With over 300 5-star reviews, this persimmon bread recipe has become a long-time reader favorite. The texture is super moist and fluffy, it’s the perfect combination of spices, and not too sweet.
Here’s what people are saying about the best persimmon bread they’ve ever had:
Want the complete scoop on baking with this fruit? Read my thorough persimmon guide.
🌟Why You’ll Love This Persimmon Bread Recipe
🧾Ingredients for Persimmon Bread
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
🧡 Pro Tip 🧡
Use very ripe and mushy persimmons for your puree. The riper they are, the sweeter they taste. Also, the mushiness of the ripe persimmon makes it so the persimmon can be evenly distributed throughout the batter. Discard as much of the persimmon skins as possible when baking for the smoothest texture.
👩🍳How to Make Persimmon Bread
Before starting, you will need to have three bowls ready: 1 large, 1 medium, and 1 small. You will also need your pureed Hachiya persimmon pulp.
🧡 Pro Tip 🧡
To make sure your bread retains its moist texture, 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.
📋Persimmon FAQs
Fuyu persimmons come into season around September and can linger into December. Hachiya persimmons tend to arrive later, usually from October through late December.
Persimmons are wonderful for baking. When they ripen to become mushy and sweet, they’re so easy to incorporate into different batters from persimmon cookies to persimmon pancakes.
Fuyu persimmons are small, squat, and can be enjoyed like apples – skin and all. When ripe, they’re sweet, slightly tangy, and perfect for snacking on.
Hachiya persimmons are longer and heart-shaped with a bright orange color. They’re incredibly astringent when not fully ripe. You must wait until they’re soft and ripe to eat them, or else they’ll taste sharp.
Absolutely! Persimmons can be enjoyed raw, and are extra delicious when ripe. Simply peel the skin (if it’s an astringent Fuyu) and slice it into wedges. You can also use them in salads, baked desserts, or even as a topping for yogurt.
They are not that similar. Apples are sweet and often have a tart edge, whereas persimmons are sweet with more of a honeyed flavor with warm spice, Unripe Hachiya persimmons are super astringent and sour, so wait until they ripen for a sweet taste.
🧡 Related Recipes
If you like this recipe, you’ll love these other creative ways to use persimmon in savory recipes and sweets!
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Persimmon Bread
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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 puree Hachiya preferred
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*. Optional to top with thinly sliced persimmons.**
- Cook 48-55 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Cool completely. I let it cool overnight and have it for breakfast!
Video
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 be concerned with this texture.
- For zero sticking when baking, 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 hachiya 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.
Wanna try the persimmon bread, I made a lot of persimmon cookies and every one loves it….now the bread can’t hardly wait for the result.
Delicious! Followed the recipe to a t and came out great. Used Hachiya Persimmons from my back yard-super ripe to the point I almost didn’t even need,to puree. Next time I plan to add raisins, and maybe swap out some butter for some egg nog, and double the nutmeg and cloves. But all in all an excellent recipe, super moist- follow the pro tip and let it cool in a sealed environment, I used a cake dome and it worked beautifully. Have bushels of backyard persimmons and this will be my go to recipe.
This recipe just wasn’t for me. I agree with one of the other reviewers you can’t taste the persimmon because there’s too much spice. I think the problem might be the ratio of spice to flour in the recipe. I have a recipe for persimmon cookies, which is a really delicious recipe, and actually has more spice. It’s also too dark. The texture was perfect.
I was concerned about the excess quantity of spices but I followed the recipe exactly. The bread turned out dark brown, a bit dry and squat, and tasted like gingerbread. The spices overwhelmed any trace of persimmon (which doesn’t have much of a flavor anyway). It’s okay if you toast a slice and add butter, but I will give the recipe a pass next time I have persimmons.
