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!
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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.
This pumpkin bread is really good, very dense and can really taste the pumpkin. Delicious!
Thanks for the five star review and glad you love the recipe!
If we dont have pumpkin pie spice. what spices (and how much) do you recommend substituting in its place? Thanks!
It’s a mixture of cinnamon, allspice, cloves, nutmeg. You can google around to find out what ratios those are used in pumpkin pie spice and then figure out how much to use of each.
This was great. I did change couple things. I used 120 grams of einkorn flour for the bread batter and gluten free flour in the cream cheese layer. I pumped up the spices, and next time I will add even more. I was out of coconut sugat, next time I will use that because it was too sugary, even though I used less than what was called for and I’ll try maple syrup or honey in the cream cheese layer. The basic recipe was excellent!
I’m glad you were able to make a few changes and that all went well for you!
I made this recipe last night and it turned out great! I baked it for 40 minutes and the cream cheese wasn’t solid but once it cooled it was. The flavor was amazing and it was super moist. I might double the cream cheese next time as well. The only suggestion I might make is to use a mixer for the cream cheese mixture as there were chunks instead of it being smooth. I will definitely make this again!!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad you enjoyed it!
My son has an egg and nut/peanut allergy – do you think I can use Bobs red Mill egg replacement?
Yes I’d give it a try and hope for the best.
I tried this recipe yesterday…delicious! I doubled everything though as I needed a bigger yield. Question:the cream cheese whrn baked supposed to be cakie/breadie or creamy? Mine was cakie/breadie. I also didnt have the pumpkin pie spicd so I used tumeric instead and it turned out fabulous! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks! Was having trouble posting!
Tried this recipe yesterday…delicious! I doubled everything though as I needed a bigger yield. One question…the cream cheese supposed to be cakey or creamy? Mine was cakey. Also I didnt have pumpkin pie spice so I substituted with tumeric. Thanks for sharing…def a keeper!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you as a double batch. The cheesecake layer is somewhere in between cakey and creamy. You could experiment with different ratios of ingredients if you want to take the texture more in one direction or the other.
This was delicious! Mine didn’t quite need the full 48 minutes, but I loved it. Next time, I’d like to try adding a chocolate drizzle or dark chocolate chips to it (I love pumpkin and chocolate together)
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you!
So I just tried this out and it tastes great! Super moist and balanced. Thanks for the recipe and instructions!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you!
I have been making this recipe for years now for the holidays and everyone loves it! I even give it out for Christmas!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it’s an annual hit! How nice to give out loaves for Christmas!
Hi! Just wanna say I’ve done this recipe in the past and it was delicious. I want to try it again but I want to do almond/coconut flour. What do think about that?
Neither of them have gluten so I fear that this will be super dense, like a lead balloon, and won’t turn out. I would stick to AP flour.
Can i make this recipe with the cream cheese filling? I have a canned pumpkin in my pantry but i don’t have any cream cheese on hand.
You mean without the c.c. filling? Yes you can.
Thanks for the recipe. I made it over the weekend following the ingredients but I used cake flour instead. The only ingredient I was a little concerned with was the 2 tsp of cinnamon. I thought it was a bit much for a recipe. It smelled great while baking and turned out okay. The problem was as I previously mentioned, the cinnamon over powered the pumpkin. Next time, I’ll follow my gutt and use only 1 tsp of cinnamon. Thanks again!
Everyone has different sensitivities to spices so if you think less is more, go for it. Glad you enjoyed the bread overall.
I just made this bread, and it turned out fantastic except all the cream cheese oozed to the sides so there’s not a thick layer of it in the middle of the bread. I added roughly ½ cup of flour to the pumpkin mixture to thicken it up, then I doubled the cream cheese mixture but didn’t use it all, so I don’t know if that was necessary. It looks beautiful and is approved by my 18 mo old daughter. I’ll definitely be using this for holiday parties!Â
I think doubling the cream cheese mixture just created an excess and it had no where to go but out the sides. Glad you’ll continue to make the recipe!
I have a question. Could I just make the pumpkin bread? I have some pumpkin to use up, and don’t really want the cream cheese layer. Thanks!
Made this, followed the recipe to a T except I used butter-flavored coconut oil instead of plain coconut oil. Turned out great, and looks similar to your picture. Loved it!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you!