Homemade Sweet Potato Bread with the warm spices of cinnamon and nutmeg is easier to make than you think. A healthy, soft, and moist quick bread made from scratch is perfect as a breakfast, a snack, or as an anytime treat!
You can never have too many recipes for healthy quick bread, such as blueberry lemon bread and cinnamon bread. Each has its own unique flavor combination and both so easy, moist, and packed with nutrition.
We’re spending more and more time indoors as the days get colder and shorter, so why not take this time to learn how to make all kinds of new things using ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen!
Pumpkin is usually the star of the show around this time of year, but I want to give some love to its equally flavorful and versatile friend the sweet potato. Both can be used interchangeably in so many recipes and they both pair well with many of the same spices!
Being able to enjoy the sweet smell of freshly baked bread right out of the oven all winter long is something so special. There is a comfort that is brought to us not only by warm old fashioned baked bread but by the addition of the wonderful aroma of all the fall flavors.
The sweet potato has a natural sweetness and the applesauce and the tender sweet potatoes result in almost a cake-like consistency with bread like capabilities. Grab a slice and spread with your favorite topping. Maybe some apple butter, nut butter, or chocolate spread. Eat it plain with a hot cup of tea or toast it a bit and slather with some butter.
This recipe yields 3 loaves which are enough for you to freeze one for later and share one with a friend! Next time you’re at the grocery store, make sure to stock up on sweet potatoes. You’ll be making this all winter long!
How to Make Sweet Potato Bread
Preheat the oven and grease 3 loaf pans with spray oil. You’ll need a fair amount of sweet potatoes for this recipe that will need to be cooked and mashed ahead of time.
In a medium bowl, mix the all-purpose flour, packed brown sugar, white sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and nutmeg, together to combine.
In a separate larger bowl, blend the sweet potatoes, unsweetened applesauce, oil, eggs, and vanilla extract. Mix together well.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients a few spoonfuls at a time and blend until it is fully combined. You’ll notice the batter is thick. You don’t want to overmix. When you overmix, the gluten in the flour will become very active and you will end up with a heavier, more dense, bread.
Divide and pour equally into all 3 prepared loaf pans.
Then bake for about an hour or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Cool bread in pans prior to removing them from the wire rack. Once cooled, they are ready to slice and serve!
Tips for Success
- You can either boil or bake the sweet potatoes ahead of time. To boil them, peel the skin and cut it into cubes and boil until fork-tender. Once drained, mash them with a fork. If you would rather bake them, you can bake them whole or halved at 375 for about 45 minutes. The inside will be tender and will be easily removable.
- For gluten-free, use Bob’s Red Mill one to one gluten-free flour. Keeping in mind, because this is a quick bread that does not use any yeast, using gluten-free flour may result in a different consistency.
- Add ½ cup of brown sugar for added sweetness if you prefer a sweeter bread.
- Toss in some raisins, pecans, or walnuts for added texture and crunch.
- If your batter is too thick, add an additional ¼ cup of applesauce.
- If using a smaller loaf pan, reduce bake time by approximately 10 minutes.
How to Store Homemade Bread Loaves
Uncut, these loaves will keep at room temperature for up to a day. After that store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator since they don’t have any preservatives in them. I just pop a slice in the microwave for 10 seconds and it’s nice and warm again!
Can I Freeze Them?
Absolutely! That’s one of the best things about making more than one at a time. Make sure they’re completely cooled before wrapping each one in plastic wrap then aluminum foil and then place in a freezer friendly bag. You can keep these in the freezer for up to 2 months!
More Easy and Delicious Bread Recipes
Sweet Potato Bread
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 4 cups all purpose flour
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- ½ cup white sugar
- 2 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
Wet Ingredients
- 3 cups sweet potatoes cooked and mashed, 24 oz (approx. 3 large sweet potatoes or 5 small sweet potatoes)
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- ½ cup oil
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
- Grease (3) 8 x 4 loaf pans with spray oil.
- In a medium bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together and set aside.
- In a separate larger bowl, blend the wet ingredients together well.
- Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients a few spoonfuls at a time and blend until it is mixed well. (The batter will be thick.)
- Divide equally into 3 greased loaf pans. (use a scale if you have one to ensure even cooking of loaves)
- Bake for approximately 50-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
- Cool bread in loaf pans for 10 -15 minutes then remove and place on wire cooling rack until completely cool.
- Store in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclosure
Nutritional facts are estimates and are provided as a courtesy to the reader. Please utilize your own brand nutritional values to double check against our estimates. Nutritional values are calculated via a third party. Changing ingredients, amounts or cooking technique will alter the estimated nutritional calculations.
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Lauren Fee
This was too bland for me, even after I added additional nutmeg and cinnamon. It’s not bad, just not great.
sandy
Can you use something else other than the applesauce?
Sherri
You can use plain greek yogurt or increase the oil to one cup if you’d like as well. 🙂
Laura
This looks wonderful. Can you use canned sweet potatoes in place of? Thanks for sharing!
Marilyn Bagen
Made this recipe today and boy, is it ever so delicious. I had some leftover sweet potato casserole with apples and cheese in it and used that. I wasn’t too sure how it measured out so I used a half cup of applesauce instead of the whole cup. I left all of the other ingredients as suggested and it’s just perfect.
Ivory
Will make this Saturday. Looks amazing. Yum-yum-yum
Mouthwatering!!!