Gluten-free Pumpkin Bread with Streusel Topping

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, 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. 

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 then top the pumpkin batter with the streusel topping. 

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! This gluten-free cranberry orange bread looks perfect for fall too!

If you make these and love them, 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:

Yield: 12 slices

Gluten-free Pumpkin Bread with Streusel Topping

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Streusel topping and a maple glaze make slices of this gluten-free pumpkin bread over the top good!

You can easily adapt this to be dairy-free too!

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 21 minutes

Additional Time 30 minutes

Total Time 2 hours 1 minute

Ingredients

Loaf:

• 1 1/4 cup pumpkin puree (plain canned pumpkin puree not pumpkin pie filling)
• 3/4 cup corn or vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 cups gluten-free flour blend*
• 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. ground cloves

Streusel:

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup gluten-free flour blend
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 2 Tablespoons cinnamon
• 1/4 cup butter (=4 Tablespoons or 1/2 stick), melted

Glaze:

• 1/4 cup butter (=4 Tablespoons or 1/2 stick)
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup
• pinch of salt
• 2-3 Tablespoons of milk, as needed to thin glaze

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350°.
2. Line your loaf pan with parchment paper and spray it with non-stick spray. 
3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the pumpkin and oil. Next add the eggs and whisk until well combined. Then mix in the sugar and brown sugar. Set aside.
4. In another bowl, combine the gluten-free flour, cinnamon, ginger, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, baking powder and cloves. Whisk together.
5. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
7. Streusel: In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar, gluten-free flour blend, sugar, and cinnamon. Add in the melted butter and mix with a fork until the mixture is crumbly. Evenly sprinkle the streusel on top of the batter in the loaf pan.
8. Bake in the 350° preheated oven 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. When finished baking, remove and place on cooling rack to cool.
9. While the bread is baking, make the glaze. Place butter in a small saucepan on medium-low heat until slightly browned, about 2-2.5 minutes. Be careful not to let this burn. Remove from heat and pour into a metal mixing bowl. Add the powdered sugar, pure maple syrup and salt and mix. Add milk about a teaspoon at a time until you achieve the drizzling consistency you want. Drizzle the glaze over the baked loaf.
10. Allow to cool completely before slicing bread to enjoy!

Notes

I'm assuming your gluten-free flour blend has xanthan gum or guar gum in it already. If your flour blend does not, I would recommend adding 1/2 teaspoon of xanthan in with the dry ingredients when you whisk those together.

See blog post for recommendations for gluten-free flour blends.

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. I would recommend a non-dairy butter alternative like Earth Balance or Melt in place of the butter. 

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

• 
  Butternut Mountain Farm Vermont, 100% Pure Maple Syrup Vermont, Grade A, Amber Color, 1 Qt
• 
  Rumford Baking Powder, 8.1 Ounce, 2 Count
• 
  Spice Islands Ground Ginger, 1.9 oz
• 
  Spice Islands Ground Cloves, 1.9 oz
• 
  McCormick Gourmet Organic Ground Nutmeg, 1.81 oz
• 
  Kirkland Saigon Cinnamon 10.7 Oz Bottles( Pack of 2) - 21.4 Oz Total
• 
  Nestle LIBBY'S 100% Pure Canned Pumpkin Puree, 15 oz. Can

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