Vegan Gluten free Pumpkin Bread Recipe with cranberries and walnuts. Gum-free, Soy-free, Yeast-free. Can be made oat-free.
I try to provide gluten-free options on the blog whenever possible. Gluten-free vegan baking is difficult. It doesn’t always behave the way we expect it to behave and it turns out dry, gosh so dry! There have been many loaves of bread or baked things that I had to either trash or slice and bake into biscotti which no one wanted to eat. This one does not have that problem!
The pumpkin and banana hold the structure together and make this a very moist loaf and make this more of a Banana Pumpkin Bread. This bread also doesn’t need added gum. You can use a 1/2 tsp xanthan with the dry ingredients to help the crumb if you want. Use chocolate chips or dried fruit of choice for variation. For a regular wheat based loaf, see this 1 bowl Pumpkin Bread. Add cranberries for a festive breakfast loaf.
I and the home are not gluten-free. So gluten-free baked goods have to be really good and close to their with gluten versions to really be liked. And that is what I always aim for. This loaf uses brown rice flour, almond flour, starch and oat flour. You can use any other flour which is similar to oat flour to sub oat flour if needed. I have not tried the loaf with any other starch. Arrowroot hasn’t worked well for me in the past. A blend of tapioca and corn might work, but I would recommend sticking to potato starch for the first try. Make this festive loaf with cranberries and walnuts/pecans and let me know how it turns out! Feedback helps future recipe development. Whether it turned out good, just ok, something didn’t work out or you did not like (taste, texture), suggestions, anything, leave me comments on the post or on social media.
Also check out my Vegan Gift Guide for ideas to gift this holiday season and an update on Projects and organizations supported by us.
And All the Thanksgiving meal, sides, brunch options here. Happy ThanksLiving!
More pumpkin recipes from the blog
- One bowl Pumpkin Bread
- Pumpkin Cinnamon rolls
- Gluten-free Pumpkin cinnamon Rolls with pumpkin caramel. GF Yeast free
- 1 bowl pumpkin cream cheese muffins
- Pumpkin cinnamon Swirl Sandwich Bread all fancy
More gluten-free baked recipes
how to make vegan gluten free pumpkin bread
Whisk all the dry ingredients in one bowl and wet ingredients in another bowl. Mix into a batter.
Fold in cranberries, walnuts or other add ins. Drop the batter onto parchment lined loaf pan. Even it out. Garnish with pumpkin seeds or chopped walnuts.
Bake until a toothpick from the center comes out almost clean without any liquid.
Cool for 15 minutes. then remove from pan and cool completely before slicing.
Vegan Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread with Cranberries
Ingredients
Dry:
- 1/2 cup (79 g) brown rice flour
- 1/2 cup (56 g) almond flour
- 1/4 cup (30 g) oat flour certified Gluten-free or other gf flour of choice like white sorghum, amaranth etc , do not use bean flour
- 1/4 cup (40 g) potato starch
- 1 1/4 tsp (1.25 tsp) baking powder
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) baking soda
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) salt
- 1/4 cup (30 g) powdered sugar (Blend up any unrefined sugar in a blender to make it fine)
- 1 1/2 tsp (1.5 tsp) pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) chai spice or use more pumpkin pie spice
Wet:
- 1 very ripe banana medium size
- 1 tbsp pysllium husk powder or chia seed meal
- 1/4 cup (50 g) sugar (raw, coconut or other)
- 3/4 cup (184.24 g) + 2 tbsp pumpkin puree not pumpkin pie filling
- 1/4 cup (80.5 g) maple syrup
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
Add ins:
- 3 Tbsp or more chopped walnuts
- 1/4 cup (25 g) or more fresh or frozen cranberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 365 degrees F / 180ºc. In a bowl whisk all the dry ingredients very well until well combined.
- In another bowl, mash the banana really well until smooth and there are no lumps. Add the rest of the wet ingredients and mix well to dissolve the sugar. Powder the pysllium husk before adding.
- Add the dry into the wet and mix until well combined and there are no wet streaks. Mix really well.
- Fold in the cranberries and walnuts.
