This persimmon bread has the texture of banana bread, but it's even better because it is made with persimmons, my favorite winter fruit. It's got all the seasons winter spices, and just like how you use overripe bananas for banana bread, you get to use those overripe persimmons for this bread!
Baking with persimmons FAQ
- Use very ripe and mushy persimmons. The riper, the sweeter. Also, the mushiness of the ripe persimmon makes it so the persimmon can be evenly distributed throughout the batter.
- Note that the batter is very wet, so don't concerned if it looks like wet like banana bread batter. I use a non-stick loaf pan.
- Fuyu or Hichaya? Although I prefer to eat slightly under-ripe Fuyu persimmons for snacks on the go, the over-ripe hichaya works best in the batter of this recipe. I use sliced Fuyu persimmons for the top of the bread.
- Discard as much of the persimmon skins as possible when baking for the smoothest texture.
Step by Step Persimmon Bread
Preheat your oven to 350F. Lightly grease your 9x5x3 loaf pan with butter or baking spray.
Get three bowls: 1 large, 1 medium, 1 small. In the medium bowl, sift the dry ingredients or whisk them together to break down any clumps (flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves). In the large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until well incorporated. In the small bowl, beat the eggs and vanilla extract with a whisk, ~1 minute.
With a hand mixer or standing mixer slowly pour the egg mixture into the creamed butter and sugar. Mix well. Add the persimmon pulp. Gently mix with a spoon or rubber spatula to incorporate the pulp throughout the batter. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients 1/3 at a time. Mix until just incorporated. See image below.
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
Cook 1 hour until a toothpick inserted into the center just barely comes out clean. Do not overbake.
My trick to an extra moist persimmon bread...
Let the bread cool completely in a sealed environment. Use a plastic bag or large resealable container. Then, leave the bread overnight and enjoy it in the morning.
Love persimmons as much as I do?
Try this wonderful winter salad, that was a hit on last years Thanksgiving table... Persimmon & Goat Cheese Salad with Radicchio and Pomegranate.
Looking for more sweets to bake?
If you like this recipe, you'll love these other Fall/Winter bakes:
- Fresh Ginger Root Cake
- Cranberry Orange Scones
- My Perfect-Every-Time Pumpkin Pie Filling
- Ginger Cardamom Ghee Tea Cookies
Or check out all my dessert recipes & sweets here!
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Persimmon Bread
Equipment
- Non-stick loaf pan
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature, plus more for greasing your loaf pan
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 cup persimmon pulp Hochaya preferred
- 1 persimmon Fuyu preferred, thinly sliced for garnish/decoration
Instructions
- Preheat to 350F. Lightly grease your 9x5x3 loaf pan.
- In a medium bowl sift the dry ingredients. Flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
- In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar.
- In a small bowl, beat the eggs with the vanilla extract.
- With a hand mixer or standing mixer slowly pour the egg mixture into the creamed butter and sugar. Mix well.
- Add the persimmon. Remove from mixer.
- With a spoon or rubber spatula, add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients 1/3 at a time. Mix with a rubber spatula until just incorporated.
- Pour into loaf pan*. Cook 1 hour until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Cool completely. I let it cool overnight and have it for breakfast!
Notes
- Use very ripe and mushy persimmons. The riper, the sweeter. Also, the mushiness of the ripe persimmon makes it so the persimmon can be evenly distributed throughout the batter.
- Note that the batter is very wet, so don't concerned if it looks like wet like banana bread batter. I use a non-stick loaf pan.
- Fuyu or Hichaya? Although I prefer to eat slightly under-ripe Fuyu persimmons for snacks on the go, the over-ripe hichaya works best in the batter of this recipe. I use sliced Fuyu persimmons for the top of the bread.
- Discard as much of the persimmon skins as possible when baking for the smoothest texture.
