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My parents in Idaho and my in-laws in California both have persimmon trees (even though according to every tree expert, persimmon trees don’t grow in Idaho, but Mom babied her two trees and this year there are probably 100 beautiful persimmons on their branches).
We love persimmons but up until this persimmon bread recipe, we were just eating them fresh. Have you tried them yet? They kind of taste like sweet pumpkins/apples – super delicious! It’s no wonder many Russian and Ukrainian people are smitten with them.
One of my readers, Janna A., generously shared this recipe with me last year but we didn’t have any persimmons at that point so I held on to the recipe until persimmons were back in season. I love this recipe as much as Vadim’s very popular banana bread.
The verdict: this one’s a keeper (in a make again and again sort of way)! It’s soft and moist, and every slice is studded with walnuts and raisins.Thank you Janna for this treasure of a recipe! Also, who wants to win a blendtec blender?? There’s one up for grabs at the bottom of this post. Humungo thanks to Blendtec who sponsored the giveaway!
Ingredients for Persimmon Bread:
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 Tbsp real vanilla extract
3 cups fuyu persimmon pureed (a little over 1 1/2 lbs)
10 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
2 tsp baking soda, sifted to make there aren’t lumps
1/4 tsp (generous pinch) of salt
2 tsp cinnamon
3 cups all-purpose flour *measured correctly
1 1/2 cups walnut pieces, toasted
1 cup raisins
*To measure flour, scoop into the measuring cup with a spoon & scrape off the top
*Watch our easy video tutorial on how to measure correctly
How to Make Persimmon Bread:
Prep: Preheat oven to 350˚F. Butter two bread loaf pans. Toast walnut pieces on a dry skillet until aromatic and lightly golden then cool to room temp.
1. Remove tops of persimmon with a butter knife (I’ve broken the tip off a good knife doing this before, so I only use a butter knife now). Cut into quarters and puree (I use this blendtec to do it super fast). I love pureeing stuff in my blender because there aren’t as many parts to wash as with a food processor and it’s super fast resulting in a perfect puree).
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together 2 eggs, 1 cup sugar and 1 Tbsp vanilla. Mix in 3 cups persimmon puree and the melted butter (p.s. I did this in my mixer but you can totally whisk by hand).
3. Add 2 tsp of sifted baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt and 2 tsp cinnamon and whisk to combine. Whisk in 3 cups flour until blended.
4. Fold in 1 1/2 cups walnuts and 1 cup raisins until evenly dispersed and divide the batter between buttered loaf pans. Bake for 45 – 50 min or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 min then turn out onto wire rack to cool to room temp.
So moist, soft and yummy. It’s a perfect breakfast or anytime bread! If you can’t make it right now, make sure to pin this recipe for later. You’ll thank me later ;),
Persimmon Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp real vanilla extract
- 3 cups fuyu persimmon pureed, a little over 1 1/2 lbs
- 10 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp generous pinch of salt
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, *see note below on measuring
- 1 1/2 cups walnut pieces, toasted
- 1 cup raisins
Instructions
Prep: Preheat oven to 350˚F. Butter two bread loaf pans. Toast walnut pieces on a dry skillet until aromatic and lightly golden.
- Remove tops of persimmon with a butterknife (I've broken the tip off a good knife doing this before, so I only use a butter knife now). Cut into quarters and puree in a blender.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together 2 eggs, 1 cup sugar and 1 Tbsp vanilla. Mix in persimmon puree and the melted butter.
- Add 2 tsp of sifted baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt and 2 tsp cinnamon and whisk to combine. Add Whisk in 3 cups flour until blended.
- Fold in 1 1/2 cups walnuts and 1 cup raisins until evenly dispersed and divide the batter between prepared loaf pans. Bake for 45 - 50 min or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 min then turn out onto wire rack to cool to room temp.
Notes
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
THE GIVEAWAY (ended)
One of you lucky ducks will win a Blendtec Designer 725 series blenda (that’s ‘cool’ for blender) and a bonus twister jar to go with it. I’m telling you this blender is a bad mama jama (that’s ‘cool’ for awesome – y’all better get with the ‘cool’ program so I don’t have to keep interpreting things for you, k?). Blendtec makes the fiercest blender I know of and it’s awesome for more than just smoothies. You can make soups, baby food, nut butters, whipped cream, ice cream, dips, this persimmon bread, juice,.. it’s a veeeeery long list.
To thank Blendtec for sponsoring the giveaway, be sure to give them a virtual high five by following them on Facebook and Instagram.
