There’s just something about pumpkin and orange and chocolate that makes me want to do cartwheels across the living room. I start craving this recipe in July! This pumpkin bread is incredibly moist. The brown sugar gives it a unique depth of flavor, the chocolate chips are a pleasant surprise when you slice into the loaf, and the kiss of orange on top just gives it that little something extra. This is the kind of pumpkin bread you want to take out for a four hour dinner, not just sit next to in a movie theater. It’s that special. I dare you to try to stop at one slice.
Note: this recipe was updated in October 2020 with new photos
Note: you have of course leave the chocolate chips out and have plain pumpkin bread! Another delicious addition is walnuts or pecans. However you make it, don’t skip the orange glaze. That pop of orange absolutely makes it!
This recipe makes two loaves and it freezes perfectly so every time I bake it, I put one in the freezer for a rainy day.
Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread with Orange Glaze
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 15-ounce can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
2/3 cup water
3 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 orange
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two 9″ x 5″ loaf pans.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat together the oil, sugars, eggs, pumpkin, and water. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and vanilla, stirring to combine. Use a spoon to stir in the chocolate chips.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pans.
- Bake the bread for 60 to 80 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of each loaf comes out clean. (Start doing the toothpick test after 50 minutes if you have a convection oven.)
- Remove from the oven and cool the loaves on a wire rack.
- When the pumpkin bread is completely cool, make the glaze by whisking together one cup of powdered sugar and the juice of half an orange. Drizzle the glaze over the loaves and add orange zest for garnish. You can freeze one loaf (be sure to double wrap it!) but you may not have a chance before gobbling up both!
Watch me make it:
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Happy fall,
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I just purchased some Wilton mini loaf pans…
5.75 x 3 x 2…
Suggestion on baking time for this bread?
Gas oven…
Thank you Rose…
Maxine L.
Sent from my iPhone
Hi, Maxine! I’m excited you want to try this recipe. I’ve never owned mini loaf pans but it’s about half the size so I would keep the temperature the same and start checking after twenty minutes with the total bake time of thirty minutes as a good guess since the 9″ loaf bakes for about sixty. As always with testing recipes, it’s trial and error! You can always keep it in the oven for longer but you can’t go backwards so lowball it and do the toothpick test every couple of minutes. That’s the best guess I can give you without trying mini loaves myself. When you get the mini loaf baking time right, please do share!