- Drop into parchment lined pan. Even it out. top with pepitas
- Bake at pre-heated 365 degrees F / 180ºc for 55 to 65 minutes or until a toothpick from the center comes out almost clean with no liquid stuck to it. the bake time will depend on the consistency of the pumpkin puree and banana.
- Cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove from the pan and cool completely before slicing with a serrated knife. Preferably chill in the refrigerator for an hour or so before slicing.
Notes
Nutrition
Latifa says
November 24, 2015 at 4:01 pmThis looks fantastic…but I can’t use almond flour or the potato starch. Will arrowroot work for the potato starch in the same amount? and what other flour would you recommend to sub for the almond flour?
Thanks
Latifa
Richa says
November 24, 2015 at 5:41 pmHey Latifa,
There isnt a good substitute for the almond flour as it helps hold the bread. For starch I would use a combination of arrowroot + corn or tapioca.
If you do use other flours instead of almond flour, bake it into muffins. (25 to 30 minutes bake time). Muffins are much more forgiving with the changes, while a large loaf can have issues like the center might fall, the loaf might not cook through well or dry out too much etc.
Latifa says
November 25, 2015 at 6:22 amThank you!
What do you think about using buckwheat flour? The light version….
Richa says
November 25, 2015 at 10:15 amas a sub for almond flour? grain flour will behave differently than almond nut flour. Try a half batch as muffins to see how it works out.
Anney says
September 27, 2016 at 12:08 amits said that u cant mix different flours as each flour has different time and will affect the digestive process adversely. Whatz ur opinion abt that.Could we make it with single grain
Richa says
September 27, 2016 at 10:08 amcan you provide a link? All of the gluten-free flour blends have multiple flours as one single flour doesnt work well in gluten-free baking. Also blends of flours have been used in many other cuisines since ages. Like Indian cuisine has many flatbread or crepe recipes that use multiple grain flours or grain and lentil flours together.
Danielle says
November 24, 2015 at 9:11 pmAny thoughts on a banana substitution for this very-allergic girl? Nothing like anaphylactic shock and a trip to the ER to ruin a perfectly good pumpkin loaf!
Richa says
November 24, 2015 at 9:45 pmhmm, maybe a 1/3 cup silken tofu or a combination of silken tofu and mashed avocado. A note about avocado: sometimes the flavor doesnt work well in the baked result. If you have used avocado in baking before and are ok with it, then try it. also ad another 1 to 2 tbsp sugar in the wet for the missing sweetness from the banana.
IR says
November 25, 2015 at 3:30 pmThanks for this healthy GF recipe! I really appreciate all your hard work with GF vegan breads, for using healthy flours and no gums! I will give this a try soon! Have a great Thanksgiving, Richa! =)
Richa says
November 25, 2015 at 5:54 pmHappy thanksgiving to you too!! <3 <3
Renee says
November 29, 2015 at 2:29 pmHi Richa! I made this for my thanksgiving and the flavor was spot on, mine just didn’t rise as well as yours did so it was flat and dense. I will try more baking powder next time but any other suggestions?
I did add the nondairy milk at the end but what is the consistency the batter should be? Mine may have still been too dense at the end but again the taste and texture was soo good!
Thank you!
Richa says
November 29, 2015 at 2:44 pmcould be anything. The consistency of the pumpkin puree, banana, too coarse almond meal, old baking powder etc. you can use a bit more baking powder and add 1 to 2 tbsp more pumpkin puree if the batter is too dense. The batter is dense but not too dense. reduce the cranberries. if the berries are too large or too many, the bread will rise initially and can fall a bit as the cranberries cook are get mushy. you can also try adding a 1/2 tbsp chia seed meal to the wet or 1/2 tsp xanthan gum to the dry (whisk really well), to help hold the crumb better.
Did you change anything in the recipe?
Renee says
December 2, 2015 at 3:33 pmI didn’t change anything but the banana and the pumpkin were really dense so it was probably just needed to be thinned out. But I am going to try again this week because it was so yummy with new pumpkin, some xanthan and a little more chia seed meal. Thank you!!
Richa says
December 2, 2015 at 4:10 pmyes please do try again. if you feel that the banana and pumpkin mixture (before adding dry) is too dense, add liquid 1 tsp or more at that point. Too much liquid in the batter might cause the bread to flatten/fall. Dense substantial batter will help hold the dome during baking. I changed the instruction and removed the non dairy milk addition. If the liquid doesn’t mix in when added at that step, will cause issues.