- * Usually when baking in a glass pan, the temperature should be 25 degrees higher, and will take up to 10 minutes longer - this recipe has not been tested in a glass pan, but in a non-stick pan (see photos).
Nutrition
This post was originally published in February of 2019, but was republished with step by step instructions, and tips October of 2019.
What a smart way to use persimmons! And I love the color you get from the fruit in this bread. Plus, the texture is perfection, and the bread is wonderfully moist!
Thank you so much, Marisa... so glad to hear you loved it!
There is a persimmons tree in our local park with tons of ripe fruit on it presently. I think I will pick some tomorrow and try this.
Can't wait to hear what you think, Chris!
This recipe was a hit with my family! So easy and super delicious! I'll be making this one again and again!
So glad to hear you enjoyed it, Kim!!
I am a persimmon lover and this is basically a tailor-made recipe for me. Fantastic idea, it looks incredible, and the texture is great. Love the many details in the post. Made it perfectly the first time!
So glad to hear the step by step details helped you make it the first time around... hope you make it all persimmon season long... I know I will be!
So good! My friends devoured this at bible study! Thanks for the recipe.
Oh yay! So glad to hear it was devoured... and hope you end up making it again!
Loving the color and texture on this bread. Couldn't wait to try it out your way, and absolutely loved it! Will definitely be making this one over and over again.
Oh wonderful, Neha! It's on repeat over here, too, until we can't find persimmons... yay!
What a creative use of this winter fruit! I’ve never baked with persimmons before but this seems like the perfect recipe to start with ?
You're the sweetest, Salima! I had a ton of over-ripe persimmons a few years ago, started recipe testing, and knew they'd be a great substitute for bananas in banana bread... so this recipe was born! I really hope you give it a try.
Came out perfectly on the first try! I love there aren't raisins or nuts. The texture is so good it would be a shame
to contradict it with added ingredients.
I'm about to try a pickled persimmon recipe. Will send it to you if I like the outcome 🙂
Amazing! I am thrilled to hear how much you liked it. And I'm all about the smooth texture in this one... leaving out the raisins and nuts is key! Enjoy your pickled persimmons!
That was so good! Growing up in the south, I had my share of persimmon everything. I never had bread, though.
Glad to hear you liked it, Ben!!
I love a good quick bread, and the persimmon addition is perfect for fall baking...loved it. Those warm spices add the perfect touch. Thanks so much for sharing!
So glad to hear you enjoyed the warm spices with the persimmon, Amanda!
Homemade bread is interesting and with a unique flavor like persimmon was awesome. I love Banana bread and so needed to check on this too. Moist, delicious and yum.
Oh yay! Thanks for letting me know... glad to hear it came out great!
Love this Persimmon bread, how delicious and flavourful these are ! Couldnt wait to try my hands on it. Thanks for sharing this 🙂
Thanks for sharing, Farrukh! Glad to hear you enjoyed it 🙂
I love persimmon but never baked with them before! This recipe was so delicious, I will definitely make it again! Need to buy more persimmons;)
Oh this makes me so happy to hear! Glad you enjoyed it.
I planted 3 persimmon trees this year and had no idea what I would do with all the fruit once they start producing! I think this is the first time I have seen them used in a cake, and I love it! Also, it looks gorgeous!
That makes me so happy to hear! 3 persimmon trees sounds like a dream... I usually just chop them up and enjoy them in oatmeal instead of adding sugar.
I love quick and beautiful breads in the fall. I have never cooked with persimmons but thanks to you I was inspired to do so. Thanks for all the tips!
So happy to hear it, Debbie! You are very welcome.
I have only ever baked with persimmons once, but I thought it tasted amazing, so I don't know why I don't do it more often!
This cake is perfect!
I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed it, Cathleen!
Your recipe looks delicious. I always shy away from making fruity breads and this recipe is perfect. Thanks a lot.
I'm so happy to hear it, Sophie!
This looks so beautiful!! I love persimmon but never baked with it - was excited to try and came out great!