Hi Elise, I’m so sorry to hear it didn’t come out as you wished! This bread is on the brown side, due to the spices. However, it shouldn’t be dry at all, or even toast-able. I’m guessing it was a bit over-baked, so I’m glad you were able to salvage it by toasting it. One other possibility that made it bread-y is that the flour wasn’t fluffed/sifted prior to measuring, which can lead to an excess of flour in the batter and a bready texture. I hope this helps, and better luck next time! Happy to trouble-shoot with you to get it right.
i have a fuyu persimmon so i had a bunch of extras andmade this today…i steamed a bunch of fuyu persimmons and blended it to make a puree. made a few swaps: instead of 1/2 cup butter, i used 1/ 4 cup of light butter and 1/ 4 cup of fat-free greek yogurt, and i used coconut sugar instead of regular sugar. baked for 55 mins and let it cool.
i tasted it, and it was pretty good, but it tasted more like a lightly sweetened slice of bread rather than a persimmon bread, but that’s my fault because of all of the swaps i did, but it still tasted good, and the texture was wonderful and fluffy. i think i’ll do less swaps next time. thanks so much.
I’d be so curious to try this recipe with yogurt… I bet it adds a great flavor and even moisture. You might need to add a little less flour next time to take the breadiness out, and it might need a little less time baking. Good luck next time, and thank you for sharing all the details… it really helps others who want to make swaps!
This was decadent, could I use less butter next time to reduce the guilt?
If you give it a try with less butter and it works out, please let us know!
This worked great the first few times I made it! I want to make a loaf today, but my persimmons are not soft. It it okay to use them when they are more like a ripe tomato, and not super soft and overripe?
Hi Rachael, if you pop them in a food processor, it should help!
I love this. I prefer less sweetness, so I actually use three times less sugar (only 1/4 cup per loaf) and increase the spice quantities (I grind the cloves and grate the nutmeg myself) – it turns out beautifully!
Thanks for letting us know it works to reduce the sugar, Alia… enjoy!
Delicious but disappointed that the pretty sliced stars I put on top just sunk into the bread and you can’t see them😢
Oh no! I bet they were so cute… sorry to hear that!
How many persimmons would you say you would need for this recipe?
Hi Rachel, it really depends on the size of the persimmons you have found. Usually, 3 Hachiya persimmons works for me.
Hi,
I used 3 Fuyu permissions and that yields about 1 cup. This bread tastes so yummy.
Glad to hear you liked it, Cathy… and thank you for sharing!
I have a persimmon tree in my garden. I find that after removing the peel and seeds from an over-ripe Hachiya persimmon, a single fruit yields about 1/2 cup of pulp. For this loaf use two “good” persimmons (three or four if they are damaged and need the bad parts removed). I’ve found that going slightly higher than a cup is ok.
Could I double this recipe and use a nonstick ring or Bundt pan?
I love this recipe exactly as is and make it every persimmon season. I do not add the persimmon slices to the top, in addition to messing up the baking time of the loaf it also turns out a bit mushy just under the slices. Family and friends all love this recipe.
Thank you for taking the time to share, Autumn!
Bread tastes okay, although not good enough to make again.
Just made this recipe and it was perfect! I used fuyu persimmons. They weren’t soft enough so I roasted them first, peeled, then pureed. I used 2/3C sugar and it was plenty sweet enough. I made 2 mini loaf pans instead of the one regular one. Thank you for posting this recipe!
Such a great idea to roast them first, Kristen, and I’m glad to hear it worked… thank you for taking the time to share!
Excited to try this recipe! Can I sub olive oil instead of butter?
Hi Rae, I haven’t tested it myself, but it should work at a 1:1 replacement. The flavor will be different though. If you give it a try, please come back and let us know how it came out or if you think it needed more/less!
Hi there,
Is there a frosting you would recommend for the cake? Thank you!
Hi Ivy, this loaf would be delicious with a glaze or a cream cheese frosting. If making a glaze, simply whisk together 1/3 cup of powdered sugar with 1 tablespoon of milk or water, plus 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract.