We Bought 5 Popular Boxed Pumpkin Breads To Find Out Which Is The Best

When the leaves start falling, Halloween decorations pop up around your neighborhood, and the air has that perfect crisp feel to it — you know that it's also time for fall-flavored recipes and treats. One of my all time favorites is pumpkin bread. Not only does it taste amazing, but the actual act of making pumpkin bread can be so enjoyable. With the delicious aroma that fills your kitchen matched with the anticipation of the delicious treat is simply fall perfection. I love to bake a loaf to have ready each week and enjoy it with a morning coffee, as a dessert with some icing on top, or as a little snack during a cold fall day.

Personally, I am not one to bake from scratch. I always take advantage of boxed bread mixes to help make the experience a little bit easier. As I was stocking up on my pumpkin bread this year, I realized that I hadn't ever properly tasted various brands — therefore, I didn't know what the best pumpkin bread mix out there was.

I decided to buy five different boxes of pumpkin bread mix, bake them all at once, and perform a taste test. This way, I could accurately compare each bread to each other. In my comparison, I considered the following: moistness, consistency, flavor profile, price, preparation time, and effort. Keep on reading to find out which pumpkin bread you should buy for your next fall baking endeavor.

The Simple Mills Almond Flour Pumpkin Bread is a gluten-free bread made with no artificial ingredients. It is definitely one of the healthier breads out there, as it's sweetened naturally with banana and coconut sugar, and doesn't have much added sugars. It's usually priced around $7.50 per box, depending on your location. In the world of pumpkin bread mixes, that is on the pricier side, but for something made with cleaner ingredients — we can let it slide.

The preparation for this bread was very simple, and took about 45 minutes in total for preparation and baking. It came out much darker than all of the other loaves, and it almost resembled a bran muffin. It did give off the mouthwatering aroma of spiced pumpkin which made me extremely excited to taste it.

At first taste, I was surprised to see how moist it was. Gluten-free breads can end up very dry, and for the Simple Mills bread, that wasn't the case. The taste itself was enjoyable, and it was even a little bit earthy — potentially from the almond flour. The pumpkin flavor itself wasn't incredibly strong, but it was subtle and enjoyable. The bread was fluffy and full, and had a great consistency for a gluten-free bread. The only thing that I didn't like about the taste was that there was an odd licorice flavor that popped through. Looking at the ingredients, I'm not sure where that came from, but it threw me off a bit.

The Lakanto Pumpkin Spice Bread initially grabbed my attention when I kept seeing it pop up on Amazon. With 4.3 stars on the site, and it being a sugar-free dessert, I was definitely intrigued. The bread is made with monk fruit sweetener, almond flour, real pumpkin, and other natural ingredients. It's the lowest calorie bread that I found, and is more of a "diet" bread.

Seeing that this bread was more of a healthier option, I wasn't expecting to enjoy it that much. Out of all of the breads, it was definitely the most dry. However, it had a very strong pumpkin flavor that really popped out. I could definitely tell that it wasn't made with real sugar, but the taste was still enjoyable. Usually, baked goods with fake sugar tend to have a weird aftertaste, but I do have to say that the Lakanto Pumpkin Spice Bread had an incredibly pleasant aftertaste that made me want more.

I think that when comparing this bread to other brands, it definitely sticks out like a sore thumb. The overall texture and flavor isn't like the rest. If I had tasted it all by itself and wasn't compared to other breads, I would have thoroughly enjoyed it. It was also very easy to make — as it only needed a few ingredients to mix together and about 30 minutes of baking time. I think that if you're someone who's watching your sugar count or calorie intake, this is actually a great option.

Pillsbury Quick Pumpkin Bread is the ultimate classic. Many people depend on Pillsbury for its fall desserts, and for good reason. It's a brand that everyone can trust. It tends to be one of the cheapest options on the market as well, as it's usually priced between $2-3.

Pillsbury Quick Pumpkin Bread is simple to make, only needing some water, oil, and eggs to mix in. The cooking time takes about 45-55 minutes, depending on your pan size. It's made with real pumpkin along with other typical baking ingredients, like enriched bleached flour and spices.

