Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread (Pumpkin Coffee Cake)
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Soft, tender Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread with a streusel topping is going to give you all the amazing flavors of fall in every single taste. Cinnamon, pumpkin spice, nutmeg, and pumpkin puree combine to create this unforgettable quick bread recipe that everyone will love!
There is nothing better than all the flavors of fall. Warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and all spice feel so festive and make my kitchen smell amazing during that time of the year! Pumpkin recipes are my favorite!
Which is why, when it’s pumpkin season, you can bet that I am hanging out in my kitchen on a crisp fall morning, whipping up this delicious gluten-free pumpkin bread recipe. This pumpkin coffee cake recipe is perfect for brunch or an afternoon treat, and has a crunchy, sweet, streusel topping.
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There are so many variations to this homemade pumpkin bread to suit any dietary needs: you can make it lower in added sugars and it will still taste great, you can switch up the flours based on your preferences, you can omit the pumpkin for a coffee cake that works all-year-round, and it can easily be made vegan too!
👩🍳 Why This Recipe Works
- Bursting with pumpkin flavor!
- Tastes like pumpkin pie filling!
- Gluten-Free
- Vegan Adaptable
- Less Sugar
- Best Gluten-Free Pumpkin Bread Ever!
🍽 Equipment
🥘 Ingredients
This classic pumpkin bread can easily be made with simple ingredients found in your pantry or at your local grocery store! For the full list of ingredients and directions, see the recipe card below.
- Gluten free flours: You can use gluten free oat flour, or Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Gluten Free Baking flour in this easy gluten free pumpkin banana bread recipe – both will work equally well. You can also make your own gluten-free flour blend with a combination of coconut flour, almond flour, arrowroot flour, and tapioca flour. Or you can grind up gluten free old-fashioned oats in a food processor to make your own oat flour!
- Butter: To make this vegan, you can use coconut oil instead of the butter, in a 1:1 ratio.
- Eggs: You can also use flax eggs in this recipe for a vegan option.
- Sugar: Try coconut sugar for a lower glycemic option, or cut the amount of brown sugar in half (for both the pumpkin coffee cake and streusel topping) if you don’t want as much sugar in this recipe. It will still taste nice and sweet, even with less sugar!
- Pure Pumpkin Puree: Feel free to use canned or homemade pumpkin puree. You could even make this with butternut squash puree! But make sure you do not use pumpkin pie mix!
📖 Variations
- Vegan Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread Recipe: Make this a dairy free pumpkin bread by using flax eggs and coconut oil instead of eggs and butter.
- Add Nuts: Throw in ¼ – ¼ cup of your favorite nuts to give the bread a little bit of a crunch. Walnuts, almonds, pecans, and hazelnuts would all be divine.
- Chocolate Pumpkin Bread: Chocoholics can toss in some semisweet chocolate chips. They are terrific with the combination of the other flavors. Stick with 70% or higher dark chocolate to get the healthy benefits from the chocolate.
- Sugar Free Pumpkin Bread: Use monk fruit instead of the brown sugar and omit the white sugar! Or make this a low sugar quick bread by cutting the amount of brown sugar in half. You can also use pure maple syrup instead of the brown sugar.
- Healthy Pumpkin Bread: To lighten up this recipe, use oat flour, and replace half of the butter with unsweetened applesauce in a 1:1 ratio. You can also reduce the sugar by half and it will still taste great!
- No Pumpkin: Omit the pumpkin for a gluten free coffee cake that is great for any time of the year!
🔪 Instructions
Step 1: Set the oven to 350°. Line bread baking dish with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray. Mash bananas in a large mixing bowl, add butter, brown and white sugar, eggs, vanilla, and pumpkin. Whisk until evenly mixed.
Step 2: In another mixing bowl, mix flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice.
Step 3: Add flour mixture to wet ingredients mixture (banana + pumpkin batter) and mix. Do not over mix, use a rubber spatula to lightly mix.
Step 4: Pour batter into bread baking dish and smooth out the top. For the streusel topping, mix flour, cinnamon, and brown sugar in a bowl. Add cut cold butter and blend with mixer until it is in crumbles. Top the banana pumpkin batter with streusel crumbles.
Step 5: Bake in the center of the rack for 50-65 minutes. You may want to top your gluten free pumpkin bread with an aluminum foil tent for the last 15 minutes to make sure the streusel doesn’t burn! To check if done, use a toothpick to poke the center of the loaf. If batter is on the toothpick when you remove it, continue to bake until toothpick comes out clean.
Step 6: Once baked, let cool and remove the loaf from the baking dish to rest on a wire rack. Allow to cool completely before slicing.
❓Recipe FAQs
Most of the time, gf pumpkin bread is not healthy because it has tons of sugar and fat! With the streusel topping, this recipe ends up being more like a dessert than a healthy snack as well, but a few modifications you can easily make this a guilt-free treat!
To make this a healthy gluten free pumpkin bread:
** Reduce the Sugar by 1/2 or more
** Reduce the Fat by using applesauce instead of butter
** Cut the amount of the streusel topping by half
** Use oat flour for more fiber
Of course! This gf pumpkin bread is fantastic for feeding a crowd. You can make several batches of gluten free pumpkin loaves to serve a crowd or save for another day! Depending on how big you slice the pieces of bread, most loaves will make 12-16 pieces. So make as many loaves as you need. You shouldn’t bake more than two loaves at once, so they cook evenly.
