Apple Carrot Bread — This apple carrot bread tastes like carrot cake that’s been infused with apples. It’s a no mixer recipe that goes from bowl to oven in minutes!
Apple Carrot Bread Recipe
This is carrot cake that’s been infused with apples and baked as a loaf. So it’s not cake anymore. It’s bread. Therefore you can have more and definitely can have it for breakfast.
Baking with both carrots and apples not only adds chewy texture and natural sweetness, but they also add so much moisture that it’s impossible to have a dry loaf. I adapted the basic ratios from my Cream Cheese-Filled Pumpkin Bread, a personal and fan favorite, to make way for grated carrots and apples.
I grated the carrot and apple by hand using the coarsest blade on a box grater. It literally takes two minutes and I’d spend much more time washing food processor parts than quickly doing it the old-fashioned way.
It’s an easy, no mixer recipe that goes from bowl to oven in minutes. The batter is very thick and that’s by design. The carrots and apples release juices while baking and if you start with a thin batter, it’ll turn too soupy during baking.
It’s soft, tender, uber-moist, dense enough to be satisfying, but still light. The cinnamon and nutmeg really shine and add so much wonderful, rich, depth of flavor to the carrots and apples. The carrots dominate and the bread has a more pronounced ‘carrot cake’ taste than apple.
It was so flavorful and moist that I didn’t even need butter. Although a browned butter glaze can do no wrong if you’re so inclined.
What’s in Apple Carrot Bread?
For this carrot apple bread recipe, you’ll need:
- Egg
- Light brown sugar
- Coconut oil
- Granulated sugar
- Sour cream
- Vanilla extract
- Cinnamon
- Gound nutmeg
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder and baking soda
- Salt
- Grated apples
- Grated carrots
Can I Substitute the Coconut Oil?
I used melted coconut oil so there’s no butter to cream and no mixer to dirty. Oil keeps bread softer and springier than butter, and I prefer the taste.
Coconut oil adds a nearly imperceptible undertone that’s sweeter and more fragrant than canola or vegetable oil, but substitute with them if you’d like.
What Are the Best Apples for Apple Bread?
Any apple will work for this carrot apple bread recipe! I used a large Fuji apple, but Gala and Honeycrisp would work as well.
How to Make Carrot Apple Bread
This carrot apple cinnamon bread couldn’t be easier to make! Simply whisk together the egg, sugars, melted coconut oil, sour cream, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg, then fold in the remaining ingredients.
Turn the batter into a greased 9×5-inch loaf pan and bake until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Once the bread is out of the oven, let it rest in the pan for about 15 minutes before removing it to finish cooling on a wire rack.
Can I Make This in a Smaller Loaf Pan?
I baked the bread in a 9×5-inch pan because I was concerned that the moisture-heavy ingredients crammed into an 8×4-inch pan would take forever to cook through and a larger pan felt safer. In retrospect, an 8×4-inch would probably have been fine. The shorter height of the bread didn’t effect our inhaling of it in one day.
Can I Double This Recipe?
Yes, simply double the ingredients and bake in two loaf pans. I’ve also had readers report success doubling the recipe and baking it in a metal 9×13-inch pan or a metal bundt pan.
Can I Freeze Carrot Quick Bread?
Absolutely! This apple carrot bread recipe is great for freezing. Wrap in a few layers of plastic wrap and a layer of foil, then freeze for up to three months.
Tips for Making Carrot Loaf Bread
When mixing together the batter, make sure the sour cream and egg are at room temperature. If they’re both still cold, the melted coconut oil will partially resolidify and you’ll wind up with chunks of oil running through the batter.
When baking the bread, you may need to tent the pan with a sheet of foil draped loosely over it at the 35-minute mark if you feel the tops and sides will become too browned before center cooks through.
Baking times will vary based on moisture content of carrots, apples, climate, and oven variances. You need to bake the carrot bread until done; watch your bread, not the clock and don’t worry if it takes longer to bake than the baking estimates provided.
When serving this apple cinnamon bread, I highly recommend slathering it with Homemade Honey Butter or Cinnamon-Sugar Butter, or drizzling it with a Vanilla Bean Browned Butter Glaze. It’s delicious as is, of course, but these extra toppings really take it up a notch.