Jess says
November 29, 2015 at 11:32 pmThe bread came out fabulous. Soft and full of flavor.
Richa says
November 29, 2015 at 11:47 pmAwesome!
Laura says
January 3, 2016 at 10:03 amI made this fantastic bread yesterday. I put in some mini-chocolate chips from Enjoy Life to make it a dessert and my guests decimated it. I used sorghum instead of the oat flour. The loaf was very moist–had no need to add any liquid. Thank you for this recipe!
Richa says
January 3, 2016 at 11:00 amAwesome!!
Jill says
March 31, 2016 at 10:56 amHi Richa,
Do you think this recipe could be made as mini-muffins? If so, are there any alterations you would make? Thanks!
Richa says
March 31, 2016 at 11:09 amYes. the batter makes great muffins. with mini muffins, you might have to bake for less time. 15 to 20 minutes.
Jill says
March 31, 2016 at 11:03 amWhat are the dimensions of the loaf pan you are using? Thanks!
Richa says
March 31, 2016 at 11:09 am8.5 by 4.5 inch
Jill says
April 21, 2016 at 12:36 pmHi Richa,
Thanks for answering my questions! Just one more general question…
How do you measure your flour? Do you scoop from the bag directly with the measuring cup and then level it off? Or do you spoon it from the bag into a measuring cup and then level it off? This can make a big difference in the weight that results from these two different methods.
Thank you,
Jill
Richa says
April 21, 2016 at 1:10 pmHi Jill,
I scoop it from the bag directly and level it off. Most flours in my house are used quite frequently, so they are generally loose and fluff. If flour in the bag or storage container seems too set, it will fluff it with the cup and and then measure it. A bit of measurement differences do not matter in my regular (non gf) recipes. With gf recipes I keep a close eye on the consistency depending on the recipe. The batter consistency should not be too runny or too stiff. With yeasted breads, the dough should not be too stiff and so on. I adjust the batter or dough if needed before baking. For eg. with this recipe, the measurement will be more forgiving with gum in the dry. Without the gum, the bread might fall if the measurement is such that there is too much moisture in the bread. Hope this helps. Eventually I will be adding weight measurements with the recipe as well, when i get time or help (volunteer or paid work)
Jill says
May 29, 2016 at 2:42 pmHi Richa,
Just wanted to let you know that I made this as mini-muffins, and they were delicious! The recipe made 24 minis – just the right amount. I baked them at 350F for 20 minutes. I put the batter into the pan and then remembered I forgot to fold in chopped pecans. So I topped each one with a pecan half before baking, and they looked and tasted great. Thanks for the recipe!
Nora says
September 2, 2016 at 11:41 amCan I use only almond flour in this recipe? Thanks, Nora
Richa says
September 2, 2016 at 3:16 pmit wont work for a loaf. You can make it into bars (bake in a brownie pan and slice into bars once baked and cooled)
Snigdha Gupta says
November 3, 2016 at 6:35 amHi Richa,
What do you think of LSA? Can I use it for any of your recipes?
Richa says
November 3, 2016 at 10:38 amNo clue about it what is LSA ?
Snigdha Gupta says
November 9, 2016 at 4:24 amLSA is Linseed, Sunflower and Almond meal. I am keen to try it too and would be really helpful if you had any recipes using LSA. Thanks a lot 🙂
Richa says
November 9, 2016 at 10:12 amYou can use that to sub the almond meal in the recipe. I wouldnt use all of just that as that you be a very heavy flour and will make a dense bread.
Snigdha Gupta says
November 9, 2016 at 8:59 pmHi Richa, I can’t seem to find any brown rice flour. Could you please suggest a substitute. Also I have black chia seeds, can I grind them at home and use for this recipe. Also can I use tapioca flour in place of potato starch (can’t find that easily either)
Richa says
November 9, 2016 at 10:49 pmUse white rice flour. yes for black chia seeds and yes for tapioca starch
Snigdha Gupta says
November 10, 2016 at 12:21 amThanks Richa. Will give it a shot.
