Cinnamon and Spice Sweet Potato Bread — 🍁🍠🍂 Wondering what to do with those leftover sweet potatoes? Make this quick bread recipe! Sweet potatoes do a wonderful job of keeping this bread extremely soft and moist. It’s almost like cake it’s so soft, springy, and bouncy!
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This sweet potato bread turned out ridiculously soft, moist, tender, and richly spiced. It’s almost like cake it’s so soft, tender, and springy!
It’s easy to make, and no mixer is needed. Stir everything together and pop the loaf into the oven for about an hour. And your house will smell heavenly during that hour.
The sweet potatoes, oil, and buttermilk all do a wonderful job of keeping the bread supremely soft and moist.
Although I’ve compared it to cake, it’s not cakey if that makes sense. It doesn’t have an airy, flaky crumb that many cakes have; otherwise known as being dry.
The interior is tender, springy, and bouncey with a dense crumb. The crust is firmer and slightly chewy. Normally I shun crust and edge pieces on bread, but I found myself seeking them out, like chewy edge pieces on brownies.
It’s perfect on it’s own and doesn’t even need butter. It’s that moist and flavorful. But twist my arm and a little butter never hurts. Or try a Vanilla Browned Butter Glaze for an extra treat.
Sweet potatoes can do no wrong.
This sweet potato bread is delicious, it’s like Starbucks pumpkin bread just better. Thanks for the awesome recipe 😋 — Crystal
Sweet Potato Bread Ingredients
This is such a quick and easy recipe for sweet potato bread that calls for very basic ingredients.
To make this sweet potato bread recipe, you’ll need:
- Sweet potatoes
- Water
- Eggs
- Canola oil
- Buttermilk
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Light brown sugar
- Baking soda
- Spices
- Salt
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Sweet Potato Bread
If you’ve made pumpkin bread before, you can certainly make a sweet potato loaf!
Full instructions can be found in the recipe card below, but here’s an overview of the baking process:
- Begin by steaming two medium sweet potatoes or one very large sweet potato. Drain off any water that’s pooled, and mash with a fork.
- After the potatoes cool just a bit so you don’t scramble the eggs, crack two eggs over them, add oil, vanilla, buttermilk (or yogurt or sour cream) and whisk together in a large bowl to create a sort of sweet potato puree.
- In another bowl, combine flour, sugars, baking soda, and a variety of spices.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and mix until combined. Take your time and make sure everything is well combined, but use a gentle hand when stirring so you don’t over-develop the gluten, resulting in tougher bread.
- Turn the batter out into a 9×5-inch loaf pan or two 8×4-inch pans. I used one 9×5-inch or you can opt for two 8×4 loaves (they will be short) or bake as a Bundt.
Recipe Variations
One thing I love about this recipe is how easy it is to customize! Here are some simple recipe variations you can try:
- Adjust the spices: I used cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves. Feel free to mix-and-match the spices based on what you have and enjoy. Try pumpkin pie spice, cardamom, or other favorites.
- Add mix-ins: You can try adding mix-ins like chocolate chips, chopped nuts such as chopped pecans, or dried fruit.
- Use a different loaf pan: I used a 9×5-inch loaf pan to make this recipe, but two 8×4-inch pans will also work. Or, use a small Bundt pan.
- Make muffins: Skip the loaf pan altogether and make muffins instead! Reduce the bake time to 18 – 22 minutes (use your best judgement when testing for doneness).
Recipe FAQs
Possibly, but I’ve only made the recipe as written so I can’t say for sure. If you give this a try, leave me a comment letting me know how your bread turned out!
Bread will keep at room temperature for up to 1 week. I store my bread by wrapping the completely cooled loaf in plasticwrap, and then placing loaf inside a gallon-sized Ziplock.
I’m sure you can! I imagine this sweet potato spice bread will keep up to 6 months in the freezer.
You could roast the sweet potatoes, but that takes almost an hour, the potatoes will be drier from being roasted than steamed, and you’d need to make some tweaks with dry and wet ingredient ratios in your batter.
No, it tastes more like a pumpkin bread. The bread is sweet, but not too sweet with just the right amount of natural sweetness from the sweet potatoes. The spices are homey and comforting.