I tried doing the Persimmons Bread but the persimmons I used are not the FUYU persimmons so the bread sort of sunk in the middle.
I baked it for 47 minutes is that why it sunk
Oh no, I recommend using the exact ingredients in the recipe especially on your first try because that is proven to work.
I tried this tonight making one 9×5 and 4 mini loaves. I used dates in place of the raisins as my grandkids will not eat anything with raisins. I followed the directions using the comments to help. This is a subtle, but delicious bread. I am very happy with my efforts. I had no difficulty with collapsing loaves or undercooking. The only tweak I made besides the dates was adding a scant 1.5 T of All Purpose Flour as the dough seemed very wet. This took care of it and I am pleased! Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe! I have never made anything with persimmons before, always just ate them raw. This is a lovely addition to my recipe file!
Thank you for sharing that with us, good to know that you like the result!
Just had my first slightly warm slice and it was excellent. Used melted smart balance, Fuyu persimmons, they were not puréed, more like heavily grated from my mini food processor, used about three and a half medium size, with baking soda mixed in, sprayed loaf pans and put parchment paper on bottom, and sprayed again. No sticking! Put my usual homemade cinnamon sugar mix on top of loaves before baking. I do this for all fruit breads and pies. Baked in convection oven at 325 for about 55 minutes after checking every five minutes from 45 on. The melon ball trick, sharp side, from an earlier commenter, worked great for cutting off tops of persimmons. Did NOT peel persimmons, which I loved and definitely didn’t need to. Used regular raisins. If I wasn’t on a diet I would go back and cut myself another slice! Thanks for the yummy recipe!
Thank you for your detailed feedback, Nancy. We appreciate you sharing this with us and we’re glad you love the recipe!
Love this recipe! I used pecans instead of walnuts, and dried blueberries instead of raisins. Replaced half of the sugar with monk fruit and half of the flour with almond flour. I was rescuing some super ripe persimmons, so I used 1/2 cup less because some of the comments seemed to indicate it may be too much moisture and you said yours were firm. I also baked at 325 convection for 45 minutes and it was a bit more toasted, but still well baked. Love the texture from the persimmons, and the extra flavor from the berries and nuts!! Thank you!
Hello Mary Ann, thank you for sharing some of the changes that you made, I’m happy to know that it turned out great!
I advice caution in trying this recipe. I followed the recipe exactly and I was very disappointed with the result. Even though it was cooked all the way through, the texture was off and unappealing. On top of that it was very bland. I ended up having to throw both loaves away (wasting ingredients and my time).
Hi Wendy, a couple of things to consider – make sure your persimmon is ripe. if they are firm, they won’t puree properly and won’t taste as sweet in the bread. Also, check your baking soda to make sure it is not expired or it won’t rise correctly and the texture will be off. Lastly, be sure you are switching baking soda for a baking powder since those don’t substitute straight across. I hope that helps to troubleshoot. Oh one final thing, make sure to use the correct variety of persimmon. There is a variety that tastes very chalky and weird and should be avoided in this recipe.
Thanks for your response. As stated in the recipe, I used Fuyu persimmons but it would be helpful if the recipe included that they be ripe, and what you mean by ripe. Yes, I used fresh baking SODA. As I said, the bread was cooked all the way through, so I don’t believe this to be a baking soda issue.
This is the absolutely the best persimmon bread recipe! Everything is well-balanced…not too sweet and the flavors are well-blended!
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Dave!
Natasha, when you said melted butter..should I let it melt naturally until really soft or can I put it in the microwave to melt. thank you.
Hi Azucena, I use the melt butter feature in my microwave. You can also use the stovetop method.
This is by far my favorite fruit bread recipe. I’ve used it with apples, bananas, loads of persimmon bread (we have two trees) and others with and without nuts.
It’s perfect everytime.
Glad you always love this recipe, Maria!
Do the fuyu persimmons need to have the skin removed before being pureed? It does not say in recipe. Less work the better:)
Hi Walter, No peeling required 😃.
Thank you for specifying this. I have seen several recipes that call for peeled, but those that call for puréed do not specify i they are peeled. I have fallen in LOVE with persimmons after making a pie and cheesecake with them.
I made this recipe exactly as is. I checked it several times with a toothpick. It came back clean. But after I took it out, it collapsed and was raw on the inside. I had checked my oven temperature and it was fine. I was looking forward to eating this. I’m afraid to try it again.
