Pear Bread with Almond Streusel Topping

This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.

Pear Bread-this easy pear quick bread has a sweet almond streusel topping and simple almond glaze. It is great for breakfast, brunch, or dessert. 

Pear Bread on cooling rack

Pear Bread

What do you do when your nice neighbors bring you over a huge bag of pears from their tree? First, you say thank you and then you make Easy Pear Sauce and the best Pear Salad.

I thought those two recipes would use up all of the pears, but luckily I still had a few left so I made, Pear Bread with almond streusel topping. This easy quick bread is a new fall favorite. You are going to LOVE it!

Pears are usually the back up singers during the fall. The apples and pumpkins usually take the lead and steal the show. Well, move over apples and pumpkins because it is time for the pears to shine. This Pear Almond Streusel Bread is a real show stopper!

Easy Pear Bread recipe with almond streusel topping

The Best Pears to Use

I highly recommend using fresh pears for this recipe and not canned pears. This is a great recipe for pear season!

Bosc, Anjou, and Bartlett pears are great for baking because they hold their shape and texture. I don’t recommend comice pears because they are juicier and tend to fall apart and get mushy when baked.

Look for pears that are firm-ripe. When you press the fruit near the stem, the pear should give a little. If the pears are mushy, don’t use them for baking. If the pears are rock hard when you buy them, you will have to wait a few days for them to ripen on the counter.

Peel the pears and chop them into small chunks right before using so they don’t turn brown. If you are going to chop the pears in advance, drizzle a little lemon juice over the pears to prevent them from browning.

slices of pear bread on cooling rack

How to Make Pear Bread

I love making quick breads because they are easy to whip up and the end results are SO delicious.

  • This cinnamon spiced bread is super moist thanks to the buttermilk, egg, and oil. Make sure your buttermilk and eggs are at room temperature. The loaf also has brown sugar that adds moisture and a caramel sweetness.
  • I like to use vanilla extract AND almond extract. The flavor combo is incredible.
  • You can toss the pear chunks in a little bit of flour before adding them to the loaf. This will prevent them from sinking. Gently fold in the pears, being careful to not over mix the batter.
  • Pour the loaf into a greased 9×5-inch pan and top with the almond streusel.
  • After 30 minutes of baking, loosely cover the bread with foil and continue baking for 30 more minutes (60 minutes total). Covering the bread half-way through will prevent the streusel topping from getting too dark. If this is your first time baking the bread, you can check at 50 minutes to be safe. Every oven is different. It might take your bread a little less time or a little longer.
  • When the loaf is completely cool, drizzle the simple almond glaze over the top! The perfect finishing touch to our pear bread! If you don’t want to add a glaze, the bread will still be good without one, but I say go for it:)
  • Use a serrated bread knife to slice into the loaf! Enjoy!

Pear bread with almond streusel topping

How to Store

Let the glaze on the bread completely set up before storing. Once the glaze is set, wrap the bread in plastic wrap and keep on the counter for up to 4 days.

You can also freeze the bread. Wrap the bread in plastic wrap AND aluminum foil. Place the loaf in the freezer and freeze for up to three months. Defrost before slicing.

More Quick Bread Recipes

pear bread with almond streusel topping and almond glaze
Email Yourself This Recipe
Just enter your email and get it sent to your inbox! Plus, you’ll get NEW recipes from us every week!

Pear Bread with Almond Streusel Topping

This easy quick bread is a fall favorite! Make a loaf for breakfast or dessert!
4.53 from 36 votes

Ingredients
  

For the Almond Streusel Topping:

For the Bread:

For the Almond Glaze:

  • 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
  • 2 tablespoons milk

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 350°F degrees. Grease a 9×5 loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
  • First, make the streusel topping. In a small bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and cold butter pieces. Rub the mixture together with your fingers until combined and crumbly. Stir in the chopped almonds. Set aside.
  • In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and egg. Whisk until smooth and there are no brown sugar clumps. Whisk in the buttermilk, oil, vanilla extract, and almond extract.
  • Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently whisk until there are no more lumps. Don’t overmix. Fold in the chopped pears.
  • Pour batter in prepared pan. Sprinkle the almond streusel topping evenly over the bread.
  • Bake for 60 minutes, loosely covering the bread with aluminum foil after 30 minutes to prevent the top from getting too dark.  A toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf will come out clean when the bread is done. Remove from the oven and allow the bread to cool for 15 minutes on a wire cooling rack. Use a knife to loosen the bread around the edges in the pan. Carefully remove the bread from the pan and cool completely.

Notes

The bread will keep covered on the counter for up to 4 days. Can freeze the loaf for up to 3 months.

Nutrition

Calories: 439kcal, Carbohydrates: 70g, Protein: 8g, Fat: 15g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Cholesterol: 21mg, Sodium: 237mg, Potassium: 184mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 35g, Vitamin A: 115IU, Vitamin C: 1mg, Calcium: 72mg, Iron: 3mg
Keywords fall, streusel topping

Have you tried this recipe?

Leave a comment below and share a photo on Instagram. Tag @twopeasandpod and hashtag it with #twopeasandtheirpod

Get the best of the best!
4 Recipes Guaranteed to be New Favorites

Maria

I'm Maria and my husband is Josh. We share a love of cooking, baking, and entertaining. We enjoy creating recipes that are simple, fresh, and family friendly. We love sitting around the table with good food, good conversation, and good friends and family! Our kitchen is always open!
Read More

Vegetarian Fall Winter Desserts Breakfast/Brunch

Other recipes you may like

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Comments

Leave a comment

  1. This looks heavenly. This time of year, I see so many recipes featuring apples, and the poor delicious pear is often forgotten. I will always choose pears over apples, though. Thank you for sharing!

