Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread — This is without a doubt the BEST pumpkin bread recipe! This pumpkin cream cheese bread tastes like it has cheesecake baked into the middle. You’ll definitely want a second slice!
Table of Contents
The BEST Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese Filling
Ever since I made my Cream Cheese-Filled Banana Bread I wanted to try it with pumpkin. I adapted the recipe by swapping pumpkin puree for bananas, added warming spices, and it worked beautifully.
The bread is soft, moist, springy, dense yet still fluffy, and it’s nicely spiced. Like all of my pumpkin, carrot, and sweet potato desserts, using enough spices to ensure the final result is full-flavored and satisfying is key.
The cream cheese layer that runs through the bread is like having a layer of cheesecake baked into pumpkin bread. It really makes the bread out of this world good.
It’s an easy, no mixer recipe that goes from bowl to oven in minutes. I used melted coconut oil so there’s no butter to cream and no mixer to dirty. Oil keeps bread softer and springier than butter, and I prefer the taste.
A little sour cream (or Greek yogurt) is extra insurance for a soft, springy, bouncy, fluffy loaf. Using sour cream, Greek yogurt, or buttermilk in quick bread and muffin recipes ensures more tender results. Anything baked with pumpkin has the natural advantage of being moister because of how moist pumpkin is.
Between the cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, tangy cream cheese, and the moist, soft bread with rich pumpkin flavor, this is my idea of comfort food!
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread Ingredients
You’ll need mostly pantry staples to make the pumpkin bread with cream cheese filling. Gather the following:
For the pumpkin bread:
- Egg
- Pumpkin puree
- Light brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Melted coconut oil
- Sour cream
- Vanilla extract
- Cinnamon
- Pumpkin pie spice
- Ground nutmeg
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
For the cream cheese filling:
- Egg
- Cream cheese
- Granulated sugar
- All-purpose flour
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread
Don’t let that cream cheese filling scare you off, it takes just a couple extra minutes to prepare and adds SO much flavor and texture!
Here’s an overview of how the pumpkin cheesecake bread is made:
- Whisk together the quick bread batter.
- Spread roughly two-thirds of it into a greased 9×5-inch loaf pan.
- Whisk together the cream cheese filling and spread it carefully over the batter.
- Pour the remaining pumpkin batter over the cream cheese layer.
- Bake the pumpkin bread until the top is golden and domed and the center is set.
A Note About Bake Times
Normally I’d say to insert a toothpick into the middle to see if it comes out clean to test the doneness of the pumpkin cream cheese loaf, but that’s tough to do here since the cheesecake filling never fully sets while the bread is baking.
You may want to tent the pan with a sheet of foil draped over it at the 35-minute mark if you feel the tops and sides will become too browned before center cooks through.
Baking times will vary based on moisture content of pumpkin, cream cheese, climate, and oven variances. Bake until done; watch your bread, not the clock.
Tips for Making Pumpkin Bread with a Cream Cheese Swirl
Pumpkin puree: Make sure you’re using pumpkin puree and NOT pumpkin pie filling for this pumpkin cream cheese bread recipe. Pumpkin pie filling is sweetened and spiced and will mess up the flavor and texture of this bread.
Cream cheese: You need to use brick-style cream cheese and not the kind that comes in a tub. Cream cheese in a tub is often moister than brick-style cream cheese, which can turn the cream cheese filling into a runny mess.
Spices: Feel free to add more or less spices to this pumpkin bread. I like my pumpkin breads to be well flavored, but I know not everyone likes as much cinnamon as I do.
Recipe FAQs
I’m not sure why you’d want to miss out on the cheesecake-y filling, but you’re welcome to omit it if desired.
Coconut oil adds a nearly imperceptible undertone that’s sweeter and more fragrant than canola or vegetable oil, but substitute with them if you’d like.
Mix-ins like chocolate chips, chopped nuts, and raisins would taste great in this cream cheese-swirled pumpkin bread. However, these kinds of mix-ins are quite heavy, so they may sink into the cream cheese layer and your bread wouldn’t turn out looking perfectly polished. If that doesn’t bother you, try adding in the mix-ins and see what happens.
Very easily! Let it first cool completely, then wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze. When you’re ready to eat the frozen bread, set it on your counter overnight to thaw.
Recipe Video Tutorial
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Cream Cheese-Filled Pumpkin Bread
Ingredients
Bread
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup liquid-state coconut oil, canola or vegetable may be substituted
- ¼ cup cup sour cream, lite is okay; or Greek yogurt may be substituted
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- pinch salt, optional and to tast
Cream Cheese Filling
- 1 large egg
- 4 ounces softened brick-style cream cheese, lite is okay
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Spray one 9×5-inch loaf pan with floured cooking spray, or grease and flour the pan; set aside.
- Make the Bread Batter
- In a large bowl, add the the first ten ingredients, through ground nutmeg, and whisk to combine.
- Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, optional salt, and fold with spatula or stir gently with a spoon until just combined; don’t overmix; set aside.
- Turn about two-thirds of the batter out into the prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula and pushing it into corners and sides as necessary; set aside.
- Make the Cream Cheese Filling
- In a large bowl, add all the filling ingredients and whisk to combine. Alternatively, mix with a hand mixer.
- Evenly pour filling mixture over the bread, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula and pushing it into corners and sides as necessary.
- Top filling with remaining pumpkin bread batter, smoothing the top very lightly with a spatula as to not disturb cream cheese layer and pushing batter into corners and sides as necessary.
- Bake for about 48 minutes or until the top is domed, golden, and the center is set, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter. Note this is tricky because the cream cheese never gets totally solid so the toothpick test isn’t the most accurate. *
- Allow bread to cool in pan for about 15 minutes before turning out on a wire rack to cool completely before slicing and serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Pumpkin Cream Cheese Recipes:
Easy Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting — Moist pumpkin cake is topped with a creamy homemade cream cheese frosting. This easy fall dessert is perfect for Thanksgiving, Halloween, and more!
Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting — These super soft and moist pumpkin bars are the perfect EASY fall dessert!! Tangy cream cheese frosting is a wonderful complement to these perfectly pumpkin-spiced bars!!
Cream Cheese Pumpkin Roll — No dish towel required to roll up my classic pumpkin roll cake that’s full of rich pumpkin spice flavor and tangy cream cheese frosting!
Pumpkin Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting — A marriage of pumpkin cake and carrot cake into one soft, moist, tender, and amazing cake!! The tangy cream cheese frosting is truly the icing on this easy cake!!
The Best Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls — Super soft, fluffy pumpkin spice cinnamon rolls topped with a cream cheese glaze! Move over, Cinnabon, these are better!!
Copycat Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins — Super soft, moist, brimming with pumpkin spice flavor, and filled with tangy-sweet cream cheese filling!
Cooking With Pumpkin: Recipes That Go Beyond the Pie – My second cookbook with over 50 pumpkin recipes including sweets, savory, drinks, and a photo for nearly every recipe. I’d be super grateful if you headed over to Amazon
Originally posted August 2014 and republished October 23, 2019 and August 13, 2021 with updated text.
I made this last night and it is incredible! Even better the second day. Thank you for the recipe!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Yes, this bread does get better the 2nd day and I love that you’re baking with pumpkin during ‘non pumpkin season’ (although that doesn’t exist for me either!)
I feel so lame by only cooking regular pumpkin bread and lathering it in butter before eating it! This is an awesome idea! Thanks for sharing!
Don’t feel lame – I wrote an entire cookbook about pumpkin and didn’t even think of this recipe til AFTER the cookbook was published :)
Made this today and it was awesome. Not super sweet even. I doubled the cheese layer because that’s my favorite. So added about 10 minutes to the total cooking time in the end. Oh and I used Neufchatel cheese. Otherwise followed the recipe. A big hit – the kids loved it :)
Glad it came out great for you and that you and your kids loved it! And it’s great that you’re making pumpkin recipes even in ‘non pumpkin season’ :) I can relate!
Would this work in mini loaf pans? If so how many do you think I could get out of this recipe?
About 3 mini loaves is my guess and yes I think it would work! Reduce the baking time considerably though, but since I haven’t done it first hand, not sure what to say.
Hi there,
I tried this recipe right from your directions and did not change anything. I found that the dough seemed a little too thick, like it needed some water or something more liquidy to even it out. (However, it turned out fine in shape when it was done.) Something also seemed lacking in taste, but I don’t quite know what it was. I didn’t have pumpkin pie spice so maybe that was the culprit. Anyway, I’d say overall it was pretty good, it just didn’t make as much dough as expected.
Kaitlin
The lack of flavor was most definitely due to not adding pumpkin pie spice! Really crucial to provide flavor and that’s definitely something to make sure to use next time! The dough is very thick but it sounds like it baked up as it should.
Just had to leave a comment and say that I tried this recipe last night in a hurry while making dinner, it came together great, baked up perfectly and I tried it this morning with a cup of coffee……SO YUMMY! And it turned out just like your picture! A sign of a truly great recipe. :) Thank you for sharing this! I have a whole loaf to enjoy over the next couple days and will for sure be sharing the pumpkin goodness!
So glad this came out great for you and I agree, when home bakers, readers, and anyone at all can duplicate the results in their own kitchen, that’s a sign of a good recipe and glad it meets your approval! Thanks for the nice comment & trying the recipe!
I made this tonight, the bread needed an extra egg and an extra 1/2 cup of flour for the consistency of the batter to be right… I doubled the cream cheese filling because it didn’t really cover the batter very well, however I used only 1 egg in the cream cheese filling with 8 oz cream cheese. I baked the bread at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, then turned the temp down to 350 for the remaining time, that helps to get a nice high dome shape on the bread.