Snigdha Gupta says
November 11, 2016 at 8:38 pmHey Richa, made this bread as per the recipe. Dint rise as much as the gluten one bowl option. Any thoughts? Though it tasted absolutely YUM, I felt the flavour of banana overpowered pumpkin. Is there a way I can reduce the banana and/or increase pumpkin. Thanks a lot for your help and your amazing recipes.
Richa says
November 12, 2016 at 12:03 amThat is normal for gluten-free baking. It doesnt rise much if at all. GF Vegan baking is also very iffy, ie. with consistency changes, it will has high chanes of making dense or dry or flat baked result. With practice you get an idea of the types of batters that bake well and sometimes you still wouldnt know.
You can use all pumpkin in this bread if you use some xanthan gum. Without the gum, the structure needs volume to hold which comes from the banana.
Snigdha says
November 16, 2016 at 1:18 amHi Richa, I would like to use eggs for this recipe. Could you please help me tweak it. As in would I still need the chia seed meal, banana or potato starch. Thanks a lot for your help. The recipes I have tried have turned out excellent! Which is amazing since GF or vegan baking is a little tricky
Richa says
November 16, 2016 at 10:25 amAs I mentioned earlier, I havent used eggs in years and cannot suggest using them. I am vegan for ethical reasons, as I do not support 300+ million egg laying hens that are kept in such small cages that they cannot even once spread their wings, and then slaughtered when they are just teens. thats 300,000,000 per year, thats 600 hens per Minute just in the US. and grinding up or suffocating 10s millions of baby male chicks per year, because they are useless.
Its a personal choice that does make a difference. Because of people choosing less meat, dairy, eggs, 400 million fewer animals were killed in 2014. There are more and more alternate options coming out by bigger brands because of the demand. So the urbanization/commercialization shifts depending on demand.
Which is why I have so many options on the blog, both vegan and vegan + gf. The bread works with almond flour and works even better if you use a 1/2 tsp of xanthan mixed into the flours. You can omit the banana when using xanthan and bake it into muffins to see how the crumb and crust hold up . I havent used Lsa flour so i am not sure if it works as well as almond flour.
So many other factors also matter, the type of pumpkin puree, the oven temps etc. Even with eggs, gf baking is a lot of trial and error, more error and flop than perfect success the first time( as I have seen and read on other blogs). I am not gluten-free, but I know many of my readers cannot eat gluten for various reasons. So I keep trying and learn from the errors and even then sometimes the result isnt always perfect. Thats just how gf baking is, with or without help from other ingredients. :/
Richa says
November 16, 2016 at 10:27 amI am so glad the recipes have mostly turned out excellent. Thank you for trying them! Keep at this one to mke it perfect for you.
Snigdha says
November 16, 2016 at 6:23 pmAppreciate and respect your opinion Richa. Thank you for the tip on xantham gum, haven’t use it before but hopefully it will come out right. I will attempt at some combinations and see which works best for me. Thanks a lot for your help. Will attack your marbled pumpkin bread next 🙂
Snigdha says
January 19, 2017 at 5:01 amHi Richa,
Will this recipe work in a round cake tin. Need to take a ‘send off’ cake for a gluten intolerant colleague.
I’m in love with this bread, can’t get enough of it. My friends love it too 🙂
Richa says
January 19, 2017 at 10:29 amI would do 2 small round cakes, just so the cakes dont fall in the center.
Snigdha Gupta says
January 19, 2017 at 4:38 pmThanks Richa 🙂
RT says
October 10, 2017 at 7:05 amCan I sub almond flour for brown rice flour? Or would you suggest all purpose instead? Thanks
Richa says
October 12, 2017 at 6:59 pmap gf flour. bake it into muffins then as the almond flour is needed to hold the bread loaf and the loaf will fall in the center without. If you are lookign for a regular flour pumpkin bread, try this one http://www.veganricha.com/2015/11/1-bowl-vegan-pumpkin-bread-recipe.html
Melissa Phillips says
November 13, 2018 at 4:39 pmI made this last night and it is divine!! I substituted the banana for applesauce mixed with ground flax (tried to mimic the stickyness) because I have an allergy to bananas. And then traded the walnut for macadamia and doubled and then some the cranberries!! Great texture, thank you for this recipe 😍😋
Richa says
November 13, 2018 at 5:28 pmyay! great subs!
