Keto Pumpkin Bread
Published October 4, 2020 • Updated March 2, 2026
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Spongy keto pumpkin bread mixed entirely in a blender. Cream cheese keeps this low carb loaf moist and eliminates the eggy coconut flour taste.
I’ve been making this keto pumpkin bread since 2018, and it’s one of the recipes I come back to every fall. The whole thing mixes in a blender, which means cleanup is basically nothing and the batter comes out smoother than any bowl-and-whisk method I’ve tried.
The secret to making this work with coconut flour is the cream cheese. Coconut flour recipes need a lot of eggs for structure, and that many eggs can leave you with something that tastes more like an omelet than bread. Cream cheese neutralizes that eggy flavor completely while adding moisture that keeps the crumb soft for days. I’ve tested this side by side (with and without the cream cheese) and the difference is dramatic.
I use a standard blender, not a Vitamix or anything fancy. A food processor works too. The key is blending the cream cheese, pumpkin, butter, and dry ingredients first until smooth, then adding the eggs last and just pulsing a few times. Over-blending the eggs makes it rubbery. I learned that the hard way.
Each mini loaf comes out to roughly 2g net carbs per slice, which makes this a low carb option I feel good about having with my morning coffee. The house fills up with cinnamon and pumpkin spice while it bakes, and the whole thing is done in under 30 minutes if you’re using mini loaf pans.
If you’re in a fall baking mood, pair these with pumpkin cream cheese muffins or go a completely different direction with banana nut bread. For something chocolatey, my chocolate zucchini muffins are another one I keep in rotation.
One thing I want to mention: let the loaves cool completely before you slice. I know it’s tempting to cut into them right out of the oven, but the inside firms up as it cools. Cut too early and you’ll get a gummy center that doesn’t represent the final texture at all. Give them at least 15 minutes on a wire rack and you’ll see the difference.
How I make it
- Add everything to a blender: cream cheese, pumpkin puree, melted butter, sweetener, coconut flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, and cinnamon. Blend until smooth, then add eggs and pulse just until combined.
- Pour into prepared loaf pans, filling about 3/4 full.
- Bake until the center is set and spongy to the touch.
Key ingredients and substitutions
- Cream cheese: The reason this works. It neutralizes the egg flavor from the 4 eggs needed for rise and gives the crumb a soft, almost cheesecake-like density. Pop it in the microwave for 20 seconds before blending if it’s not fully at room temp. Reader Donna figured this out and I’ve confirmed it makes the batter noticeably smoother.
- Pumpkin puree: Canned or homemade both work. Just check that the label says 100% pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling.
- Butter: Melted. Adds moisture and richness.
- Brown sweetener: Gives that warm caramelized note without sugar. You can swap in regular granulated sugar-free sweetener.
- Coconut flour: I use coconut flour here because it creates a lighter crumb for this batter. If you want almond flour, use about 1 1/4 cups to replace the 1/3 cup coconut flour since coconut flour absorbs roughly three times the liquid. Reader Maria tried a straight swap and it came out too dense.
- Cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice: I use both. Cinnamon alone doesn’t give enough depth for that real fall flavor.
- Eggs: Four of them. They provide all the structure since there’s no gluten.
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Ingredients
8 oz cream cheese, softened -
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
-
4 tablespoons butter, melted
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1/3 cup brown sugar free sweetener
-
1/3 cup coconut flour
-
2 teaspoons baking powder
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1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
-
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
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4 eggs
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loaf pans
Step by Step Instructions
Step by Step Instructions
Preheat oven
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray your loaf pan or mini loaf pans with cooking spray and set aside.
Add ingredients to blender
Add cream cheese, pumpkin puree, butter, sweetener, coconut flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon to a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth and combined. Add eggs and gently pulse until combined.
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
- 4 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1/3 cup brown sugar-free sweetener
- 1/3 cup coconut flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 4 eggs
Blend
Add in remaining ingredients and blend until smooth.
Bake
Pour pumpkin bread batter into loaf pan, filling about 3/4 of the way to the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes if using mini loaf pans or 30-40 minutes if using a larger loaf pan. Bake until cooked through.
Cooling instructions
Let cool in the loaf pan for several minutes before removing from the loaf pans and moving to a wire rack to cool.
Nutrition disclaimer
The nutrition information provided is an estimate and is for informational purposes only. I am a Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.); however, this content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your physician or other qualified health provider before making any lifestyle changes or beginning a new nutrition program.