Made this recipe for my neighbors. As usual, I made two loaves – one for my house, one as a gift. That first loaf lasted an hour before my family finished it off. — Amber
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Cinnamon Sweet Potato Bread
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups mashed sweet potatoes, 2 medium or 1 very large
- 3 tablespoons water
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup canola or vegetable oil
- ¼ cup buttermilk, (or yogurt, Greek yogurt, sour cream, or buttermilk powder mixed with the proper amount of water as stated on package)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves, or to taste
- ¼ teaspoon salt, or to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Spray one 9-by-5-inch loaf pan (what I used), or two 8-by-4-inch loaf pans, or a 10-cup Bundt pan, or a muffin pan with floured cooking spray or grease and flour the pan(s); set aside.
- Peel the sweet potatoes and chop them into 1-inch sized chunks. Place chunks in a large, shallow microwave-safe bowl. Add 3 tablespoons water, cover with plastic wrap, and cook on high power for 15 to 17 minutes, or until potatoes are very fork-tender. (Or boil in a pot of water on the stove, drain very well). Pour off any water. Mash sweet potatoes with a fork. Allow them to cool momentarily so you don't scramble the eggs.
- To the mashed sweet potatoes, add the eggs, oil, buttermilk, vanilla and whisk until combined; set aside. (I used buttermilk powder and added 1 tablespoon powder to the dry ingredients and 1/4 cup water to this wet mixture)
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients – flour, sugars, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, optional salt, and whisk to combine.
- Pour the wet sweet potato mixture over the dry ingredients, and stir to incorporate. Take your time stirring until no stray bits of dry ingredients are visible, folding and scraping the bottom of the bowl with a spatula as necessary because it’s very easy to miss dry ingredients hiding at the bottom of the bowl in this batter. Stir and fold with a gentle hand as to not over-mix and over-develop the gluten, which results in tougher bread.
- Turn batter out into prepared pan(s), smoothing the top lightly with a spatula. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes for a 9×5 pan, or until top is domed, golden, loaf is springy to the touch, and cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Tent pan with foil in the last 15 minutes of cooking if top is browning a bit fast before interior has cooked through; if it takes longer than 70 minutes, so be it – bake it longer. Baking Times – I estimate that 8×4 loaves will take about 40 to 45 minutes, a Bundt about 1 hour, muffins about 18-20 minutes, but I haven't tried those versions and they are just guesstimates. No matter what, always bake until your item is done, however long that takes in your oven given your pan.
- Allow bread to cool in pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Fall Bread Recipes:
ALL OF MY QUICK BREAD RECIPES!
Applesauce Bread with Cinnamon Honey Butter – This applesauce bread is packed with fall flavors and comes together quickly. I serve mine with homemade honey butter, because why not?
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 Pie Bread with Streusel Topping — 🍎🍏🍁 If you like apple crumble pie, you’re going to love this EASY no-mixer apple pie bread! Soft, tender, moist bread with the contrast of the slightly crunchy crumble topping is PERFECT!
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread — This is without a doubt the BEST pumpkin bread recipe! This pumpkin cream cheese bread tastes like it has cheesecake baked into the middle. You’ll definitely want a second slice!
Applesauce Bread with Cinnamon Honey Butter— This applesauce bread is packed with fall flavors and comes together quickly. I serve mine with homemade honey butter, because why not?
Cranberry Orange Bread— The fresh cranberries in this cranberry orange bread contrast nicely with the sweet orange glaze, making it the perfect blend of sweet and tart!
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!
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.
Originally posted April 3, 2013 and reposted September 18, 2020 and October 25, 2024 with updated text.
Excellent moist flavorful bread. I followed the recipe with the exception of peeling,chopped and boiled the sweet potatoes until fork tender before mashing with a potato masher. It took 70 minutes in a loaf pan for the wooden skewer to come out clean. I will definitely make this in the fall. Great recipe to make loafs to share with family and friends.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you will definitely make it again in the fall!
Averie, this recipe has become a staple in our home. We love it! We often add blueberries or dried cranberries along with ground walnuts and flax seed. It is delicious any way we make it! I do have a question though… The nutritional information on this says that there are 60 servings. I make a double batch each time and am a little-horrified thinking that my 24 muffins are actually 120 servings. Is this correct?
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad these are a staple!
