Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread — 🙌🍂 This is without a doubt the BEST pumpkin bread recipe! This pumpkin cream cheese bread tastes like it has cheesecake baked into the middle. You’ll definitely want a second slice!
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The BEST Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese Filling
Ever since I made my Cream Cheese-Filled Banana Bread I wanted to try it with pumpkin. I adapted the recipe by swapping pumpkin puree for bananas, added warming spices, and it worked beautifully.
The bread is soft, moist, springy, dense yet still fluffy, and it’s nicely spiced. Like all of my pumpkin, carrot, and sweet potato desserts, using enough spices to ensure the final result is full-flavored and satisfying is key.
The cream cheese layer that runs through the bread is like having a layer of cheesecake baked into pumpkin bread. It really makes the bread out of this world good.
It’s an easy, no mixer recipe that goes from bowl to oven in minutes. I used melted coconut oil so there’s no butter to cream and no mixer to dirty. Oil keeps bread softer and springier than butter, and I prefer the taste.
A little sour cream (or Greek yogurt) is extra insurance for a soft, springy, bouncy, fluffy loaf. Using sour cream, Greek yogurt, or buttermilk in quick bread and muffin recipes ensures more tender results. Anything baked with pumpkin has the natural advantage of being moister because of how moist pumpkin is.
Between the cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, tangy cream cheese, and the moist, soft bread with rich pumpkin flavor, this is my idea of comfort food!
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread Ingredients
You’ll need mostly pantry staples to make the pumpkin bread with cream cheese filling. Gather the following:
For the pumpkin bread:
- Egg
- Pumpkin puree
- Light brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Melted coconut oil
- Sour cream
- Vanilla extract
- Cinnamon
- Pumpkin pie spice
- Ground nutmeg
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
For the cream cheese filling:
- Egg
- Cream cheese
- Granulated sugar
- All-purpose flour
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread
Don’t let that cream cheese filling scare you off, it takes just a couple extra minutes to prepare and adds SO much flavor and texture!
Here’s an overview of how the pumpkin cheesecake bread is made:
- Whisk together the quick bread batter.
- Spread roughly two-thirds of it into a greased 9×5-inch loaf pan.
- Whisk together the cream cheese filling and spread it carefully over the batter.
- Pour the remaining pumpkin batter over the cream cheese layer.
- Bake the pumpkin bread until the top is golden and domed and the center is set.
A Note About Bake Times
Normally I’d say to insert a toothpick into the middle to see if it comes out clean to test the doneness of the pumpkin cream cheese loaf, but that’s tough to do here since the cheesecake filling never fully sets while the bread is baking.
You may want to tent the pan with a sheet of foil draped over it at the 35-minute mark if you feel the tops and sides will become too browned before center cooks through.
Baking times will vary based on moisture content of pumpkin, cream cheese, climate, and oven variances. Bake until done; watch your bread, not the clock.
Recipe FAQs
I’m not sure why you’d want to miss out on the cheesecake-y filling, but you’re welcome to omit it if desired.
Coconut oil adds a nearly imperceptible undertone that’s sweeter and more fragrant than canola or vegetable oil, but substitute with them if you’d like.
Mix-ins like chocolate chips, chopped nuts, and raisins would taste great in this cream cheese-swirled pumpkin bread. However, these kinds of mix-ins are quite heavy, so they may sink into the cream cheese layer and your bread wouldn’t turn out looking perfectly polished. If that doesn’t bother you, try adding in the mix-ins and see what happens.
No! You need to use brick-style cream cheese and not the kind that comes in a tub. Cream cheese in a tub is often moister than brick-style cream cheese, which can turn the cream cheese filling into a runny mess.
Feel free to add more or less spices to this pumpkin bread. I like my pumpkin breads to be well flavored, but I know not everyone likes as much cinnamon as I do.
No, make sure you’re using pumpkin puree and NOT pumpkin pie filling for this pumpkin cream cheese bread recipe. Pumpkin pie filling is sweetened and spiced and will mess up the flavor and texture of this bread.
Storage
At room temp: Bread will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week. Let cool completely before sealing in an airtight container.
In the freezer: Let the bread cool completely, then wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze. When you’re ready to eat the frozen bread, set it on your counter overnight to thaw.
Recipe Video Tutorial
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Cream Cheese-Filled Pumpkin Bread
Ingredients
Bread
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup liquid-state coconut oil, canola or vegetable may be substituted
- ¼ cup cup sour cream, lite is okay; or Greek yogurt may be substituted
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- pinch salt, optional and to tast
Cream Cheese Filling
- 1 large egg
- 4 ounces softened brick-style cream cheese, lite is okay
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Spray one 9×5-inch loaf pan with floured cooking spray, or grease and flour the pan; set aside.
- Make the Bread Batter
- In a large bowl, add the the first ten ingredients, through ground nutmeg, and whisk to combine.
- Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, optional salt, and fold with spatula or stir gently with a spoon until just combined; don’t overmix; set aside.
- Turn about two-thirds of the batter out into the prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula and pushing it into corners and sides as necessary; set aside.
- Make the Cream Cheese Filling
- In a large bowl, add all the filling ingredients and whisk to combine. Alternatively, mix with a hand mixer.
- Evenly pour filling mixture over the bread, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula and pushing it into corners and sides as necessary.
- Top filling with remaining pumpkin bread batter, smoothing the top very lightly with a spatula as to not disturb cream cheese layer and pushing batter into corners and sides as necessary.
- Bake for about 48 minutes or until the top is domed, golden, and the center is set, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter. Note this is tricky because the cream cheese never gets totally solid so the toothpick test isn’t the most accurate. *
- Allow bread to cool in pan for about 15 minutes before turning out on a wire rack to cool completely before slicing and serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Pumpkin Cream Cheese Recipes:
Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars — Classic cheesecake bars get an autumnal makeover in this recipe! Sweet, pumpkin spiced, CREAMY bars with a graham cracker crust for fabulous texture!
Easy Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting — Moist pumpkin cake is topped with a creamy homemade cream cheese frosting. This easy fall dessert is perfect for Thanksgiving, Halloween, and more!
Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting — These super soft and moist pumpkin bars are the perfect EASY fall dessert!! Tangy cream cheese frosting is a wonderful complement to these perfectly pumpkin-spiced bars!!
Cream Cheese Pumpkin Roll — No dish towel required to roll up my classic pumpkin roll cake that’s full of rich pumpkin spice flavor and tangy cream cheese frosting!
Pumpkin Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting — A marriage of pumpkin cake and carrot cake into one soft, moist, tender, and amazing cake!! The tangy cream cheese frosting is truly the icing on this easy cake!!
The Best Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls — Super soft, fluffy pumpkin spice cinnamon rolls topped with a cream cheese glaze! Move over, Cinnabon, these are better!!
Copycat Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins — Super soft, moist, brimming with pumpkin spice flavor, and filled with tangy-sweet cream cheese filling!
Cooking With Pumpkin: Recipes That Go Beyond the Pie – My second cookbook with over 50 pumpkin recipes including sweets, savory, drinks, and a photo for nearly every recipe. I’d be super grateful if you headed over to Amazon.
Originally posted August 2014 and republished October 23, 2019 and August 13, 2021 with updated text.
Great recipe as is! Moist and flavorful. Easy to make!
Thanks, Yasmine, for the 5 star review and I’m glad it is great, flavorful, and was easy for you!
The bread came out nicely. I feel that the cream cheese filling lacked the sweetness and texture of your average dessert containing cream cheese. I think less flour, a little more sugar, and some vanilla extract would be good. Also, I noticed that the recipe only calls for 4 oz of cream cheese and not the full 8 oz. brick. I missed that detail and used the full brick, and that yielded just the right amount for layering. I don’t see how half of the brick of cream cheese would be enough to make a decent size ribbon. Other than that the taste and consistency of the bread was superb!
The reason your cream cheese was not as sweet tasting I presume is that you misread the recipe, used double the amount of cream cheese and kept the sugar the same, so of course it stands to reason it would be less sweet overall.
And a half brick or 4 oz is always what I use and what the photos demonstrate and can be done if you want to try it that way one day. Glad the taste and consistency was superb!
I loved this recipe —the bread was so moist and delicious. I did not change anything, it turned out perfect. I was amazed on how easy it was. This recipe is now in my saved list. Happy Thanksgiving Averie!!
I loved this recipe —the bread was so moist and delicious. I did not change anything, it turned out perfect. I was amazed on how easy it was. This recipe is now in my saved list. Happy Thanksgiving Averie!!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad it was perfect with no changes on your part! Happy Thanksgiving as well!
This recipe is complete perfection and I am excited to be adding it to my fall baking list.I have only recently discovered how much better ANY oil is than butter to use in quick bread recipes. How could this fact have eluded me in the past? I have fumbled around with melting butter and combing softened butter with sugar and trying my level best to make delicious quickbreads only to find the very best ones I make are vegetable oil. I use canola but I think mild olive oil or cocnut oil would give the same results.
And one other thing I just discovered. I usually let ingredients come to room temp, unless really pressed for time, but as well, after mixed,I try to give the batter a bit of a resting period before I place it in the oven to bake.
These two thing have ensured quick bread perfection for me. I will be saving my butter for my toast!
This recipe is complete perfection and I am excited to be adding it to my fall baking list.I have only recently discovered how much better ANY oil is than butter to use in quick bread recipes. How could this fact have eluded me in the past? I have fumbled around with melting butter and combing softened butter with sugar and trying my level best to make delicious quickbreads only to find the very best ones I make are vegetable oil. I use canola but I think mild olive oil or cocnut oil would give the same results.
And one other thing I just discovered. I usually let ingredients come to room temp, unless really pressed for time, but as well, after mixed,I try to give the batter a bit of a resting period before I place it in the oven to bake.
These two thing have ensured quick bread perfection for me. I will be saving my butter for my toast!
I almost always use oil over butter in quickbreads. First, so much simpler – nothing to melt nor soften and then beat with a mixer. Secondly, it just gives a better texture. Glad you are on board!
Glad you loved this bread!
This is just what I was looking for. I didn’t make any adjustments. The bread was moist and full of fall flavors. Love it that it’s not overly sweet. Just the right amount! Thank you for sharing.
This is just what I was looking for. I didn’t make any adjustments. The bread was moist and full of fall flavors. Love it that it’s not overly sweet. Just the right amount! Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for the 5 star review and I am glad that it was just what you were looking for without any changes!
Made this today and this recipe all expectations. I am going to enjoy it tomorrow with my morning coffee!
Made this today and this recipe all expectations. I am going to enjoy it tomorrow with my morning coffee!