Glad everything you did worked out great for you!
I made this tonight. My bread turned out fine, texture wise, flavor is okay. The cream cheese was just not enough. It was a very thin layer that didn’t make much of an impact. If I made this again I would try to make double of the cream cheese.
Feel free to double the cream cheese next time and glad you enjoyed the flavor of the bread. Thanks for trying the recipe.
what do you think about adding some raisins to the Cream Cheese-Filled Pumpkin Bread batter?
I think it would taste great but the only thing is they are heavy and could sink a bit so you may not end up with a pure white line of cream cheese, and no raisins, but as long as you’re okay with that, go for it!
I was so excited to try this bread. The batter was beyond delicious, however, it did not turn out like bread. I tried cooking it longer thinking that would help but it didn’t. It was very moist, too moist, and the cream cheese part was not what I expected. I want to get this recipe right so I think I’ll add more flour next time.
The moisture content of pumpkin can vary widely. Yours was perhaps just on the extra moist side and maybe if you added slightly more flour that would have helped. Same with sour cream/greek yogurt, it can also vary widely in how much moisture it has. I think a bit more flour would have helped. And in terms of the cream cheese part not being what you expected….I don’t know what your expectations were but I wrote about what I thought it tasted like in the post as well as from the pictures, I think people can probably get a pretty good idea. Thanks for trying the recipe.
Wow! This looks amazing! If you don’t mind, I’d like to try and make a gluten/sugar-free version of this. I think I can do it and have it come out pretty decently…I hope. ;)
Made this tonight. Did not turn out :( Was more of a mushy consistency rather than a bread-like consistency. I think less pumpkin puree and/or more flour would be key. Smells great, however.
Pumpkin puree can vary dramatically in moisture content from brand to brand, even can to can. Your was probably just on the moist side and a bit more flour likely would have helped the situation. Thanks for trying the recipe.
This recipe looked fabulous, but for whatever reason, it DID NOT turn out fabulous. I followed the instructions exactly, but the cream cheese mixture was too runny so the layer of pumpkin on top was not actually on top, rather distributed throughout the layers together. That would have been ok, but once baked and cooled, it was a mass of solid flour and punpkin. It couldn’t be called bread at all. I have no idea what went wrong, but it did go wrong. Have any ideas?
Not sure what kind of cream cheese you use, but they do vary dramatically in moisture content. I use Trader Joe’s and it works well for me but if yours is very runny, then probably you should add more flour to it than I called for.
Also I’m not sure what happened with the bread itself. I use King Arthur brand all-purpose flour (white/red bag) and it is worth EVERY PENNY compared to other flours. I have a feeling if you re-try this recipe with that flour, and I use Libby’s pumpkin, and try cream cheese that’s different from what you already tried (And don’t use lite, even though I do and am fine, lite is runnier and you don’t need that)…those are my ideas for success.
I have the tub of Trader Joes Pumpkin Cream Cheese. I know you mention the block and it’s moisture content in comparison to the tub. If I were to just use the cream cheese with the egg and flour (omitting the sugar since it’s already in the cream cheese) do you think it’d be too sweet? I dont wanna mess with a good thing but im nuts about that pumpkin cream cheese. :P
I don’t think it would be too sweet but it could be a little on the runny side. Sometimes tub cream cheese (as opposed to brick style) can be really moist. They do that so it’s ‘spreadable’ but for baking, it’s iffy. But you can try it. The worst that will happen is it will sort of run down into the bottom batter layer rather than staying intact…I mean that’s my worst case scenario guess, but I am just guessing. But you may likely be just fine, too! LMK how it goes!
Thanks so much! Maybe I’ll add a teeny bit more flour to compensate for the extra moisture?
Every time I use cream cheese with the pumpkin bread recipes the cream cheese goes to the bottom of the pan. Can you tell me why?
I’m not really sure what’s going on with the other recipes. My recipe works if you follow it – the cream cheese will not sink.
I can not wait to try a few of the recipes. Have you tried putting chocolate chips in your cream cheese filled pumpkin bread?
I love fall recipes! So glad i found your website!
I haven’t in that bread, but I have these pumpkin recipes with chocolate chips
https://www.averiecooks.com/2014/09/soft-pumpkin-chocolate-chip-bars.html
https://www.averiecooks.com/2012/10/pumpkin-chocolate-chip-bundt-cake-with-chocolate-ganache.html
https://www.averiecooks.com/2013/09/vegan-chocolate-chip-pumpkin-muffins.html
You’d likely be safe to make the cream cheese bread with MINI choc chips, I recommend those over regular in quickbreads if you can. LMK what you make!
Okay, question…. I hope I didn’t miss it.. The recipe calls for a can of pumpkin. Here we have large cans (29oz) and normal size (15oz). What size do you use for this recipe?
Thanks!
15-ounce!