Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread — This recipe is truly the best homemade pumpkin bread you’ll ever make. It’s moist, packed with chocolatey goodness, and tastes like fall!
Table of Contents
Easy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread
This is an easy pumpkin bread with chocolate chips that requires no mixer and goes from bowl to oven in minutes. Between the molasses, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and McCormick’s new Pumpkin Pie Spice Extract, the bread is true comfort food and beautifully showcase the flavors of fall.
To create this chocolate chip pumpkin loaf recipe, I adapted my beloved Cream Cheese-Filled Pumpkin Bread for a loaf that’s soft, moist, springy, dense yet still fluffy, and nicely spiced.
Like all my pumpkin, carrot, and sweet potato desserts, using enough spices to ensure the final result is full-flavored is imperative. It’s perfect for snacking on any time of the day!
Ingredients for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread
To make this moist pumpkin bread with chocolate chips, you’ll need:
- Egg
- Pumpkin puree
- Brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Canola oil
- Sour cream
- Molasses
- McCormick Pumpkin Pie Spice Extract (or use vanilla extract)
- Cinnamon
- Ground nutmeg
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder and baking soda
- Salt
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips
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 Chocolate Chip Bread
This chocolate chip pumpkin bread is super easy to prepare! Here are the basic recipe steps:
- Whisk together everything but the flour, baking powder and baking soda, and chocolate chips (you don’t want to over mix the flour by mistake).
- Once combined, gently stir in the remaining dry ingredients and fold in the chocolate chips.
- Turn the batter into a greased 9×5-inch loaf pan and bake until the top is domed and golden, and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Let the pan cool for 15 minutes before removing it from the pan to cool on a wire rack.
Recipe FAQs
I’m sure you could! To freeze this loaf, first let it cool to room temperature and then wrap it in a few layers of plastic wrap (or seal inside a freezer bag). When you’re ready to enjoy the frozen loaf, set it on your counter to thaw.
No, you should use a 9×5-inch loaf pan for this recipe. If you use a smaller pan, it’s likely that your bread will spill over while it’s baking.
Homemade pumpkin puree typically contains more moisture than canned puree, so my gut says no, it will not work in this recipe. We want moist pumpkin chocolate chip bread, not soggy bread!
No! I recommend using mini chocolate chips since they distribute more evenly throughout the batter, but regular chocolate chips will work as well.
Of course! To make pumpkin bread with chocolate chips and nuts, replace up to 1/2 cup of the chocolate chips with chopped pecans or walnuts. Do NOT add chopped nuts to the existing recipe without taking out some of the chocolate chips, otherwise the batter will overflow in the loaf pan.
Tips for Making Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread
Use pure pumpkin puree for this moist pumpkin bread recipe, and NOT sweetened pumpkin pie filling. The packaging is very similar, so be sure to read the ingredients list to make sure you’re buying pure pumpkin for that amazing pumpkin flavor!
Tent the pan with a sheet of foil loosely draped over the top at the 40-minute mark if you feel the tops and sides of the loaf will become too browned before center cooks through.
Baking times will vary based on moisture content of pumpkin, climate, and oven variances. Bake until done; watch your bread, not the clock.
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The Best Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread
Ingredients
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup canola or vegetable oil, liquid-state coconut oil may be substituted
- ¼ cup cup sour cream, lite is okay; or Greek yogurt may be substituted
- 1 tablespoon mild or medium-flavored molasses, not blackstrap, too intense
- 2 teaspoons McCormick Pumpkin Pie Spice Extract, McCormick Vanilla Extract may be substituted
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, a mixture of cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and nutmeg if you don’t have pumpkin pie spice
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, mini size recommended for better distribution, regular size may be substituted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Spray one 9×5-inch loaf pan with floured cooking spray, or grease and flour the pan; set aside.
- To a large bowl, add the the first eleven ingredients, through ground nutmeg, and whisk to combine.
- Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and stir until just combined; don’t overmix.
- Add the chocolate chips and stir to combine.
- Turn batter out into prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula and pushing it into corners and sides as necessary.
- Bake for about 50 to 55 minutes or until the top is domed, golden, the center is set, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter. The toothpick test is tricky because the you will likely hit melted chocolate so the toothpick will look wet.*
- Allow bread to cool in pan for about 15 minutes before turning out on a wire rack to cool completely before slicing and serving. Bread will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Pumpkin Desserts:
Cooking With Pumpkin: Recipes That Go Beyond the Pie is my second cookbook and it was officially released October 6. There’s 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.
Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars – Super soft and are like biting into a piece of rich pumpkin fudge! Loaded with chocolate and crazy good!
Soft Vegan Pumpkin Bread with Brown Sugar Streusel Crust – You won’t miss the eggs or the butter in this fast and easy bread with a great streusel crust!
Buttery Pecan Pumpkin Spice Cookies – Buttery soft dough with big chunky pecans in every bite! Salty-and-sweet and so hard to resist!
Soft and Puffy Pumpkin Spice Honey Cookies – Super soft cookies that just melt in your mouth! You’re going to love these puffy cuties!
Pumpkin Whoopie Pies – Soft, tender cookies with a sweet buttercream filling! Easy and irresistible!