The serving info reads as follows on the blog post: 1-9X5 LOAF, 2-8X4 LOAVES OR BUNDT
Based on that you can calculate nutrition stats if that’s important to you. These auto generated programs are not always perfect so sometimes you have to plug and chug by hand if the info is important to you.
Made this bread and knew it was a winner right away. Smelled heavenly! Gave a loaf to the neighbor who also gives it rave ratings. Cot her loaf went to three picky grandkids who never eat vegetables. They gobbled it down so fast that I’m now making more.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad it was even a hit with three picky grandkids!
That is an amazing post!
This bread loookssss too tasty I want to cook it now! And by the way, your photography is great!:)
Thanks for sharing!
Made this using leftover sweet potato casserole from Easter. I had some orange cream cheese butter cream drizzle left from a wedding cake i had made. It was a good touch to the already good bread. Easy to make and rose up very well. Had to bake a bit longer as I made one loaf and It was very full.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you loved this! Great way to use up your leftovers and incorporate them into this.
Awesome, delicious. I made few minor variations and the bread was still excellent.
You can always tell a sound recipe, cause when you altered them they still come out wonderful those are great recipes from the start. Thank you. A perfect recipe to go to for forever and make creative variations. Keep up the great work love your website., tks.
Thanks for the 5 star rating and glad you loved it with a few little variations!!
Made it using the quick bread/muffin method, sift together dry ingredients in large bowl. In med bowl add sugar and wet ingredients- NOT the potatoes- stir wet into dry, add potatoes to batter, stir, bake. Easier, traditional, and no worries.
Hi averie, i would want to try this recipe with wholewheat flour. Do i use the same flour measurement or reduce it? how many cups do i use? Thanks
I have only made the recipe as written and really can’t give advice if you deviate. Good luck!
Sir I am confused, u told canola oh is not good. What else we can use?
I would use canola or vegetable oil as indicated.
What to use instead of oil?
I have no idea…I recommend making the recipe as written so it turns out.
Hi
I’ve just made this cake exactly to your recipe however mine has quite a soggy middle. I even baked it for 75 minutes. Any advice would be appreciated as my wife and I absolutely love the taste.
I would say that you either could add another 1/4 or so of flour to take some of the moisture out or bake longer. The moisture content of sweet potatoes really varies and yours were just very moist, baking experimentation can take a few tries. I think you will do well with a bit more flour and don’t be afraid to bake as long as you think it needs.
What can I use instead of buttermilk (we have a dairy intolerance)
Many thanks
Not sure because buttermilk is how I tested the recipe so you’d have to play around with things on your own.
Thank you for this amazing recipe
I did it for lunch with friends and it just disappeared they couldn’t get enough. it smelled amazing in my home while cooking. I didn’t have ground ginger so I used grated fresh one and it turned out with little candied pieces of ginger it was bliss :)
I am glad you and your friends loved this recipe! The little (unintended) bits of candied ginger sounds amazing!
Oops just realized I left out the brown sugar all together. Next time I will decrease the granulated sugar and add a little brown sugar. It was sweet enough with just the granulated sugar. And I also used bread flour!
This was very tasty! I used plain Greek yogurt as that is what I had on hand. I did put just a tad bit more than what it called for. My nutmeg was pretty much all gone. I literally had a pinch left. So I added a little more allspice than it called for. I made 2 mini loaves and one regular sized loaf. I cooked the mini loaves for about 37 min and the large loaf about 50 min…give or take. My family loved it. It didn’t last long. Next time I will probably add a few pecans on top! And double the recipe. Yum!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you even without the brown sugar, reduced granulated, and with bread flour!
Note for Ashley: I hardly followed the recipe (in order to make it REID diet compliant) but was pleased with how it turned out. Kids loved it! Tasted more like a cookie/desert.
left out eggs
used grapeseed oil instead of canola
used water instead of buttermilk
left out vanilla (I don’t have safe vanilla)
I used oats instead of all purpose flour
I used rains instead of granulated sugar
I used coconut flour instead of brown sugar
I left out the allspice
I left out the cloves (don’t have any)
all other ingredients not listed were used
I followed all the suggusted measurements with the exception of the liquid. I added extra water because it looked too dry.
Lastly I set the timer for 60 mins. Had I not checked on it, the whole thing would have burned. 35-40 mins will probably cook it perfectly.