This one-bowl skinny pumpkin bread is moist, tender, and loaded with warm fall spices–for less than 250 calories a slice!

My idea of a perfect fall breakfast: a thick slice of spicy pumpkin bread, slathered with apple butter, and a piping hot chai latte. The only problem is, most pumpkin breads are made with loads of oil and have tons of fat and calories. Not exactly a great way to start the day, right?

The solution: my one-bowl skinny pumpkin bread. It has fewer than 250 calories a slice, but it’s so moist, tender, and delicious you will never know the difference.

A few weeks ago, I was in a rush to leave for work and I forgot my travel coffee mug at home. Since my commute into Manhattan is close to 90 minutes (don’t worry–I only do it twice a week), this was a big deal. I had to endure a Metro North train ride plus a 20-minute, morning rush hour walk through Midtown completely uncaffeinated. Ugh.

When I finally got to my office I was bordering on desperate, so I treated myself to a chai latte from the Starbucks on the corner. It had been a long time since I last had one, and with one sip I was totally hooked again. Forget bringing coffee from home–I’ve been getting a chai latte every day that I go into work since.

Of course, while I am in Starbucks I’m always tempted to ditch my healthy plain-Greek-yogurt-and-a-banana breakfast in favor of one of their big fat sugary pastries. But the listed nutrition facts always keep me in check. A slice of Starbucks pumpkin bread has more than 400 calories and 15 grams of fat. Thanks, but no thanks.

Instead, I came home and set about developing this recipe for healthy pumpkin bread. It’s made with a blend of whole wheat flour and has only 4 tablespoons of oil in the whole loaf. But even though it is light on calories and fat, it’s definitely BIG on flavor: sweet pumpkin, fresh orange juice, tangy buttermilk, plus cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and allspice.

Oh! And also: you can make the entire thing in a single bowl. It only takes a couple of minutes to whip up the batter, and there is virtually no mess to clean after. Fall baking, for the win!

When this pumpkin bread in the oven your whole house smells like the perfect fall day. I swear I just sat at the kitchen table while this loaf baked, inhaling all the deliciousness. Now if I could just perfect my chai latte recipe 🙂

PS: if you’re craving even more pumpkin, check out my Pumpkin Spice Angel Food Cake with Coffee Glaze!

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One-Bowl Skinny Pumpkin Bread

Author Turnip the Oven

Ingredients

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup melted butter or vegetable, coconut, or olive oil
• 1/3 cup orange juice or apple cider, or water
• 1/4 cup low-fat buttermilk or plain yogurt thinned with a little milk
• 3/4 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 2 tablespoons turbinado sugar optional

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9-x-5-inch loaf pan and line the bottom with a rectangle of parchment.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the sugar, eggs, melted butter, orange juice, and buttermilk until smooth. Whisk in the pumpkin. Sift the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice over the surface and stir with a wooden spoon just until combined.
3. Pour into the prepared pan and sprinkle the top with the turbinado sugar (if using). Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the edges are just starting to pull away from the sides of the pan, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool the bread in the pan for 20 minutes, then turn out and cool completely on a wire rack.

Recipe Notes

If you cut this loaf into 10 slices, each piece has about 230 calories and 6 grams of fat.