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Get My Macros + Recipes →Frequently Asked Questions
Can you freeze this bread?
I freeze these all the time. Slice first, lay them flat on a parchment-lined sheet pan, and transfer to a freezer bag once they're solid. They keep for about 3 months. I reheat a frozen slice in the microwave for 30-40 seconds and it comes back soft. The texture gets slightly more dense after freezing, but I don't notice a big difference.
Why did my bread come out dense or gummy?
Two things I'd check. First, make sure you're letting the loaves cool completely before slicing. If you cut in while they're still hot, the inside looks gummy even though it would have firmed up on its own. Give them at least 15 minutes on a wire rack. Second, your cream cheese might not have been soft enough before blending. Cold cream cheese won't incorporate and you get uneven pockets in the batter. I microwave mine for 20 seconds before it goes in the blender.
Can I make muffins from this batter?
I've done this in a jumbo muffin pan and it works well. Reader Danielle described the texture as somewhere between a muffin and a pie, which I think is spot on. Fill the cups about 3/4 full and bake for 15-18 minutes instead of 20. If you want a recipe designed specifically for muffins, my pumpkin pecan muffins are built for that format.
Can I make this dairy-free?
I haven't tested a fully dairy-free version myself, but here's what I'd try: swap the butter for coconut oil (same amount, melted) and replace the cream cheese with a dairy-free cream cheese alternative or thick coconut cream. The cream cheese contributes a lot of moisture and flavor in this recipe, so the texture will be different. If you try it, I'd love to hear how it goes.
Does this work with almond flour instead of coconut flour?
It does, but not as a straight swap. Reader Maria tried replacing the 1/3 cup coconut flour with the same amount of almond flour and it came out way too dense. I recommend using about 1 1/4 cups almond flour to replace the 1/3 cup coconut flour. Coconut flour absorbs roughly three times the liquid, so the amounts are very different. The almond flour version has a slightly more crumbly texture but it still tastes great.
Is pumpkin keto friendly?
I use pumpkin regularly and the macros work. A half cup of pumpkin puree has about 6.5 grams of carbs, with 3.5 grams of fiber, so you're looking at roughly 3 net carbs per half cup. This recipe only calls for 1/4 cup total, split across the entire batch. I never worry about it.
Can I use mascarpone instead of cream cheese?
I haven't tried mascarpone in this recipe myself, but it has a similar fat content and an even milder flavor, so I think it would work. It has zero carbs per serving, which is a nice bonus. Mascarpone is a little softer than cream cheese, so the texture of the final loaf might be slightly different. I'd keep everything else the same and see how it turns out.
Can I make one large loaf instead of mini loaves?
I've made both. A standard 9x5 loaf pan works, but you'll need to bake for 30-40 minutes instead of 20. The center takes longer to set in a bigger pan. I check mine with a toothpick at the 30-minute mark: when it comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs, it's done. I prefer the mini loaves because they bake faster and I like the crust-to-crumb ratio, but a full loaf gives you cleaner slices.
Does it need to be full fat, or will low fat work?
Full fat is worth it here. Low fat has more water in it, and with the pumpkin already adding moisture to the batter, you'd likely end up with a gummier middle. I wouldn't risk the swap, Aaliyah.
Makes sense, didn't think about the pumpkin already adding that much moisture. Full fat it is.
Brought this to a work potluck as my test for sliced cold. The blender makes the crumb more uniform than hand-mixed, so slices held together on the tray without crumbling or going gummy after an hour out. People not counting carbs kept going back for more. That tells you what the cream cheese does. Doesn't dry out, doesn't fall apart, which matters when something has to sit.
Made this twice now and it's become my regular weekday breakfast. My sister is visiting next month and she can't have dairy, so I want to make a version for her. I've used dairy-free cream cheese in other keto baking and it's hit or miss by brand. Violife and Kite Hill have really different moisture levels. The cream cheese in this recipe seems to do most of the work, and coconut flour goes gummy without the right fat ratio. Would a straight 1:1 swap hold up, or would I need to adjust the eggs or butter too?
Kite Hill runs way wetter than Violife that I'd go with Violife if it's an option. Straight 1:1 on the cream cheese works, fat's close enough. Swap the butter for coconut oil (same amount, melted). Eggs stay the same.
Accidentally subbed half the butter for coconut oil, batch six. Better.
Coconut oil firms up more as it cools, so that half swap probably gave you cleaner slices. Good to know for batch seven.
