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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 brown rice flour
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1/4 cup oat flour, certified Gluten-free or other gf flour of choice like white sorghum, amaranth etc , do not use bean flour
- 1/4 cup potato starch
- 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar, (Blend up any unrefined sugar in a blender to make it fine)
- 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 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 sugar (raw, coconut or other)
- 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
Add ins:
- 3 Tbsp or more chopped walnuts
- 1/4 cup 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.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi Richa,
Do you think this recipe could be made as mini-muffins? If so, are there any alterations you would make? Thanks!
Yes. the batter makes great muffins. with mini muffins, you might have to bake for less time. 15 to 20 minutes.
I 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!
Awesome!!
The bread came out fabulous. Soft and full of flavor.
Awesome!
Hi 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!
could 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?
I 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!!
yes 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.
Thanks 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! =)
Happy thanksgiving to you too!! <3 <3
Any 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!
hmm, 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.
This 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
Hey 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.
Thank you!
What do you think about using buckwheat flour? The light version….
as 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.
its 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
can 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.