It’s officially fall when you’ve made your first loaf of pumpkin bread! I’ve made a lot of pumpkin bread recipes over the years and this Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread is my absolute favorite. It uses 1 whole can of pumpkin, it makes 2 loaves, and it’s got some healthier ingredients in it, but you would never know it! This pumpkin bread recipe includes a small container of yogurt, but you can also use sour cream or even apple sauce if you don’t have yogurt in your fridge. It also uses both all purpose and a little whole wheat flour. I love the combination, but you can just use all-purpose if you prefer. It’s incredibly soft and fluffy, even after cooling completely, and I can pretty much guarantee you’ll love it.
How do you make Pumpkin Bread?
These are ingredients I pretty much always have on hand. If I don’t have vanilla yogurt, I’ve even used lemon, orange, plain, banana or honey flavored. It can be low-fat, high-fat, greek, whatever. As I mentioned before, you could also sub sour cream here. The yogurt adds moisture that creates a really soft texture, without using too much oil.
Another little secret in this recipe is some whole wheat flour. It adds some fiber and creates some depth to the flavor. I’ve also skipped that plenty of times and just used all purpose flour and it’s fantastic as well.
How do you keep chocolate chips from sinking in pumpkin bread?
TIP: If you’ve ever made quick breads (or muffins or cakes) with chocolate chips, you know they have a tendency to sink. Before you add your dry ingredients to your batter, take a small spoonful and toss it with your chocolate chips. Then gently fold them into your batter. The flour mixture helps keep them suspended in the batter so you’ll have pieces of chocolate throughout!
What topping can I use for my Pumpkin Bread?
You don’t need any topping on this bread because it’s so good as-is. But just a little tip for any quick bread: sprinkle on 1-2 tablespoons of additional brown sugar on top, and a few extra chocolate chips in this case for an extra yummy top.
How many loaves does this recipe make?
I love that this recipe makes 2 loaves. Most often I make 1 large loaf and 2 mini loaves. TIP: I like to sling parchment paper as seen below for easy removal.
Bake it up and let it cool a bit before digging in. It’s SO soft that it will probably fall apart on you if you try to pull it out while it’s still hot!
This bread is amazing even the next day, and it will stay nice and soft.
The chocolate bites make it extra decadent. You might have noticed I used both regular and mini chocolate chips. TIP: If I’m just using regular size chips, I like to run a knife over them and chop them just roughly. I like how the little slivers of chocolate then disperse throughout the bread. So great!
Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour lightly spooned into measuring cup and leveled
- 1 cup whole wheat flour free to sub all purpose flour, lightly spooned into measuring cup and leveled
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 1/2 cup white sugar
- 6 ounce container vanilla yogurt
- 3 eggs slightly beaten
- 15 ounce can pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup chocolate chips plus a few extra for the top of loaves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 2 9x5 (or similar sized) loaf pans with nonstick spray and set aside.
- Combine flours (after you put your flour in the bowl, just grab a teaspoon or two of it and toss with chocolate chips), cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Whisk gently to combine and set aside.
- In a separate mixing bowl combine brown sugar and white sugar and whisk to combine, breaking up any clumps of brown sugar. Add yogurt, eggs, pumpkin, oil, and vanilla extract and whisk until smooth.
- Slowly add dry ingredients to wet and mix together, being careful to not over mix. When combined, gently stir in chocolate chips. Divide batter between loaf pans and sprinkle a few extra chocolate chips on top. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a skewer comes out with a few crumbs attached. All ovens are different, I would set your timer for about 45 minutes and keep an eye on it after that. Don't overbake!
- Let cool for 10 minutes and then run a sharp knife around edge of pan and remove loaves from pan.
Notes
Great Tips
- Don't get into it when it's still piping hot, or else it will fall apart. Wait until it's just warm - with a little bit of melted butter on top, it's like heaven!
- A lot of times when you add chocolate chips to breads, cakes, and muffins, you're bread will bake up beautifully and all of the chips will sink to the bottom. To combat that problem, here's an easy fix: just toss a little of your flour in with your chips first. Once they're coated, the flour helps suspend them in your batter.
Questions & Reviews
I used King Arthur Gluten Free flour instead of the all purpose and this was the very best pumpkin bread I’ve ever made! The brown sugar sprinkle on top MADE IT! My family devoured it. Thanks for the delicious recipe!
Well, I did make this and used sour cream. I also used all whole wheat soft and hard white wheat flour. I put a small layer of cream cheese filling in the middle. My husband LOVES it. I made small loaves and muffins.
I just made this yesterday!! I also cut the white sugar down to 3/4 cup and sub the oil for unsweetened applesauce and it’s still fabulous!!!
Delicious! I’ve never made pumpkin bread before but it was awesome, so moist, cooked perfectly through. I made a double batch and shared with some neighbors.
This looks so delicious. I have been using the same pumpkin bread recipe for years. It is very good but it is a very thin batter. I want to try a thicker batter and put a cream cheese filling in the middle. This just may be the recipe to do that.
This is my go-to recipe for both pumpkin bread and pumpkin muffins. It’s the best! I’ve tried others (I can’t resist trying a new recipe sometimes), but I always come back to this one.
Thanks for perfecting it for us.
I love this recipe and have made it many times. Today I made it with leftover roasted sweet potatoes instead of pumpkin and whole fat sour cream instead of vanilla yogurt. It was delicious too. My daughter that doesn’t like sweet potatoes loved it too.
Sara! Funny story: my neighbor girl makes THE best pumpkin bread for a fundraiser every year for school trips, etc. It is our absolute favorite and has made her famous in these parts. I finally asked her for the recipe this year after I bought some and she screenshotted it to me. I googled “studded with creamy morsels of chocolate” and guess what came up?? I should have known it was from OBB!! Sooooo good.
