This gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, and nut-free pumpkin bread is made from gut-friendly cassava flour. It’s the BEST cassava flour pumpkin bread recipe, so allergy-friendly, filled with fall spice, and makes a perfect paleo breakfast or snack! The flavor and texture are just like wheat!

When I set out to come up with the best cassava flour pumpkin bread recipe, it was the end of April…

Not exactly pumpkin season, huh?

Still, I am one of those people who adores all the pumpkin things. I will eat pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bars, pumpkin anything, anytime, anywhere.

I do not discriminate when it comes to pumpkin and seasonality.

To me, if you can buy a can of organic pumpkin any time of year, then any time of year is a good time to make all the pumpkin things. (For the best price and convenience, I have my canned pumpkin shipped to me from Thrive Market.)

Also, pumpkin is a vegetable. And we make it taste sweet and yummy. So there’s that. 😉

Anyway, back to coming up with the best cassava flour pumpkin bread recipe…

My goal was a light, fluffy, just-like-wheat pumpkin bread — without grains, gluten, dairy, or nuts. The kind of recipe that would make you swear on your Granny’s cookbook it was made with white all-purpose flour and sugar.

Allergy-Friendly Cassava Flour Pumpkin Bread: Substitutions

You see, I have a lot of readers with food restrictions. It’s not uncommon for me to receive emails or comments on my recipes asking for substitutions for eggs, dairy, flour, or sweetener.

So, over the years, I’ve simply learned to make my recipes as allergy-friendly as possible.

I’m no miracle-worker, so there’s almost always one major allergen in my recipes — usually eggs.

This grain-free cassava flour pumpkin bread recipe is gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, and coconut-free, but sorry, it’s not egg-free.

(The only coconut in this cassava flour pumpkin bread recipe is coconut syrup. If you need to be coconut-free, swap it for an equal amount of maple syrup.)

Fat is forgiving, so things like butter can be swapped for ghee, or coconut oil can be swapped for avocado oil. In this cassava flour pumpkin bread, I’m using palm shortening — but you can easily use butter, ghee, coconut oil, or avocado oil, depending on which you tolerate best.

I also use tahini in this pumpkin bread. Because it’s nut-free. 🙂 (Best price on tahini is here!)

But, if you tolerate nuts and don’t have tahini on hand, it’s fine to use sunflower seed butter or whatever nut butter you do have, like almond butter or cashew butter.

Please don’t use peanut butter or pecan butter, however. Their flavor will overpower the spices and pumpkin.

So, to re-cap substitutions…

Fat & Fat Subs

This recipe calls for sustainably sourced palm shortening.

If you need to avoid palm shortening or don’t have it, you can substitute:

• butter, if you tolerate dairy
• ghee
• melted coconut oil, if you tolerate coconuts
• avocado oil

Please do not use vegetable oil, as this is a highly processed ingredient that causes inflammation in the body. This cassava flour pumpkin bread is a very anti-inflammatory recipe. 

Coconut Syrup Sweetener & Sweetener Subs

I keep returning to coconut syrup as my go-to liquid sweetener of choice lately. I love it’s caramel-y flavor and that it’s relatively low on the glycemic index — just 35!

It’s much more blood sugar-friendly than raw honey (glycemic index of 58) or maple syrup (glycemic index of 55).

But, if you don’t tolerate coconut or don’t keep coconut syrup in your pantry…

• use an equal amount of maple syrup
• use 1/2 cup raw honey

Wildly Organic’s coconut syrup is my product pick because it’s sustainably sourced and organic. (Save 10% on Wildly Organic’s coconut syrup with my discount code NOURISHING.)

I can’t recommend a granulated sweetener in this pumpkin bread recipe because I didn’t test it with one. I do think a granulated sweetener will produce a drier loaf, and perhaps one that’s too crumbly.

Finally, I’m not using a keto sweetener because cassava flour is high in carbs — too high to be keto-friendly. If you want to try a liquid keto sweetener, such as Lakanto Syrup, please go for it!

What you need to know about cassava flour…

Cassava flour (purchase here for the best price) might just be the Holy Grail of gluten-free and grain-free flours. It’s made from the cassava root — a tuber similar to potatoes and yams. 

Native to South America, it’s a prized food known as manioc or yuca.

Cassava is grain-free, gluten-free, nut-free, dairy-free, soy-free, vegan, and vegetarian. And, it’s definitely paleo because it’s been a traditional staple in the diets of South American people for at least 1,400 years (source) — unlike other “paleo” flours such as almond flour.

It also has a mild a neutral flavor — unlike many other gluten-free and grain-free flours. So, in this way, it’s quite similar to wheat flour. And yes, it can even be substituted 1:1 in recipes calling for wheat flour! You cannot say that about any other grain-free flours!

