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.
I made this bread tonight, but tweaked it a little.
I halved the amount of sugar (still used brown and white), used coconut oil instead of vegetable oil, and threw in a handful of desiccated coconut. Absolutely delicious. Thank so much for the recipe. Will definitely be making this again.
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad it turned out delicious!
This is a great recipe to use up extra baby food. 3 of the 4 oz tubs equals 1 1/2 cups of sweet potato puree. Turned out great!
Thanks for the 5 star review and I’m glad it turned out great!
I tried your recipe because I wanted to make a very moist sweet potato bread. This hit that point perfectly. However, I feel this is extremely sweet. I may try this again but I will cut the sugar in half. I really like to taste the flavor of the sweet potatoes and hoped the additional spices would enhance that flavor. This was just much sweeter than my taste buds prefer and I couldn’t taste the flavors over the sugar. I am going to try with half the sugar or so cut out and will leave another comment because I do love the dense moistness of this recipe. (I used sour cream in place of your buttermilk).
Everyone’s taste buds are different, and even sweet potatoes can vary wildly in their level of sweetness. It sounds like you personally do not like things to be very sweet, and possibly your potatoes could’ve been on the very sweet side. I’m glad you liked the texture of the bread and feel free to adjust the sugar to your liking.
I absolutely love the taste and texture of this cake. I make it as a Christmas cake. Works perfectly in a bundt pan.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad it came out great as a Christmas cake in a Bundt pan.
Made as a bundt cake. Absolutely the best.
I’m glad you think it’s the best!
I made this using my leftover sweet potatoes with caramelized apples from Thanksgiving. It was awesome!!! I will absolutely make this again. I baked mine in a bundt pan. It was light and moist. Thanks so much for posting the recipe! :)
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad that you were able to take advantage of your leftover sweet potatoes for this!
I made this yummy bread last year around this time. Remembering how good (and easy) it was, i pulled up the recipe to make it again this evening. Steaming the sweet potatoes is the way to go. Quick and simple with most of the ingredients already on hand. Make enough to share with your neighbors!
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad you’ve made it a couple years in a row now!
Can you use canned sweet potatoes as opposed to cooking them yourself? Has anyone tried this?
I have only done at the way I wrote the recipe so I’m not sure how canned sweet potatoes will work.
This was so good, and so moist! I mashed the sweet potatoes in my stand mixer for ease (score!), and reduced the sugar by half, using all brown sugar. Definitely a keeper!
I’m glad to hear this came out great for you using the stand mixer for ease and being able to reduce the sugar by half and it still came out great!
May I know how much sugar did you use?
It’s listed in the recipe section.
Very good, has the texture and taste of spice cake. Nobody would guess it has sweet potato. It’s a keeper!
Thanks for the five star review and glad it’s a keeper for you!
A real keeper. Some notes: It makes enough that a 9×5 pan would be overwhelmed; it fills a full-size Bundt pan. You can sub butter for the vegetable oil, and add more yogurt if it needs extra moisture. I always roast sweet potatoes, even if it takes longer; gives them a little caramelized edge. Other personal adjustments: cardamom instead of nutmeg, and lemon flavor instead of vanilla. Delicious.
Thanks for the five star review and glad it’s a keeper for you!
I made this today ( cinnamon& Spice Sweet Potato Bread). The wife and i enjoyed it very much. She was glad when i told her the calories per serving. I cheated a little. Because of my laziness, i used the KitchenAid. I also made muffins instead. Plus i had batter left over so i am experimenting with a small 6″ cake. I haven’t decided on icing yet. Any suggestions, as i have not iced it yet . It’s still cooling.
Icing…I would do a simple powdered sugar and butter icing or maybe cream cheese but honestly I think plain or a pat of butter is just fine and have never iced this bread but go for what you enjoy.
Hi i. Would to know if you can reduce the sugar?
I’ve only made as written so not sure what will result if you alter the recipe.
Wonderful recipe. I used 1/2 cup dark brown sugar and 1 cup white sugar and omitted the clove and allspice and also added raisins. I used baked sweet potatoes. I will definitely make this again.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you loved the recipe! Glad you’ll make again!
If I was going to sub the spices for just cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice, can you tell me how much i would need? These are all I have on hand and I really want to make this today!
I would use probably 1 to 2 teaspoons of each, just guessing.
PERFECTION. It is absolutely AMAZING! Thank you so so soooo much for this recipe. Too good to be true
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you love the recipe!