The key to a moist pumpkin coffee cake recipe is making sure you don’t overmix the batter, and paying careful attention so that you don’t overcook the bread. Overcooked bread tends to come out denser and dry. Pull the bread out of the oven as soon as a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean!
No unfortunately you can’t! You need canned pumpkin puree with nothing else added. Pumpkin pie filling is already sweetened with spices and other things added — so if you use that instead of pumpkin puree, this bread will be way too sweet!
I like the Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Gluten Free Baking Flour, because it has everything you need added so you don’t need to add xanthan gum to this recipe. You can also use gluten free oat flour which bakes up just as nicely!
❄️ How To Store
You can easily make this gluten free coffee cake ahead of time and store it for later.
To Store In The Fridge: After it cools on the cooling rack, you can put it in a sealed container with a tight fitting lid. It will last 4-5 days at room temperature or in the fridge.
To Freeze: You can freeze this pumpkin loaf once it has cooled. Wrap the bread with plastic wrap and place in a freezer bag or airtight freezer safe container. it will keep in the freezer for 3 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight, then warm in the microwave or toaster oven before serving.
💭 Expert Tips
- For best results, don’t overmix the batter, or the bread will end up more dense than fluffy.
- You can skip the streusel topping if you would prefer to make the bread healthier.
- Be sure not to overbake the pumpkin banana bread, or it will be dried out and not as moist and tender.
- Mix any of your favorite add-ins to the batter by folding it in with a spatula.
- Make sure you measure your flour by scooping it out of the container and into a measuring cup, and then level with a butter knife. Don’t pack the cup, and don’t use the cup to scoop out the flour.
- Top with pumpkin seeds for added crunch and texture!
- Serve as a great breakfast option with coffee or tea, as a snack or for dessert!
🥧 More Incredible Gluten-Free Recipes!
- Vegan Baked Oatmeal
- Matcha Muffins
- Healthy Cornbread Recipe
- Healthy Vegan Pop Tarts
- Healthy Edible Cookie Dough
📋 Recipe Card
Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread
Ingredients
For The Pumpkin Bread / Coffee Cake
- 1½ cups Oat Flour or Bob's Red Mill 1:1 Gluten Free Baking Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- ½ tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- ½ tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
- ½ tsp Nutmeg
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 2 Over-Ripe Bananas
- 1 cup Pumpkin Puree
- 8 tbsp Unsalted Butter, melted and cooled
- ½ cup Brown Sugar, unpacked
- ¼ cup Granulated Sugar
- 2 Large Eggs
For the Streusel Topping (Optional)
- ½ cup Oat Flour or Gluten Free Flour
- ½ tsp Ground Cinnamon
- ½ cup Brown Sugar, unpacked
- 6 tbsp Cold Unsalted Butter, diced
Instructions
- Set the oven to 350°. Line bread baking dish with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.
- Mash bananas in a mixing bowl, add butter, brown and white sugar, eggs, vanilla, and pumpkin. Whisk until evenly mixed.
- In another mixing bowl, mix flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and pumpkin pie spice.
- Add flour mixture to wet ingredients mixture (banana + pumpkin batter) and mix. Do not over mix, use a rubber spatula to lightly mix.
- Pour mixture into bread baking dish and smooth out the top.
- For the streusel topping, mix flour, cinnamon, and brown sugar in a bowl. Add cut cold butter and blend with mixer until it is in crumbles.
- Top the banana pumpkin batter with streusel crumbles.
- Bake in the center of the rack for 50-65 minutes. To check if done, use a toothpick to poke the center of the loaf. If batter is on the toothpick when you remove it, continue to bake until toothpick comes out clean.
- Once baked, let cool and remove this gluten free coffee cake from the baking dish to rest on a baking rack.
Notes
- Make this a terrific vegan banana bread recipe by using flax eggs and coconut oil instead of eggs and butter.
- Throw in ¼ – ¼ cup of your favorite nuts to give the bread a little bit of a crunch. Walnuts, almonds, pecans, and hazelnuts would all be divine.
- Chocoholics can toss in some chocolate chips. They are terrific with the combination of the other flavors. Stick with 70% or higher dark chocolate to get the healthy benefits from the chocolate.
- Reduce the sugar by cutting the amount of brown sugar in half
- Don’t overmix the batter, or the bread will end up more dense than fluffy.
- You can skip the streusel topping if you would prefer to make the bread more healthy.
- Be sure not to overbake the bread, or it will be more dried out and not as good.
- Mix any of your favorite add-ins to the batter by folding it in with a spatula.
- Make sure you measure your flour by scooping it out of the container and into a measuring cup, and then level with a butter knife. Don’t pack the cup, and don’t use the cup to scoop out the flour.
- Use oat flour
- Replace 4 tbsp butter with unsweetened applesauce in the pumpkin coffee cake recipe
- Cut the brown sugar down to 1/4 + 1/4 cup (instead of 1/2 + 1/2 cup)
- Use flax eggs