Out of all of the breads, I think that the Pillsbury bread has the best sweet to spice ratio. It wasn't overly sweet, but had enough sweetness to make it taste a bit indulgent. I could taste the spices clearly, while getting the perfect amount of pumpkin flavor as well. Overall, it's an incredibly balanced bread. The best part about the Pillsbury bread is that it's ridiculously moist with a great consistency. I think that for the low price point, simple baking process, and solidly enjoyable taste, this bread is definitely one of the best.

Another pumpkin bread that kept popping up on Amazon was the King Arthur Gluten-Free Pumpkin Bread. King Arthur is a great brand that sells baking flours, baking mixes, baking appliances, and more. The Gluten-Free Pumpkin Bread sells for about $7-8, depending on where you get it. Although it's much more expensive than other brands, that tends to be the case with gluten-free items.

Made with real pumpkin, whole grain brown rice flour, oat flour, molasses, and spices, this mix doesn't stray too far from the path of regular, gluten-filled pumpkin bread. Upon first taste, I actually thought that it tasted more like cornbread rather than pumpkin bread. That was a bit odd, considering there are no corn ingredients in the mix (besides cornstarch). However, as I had more bites, I got more of the pumpkin flavor coming through. It also had a bit of a salty punch, which I enjoyed. I thought that out of the gluten-free brands I tried, this King Arthur bread actually had the best texture. I wouldn't have been able to tell that it was gluten-free because it was incredibly moist, fluffy, and didn't fall apart. All in all, it did have a slightly bland taste compared to the other breads, but I enjoyed that it tasted more fresh and natural.

Libby's Pumpkin Bread comes in a large, heavy box. It's sold for about $6 on average, depending on where you get it. The reason that the box is so heavy is because it actually comes with a can of pumpkin to add to the mixture. The canned pumpkin, which can also be great in many other recipes, did add a little bit more preparation time to the bread — but it was honestly worth it. Other than that, the bread is prepared just like the other brands.

At first bite, I was absolutely enthralled by this bread. It tasted like a fresh, moist piece of bread you'd get at your local bakery. It was so overwhelmingly moist that it practically melted in my mouth. It was also much more dense than the other breads, which I actually enjoyed. I think that both fluffy and dense breads have a place at the table, and it really depends on what you prefer. Libby's Pumpkin Bread has equally strong pumpkin and spice flavors that balance each other out, creating a perfect harmony of fall flavors in your mouth.

I do think that having the pure pumpkin mixed into this bread makes all the difference. It affected the consistency of the bread by making it much more dense and moist. It also made this bread taste the most pumpkin-y out of every single brand that I tried. Honestly, I was blown away by Libby's.

If I were to have picked up and baked any of these breads individually, I would be satisfied with any of them. They all have great qualities that I think anyone would enjoy. However, when comparing the pumpkin breads, I definitely noticed why some were much better than the others.

Overall, I think the clear winner here was Libby's Pumpkin Bread. It's sold at a fair price, was still easy to prepare even with the extra pumpkin ingredients, has an amazing texture and taste, and is simply the perfect pumpkin bread. This is definitely a bread that I'd keep stocked up to make every week throughout the fall. You can never have too much pumpkin bread!

I would like to give an honorary mention to one of the gluten-free options. For our readers who can't enjoy Libby's due to gluten, I would definitely recommend the King Arthur Gluten-Free Pumpkin Bread as your bread of choice. The consistency is just like regular bread, and the overall texture and flavor is enjoyable. For this one, I would add a bit of my own canned pumpkin to get a bit more pumpkin flavor and moisture.

When choosing which pumpkin breads to taste test, I paid attention to the brands that were most seen in grocery stores and on Amazon. I wanted to choose mixes that weren't too similar to each other, so that I could have a wide array of flavors to compare. I baked each bread, let them cool, and tasted them all in one sitting. I focused on texture, consistency, flavor profile, price, and preparation time when comparing each pumpkin bread brand. Every single brand offered different tastes and experiences, and I hope this article helped you decide which bread to get on your next grocery run or Amazon order.