The reason cassava flour is so good for your gut is because it’s a resistant starch. 

Resistant starch is a prebiotic that remains undigested (i.e., “resistant”) in the small intestine and then feeds microflora when it ends up in the colon. Its fermentation in the colon helps to provide a healthy inner ecosystem through the production of a beneficial short-chain fatty acid called butyrate, which induces differentiation of colonic regulatory T-cells. T-cells are responsible for creating healthy immune responses and reducing inflammation. With age, humans produce fewer T-cells, making it helpful to take in more prebiotic foods. It is common to observe improvement with issues such as constipation after increasing one’s intake of resistant starch. Heating and cooling cassava flour or root ensures that the cassava is safe to consume and also catalyzes production of cassava’s resistant starch. (Source.)

Other sources of resistant starch are tiger nuts (found in my Tiger Nut Trail Mix), Jerusalem artichokes, cooked and cooled potatoes and rice, green plantains, and green bananas.

I purchase my cassava flour from Thrive Market for the absolute best price. This product also gives me consistently great results.

Otto’s is another brand that is also reputable, and you can find it on Amazon. 

I use cassava flour in this pumpkin bread because…

• it’s nut-free, coconut-free, gluten-free, and grain-free
• the texture is PERFECT for a just-like-wheat loaf
• it’s feeding the gut microbiome
• it’s an awesome ingredient for paleo baking

How to Make the Best Cassava Flour Pumpkin Bread

This is a super simple recipe… literally throw the ingredients into a bowl and mix!

I prefer to mix together all the wet ingredients with the aromatic spices first. I used my trusty ol’ hand mixer.

Then, I add the cassava flour and baking powder at the very end of mixing. Mix it all together until it’s a smooth batter — you know the drill.

In addition to using a coconut oil spray or avocado oil spray, I also line the loaf pan with parchment paper. By leaving 2 to 3 inches of parchment sticking out on each side of the pan, you give yourself “handles” with which to lift the pumpkin bread out of the loaf pan for easier and prettier serving.

If you’d like to add a garnish and some crunch, top the batter with some soaked and dried pumpkin seeds before baking. This is totally optional though!

4.23 from 9 votes

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Best Cassava Flour Pumpkin Bread (nut-free, coconut-free, dairy-free, grain-free)

This gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, and nut-free pumpkin bread is made from gut-friendly cassava flour. It's the BEST cassava flour pumpkin bread recipe, so allergy-friendly, and makes a perfect paleo breakfast or snack! The flavor and texture are just like wheat!

CourseBreakfast, Snack

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Cooling Time 30 minutes

Servings 12 servings

Calories 209 kcal

Ingredients

• 4largeeggsroom temperature
• 1/2cuptahini(can use almond butter or cashew if nuts are tolerated; use sunflower seed butter if nuts are not tolerated)
• 3/4cupcoconut syrup(or maple syrup)
• 1cuppumpkin puree(NOT pumpkin pie mix)
• 6tablespoonssoftened palm shortening(can use coconut oil or ghee)
• 2tablespoonsground cinnamon
• 2teaspoonground nutmeg
• 2 teaspoonsground ginger
• 2teaspoonsground allspice
• 1-1/2 teaspoonground cloves
• 1/2teaspoonsalt
• 1cupcassava flour
• 1tablespoonbaking powder
• 1/2cupsoaked & dried pumpkin seedsoptional

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Grease a 8.5" x 4.5" loaf pan and line with parchment paper, with parchment sticking out of the top of both sides of the loaf pan like handles.

3. Combine all ingredients, except cassava flour, baking powder, and pumpkin seeds, in the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl. Or use your hand mixer.

4. Use stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment or hand mixer to mix until smooth.

5. Add in cassava flour and baking powder and mix again until totally incorporated and smooth.

6. Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan.

7. Top with soaked and dried pumpkin seeds, if using.

8. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

9. Leave in the pan to cool for 10 to 15 minutes, then use the parchment "handles" to lift the loaf out of the pan.

10. Place on a cooling rack to finish cooling. Or serve warm.

11. Store leftovers tightly wrapped or in an airtight container in the fridge.

Nutrition Facts

Best Cassava Flour Pumpkin Bread (nut-free, coconut-free, dairy-free, grain-free)

Amount Per Serving (1 slice)

Calories 209Calories from Fat 131

% Daily Value*

Fat 14.5g22%

Saturated Fat 4.5g28%

Polyunsaturated Fat 4g

Cholesterol 62mg21%

Sodium 149mg6%

Potassium 129mg4%

Carbohydrates 17g6%

Fiber 3.5g15%

Sugar 0.8g1%

Protein 5g10%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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Do you bake with cassava flour? Will you try this BEST cassava flour pumpkin bread recipe?