Hi Brenda, I haven’t had that experience, but I’ll do my best to troubleshoot – make sure you haven’t subbed baking powder instead of baking soda (one reader accidentally did that and experienced a similar result to what you are describing). Did you make sure to put it into a fully preheated oven? Lastly, with the toothpick test, make sure to insert it into the center or thickest part of the loaf for an accurate test.
My bread was delicious but overly moist. My persimmons were very soft, which may be the cause. I used 3 cups pureed persimmon. Please confirm whether the 3 cups measure of fuyu persimmon is the measurement after it is pureed, rather than before it is pureed.
Hi Christing, yes, it’s 3 cups of the persimmon puree: “Mix in 3 cups persimmon puree”. I hope that helps.
I have made this twice. Both times I can never get it done without nearly burning the sides and cooking it way longer. What am I doing? Help!!
Hi Stephanie, it sounds like your oven may be running too hot. I recommend it is properly calibrations and you’re not using convection mode.
Love this idea, Can you use dried cranberries instead of the raisins?
Hi Meggan, yes, dried cranberries will work great in this persimmon bread! I hope you love it!
I have never baked with or eaten persimmons. I was gifted some Fuyu persimmons. I read the recipe comments before beginning than proceeded with caution. I didn’t change any of the ingredients just some of the directions. I cleaned, removed tops & seeded the persimmons. Put the quarters into blender with the baking soda, then set aside after pureeing. The puree
thicken (good thing). Next toasted my walnuts & melted the butter (so would be cool). Followed directions for mixing per recipe with the exception of baking soda as that was already added. Once completed I divided into (2) 8.5×4.5×2.5 loaf pans sprayed with Crisco Professional Release spray. Baked at 350* for 45 minutes then checked. The bread becomes fragrant early on in baking which is deceiving as that is usually an indication it is close to being done. It’s not & that might be the reason for sinking loaves – it’s under baked. I looked for the top to crown and crack a little. Then I checked at 45 minutes. It was still a little moist so I let it go for another 5 minutes. At that point I removed from oven. Total bake time for me was 50 minutes. Will vary from ovens so look for the crack on top of bread before checking and do clean toothpick test. Don’t depend on looks or smell. If you look close at authors picture there is a crack on top of the loaf as well. Hope this helps.
Thank you for sharing your experience and some tips for this recipe. That is so helpful and we appreciate it!
Aloha Natasha, I just used your recipe to make a black sapote bread. Since black sapote is a part of the persimmon family, I thought it would be a fair substitution. I only used 1.5 cups of the black sapote, and only added a small amount of chocolate chips rather than nuts and raisins, and it came out so moist and delicious! It was hard to find recipes for this fruit, so mahalo nui!
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Heather! I haven’t tried that substitution before, sounds amazing!
Hi Natasha. I’ve made this recipe four times in the last month. (Persimmons are ripe in my neighborhood.) The first time it was a smashing success. I posted a photo on FB. Lots of likes. The last three times, however, the bread has not fully cooked in the center, and has fallen while cooling. After the second fail, I bought an oven thermometer. Sure enough, twenty degrees lower than set. I thought I had solved the problem. But this time, with the temperature correct, the same thing. Soggy middle. Tastes great, but… Is it possible to have persimmons that are too ripe? These are basically water balloons. Something else? Thanks.
Hi Jim, that could be possible that it’s too much moisture if they are very overripe. Thank you for sharing your helpful review.
Been following you for awhile! I just love your personality on your videos! I finally made one of your recipes! My neighbor gifted me with a huge bag of hachiya persimmons. I used this recipe to make muffins. I baked them for 33 minutes and they came out perfect!
I’m so glad you gave these a try. Thank you for that wonderful review, Joann!
Tried this recipe tonight for my first time baking with persimmons. I had the other type of persimmons on hand and it would have been a bit sweeter if I had waited a few more days for them to all fully ripen. I am not a persimmon fan but my boyfriend is and he said it was tasty. I made it without raisins or walnuts, and it still made the house smell wonderful!
Hi Elaine, I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Hi, can you freeze persimmon bread? If so, how long can you freeze it? Thank you.
Hi there, I honestly can’t remember if we have frozen this in the past (we make so many loaves!) but it should freeze well as the texture is similar to banana bread which freezes well.
It was quite moist and filling but I would put the flavor as bland. Almost none of the persimmon is detectable so you are mostly just getting a coffee cake like flavor.
Hi Sophie, for the best persimmon flavor, be sure to use ripe persimmon which will also taste sweeter.