oven!
I’m all out of wheat flour, but could I just use two cups of unbleached white flour?
Yes! White flour works too!
This pumpkin bread is absolutely delicious and so moist! I’ve made it numerous times this fall and winter-family and friends love it and have no idea it’s “guilt free”. My go-to trick to add extra moisture is to put the loaf in a plastic freezer bag once it’s completely cooled. By the next day, it’s pure perfection! I recommend this recipe to anyone (and the zucchini bread recipe on this blog is just as delectable!) Thank you!
This is such a yummy recipe! I just made two loaves, one gluten free for us and a regular one for a friend who just had a babe. I also subbed regular whole milk yogurt instead of Greek. Both baked for an extra 10 minutes. I took the end slice of the GF one and it was very mushy still but seemed cooked (it must be after 1hr10m, right?) The wheat one seems to have less/no crumbs on the inserted toothpick so hopefully there aren’t any problems with the one I’m giving away! Haha maybe my problem was with the runnier yogurt and/ or GF flour blend.
True Pumpkin Bread! The pumpkin really shines through!I made this bread for adult guests this Halloween instead of my traditional pumpkin bread recipe that’s really a cake:) Everyone liked this healthier version. The batter was very thick but it baked up perfectly and released easily in an 8-9 cup, 8″ round Bundt pan using baking spray with flour. It took 40-45 minutes. BTW I searched many, many recipes before deciding on yours. I’m glad I did! I like that you can mix your Pumpkin Pie Spice any way you wish or just use pre-mixed. Thanks for this wonderful recipe. I’ll definitely be coming back to your “lovely” blog.