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 LOVE this. It’s like pumpkin bread that I don’t feel weird about making in the summer, totally perfect.
EXACTLY!!! Which is why I made it :)
Yum…I love sweet potatoes too, they make everything good. I make a delicious Sweet Potato Bran muffin that is a great snack or breakfast idea. https://thefithousewife.com/2012/03/sweet-potato-bran-muffins.html/
Your muffins look so healthy and good! Thanks for sharing!
Fabulous color! I’ve been so missing all the pumpkin-y stuff from last fall!
Me too and this is a way to work it in in the spring without being actual pumpkin :)
These photos are freaking gorgeous Averie. Did you get a new lens? Seriously, stunning. I bought the 50mm 1.4 the other day – it will be here this weekend for my photoshoots. Can’t wait! I’m buying the mark III in a few weeks too. :)
Anyway – this bread. Holy mother of mercy, I need to make it immediately. The spices, the sweet potato, the gorgeous thick slices – everything is wonderful here. And it looks beyond moist. This is one of my very favorite recipes you’ve made! Pinned. Oh and guess what? My friend in Utah made banana bread the other day with buttermilk – I’m hooked. I can’t wait to make it.
I have a banana bread with buttermilk recipe…so good! It’s hard to say what I like better, yogurt or buttermilk, they both lend similar results. I will be honest and say that when I include a box of pudding mix, I get results that I simply cannot duplicate with any other combo of ingredients from butter to oil to buttermilk to yogurt. But I try :)
And I thought you’d like this bread. It’s pumpkin. But in the spring. So to speak :) Therefore acceptable.
Didn’t get a new lens but there was a combo of factors working…including good lighting, the colors themselves which lent to great images, my own skillset that day (some days I am just more on my game than others and have better results) and I dunno, it just aligned. Growth, evolution, a journey. Thanks for the pin!
You had me and cinnamon and spice! I’d totally love a huge slice of this.
You had me at sweet potato! I am going to make this over the weekend for sure!
Please LMK how it goes!
Love sweet potatoes and in bread I’m sure it’s just lovely tasting, beautiful photos that make me want to grab a slice.
This bread looks amazing, Averie! I’m a huge sweet potato fan, roasting them, mashing them, or making fries, as you said. I also love them in pancakes, soup, muffins, and pie. I can go on and on! I love all the warm spices you’ve used. Can’t wait to try this!
Hope you try it then!
The 5th picture down (the pieces of the bread stacked on top of each other) killed me!! The bread looks so soft and moist. Considering I haven’t had breakfast yet I really REALLY want a piece! I have never really had sweet potatoes.. my parents being English they always thought it was strange Americans would eat a vegetable with marshmallows on it- so I never experienced it. And sweet potato bread- I never knew there was such a thing! But I love pumpkin bread so I guess I will like sweet potato bread as well!
Most of the time pumpkin and sweet potatoes can be used interchangeably in these types of recipes. It’s an excuse to eat pumpkin in the spring :) I loved that stacking shot too. Those juicy, moist bites. It was like dripping in moisture. I hate dry bread with a passion..can you tell!
This is just the swing back to fall baking that I need… it’s cold and miserable in Austin today and I could definitely use a slice of this gorgeous sweet potato loaf! It looks irresistible, as does your carrot cake. Going to check that out!
It’s an excuse to eat pumpkin in the spring so to speak :) And the carrot cake is my fave carrot cake ever!
I can’t ever get enough sweet potatoes!! I’m sure I would devour this loaf in a matter of days.
We DID devour it in like 36 hrs and it makes a BIG hearty 9×5 loaf!
So I always get pumpkin burn out at the end of the fall and even though I love spiced earthy flavors when theres a chill in the air I just cannot eat/drink anything with pumpkin after too many pumpkin loafs/cookies/cupcakes/lattes/whathaveyou. I think your sweet potato bread with cinnamon will be my salvation come end of fall :)
I know exactly what you mean about the burnout factor. I eat it almost every day for months and months and this is a nice change…and also a way to eat pumpkin in the spring, so to speak :)
This is seriously genius, Averie! Sweet potatoes are SO versatile, and I love that you used them for what looks like the most moist bread ever! Dying to make this!! Definitely pinning to try this when the cleanse is over :)
Thanks for the pin and have been thinking about you TONS on the cleanse wondering how it’s going! Keep me posted!
This loaf is gorgeous, Averie! I love sweet potatoes and quick breads like this. The texture is just perfect! Pinning!
Thanks for the pin and this was such a great bread and I bet you’d love it!
What I would give for 13 billion slices of this rawt ner.
You make me LOL :)
xo
EEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!! I am sososo excited about this bread! Sweet potatoes are pretty much my favorite food, and I love them in everything–bread, cupcakes, mac and cheese–I don’t think there is a single thing they’d be bad in! And this bread looks sooooo soft and tender. I’m definitely going to have to give it a try. And the spices? Ugh, I’m pretty much obsessed with everything about it.
I know you love them so much & you’re gonna love this bread. Beyond soft & tender!!