Pumpkin Bread (Gluten-Free, No Added Sugar)
If you’re looking for a last minute Thanksgiving dessert, I’ve got one for you! Last week I shared my Lentil Pot Pie and now I’m sharing the most delicious pumpkin loaf I’ve ever made. Make both and you’ll have a great vegetarian feast!
I was talking about pumpkin recipes with a friend (@veganeatstoronto) and she told me about a delicious pumpkin bread recipe from Detoxinista. She usually used this recipe and made a few modifications, so I thought I’d give it a try as well. I also had my pumpkin cookies in mind while trying this loaf. What I ended up with is a recipe similar to my cookies, but with a different texture. Good news: Unlike my cookies, this loaf is gluten-free!
I started by adding all my wet ingredients in the food processor (other than the egg). I blended my Medjool dates, pumpkin puree, melted coconut oil, water and vanilla until I had a smooth and creamy mixture. I then mixed all of my dry ingredients in a medium bowl, including light buckwheat flour as a base and cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves which gives this loaf a delicious fall flavor. I transferred the pumpkin mixture to the bowl with my dry ingredients, added the egg and mixed it all together. I baked it for 45 minutes and voila! It’s not too complicated is it?! And of course you can make it the day before and serve it for Thanksgiving (that would be today I suppose, so maybe not?). I guess I’m a little late for Thanksgiving recipes. On my defense, we celebrated Thanksgiving almost a month ago in Canada. 😉
For those of you who aren’t celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow, don’t worry, you don’t need any special occasion to make this bread. Every day is pumpkin bread day for me! Seriously, I just make it on the weekend and enjoy a slice as a snack every day of the week. It goes great with a cup of coffee in the morning.
I suggest eating it straight from the oven with butter/margarine. It’s the BEST. If you want to take this treat to the next level, crumble it over a bowl of chocolate chai nice cream (like the one I shared on Instagram). Just follow my nice cream recipe, add a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg and swap the peanut butter for almond or sunflower seed butter. It’s the ultimate treat!
Looking for more pumpkin recipes? Try my Pumpkin Pie Smoothie bowl and my Spelt Pumpkin Cookies. Clearly I’m all about pumpkin lately.
Pumpkin Bread (Gluten-Free, No Added Sugar)
Ingredients
- 1 cup pure pumpkin puree, canned
- 1 cup Medjool dates, pitted
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup buckwheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon, ground
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger, ground
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, ground
- 1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
- Pinch of clove, ground
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper.
- Add your pumpkin puree, water, melted coconut oil, Medjool dates and vanilla in a food processor. Blend until smooth. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together your flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt and clove.
- Stir in your wet ingredients.
- Add your egg and mix everything together.
- Transfer to your prepared dish and bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Notes
If you try this recipe, make sure to tag your photo #unsweetenedcaroline on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Don’t forget to also tag me @unsweetened.caroline on Instagram so I can see your creations!
16 Comments
Ashlee
Made this tonight! I didn’t have dates so I used soaked raisins and cranberries. It was delicious!! Nice and fluffy.
Unsweetened Caroline
I’m happy you like it! And I’m happy to hear that it worked with the raisins and cranberries. 🙂
Gb
How many dates?
Unsweetened Caroline
Thank you for noticing that! I recently changed the recipe formats and looks like I missed this. It’s one cup of pitted dates, I just added it. 🙂 Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Catherine
I recently made these- they are so moist and perfectly sweetened with only the dates! Yum!
Unsweetened Caroline
I’m so happy you like it!
Emily
Just made this — so yummy!! Ive been trying to avoid added sugar, and this recipe was perfect!
Unsweetened Caroline
I’m so happy to hear! Thank you for sharing. 🙂
Dan
Can you use whole wheat flour or a gluten free flour blend instead of buckwheat flour?
Unsweetened Caroline
Hi Dan, I never tried it, but I’m thinking the whole wheat flour will work. The loaf will probably even have more volume! As for the gluten-free flour blend, it’s hard to say. I know each brand is a little different, but if you try it, please let me know how it turned out. It may help others as well. Thank you!
Donna Sawchyn
I believe that if you want to omit an egg, 3 tbsp of water to 1 tbsp ground flaxmeal is an egg replacement (let sit to thicken for 5 min). Thanks for your website, it is really difficult to find completely sugar free recipes.
Unsweetened Caroline
Yes, but it’s not necessary, it works with just additional liquid. Thank you so much!
Danica
These were amazing! I have been on a no sugar challenge including added sugar and this site has been really nice. Thank you so much! Is there any way you can turn this into muffins?
Nourished by Caroline
Hi Danica, I actually have a version of this bread in the form of cupcakes. They would be great without the frosting as well! Look for pumpkin cupcakes on the blog. I hope that helps!
danica
Is there any way that you could substitute the pumpkin/carrots/bananas for zuchini in some of your recipes to make zuchini muffins/bread?
Nourished by Caroline
Hi! I can’t say for sure as I haven’t tried it myself. If you’re looking for a zucchini recipe, I do have zucchini cookies and an apple zucchini cake. If you’re looking for a bread, I think the best bet would be my carrot cake loaf. You could try using zucchini instead of carrots. Try squeezing the liquid from the zucchini first. Let me know if you try it! 🙂