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!
Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Bread — Super soft, tender, moist pumpkin bread with a slightly crunchy cinnamon sugar topping!
Soft and Chewy Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies — Between the molasses and pumpkin pie spice, these cookies are bursting with fall flavors.
Hi Averie,
I made this loaf, the
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars, and the peanut butter jelly bars (from your book) in the last couple of days. :) I love your site! I think I may have some pumpkin leftover to try the cookies you posted last Friday. :)
You’ve been baking up a storm! Glad the bread and the bars and the PB&J bars have all been good!! Thanks for making cookbook recipes and telling me about it since those are a lot less frequent than blog recipes :)
So I only own an 8×4 loaf pan and have limited kitchen storage space (making the easy answer of “go buy a 9×5!” a solution now, but a problem in a few hours when the loaf is done…) Will an 8×4 hold the whole batch of dough, or should I only fill the pan up to a certain level?
Clearly, this is all about avoiding having to clean the oven ;)
For $4.99, I’d go to the grocery store and buy a cheapie 9×5 loaf pan. The 8×4 one will nestle right inside of the 9×5 and won’t take up any more storage space. The recipe was written for a 9×5 and it’s impossible to say when I’m not in your kitchen just how full, or not, to fill up a pan.
Averie, you’ve done it again. I never comment but I had to today as this loaf has blown my mind. Not only are your recipes fantastic but I love the way you write them out- explaining every step including the logic behind doing things. It is SO helpful. I have been following you since your love veggie and yoga days and it’s been awesome to see your blog evolve. In a way I have kind of evolved also, as I used to be more restrictive with my diet, but now I love to enjoy delicious treats like this (in moderation!) and truly believe it’s part of a healthy lifestyle to do so. Anyhow, thanks again! I can see how passionate you are about cooking, photography, and this blog- it really shows! I wish you tons of continued success.
Thanks for the wonderful comment and for following along over the many year! I am so happy that you’re less restrictive and feeling good about things! And that you enjoyed this loaf!
Usually when people write to me saying they’ve followed me since my LV&Y days, it’s with more of a criticism like why don’t I only post vegan/GF food anymore, why don’t I wear my arm on my sleeve and share my personal details, etc. so it’s refreshing (so, so refreshing!!) to hear from someone who’s stuck with me and is happy rather than critical! Life evolves for everyone (and by virtue of that, so do blogs, and so did mine) and thanks for your support!
I’ve made three of your pumpkin recipes already this year and this is the best one. It was a huge hit with my family. Easy to make, moist with strong yet not overpowering pumpkin flavor.
Thanks for trying 3 pumpkin recipes of mine so far and glad to hear this was your favorite one so far!
just made it,doubled the recipe,came out perfect…YUMMY
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you as a double recipe!
Looks delicious! Is it okay to leave out the molasses? Or is there some sort of substitution?
Hello, do you think this will work well with gluten free flour and coconut sugar , I would also be using gluten free Choc chips.
TIA
I haven’t tried the recipe that way so can’t say for sure. It would depend on what kind of GF flour you’re using, i.e. a blend that’s made for baking vs. just 1 kind of GF flour. I would go with a blend for sure, but can’t speak to if it will work, along with the other substitutions you want to make.
I have just tried this recepi using Stevia extract(1/2 teaspoon) and 1/2 cup coconut sugar and it came out perfect.
That’s great to hear! Thanks for sharing!
Made these as mini muffins and they were amazing!! Thanks so much!! The house smells like fall now!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you as mini muffins! Glad your house smells awesome!
I’m glad I saw this post, as I had pumpkin bread on my schedule today! Can the recipe be doubled? And have you ever tried using any amount of whole wheat flour? I was thinking of using half and half. Thanks for the recipe!
I haven’t doubled it, although that would probably be fine, but haven’t tried personally.
As for the whole wheat flour…I haven’t baked this with anything other than AP flour and often when baking with whole wheat flour, the results can be a bit dryer than you wish if you don’t compensate and add more liquid to the batter since w.w. flour sucks up more water. I suggest making it as written that way you’re guaranteed that it will taste great!
Hi Averie. I made this tonight and it is fantastic. Thanks for another amazing recipe. I love all the spices. MMMM… (Notes: I used vanilla extract and a mix of cloves/ginger/cinnamon/nutmeg in place of allspice. Great results!)
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Glad the spice blend you used worked out great – usually a mix of any of those spices and you really can’t go wrong!
I really like that this recipe has molasses in it. Yum!
It adds that special something!
Just made this – it is THE best pumpkin bread!!!!
I can’t find the extract and I want to make this right now! What would you substitute for the extract?
Vanilla extract.
@Averie
Hi Averie.
These chocolate chip breads looks so tasty and beautiful from here . I can’t wait am going to make these stuffs for my family. This is innovative thinking Averie i didn’t see these type of breads,cakes and cupcakes ever in my life.
Thanks for these stuffs.
mmm this looks so amazingly delicious! Can’t wait to make this!
Hey., This would be perfect with my coffee right now–temps cooled down last night and we are in for a little taste of fall this weekend. I am excited to see if Kroger has McCormick’s new extract. nice recipe.. Have a great day.. :)