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.
Hi Avery,
I can not seem to find the place to post the Cinnamon Swirl Sweet Potato Bread to my Facebook – for the life of me I am not seeing that on that recipe – can you help me? I would really like to share it with some friends.
Thank you, Pauline
I don’t have buttons that click to share to Facebook. Grab the URL and copy/paste it to your FB page. Thanks for sharing! https://www.averiecooks.com/cinnamon-and-spice-sweet-potato-bread/
I made these previously per the recipe and they were fantastic. Came back to it again as a base. I didn’t have sweet potatoes so I used equal amount of carrots, and 3/4 C. sour cream instead of buttermilk (it’s what I had). They turned out just as good as before.
Site feedback – on mobile this site is absolutely brutal. Too many ads, pop-ups and header bar is in the way. Highly recommend checking in to that. I recognize ads are a source of revenue, but I probably won’t be back if I can’t use my computer when I want to use the recipe and definitely don’t peruse the site further.
I made these previously per the recipe and they were fantastic. Came back to it again as a base. I didn’t have sweet potatoes so I used equal amount of carrots, and 3/4 C. sour cream instead of buttermilk (it’s what I had). They turned out just as good as before.
Site feedback – on mobile this site is absolutely brutal. Too many ads, pop-ups and header bar is in the way. Highly recommend checking in to that. I recognize ads are a source of revenue, but I probably won’t be back if I can’t use my computer when I want to use the recipe and definitely don’t peruse the site further.
Thanks for the five star review. I’m sorry that you’re not able to use my site from your mobile. I’m using it from my mobile right now, and it’s just fine for me ads and all. And yes they are necessary because I cannot provide recipes for free without earning a living.
Just pulled out of oven.looks and smells fantastic. Can’t wait for to cool and sample.
Glad to hear this looks like a winner and smells like one!
I made this tonight and it came out very good! I reduced the white sugar down to 3/4 cup and still used 1/4 cup of brown. Also followed other advice and used 6 TBSP of unsweetened applesauce and 2 TBSP of EVOO. Next time I may omit the oil and use the 1/2 cup of applesauce plus add in pecans/walnuts. It wasn’t overly sweet! Thanks for the recipe!
I made this tonight and it came out very good! I reduced the white sugar down to 3/4 cup and still used 1/4 cup of brown. Also followed other advice and used 6 TBSP of unsweetened applesauce and 2 TBSP of EVOO. Next time I may omit the oil and use the 1/2 cup of applesauce plus add in pecans/walnuts. It wasn’t overly sweet! Thanks for the recipe!
Glad to hear that this was very good and that your tweaks and substitutions worked out well for you!
Very good. I reduced the white sugar to 1cup. Used 6T applesauce and 2T oil to reduce the calories. Worked just fine. I used pan that made 8 mini loaves. Baking time around 25 minutes.
Very good. I reduced the white sugar to 1cup. Used 6T applesauce and 2T oil to reduce the calories. Worked just fine. I used pan that made 8 mini loaves. Baking time around 25 minutes.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad your modifications worked out just fine!
This might be the best thing I’ve ever made. I followed the directions exactly – used 2 sweet potatoes and a loaf pan – except I didn’t have allspice so I just used a little extra of everything else. It is so good. I baked for 60 minutes and tented the last 15 – perfect.
This might be the best thing I’ve ever made. I followed the directions exactly – used 2 sweet potatoes and a loaf pan – except I didn’t have allspice so I just used a little extra of everything else. It is so good. I baked for 60 minutes and tented the last 15 – perfect.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad this is one of the best things you’ve ever made!
What can I substitute buttermilk with?
I used 4T evaporated milk with 1\2T vinegar instead of yogurt Let it sit 5 minutrs worked just fine
We have loved this recipe for years now so I thought I should come back and say thank you! I make this as muffins for my kids and all four of them love it. I use flax eggs (1 Tbsp flaxseed meal : 3 Tbsp water per egg) and reduce the white sugar to 1/2 cup. It’s delicious! I’m going to have to start doubling the batch so I have enough left to freeze 😊
We have loved this recipe for years now so I thought I should come back and say thank you! I make this as muffins for my kids and all four of them love it. I use flax eggs (1 Tbsp flaxseed meal : 3 Tbsp water per egg) and reduce the white sugar to 1/2 cup. It’s delicious! I’m going to have to start doubling the batch so I have enough left to freeze 😊
Thanks for the 5 star review and for coming back after you’ve been loving this recipe for years!
Glad to hear that flax eggs are fine too here!
I can’t stop making this recipe! I am not a big sweet potato fan, but I prefer this quick bread to banana, pumpkin or zucchini. I am vegan, so I subbed the buttermilk with almond milk with a dash of vinegar and subbed the egg with aquafaba. Thanks!!
I can’t stop making this recipe! I am not a big sweet potato fan, but I prefer this quick bread to banana, pumpkin or zucchini. I am vegan, so I subbed the buttermilk with almond milk with a dash of vinegar and subbed the egg with aquafaba. Thanks!!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you are able to make this vegan and prefer it to other quickbreads as well!
I had a lot of leftover sweet potatoes and was looking for a recipe. So happy I found this one!! My family and I loved it! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you loved it and put those sweet potatoes to good use!