Hahaha! I love this so much, that’s hilarious!
Should I add/subtract anything extra if I’m going to double the recipe? And what is the best way to save these breads (i.e. freezer [plastic wrapped then foil wrapped and bagged] or plastic wrapped on counter or plastic wrapped in fridge). Also if I was to keep the breads for a bit, how long might they last before they go bad?
This pumpkin bread turned out great! So moist and yummy. Thanks for the recipe! I love that it made 2 loaves b/c one just wouldn’t have been enough of this good stuff 🙂 If you’d like to see my blog post about it, here it is: http://busymomrecipes.com/snacks/chocolate-chip-pumpkin-bread/
I have a frustrating question… every single time I make a quick bread, the top middle section of my bread is NEVER done when the rest of the loaf is. I’ve had quick breads in the oven for well over an hour before. I have a standard loaf pan, the rack is in the middle of the oven… I don’t know what to do. I’m so close to just giving up on ever making another quick bread before 🙁 can either of you help??
Have you checked your oven to see if the temperature is correct? That would be my first guess, that maybe it’s baking a little on the hot side. Also, what’s your altitude?
I just want to thank you for this and so many of your other recipes. I discovered you when I was looking for a roasted tomato recipe four years ago, and I’ve been here ever since. You never disappoint, your recipes are clear, easy to follow, generally easy to make, and taste delicious. Thank you!!!
I made this recipe and it was really good. I’ve made a few other pumpkin bread recipes and just didn’t like them and kind of gave up a few years ago. But I gave it a go and loved it. I’m back to make it again into mini loaves to give out to neighbors. My husband requested I leave out the chocolate chips this time–so we’ll give that a go! Thanks!
Stupid question…but do you use the same amount of mini choc chips as regular chips?
Thanks for sharing. This looks really delicious, and I love all things pumpkin! I actually found this recipe looking for an apple bread recipe. I noticed that you don’t have one on this site. I have had some really delicious apple bread, and would love it if you ladies posted a recipe for it. Your quick bread recipes are amazing! I think the Coconut Lime Banana Bread is the best banana bread I have ever had in my life. So, I would love to see what you could do with apple bread. Thanks!
WOW, WOW!!!! great looking bread. It looks so real and tasty. What a great bread masterpiece. Just Awesome!!!
Wow! This is the best chocolate chip pumpkin bread I have ever made. I did not have cloves, so I used pumpkin pie spice and it tasted great. Thank you for your amazing recipes.
Please don’t shoot me but I’m just not a fan of finding little wads of chocolate in my pumpkin bread…or in any bread or pancakes or even muffins. Terrific in chocolate chip cookies but I have my brain hard-wired to not look forward to them elsewhere…unless it’s straight out of the bag. I do, however, like the tartness of stumbling upon fresh cranberries in pumpkin bread. Do you suppose I could adapt your Pumpkin chocolate chip bread recipe to my liking by simply subbing fresh cranberries in approximately the same volume as the chips? For years, I’ve used different recipes to incorporate cranberries but my argument, as yours, has always been that the bread is quite heavy and really sweeter than this diabetic needs or wants. I have concerns that the bread may not be moist enough without the fat from the chocolate chips. Have an opinion on this?
Thanks so much for this! I’ve made it twice and I just keep craving it!
Made this last night and followed all your tips. Both loaves came out perfectly! The whole family loves it! Thanks so much!!
This and your coconut lime banana bread are my go to sweet breads / muffins for gift giving and for my family. I make them at least twice a month – I’ll make them the night before I know I want to sleep in the next morning or the kids love them for lunches. I double the batch and freeze after they’ve completely cooled- they thaw in 1 hour. Thank you for these delicious and somewhat healthier sweet breads! LOVE THEM!!!
Do you ever use mini loaf pans? If so, how many does this recipe make and how long do you cook them for? I want to try the smaller size so that I can give them to my friends and neighbors.
Yep, it works great in mini loaves. You’ll have to eyeball the time!
Just made it. Seemed like the outside was done before the inside. Not sure what I did wrong.
Flavor is great but by the time the inside was cooked the outside was too dark.
Any suggestions?
Sara- I made these last year- loved them. Just read the post to my husband and he insisted that I write you a major “THANK YOU” for finally setting the record straight on the rules for buttering “bread”. He slathers butter on pumpkin choc. chip, banana nut, choc. zucchini……. you name it and he gets big grief from me and all of the kids-poor guy. Since I have always agreed with you and Kate, almost religiously, I might have to re-think a few things. haha
Haha, your husband knows where it’s at! I allllways slather butter on that stuff 🙂
This is the one I’ll be using for a long time to come! Always wondered how to get bread moist and not so sweet– Yogurt!!! I only made one loaf and forgot to cut the yogurt in half, using a full 6 ounces of plain unsweetened yogurt. Oh, so moist!!! I also cut out spices because I didn’t want that pumpkin pie taste. Absolutely delish. I can’t wait to make it again. Thanks Ladies for the great recipe!
Just made two loaves (one for us and the other for a friend). Thanks for sharing this excellent recipe. The bread is delish, and my whole house smells heavenly…who needs a Yankee Harvest Candle…not me.
We made this today. I cooked it for 40 minutes and edges seemed burned..but the middle tastes great.
I made this today and it was divine! Thank you,
A friend and I decided to make this. We doubled it to make loafs to share with others as well. It smelt amazing in the oven and they look to of come out perfect. I can’t wait to taste it, this was the most simple recipe I’ve found for this kind of bread by far.
I blended up a whole orange, peel and all and put it in the bread…didn’t change liquid or anything. It added a delightful orange flavor to the bread!