Pumpkin bread was the first thing I gave up on keto and kind of made peace with never having again. Made this Sunday and the smell when the oven opened wrecked me a little. The cream cheese fixes the eggy coconut flour thing I've hit in every other version.
That oven smell gets me too, still. The cream cheese fix took me forever to land on. Nothing else I tested killed that eggy thing the same way.
I make a double batch every few weeks and slice it into individual portions for the freezer, and the thing I didn't expect is that it actually gets better after a day or two (more set, less eggy, the pumpkin spice settles in). The cream cheese is what makes this work for meal prep because most coconut flour loaves turn into cardboard by day three. Mine go straight from freezer to counter in the morning and they're ready by the time I've made coffee.
The day-two texture is better. I've started wrapping individual slices in parchment before bagging so they pull apart clean.
Made this even though it's the middle of June because my youngest has been asking for pumpkin bread since her friend's mom made some back in October. She always spots coconut flour somehow and I was watching her face the whole time she took her first bite. She looked up and said 'it actually tastes like fall,' and I kind of lost it a little because that's the highest praise from this kid. The cream cheese blended in keeps it from that dry crumbly thing I've gotten with every other coconut flour loaf I've tried.
'It actually tastes like fall' in June from a kid who spotted the coconut flour. Best possible outcome.
I only had half the cream cheese so I filled the rest with sour cream and panicked for nothing. It still came out super moist and sliced clean, no crumbling at all. The blender part is so freaking easy for someone like me who usually stresses about getting batter right.
Sour cream works here. The blender doesn't care and the loaf clearly doesn't either.
Switched to mini loaf pans after my first attempt had a slightly sunken center, and it made a real difference. Twenty-two minutes at 350 and they came out of the oven set all the way through, golden on top, no collapsing. The blender method also made cleanup fast enough that I made a second batch the same day.
The sunken center thing is almost always the pan size. Mini loaves set faster and that batter needs it. Two batches same day is a lot of pumpkin bread but I get it.
Doubled the pumpkin pie spice and the extra warmth came through in every bite, still moist from the cream cheese. I was a little nervous tweaking it on my first try but it held together fine. Four stars because I overbaked mine slightly, but that's entirely on me for not watching the timer.
Double the spice. The recipe is way too conservative on that. Pull it at 18 minutes. Those last few minutes are everything.
Made this Saturday and my daughter (who loudly refuses anything pumpkin) ate two slices before I said what was in it. You genuinely cannot taste the coconut flour.
Two slices from a loudly declared pumpkin refuser before the reveal. That's the actual review.
My mom made pumpkin bread every October. I basically gave it up when I went keto three years ago. Made this yesterday on a whim and that first slice hit me in a way I wasn't expecting. The cream cheese keeps it so moist, nothing like the dry coconut flour stuff I've tried before. Stood at the counter eating it warm. Just kept thinking: this is it.
Standing at the counter warm, that's the right call. And the cream cheese is what keeps it from being just another coconut flour brick. Glad October is back.
Figured out a blender trick worth sharing: cut the cream cheese into chunks and let it sit out a full 30 to 40 minutes before blending, not just barely softened. It goes completely smooth in under a minute, zero white streaks in the batter. I also stirred in a tablespoon of almond flour after blending and the slices held together way better when cutting (coconut flour-only loaves can crumble on me). Two small adjustments, totally different result.
30 minutes minimum is right. I've rushed it and always gotten those streaks. The tablespoon of almond flour after blending is smart too - doesn't shift the texture but the crumbling on the cut edge basically goes away.
My son's first question when he smelled it baking was whether I used real flour (he's been burned by coconut flour before). Handed him a slice without saying anything and he finished it in about 45 seconds. The cream cheese does something to the texture I can't quite pin down. Already have a second loaf cooling.
Ha. The cream cheese is what kills the coconut flour taste, that's the whole trick. No eggy aftertaste, nothing to give him away. Second loaf cooling already though, he's going to start asking questions.
I've made probably four different keto pumpkin bread recipes and they all had the same problem: dense, eggy, tasted like coconut flour with pumpkin spice on top. This one is just different. The cream cheese in the batter changes the whole texture. Holds together like actual bread, not one of those keto things you force yourself to finish. Blender method takes maybe 10 minutes of prep. Had a slice Saturday morning with coffee and it didn't fall apart or taste like a baking experiment. This is the one I'm going back to.
Four recipes of that same dense eggy problem and this one breaks it. The cream cheese is texture, not flavor. That's the difference.