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Carrot Apple Bread
Ingredients
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ⅓ cup liquid-state coconut oil, canola or vegetable may be substituted
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup cup sour cream, lite is okay; or Greek yogurt may be substituted
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- ¾ cup grated carrots, about 1 large peeled and trimmed carrot
- ¾ cup grated apples, I used 1 medium unpeeled Fuji; try Gala, Honeycrisp or similar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Spray one 9×5-inch loaf pan with floured cooking spray, or grease and flour the pan; set aside. (I haven’t tried the recipe in an 8×4-inch pan and cannot comment on how long it will take to bake, but use an 8×4 pan if you prefer a taller loaf.)
- In a large bowl, add the the first eight ingredients, through nutmeg, and whisk to combine.
- Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, optional salt, and fold with spatula or stir gently with a spoon until just combined; don’t overmix.
- Add the carrots, apples, and fold gently to combine.
- Turn batter (it’s very thick, this is what you want) out into the prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula.
- Bake for about 45 to 52 minutes (I baked 50 minutes) or until the top is golden, the center is set, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter.*
- Allow bread to cool in pan for about 15 minutes before turning out on a wire rack to cool completely before slicing and serving.**
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Easy Quick Bread Recipes:
Cinnamon Spice Applesauce Bread with Honey Butter — Applesauce keeps this bread so soft & moist! It’s like apple spice cake, disguised as ‘bread’ so you can have extra!
Cinnamon and Spice Sweet Potato Bread — Eating your vegetables via soft, moist bread is the best way! My favorite way to eat sweet potatoes!
Apple Fritter Bread — The bread tastes as decadent as the apple fritters of my childhood, no deep frying required and it’s more like cake disguised as bread.
The Best Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread — This pumpkin chocolate chip bread is truly the best homemade pumpkin bread you’ll ever make. It’s moist, packed with chocolate chips, and tastes like fall!
Blueberry Zucchini Bread — This blueberry zucchini bread is a quick, no-mixer recipe that’s sweet, but not too sweet. Each bite is bursting with fresh blueberries!
Pumpkin Banana Bread — Soft, moist, fluffy and so much better than another loaf of plain banana bread.
Snickerdoodle Bread — Between the cinnamon-sugar on top, cinnamon in the batter, and the cinnamon chips, the bread is full of wonderful and prominent cinnamon flavor without being overpowering.
Originally published November 9, 2014 and republished on Friday, March 13, 2020 with updated text.
I made this recipe this afternoon and it turned out exactly as advertised – so very moist! I used Fage 0% plain and grape seed oil and I added some dried orange peel, swapped 1/2 tsp of the cinnamon for cardamom, and used white whole wheat flour. It is awesome, thanks!
Good Morning, I’m loving this recipe! Just curious as to what you would suggest as the best substitute to make this gluten free. My father-in-law cannot eat most breads and I would love for him to try this.
Please read over the Baking and Recipe FAQs https://https://www.averiecooks.com/faq/ for answers to the most common questions.
Made this tonight. Unfortunately it didn’t cook through no matter how long I cooked it. It was more like a mushy pudding than a bread. Next time I would half the carrot and apple and maybe increase flour. I was really disappointed as it looks delicious!
Sounds like your carrots and/or apples were extremely moist. I have never had this recipe not cook through and perhaps using more flour, or almost ‘wringing out’ the carrots or apples by placing them inside paper towels before adding them to the batter may help next time, although I haven’t done that with this recipe and haven’t needed to. But when I bake with zucchini I do that since there’s so much water. Thanks for trying the recipe and if you ever do have to cook for a long duration with any quickbread, tent the pan with foil to prevent over-browning til center cooks through.
This is hands down my favorite bread! We are iced in today and thought I’d catch up on making school snacks for my kids. These just literally came out of the oven, and at first bite – wow!! So moist and I can’t wait to have it with a cup of coffee. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you and that it’s your favorite bread hands down! It gets even better the 2nd day if you have any left :)
Just made this for breakfast for my family and Oh. My. God. Super easy to make and so delicious!!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Wish I was having breakfast at your house!