Darlene Rutledge says
November 21, 2018 at 5:21 pmPerfect loaf Richa. I added candied ginger and chocolate chips. So good. Thank you!
Richa says
November 21, 2018 at 9:18 pmawesome!
Keren says
January 10, 2019 at 1:30 amSuperb. I doubled the recipe to make 1 big loaf. To be honest, I had such a craving for baking I used boiled purple sweet potatoes in instead of pumpkin since roasting and mashing the pumpkin I had would have taken too much time on a weekday evening…SP are of course drier so I had to add some plant milk, plus I reduced sweeteners to my own preference and used pecans instead of walnuts. This is the first time I used rice flour as the main flour in bread (I eat gluten but like to experiment with gf-free flours) and the result is fabulous. My other grain flour was teff, which worked beautifully. This is so delicious I’m now eager to try the original version. Thanks Richa for another perfect recipe.
Kimberly says
October 15, 2019 at 8:55 amI’ve made this twice now and it is absolutely FANTASTIC!!!! My only minor change is subbing the oil for either apple sauce or non-dairy milk. The spices are a big wow, as is the texture and flavor. The whole cranberries are such a delight. Honestly, best quick bread I think I’ve ever made! I’ve served it to several people who are not normally gluten-free, and everyone loved it. I’ll be searching your website for more gluten free baking for sure! Thank you!!!
Khushi says
March 4, 2020 at 7:27 amHello Richa! I need to make a grain free version of this. Would it be possible to sub buckwheat instead of rice flour, and amarnath instead of oats? Thanks so much!
Richa says
March 7, 2020 at 6:12 pmUse following recipe and replace banana with pumpkin.
https://www.veganricha.com/2018/01/gluten-free-banana-bread-flourless-carrot-banana-bread.html
Margarida Rodrigues says
September 21, 2020 at 1:22 pmIt’s DELICIOUS!
Thank you ❤️
GABRIELLE OTTAVIO says
October 3, 2020 at 8:09 pmMade this this morning. It was delicious. The recipe was easy to follow too. I used both walnuts and dried apricots since I didn’t have cranberries . It was moist and perfect for anytime not just for breakfast;)
Richa says
October 4, 2020 at 6:31 amAwesome
Laura says
October 7, 2020 at 4:39 pmFantastic recipe. I made mine in a square pyrex rather than a loaf shape and it worked out beautifully.
GABRIELLE OTTAVIO says
February 27, 2021 at 7:57 amI make this every week or so. It’s probably one of our favorite recipes. I have reviewed this before and also gave it 5 stars. Today, I wanted to make this but didn’t have any bananas. I would have substituted 4 oz apple sauce for 1 banana but didn’t have that either. I make my own oat, almond and other dairy free milks. So I used the pulp leftover from my milk making instead. I had made an almond-oat milk combination this morning. And used 4 oz of pulp instead of a banana. Omg it came out delicious you would never have known. I just wanted to share this with you— not sure how many of your readers make their own milk but I bet there are many -just another thing one can do with leftover pulp. 😀
Chantal J says
March 7, 2021 at 6:42 pmHello Richa, hope you’re well.
I tried two of your recipes this past weekend. One was the pumpkin cake with chocolate ganache and the other one is this pumpkin loaf. The cake didn’t come out as high as your picture and was kind of spongy. The loaf came out a bit dense and dry. Both were very tasty though. I measured 3/4 cup of pumpkin but I was already past the weight in grams that you suggest. Should we use the measuring cups or the weight?
Do you have any suggestions as to what might’ve happened to my trials? Thank you in advance.
Richa says
March 7, 2021 at 7:24 pmDid you make both Glutenfree?
With Glutenfree baking, it can easily come out fry or not rise well with changed ingredients, types of ingredients or measuring differences. Maybe the pumpkin purée was too moist and the loaf ended up dense because of that. That will also dry out the edges more.
For the pumpkin cake if you made it Glutenfree then it will be less tall as the cake recipe uses regular flour. With gluten flours always rise more