Gluten-free Pumpkin Bread with Streusel Topping

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Gluten-free pumpkin bread with a crumbly streusel topping and a maple glaze. This gluten free pumpkin bread truly tastes like fall!

I’ve already shared my favorite gluten-free pumpkin muffins. And I’ve shared my go-to fall dessert: gluten-free pumpkin bars. But I hadn’t yet shared a gluten-free pumpkin bread recipe, so I am today!

Of course I couldn’t bring you a dry and healthy tasting loaf. I went for one that tastes so good that your friends that “hate gluten free stuff” will be grabbing another slice!

The gluten-free pumpkin loaf itself is thick but not heavy, and isn’t overly sweet. This is perfect because the streusel topping adds a great sweetness and texture. 

While the ingredients list is a little long, if you do much baking you likely have everything needed already!

Notes on ingredients and substitutions for this gluten-free pumpkin bread recipe:

• Pumpkin: Be sure you grab canned pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling. They’re not the same thing! You’ll be using less than a full can of this, so be careful not to just open the can and dump it all in. Please note that I have found large variations in color of baked pumpkin goods depending on the brand of canned pumpkin that I buy, so that’s totally ok!
• Gluten-free Flour: Use your favorite good quality gluten-free flour blend (i.e. no bean flours, not only rice flour, and is certified gluten-free). I recommend gfJules, King Arthur Measure for Measure Flour,  Authentic Foods Multi-Blend Flour and Cup4Cup. While I don’t usually use it, this recipe was also tested with Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 baking Flour and that worked well. I know a lot of you keep that one on hand. Make note of whether your flour blend includes xanthan gum or guar gum or not.
• Oil: Use your preferred oil. I recommend something that doesn’t have a strong taste. For baking, I prefer corn oil, vegetable oil, or canola oil. I’ve also used light tasting olive oil (not the same as extra virgin olive oil which does have a taste).
• Spices: Much of the flavor comes from ground cinnamon – a lot of it! This bread also includes ground ginger, ground nutmeg, and ground cloves. If you don’t prefer one of those spices, you can feel free to omit! You can also replace just the ginger/nutmeg/cloves with 2 1/4 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice if you have that on hand. 

All of the other ingredients are items you likely have on hand: sugar, brown sugar, salt, baking soda.

Can you make this gf pumpkin bread recipe dairy-free?

Yes, you can make this a gluten-free dairy-free pumpkin bread by just swapping the butter and milk in the streusel and glaze with their non-dairy counterparts.

The batter for the loaf already is dairy-free, so it’s just the streusel and maple glaze that have some dairy to replace. I would recommend a non-dairy butter alternative like Earth Balance or Melt in place of the butter.  

How to make this gluten-free pumpkin bread:

First you’ll line your bread pan with parchment paper and spray it with non-stick spray. 

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the pumpkin and oil. Next add the eggs and whisk until well combined. Then whisk in the sugar and brown sugar.

In another bowl, combine the gluten-free flour, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, baking powder, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.

Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepared bread pan.

Mix together the streusel ingredients until they look like wet sand.

Sprinkle or spoon the streusel topping all over the pumpkin bread batter in the loaf pan.

Bake for 60-80 minutes or until the streusel has browned and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean or with moist crumbs only, not wet batter. The wide range of time is because there isn’t a strict standard size/shape of full-size loaf pans – some are wide, some are long, some are skinny but tall. So start checking your loaf for doneness at 60 minutes, and then every 5 minutes until it tests done.

Here’s a look at this gluten-free pumpkin loaf after it comes out of the oven. You’ll want to let it cool for 30 minutes once you remove it from the oven. I recommend placing on a wire rack like you see here. 

Now this gluten-free pumpkin loaf is amazing just like this with just the streusel topping. You are welcome to slice it up and serve as soon as it finishes cooling completely. (It’ll fall apart if you cut it before it is cool).

You can also take this pumpkin bread up a notch by adding the maple glaze! I think the glaze it what takes this to being the best gluten-free pumpkin bread recipe!

The maple glaze is made by browning butter until slightly browned. Use a hand mixer or a whisk to mix in powdered sugar, salt, and maple syrup. Then drizzle it right over the unsliced loaf. 

Once the loaf is cooled completely and the glaze has set up how you’d like, slice this up and serve!

Depending on how thin you make your maple glaze, it might or might not stay wet looking. You can place the loaf in the fridge to help the loaf cool and the icing to set if you like. But you can also just go ahead and slice even if the glaze is still a little wet and sticky, as long as the loaf is cool.

Look at this! Doesn’t a slice of this look sweet and cinnamony and amazing?

Sure you can opt for a healthy pumpkin bread, but you might as well splurge on a slice or two of this one instead! Make it to share with others and you won’t feel guilty about enjoying a slice!

You can eat slices of this bread plain, or you can serve with butter or cream cheese too.

A good cup of coffee or tea goes great with this. And for the kids – a tall glass of cold milk!

If you have slices remaining, I would store them at room temperature, in an air-tight container so it doesn’t dry out.

You are also welcome to place in the refrigerator if you’d prefer – it will harden the glaze – but otherwise will also keep it nice and moist. Either option is fine!

If you love quick breads like these, be sure to check out my gluten-free banana nut bread too! Also, my tried and true gluten-free zucchini bread is so good! This gluten-free cranberry orange bread looks perfect for fall too!

If you make this gluten-free pumpkin bread recipe and enjoy it, please come back and give this recipe a 5 star rating in the recipe card! Feel free to comment with tips or to share any successful substitutions you made.

Gluten-free Pumpkin Bread Recipe:

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I hope you and your family enjoy this gf pumpkin bread!

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