This looks so scrummy I must make it, can you tell what size cup to use..
This recipe worked great in a muffin tin!! Now we have 12 fluffy, delicious muffins for breakfast this week :) Thanks, Averie!! I’ll be sure to try out some of your other delightful recipes!!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you as muffins. Love that you have breakfasts lined up for the week – wish I could say the same about myself :)
Made this tonight and it tastes AMAZING but it did not rise at all. I didn’t use sour cream or greek yogurt because I had neither on hand. Could this be why? Thanks!
With baking unfortunately you cannot just skip ingredients and expect the results to be as expected if you had followed the recipe as written and yes, that’s largely the reason why it didn’t rise. That chemical reaction that should happen between the soured milk via either sour cream or Greek yogurt and the leaveners didn’t happen.
Also make sure your baking soda and baking powder are fresh (3-6 mos old, max).
Thanks for trying the recipe and try again with fresh leaveners and don’t leave out any ingredients!
Hi Averie,
I tried the recipe as is last week and my daughter loved it :) I did too! I hope to try it this week-end in cupcake form and I’ll let you know how that works. Thank you for personally responding to all comments on your blog!!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you and that you and your daughter loved it! And if you do try it as cupcakes, let me know how it goes!
Thanks for noticing also that I do try my absolute best to respond to everyone who has either made a recipe or has a question!
Would this recipe work in cupcake form??? I’d love to make these for my daughter and she is such a cupcake lover :)
Probably although I haven’t tried personally. It would be more muffin-ey than cupcake-y I am guessing.
This looks delicious! I know my 2 year old would love it, and I’m always looking for ways to help him enjoy fruits and vegetables. The only problem is, he has an egg allergy. Any suggestions for a substitution?
Use a vegan egg-replacer. You could possibly try using a flax or chia ‘egg’ but I don’t know if that will work. Play around with it and see what works! You could also maybe try a half of a banana, the same amount of ‘volume’ that you’d get with an egg. That may work. As well as about 1/4 to 1/3 cup canned pumpkin. Lots of possibilities, but none I have personally tested.
I baked this apple carrot bread (cake) today and it was so moist, at first I thought I hadn’t baked it long enough! Great flavor~ I used canola oil and yogurt as substitutions and as one baker commented above, she omitted white sugar in her recipe when she used yogurt. I think I would do the same since with the sugared yogurt, my bread was plenty sweet. I will definitely make this again and add raisins :)
Thanks for all the great recipes! Keep ’em coming and I’ll keep baking!
Glad it came out so great for you and that ‘it was so moist, at first I thought I hadn’t baked it long enough!’ <-- Good problem to have :) And I can totally see this bread being amazing with raisins!
Hi Averie, I have baked the carrot apple bread & I put in a handful of chopped walnuts & it was yummy.It is such a moist bread. Thank you for the recipe.
Glad it turned out wonderfully for you!
Hiiiiii
I have got the great pleasure of jumping into your recipes..i adooooore them all!!! and I will be..with your permission..recommending many of them for my daughter’s primary school parents as a healthy snack.. I may be using ww flour in some of the recipes and maybe will replace egg for apple sauce or yogurth..if so..i will let you know how it goes.. thanks a lot for sharing your lovely recipes… have a wonderful holidays and a great new year 2015.
Eve
Great and have fun baking!
I just made this today, and it’s fantastic! I didn’t follow the recipe 100%, but I came pretty close given what I had on-hand. (flax egg, vanilla yogurt and omitted the white sugar on account of the flavored yogurt I used, and very finely diced apple instead of grated) My toddler and hubby are going to love it when they get home!
Oh you’re awesome for winging it with what you had on hand! Love the flax egg and that you skipped the white sugar due to your yogurt. You have a lucky hubby and toddler!! :) Thanks for trying the recipe!
Hey!
I had to post a comment on this post. Not about the recipe itself (though, holy my does it look YUM!) but the first line in the post.
“This is carrot cake that’s been infused with apples and baked as a loaf.
So it’s not cake anymore. It’s bread. Therefore you can have more and definitely can have it for breakfast.”
Brilliant. Love your rationale.
Totally agree.
We’d get on well!!
Great recipe!