Canned Pumpkin Gives Your Banana Bread A Fall Twist

With fall just around the corner, seasonal pumpkin-flavored foods are slowly popping up on every menu. Whether in the form of pumpkin spice or sweet and earthy pumpkin puree, there are myriad ways you can enjoy the quintessential autumn fruit. But their season doesn't last long before wintertime flavors appear, so you must get the most out of pumpkin ASAP if you're a fan. While you could add pumpkin spice syrup to your coffee, or spread pumpkin spice butter over your toast, one of the best ways to incorporate pumpkin into your cooking and baking is by adding it to a loaf of banana bread. Not only does this give your banana bread a fall twist, but it brings a subtle and warm flavor to an already-comforting food and makes the bread super moist and delicious.

In Tasting Table's pumpkin banana bread, created by recipe developer Hayley MacLean, 1 cup of canned pumpkin puree is added to the wet ingredients, alongside the mashed banana, Greek yogurt, honey, eggs, and vanilla. Since pumpkin adds a fun fall twist to banana bread, there are also plenty of mix-in options to bring the loaf to another level. Some of the absolute best ingredients to upgrade pumpkin bread with are walnuts, dried cranberries, dark chocolate chips, shredded coconut, or cream cheese, so try adding them to a pumpkin banana bread loaf for a burst of autumn-inspired flavor.

If your banana bread tends to come out a little dry, canned pumpkin might just be the ingredient you need for some additional moistness, since it is primarily made of water. This means that the moisture in the mixture evaporates and creates steam once it's in the oven. The steam within the loaf of bread leads to that moist texture we all know and love. In addition to creating moist bread, pumpkin helps bind the other ingredients in the batter together to ensure the bread is nice and evenly textured. 

While these benefits alone make it a worthwhile addition, canned pumpkin just tastes great, especially when mixed with pumpkin pie spice, like in our recipe. Many bakers prefer it over fresh pumpkin or homemade pumpkin puree because its texture is hard to replicate, and therefore, the texture of your baked goods is affected. And of course, canned pumpkin adds a distinct orange color to the bread, making it an eye-catching centerpiece for a fall dessert spread.