  2. I just read your recipe on the pear quick bread. It sounds so good and will be getting some pears the next time I go to the store. I noticed that the pears sank to the bottom of the loaf. My question is this….would it help if you lightly coated the chopped pears with a little flour like you do with raisins when adding them to say a pumpkin loaf? Wouldn’t that help with the pears to stay thought out the bread rather have them sink to the bottom of the loaf?

  3. This looks so yummy! Would it be possible to make this bread into muffins? My daughter is diabetic and portion control is key to home made goods. Would the ingredients needs to change at all? Thanks for your help!

  4. I’m glad your boys were able to convince you to add the frosting! It really does add that extra special touch and makes the pear that much sweeter.

    Dave King

  5. Do you think this would work with quince if I cut it into smaller chunks? Or would I have to precook/steam the quince to make it sufficiently soft? This sounds so lovely I want to run home and make it NOW!

  6. 5 stars
    What a wonderful recipe that incorporates the glorious pears that are in season now. Enjoyed how subtly sweet it is which makes it great for brunch. The streusel topping is a nice touch! Thank you for sharing!

  7. This is awesome. My neighbor brought me 3 bags of tree ripened Pears and I had to do something with them. I made this and took it to work and it was gone. Everyone enjoyed it. I personally am not a pear person but this has changed my mind about pears. Easy recipe to follow and I used low fat buttermilk. Tastes like Fall. Thank so much for sharing. ;]

    1. 5 stars
      Still the best pear bread recipe. I did make some substitutions this year; I used unsweetened applesauce for the oil and organic yogurt for the buttermilk, organic all purpose flour and zulka pure cane sugar. Came out just as good. I thought the apple sauce would add a bit more fall to the flavor. MMMMM-Gooood.

  8. This bread deserves nothing but 5 stars!! My mother in law found this recipe and gave it to me. Since then I have made it for every special occasion and constantly get asked for the recipe. My sister, sister in law, and mom also get asked for the recipe too.

    Making a loaf right now to bring to a friend who just had a baby. Might make two and keep one at home for myself 🙂

  9. 5 stars
    Wow! This is sooo good! I had bought a big bag of pears that we weren’t eating so my mom suggested I look for a pear bread to make. I found a couple recipes but nothing really stood out to me. Then I found your recipe and thought it sounded really good. I baked it last night and we just ate some for breakfast. OMG I’m in pear bread Heaven. I didn’t add the icing to save a couple calories, but it was perfect without it. Thanks for a great recipe. I will be adding it to my favorite recipes cookbook!

  10. It may be obvious but you didn’t mention when to apply the glaze. Is it best to wait till bread is completely cooled or when it’s still warm? The recipe sounds delicious!

    1. Hi Johanne, there are plenty of options. The common one is letting milk sit with a bit of lemon juice or white vinegar. Just google “buttermilk substitute” for the correct proportions 🙂
      In recipes like this you want the acidity to wake up the baking soda.
      Sorry, I’m a baking nerd 😀 Sina

  11. The flavour combination and mix of textures in this recipe are awesome! Those toasted almonds on top are the perfect companion to the soft pear chunks, wow.

    We had however some issues cutting the bread without loosing most of the streusel and tearing the slice into pieces – and yes, we used a serrated knife and the bread was completely cooled over night. For me, it gives more the impression of a – absolutely lovely! – coffee cake which is what I will probably be making out of this recipe next time. It definitely required a fork in our case 😉

  12. 5 stars
    I made this last night, put it in the oven, turned around and saw the egg still sitting there on the counter! So I hurriedly removed it from the oven, scraped off as much of the streusel that I could & mixed in the egg! I was devastated that some of the streusel was now in the batter but I did the best I could. It still turned out heavenly. Next time I will look forward to the benefit of ALL the streusel on top!

    1. If the skin doesn’t but you, you can leave it on. Slivered or sliced almonds will work! Enjoy!

  13. 3 stars
    The loaf was beautiful! The streusel on top with the glaze made a lovely presentation. However, the pears were mushy and did not add to the consistency of the loaf. Would it be possible to mash the pears, as one does to bananas, so that they incorporate into the loaf?

  14. Made this recipe in an 8 loaf mini loaf pan, cooked uncovered for 20 minutes and then covered for the last 5-10 minutes. Came out perfect and delicious!

  15. 5 stars
    This pear bread is wonderful!!! The almond flavor and streusel topping really take this bread up a notch! So delicious, and looks fancy too. 5 stars all the way, and followed recipe exactly. Kudos!

  16. 5 stars
    We love this recipe! We are gluten intolerant so I use gluten free self raising flour and I sometimes use 1 cup pear and 1/4 cup blueberries. I’ve been making it for a couple of years now and it always turns out beautifully.

  17. 5 stars
    Hello! Just wanted to comment here and say that this is one of my favorite ever recipes! I am a university music professor and a few years ago, the family of a student hosted a number of us in their home after a competition. This bread was one of the desserts—and I immediately asked for the recipe! Have made it numerous times since then—it never fails to be amazing! Thanks so this yummy and unique recipe using one of my favorite fruits. ♥️

  18. 5 stars
    This is a delicious recipe. I made it as listed, but doubled the recipe to yield 2 loaves. I had a load of pears that needed to be used up. I ended adding almost 4 cups of diced pears. I diced them small so they would distribute through the batter a bit better. I served the bread to some friends and they almost finished the entire loaf in one sitting.