This pumpkin banana bread gets its moisture from both canned pumpkin and mashed ripe bananas working together in one loaf, topped with a cinnamon streusel and chopped pecans that bakes into a crunchy crust. Pumpkin keeps the flavor mild while banana adds natural sweetness, for a loaf that’s richer than either one alone. One batch makes two 9×5 loaves, so there’s one to keep and one to share. Bake time runs 45 to 50 minutes.

A loaf of pumpkin bread with a crumbly pecan topping is sliced on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. A wooden-handled knife rests beside the bread. — One 15-ounce can of pumpkin and three to four ripe bananas go into every batch of this batter, no other fruit or puree needed.

One Batter, Two Favorite Flavors

Pumpkin bread and banana bread each have plenty of fans on their own, and most people never think to put them in the same loaf. Mixing canned pumpkin and mashed ripe bananas into one batter mellows out the pumpkin, so you get a loaf that’s warmer and more balanced than the heavily spiced versions you find at a bakery.

Banana bread on its own can turn dense if you’re not careful with the mashing and stirring, but the pumpkin keeps this batter loose enough that the crumb stays soft and light. A cinnamon streusel with chopped pecans goes over the top and bakes into a crunchy crust, so every slice gets some texture against the soft loaf underneath. It’s one I make more than once every fall.

Where This Recipe Started

My All-American Summer Menu 🇺🇸

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I make banana bread all the time, mostly because I always have bananas going brown on the counter before I can eat them (if you want it without the pumpkin, my brown butter banana walnut bread is the one I go back to). I also keep a can of pumpkin in the pantry year-round in case I get the urge to make pumpkin muffins, so one day I dumped it into the banana bread batter instead of waiting on muffins.

I expected the pumpkin to compete with the banana, but instead the loaf came out softer and moister than my usual banana bread, and that batch became the base for this recipe. It’s the kind of happy accident that only happens when you’re using up what’s already in your kitchen.

Two slices of pumpkin bread on a blue and white patterned plate, with more slices and coffee mugs in the background on a gray surface.

Tastes Like Pumpkin Pie, Not Plain Pumpkin Bread

The spice blend in this loaf, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, is the same one that goes into pumpkin pie filling, so it tastes familiar even though it’s not pie. A lot of pumpkin quick breads only use cinnamon and end up tasting like a plain spice cake that happens to have pumpkin in it somewhere. Add the nutmeg and cloves back in and suddenly every bite tastes like actual pumpkin pie, just in loaf form. If you’ve ever wanted an excuse to eat pumpkin pie for breakfast, here you go.

One Loaf to Keep, One for the New Neighbor

This is a quick bread, no yeast, no rising time, no stand mixer, so it comes together in about the time it takes the oven to preheat. I reach for it whenever someone new moves in nearby, since it doesn’t take much to pull off. I keep one loaf on the counter and walk the other over still warm, which beats showing up empty handed. It looks like I spent way more time on it than I actually did.

A freshly baked loaf of bread topped with chopped pecans sits in a metal pan on a cooling rack.

Pantry Staples, Plus a Can of Pumpkin

A bunch of bananas, four eggs, a can of pumpkin puree, vegetable oil, flour, sugar, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, baking soda, and baking powder arranged on a gray surface.

The exact amounts are in the recipe card below.

Canned pumpkin. Use plain canned pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling. Pie filling is already sweetened and spiced, and it’ll throw off the balance of this recipe.
Ripe bananas. Go for bananas with heavy brown spotting, not just yellow with a few spots. The riper they are, the smoother they mash and the more natural sweetness they bring to the loaf.
Pecans. These go in the streusel topping and are optional. Leave them out if you’d rather have a smooth, crunchy sugar crust without the nuts.

How to Make Banana Pumpkin Bread with Cinnamon Streusel

Step One: Whisk the Dry Ingredients

A whisk rests in a white bowl with flour and spices, ready to be mixed. Metal measuring spoons and a grater are on the countertop nearby. — Whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.

Step Two: Mash the Bananas

A glass measuring cup with mashed bananas and a metal masher inside, next to a few banana peels on a light surface. — Mash the bananas with a potato masher or fork until mostly smooth.

Don’t worry about a few lumps. A few small lumps are fine and will disappear into the batter.

Step Three: Combine the Wet Ingredients

A glass bowl filled with pumpkin batter sits on a counter, with a wooden spoon, eggshells, and a can of pumpkin puree in the background. — Whisk together the eggs, oil, sugar, pumpkin, and mashed bananas until well combined.

Step Four: Add the Flour

Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and stir just until combined. Stop as soon as the flour disappears. Over mixing makes the loaves tough.

Step Five: Fill the Pans

Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared loaf pans.

Step Six: Make the Streusel, Top & Bake

If you like this kind of crumb topping, it’s the same idea behind my pumpkin apple bread with crumb topping, just built for a different fruit.

A glass bowl filled with a mixture of brown sugar and cinnamon sits on a gray surface. In the background, there is a partial view of a measuring cup with a brown batter inside. — Whisk together the flour, sugar, and cinnamon for the topping. Work the softened butter into the mixture with your fingers.

Two loaf pans lined with parchment paper, filled with unbaked batter topped with brown sugar and chopped pecans, ready to be baked. The pans are placed on a light gray countertop. — Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

This pumpkin banana bread is proof that a good fall loaf doesn’t need a long ingredient list or a special occasion to be worth making from scratch. If this one gets you in a baking mood, take a look through over 25 homemade bread recipes on the site for what to make next.

A loaf of pumpkin bread topped with pecans sits on parchment paper, with two slices cut. A knife and two mugs are in the background.

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Explore Recipes

Breads & Biscuits Breakfast & Brunch Baked Fall

Pumpkin Banana Bread with Cinnamon Streusel

One Batter, Two Favorite Flavors

Where This Recipe Started

Tastes Like Pumpkin Pie, Not Plain Pumpkin Bread

One Loaf to Keep, One for the New Neighbor

Pantry Staples, Plus a Can of Pumpkin