Pear Bread is a moist fruit-filled quick bread recipe naturally sweet and full of flavor with fresh pears, cinnamon, vanilla, and almonds.
Banana Bread is one of the most well known and easy Quick Bread Recipes, but you can make a tasty breakfast bread with practically any fruit just as easily!
PEAR BREAD
When it comes to late summer fruit desserts, there is one fruit that you are probably missing out on! Pears are ripest in the late summer, right along with berries and peaches, and become incredibly sweet and juicy. If you don’t bake with pears often (or ever) this fresh pear recipe is one you need to try. The ripe pears add a level of natural sweetness and moisture that makes this tender, quick bread so delicious. It’s sure to be a new favorite breakfast and dessert.
Pear Bread is just as easy make as other fruit quick breads, like Apple Bread, with a few subtle changes that make all the difference. This Pear Bread recipe is made with extra cinnamon, a flavor that tastes amazing with fresh pears. The lemon juice helps tenderize the pears as they bake so it’s extra moist, and the almonds finish it off.
This rustic Pear Bread can be made at the peak of the season, around late summer to early October, and saved for later. A prepared loaf of Pear Bread can be frozen for up to 9 months, so right when your bread is running out, it will be time for fresh pear season again. It makes a special, unexpected fruit bread to gift during the holidays too!
Let the pear taste shine in this simple fruit bread and enjoy with a cup of coffee, or serve with a little butter and a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar or confectioner’s sugar. Transform this delicious Pear Bread from breakfast to dessert by topping with Cream Cheese Frosting or a drizzle of Salted Caramel Sauce. Try a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream on a warm slice of Pear Bread for a cozy late summer dessert.
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Tips for Making Pear Bread
- The type of pear you use will effect the flavor of this Pear Bread. We used D’Anjou pears that are mild and sweet. Bosc pears have a spicy sweetness, Asian pears have an almost butterscotch flavor, and Bartlett pears have a floral and full-bodied flavor. Try different pears to find the one you like best.
- Pat the chopped pears dry and toss in a little cornstarch or flour before adding to the bread batter so that they don’t sink to the bottom.
- You can use frozen or canned pears in place of the fresh pears. For frozen pears, just chop and add without thawing. For canned pears, drain and rinse off any sugary syrup before chopping and adding.
- Make next-level good Roasted Pear Bread and roast the pears before you add them. Toss chopped pears in 2 tablespoons melted butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla and bake at 400 degrees until golden, about 15 minutes.

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VARIATIONS ON PEAR BREAD
- Almonds: For extra nutty and earthier flavor, toast the almonds in a dry skillet over medium heat until fragrant before adding. Instead of almonds, you can use pecans, walnuts, or hazelnuts in your bread.
- Buttermilk: Make this Pear Bread extra moist and rich by using buttermilk instead of whole milk. To make your own buttermilk, replace 1 tablespoon milk with white vinegar and let stand for 15 minutes at room temperature before using. You could also swap in sour cream or plain Greek yogurt for the whole milk.
- Spices: Swap out half the cinnamon with an apple pie spice blend, Pumpkin Pie Spice blend, or other baking spices like ground nutmeg or ground ginger. A ground ginger and fresh ginger combination would make a delicious Ginger Pear Bread.
- Streusel Topping: Make Pear Bread with Oatmeal Streusel topping. Combine ½ cup rolled oats, ½ cup brown sugar, ½ cup all-purpose flour, and 4 tablespoons cold butter with a fork until a crumble forms. Sprinkle evenly on top of bread batter before baking and cook as usual.
- Butter: Replace the vegetable oil with melted butter for a buttery Pear Bread. For a healthy Pear Bread, you can use applesauce or mashed banana instead of the vegetable oil.
- Apple: Turn this into Apple and Pear Bread by swapping half the pears with peeled and diced apples like Granny Smith, Jonagold, or Fuji apples. Try stone fruit or berries like plums, peaches, blueberries, or strawberries too.
- Pear Muffins: Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners or grease really well. Divide Pear Bread batter between muffin cups evenly, filling about 2/3 full, and bake for 18-22 minutes until golden. Muffins are done when an inserted toothpick comes out clean with moist crumbs.
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HOW TO STORE PEAR BREAD
- Serve: Cover Pear Bread and keep at room temperature for up to 3 days in a cool, dry place. Use a linen towel or paper towel to absorb moisture in the container.
- Store: Once cooled to room temperature, transfer Pear Bread to an airtight container and store up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator. Warm Pear Bread in microwave or bring to room temperature to serve.
- Freeze: Cool completely before wrapping Pear Bread, either whole loaf or slices, in plastic wrap and storing in a freezer safe bag. Freeze Pear Bread for up to 9 months and thaw overnight in the refrigerator before heating to serve.


Ingredients
- 3 large eggs , room temperature
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 D'Anjou pears , peeled, cored and chopped
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2 cup sliced almonds
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter and flour an 8x4 inch loaf pan.
- In a large mixing bowl whisk together eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla extract until well blended.
- In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
- Add flour mixture to the wet ingredients and whisk until just combined.
- Toss pears with lemon juice.
- Fold pears and almonds in by hand until just combined and pour into the pan and bake for 55-60 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
Thanks Sabrino. Another great recipe. Made pear muffins instead of bread. . Used 1/2 recipe and it makes 13 muffins. Cooked 18 minutes. Topped with turbinado sugar.
Served with Mimosas, fresh kiwis and bananas.
In the “Variations” section it states that you can swap buttermilk, sour cream or yogurt for whole milk. I don’t see whole milk as an ingredient in this recipe. Am I missing something?
I always jump to recipe. Made it per instructions. Thought it looked dry but read elsewhere that dough should look dry because of water content of pears. Once I put it in the oven I perused the rest of the blog and noticed the same thing about the buttermilk. I hope this works out.
This also baffled me…. I read and re read the recipe so many times trying to figure out where I was missing the milk. So made it without any as per recipe