So happy to hear it, Aline!
Hi, this recipe sounds amazing !!! Could I substitute sugar with honey, butter with EVVO or coconut oil and just egg whites instead of whole eggs ?
Hi Marina... great questions! I have tried the recipe with both olive oil and coconut oil and it works great. Know that the olive oil will yield a slightly different taste.
Although I haven't tried the recipe yet with the other two substitutions, you will (probably) be OK with the egg substitution (at 2 egg whites per egg in the recipe).
For the honey instead of sugar, I am worried that the bread will not rise sufficiently. You can try adding a bit more baking soda, but at your own risk.
I am so curious to know how it goes... so keep me updated and wishing you luck!
This bread was awesome. I doubled it, used gluten free flour, replaced the sugar with honey, increased the baking soda, placed sliced meyer lemon dipped in honey on top, and it tasted like ginger bread! Thank you!
I'm so happy to hear it, Mairin! I'm glad the substitutions worked out 🙂
It came out low, which can be ok for many bread recipes, but it started to burn after 45 minutes in the oven! I pulled it out as soon as I smelled it. Yes, I'm sure it was at 350 degrees.
After it cooled thoroughly, I cut a slice for a taste and trimmed off the edges. The flavor was good but it was VERY moist. I bet the center of the loaf will be inedible.
I consider myself a decent home baker, so I want to say the recipe is flawed, but if everyone else enjoyed it, maybe it was me :-/
Hi JuanaMaria... I am so sad and shocked to hear this! Having personally made this loaf dozens of times, plus other folks who have used the recipe from the blog, and friends and family. One thing I can think of is that if the persimmon isn't ripe enough, then it doesn't disperse properly in the batter... this would result in a cake that is dry on the outside (causing it to burn) and all the persimmon coming together on the inside (causing it to be raw and inedible). Was the consistency of the persimmons liquidy? Like a completely black banana?
First time making persimmon bread and this recipe is outstanding! Perfectly moist, great flavor with the spices, called for ingredients that all bakers have on hand, and very easy to make. It is one of my new favorites to make! (I just read the last comment that posted since I found this recipe and wanted to add that I did switch my oven to convection for the last 15 min when I tested it and the center was not done, but I thought it my oven which is only a few years old and/or the fact I baked it in a new glass loaf pan - I will use convection next time too and keep an eye on it. I bake banana bread and others all the time and my persimmons were very, very ripe). Thank you!
Thank you so much for sharing this thoughtful response, Brenda. I am glad to hear you love the recipe! There is a difference when using a glass pan - I usually bake mine in a darker non-stick pan (as you can see in the photos). I will add your tip to the recipe notes, plus the note that usually when baking in a glass pan, the temperature should be 25 degrees higher, and will take up to 10 minutes longer. I haven't tested it with this recipe (yet), but will do so ASAP since it seems like a helpful exercise.
It smelled great! However, I followed the directions for a glass pan. It came out charred ☹️ The regular directions and temp. Would have been just fine.
Thanks for sharing, JT. Really appreciate your feedback... this is something I am scheduled to recipe test as soon as I get my kitchen back so we can resolve the glass pan vs. non-stick cooking times ASAP.
I had two huge overripe persimmons so I made a 1.5 times batch and I added pecans. Delicious! Super moist. I recommend freshly ground nutmeg and cloves.
I love this recipe! So moist! I used only 1/2 cup sugar instead of 3/4 because my fuyu persimmons are ripe & very sweet. I definitely will make this again!
Yay! I'm so happy to hear it, Antonia. And glad to hear your persimmons were very ripe and sweet. Enjoy!
Made Lucille Carmichael's recipe with half the sugar along with nuts etc I it was much like a fruit cake very good and very dense want to try this with some frozen persimmons to be like a banana bread.
and not I -always proofread before posting-Wade
Looking forward to hearing how it goes! I've never made it with frozen persimmons, but I imagine it works great.