Sweet Potato Quick Bread

This sweet potato quick bread is made with mashed sweet potatoes, warm spices, and topped with a brown sugar streusel and sweet glaze.

 

When it comes to making homemade bread, I love mixing up all sorts of delicious flavors. From a classic banana bread loaf, to a lemon blueberry bread, and even a mango bread! And now this sweet potato bread recipe.

I used my pumpkin bread recipe as my jumping off point for this sweet potato bread recipe. I used orange juice for extra flavor, and topped with a brown sugar streusel and sweet glaze. This is the best sweet potato bread, with warm spices and streusel!

I love making sweet potatoes all year round and always have some leftover giving me an perfect excuse to make this bread. So if you’re like, and you have any leftover sweet potatoes, save some to stir into this old fashioned sweet potato bread!

Why you will love this sweet potato bread

• Quick to mix up – I love making a quick bread, because it takes very little effort and is ready to be baked in minutes. If you used canned sweet potatoes, or leftover sweet potatoes, then this bread will take you no time at all.
• Can use canned or fresh sweet potatoes – To make this sweet potato quick bread recipe all year long you can use mashed sweet potatoes, or use canned sweet potato puree.
• Perfect for freezing – If you can’t eat all this sweet potato bread at once, then freeze this bread for up to 3 months.

See Also:

• Grab a couple of ripe mangoes and make this super easy moist mango bread with toasted coconut!
• Make this easy Nutella Bread with a three ingredient Nutella glaze
• If you love cinnamon rolls, then make this cinnamon raisin bread which comes together even easier!

Ingredients for an Easy Sweet Potato Bread Recipe

• All-purpose flour – For a tender, fluffy sweet potato bread be sure to measure flour the right way but spooning the flour into your measuring cup and leveling it off. For best results, measure by weight and use a kitchen scale.
• Light brown sugar – I use brown sugar in the streusel and in the bread batter. You can use light or dark brown sugar and be sure to pack the brown sugar into your cup. If you are out of brown sugar, make your own homemade brown sugar with granulated sugar!
• Unsalted butter – I use cold, cubed unsalted butter and cut in with a pastry blender to make the streusel. I recommend unsalted butter vs salted butter so I can control the amount of salt.
• Granulated sugar- Used to sweeten the bread.
• Baking powder – This will make your sweet potato bread rise. Be sure to use baking powder vs baking soda. Baking powder and baking soda are not the same ingredients and your bread won’t rise properly if you swap 1:1.
• Cinnamon – I love adding a little ground cinnamon for extra flavor to the streusel and to the batter mixture.
• Nutmeg – In addition to cinnamon I like adding the flavor of ground nutmeg.
• Salt – This helps balance the sweetness. I prefer to bake with sea salt because it’s fine in crystal size and has a pure salt taste with no additives, but table salt or kosher salt also works.
• Eggs – Bring your eggs to room temperature before using. I place mine in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes before using.
• Milk – I used whole milk to make the glaze, but a low-fat or dairy-free milk like almond milk, will also work.
• Oil – Using oil makes for a wonderfully moist bread. I used vegetable oil but you can also use canola, grapeseed, or safflower oil. But be sure to use an oil that won’t impart flavor such as olive oil.
• Vanilla extract – I recommend using pure vanilla extract, but imitation vanilla extract will also work.
• Mashed Sweet potato – You want to use cooled, mashed sweet potatoes for this sweet potato bread recipe. You will need about two medium sweet potatoes, or you can also use canned sweet potatoes.
• Orange juice – This makes for a flavorful, moist sweet potato bread, but you could always swap it with apple juice or water.
• Powdered sugar – I use powdered sugar to make the glaze. If you don’t have any, you can make powdered sugar in your food processor.

How to Make Sweet Potato Bread

1. Prep pan and oven. Position a rack in the center of your oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 8 1/2- inchx 4 1/2-inch loaf pan. I like to line mine with parchment paper as well and grease lightly again.
2. Make streusel. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Cut in the cold butter until a crumbly mixture forms. Set aside.

3. Combine Dry Ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

4. Combine wet ingredients. In a second mixing bowl, whisk together the oil, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, sweet potato, and orange juice.

5. Combine flour mixture and wet ingredients. Make a well in the center of your dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. With a spatula, stir to combine until the last of the flour has been mixed in. Stop mixing at this point to avoid overmixing. 

6. Bake the bread. Pour the batter into the greased loaf pan. Sprinkle streusel over the bread. Bake the bread for 60-70 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean; and that same tester inserted about 1/2″ into the top of the loaf doesn’t encounter any totally unbaked batter. You should see moist crumbs, not raw batter. Mine was perfect at 60 minutes, so begin checking your bread at 60 minutes, but every oven is different so you may need additional time.
7. Cool the bread. Remove the bread from the oven, and cool it on a rack in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and continue to cool. When it’s completely cool, wrap it well in plastic wrap, and store it overnight before serving for best texture.

8. Make the glaze. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla. Adjust the consistency if needed. Drizzle over the cooled bread. 

How to Store this Sweet Potato Bread

Let the baked bread cool completely then wrap in plastic wrap or aluminum foil. I store my sweet potato quick bread at room temperature for a few days.

How To Freeze

To freeze sweet potato bread, let it cool completely, and then wrap in plastic wrap or aluminum foil. I like to wrap the bread in a few layers and then also place in a freezer plastic bag.

The sweet potato quick bread will freeze for up to 3 months. When ready to enjoy, unwrap and defrost at room temperature before serving.

Frequently Asked Questions

Recipe Variations

If you want to mix things up a bit here are a few delicious mix-ins for you to add to the sweet potato bread recipe.

• Nuts – You can add 1/2 – 1 cup of chopped nuts to the sweet potato bread, like chopped pecans or walnuts. I recommend toasting the nuts first before stirring into the sweet potato bread batter.
• Chocolate chips – You can stir in 1/2 cup to 1 cup of chocolate chips to the batter. For the chocolate chips, I like to toss in a tablespoon of flour first so they don’t sink to the bottom
• Cranberries – Try stirring in some dried cranberries, or fresh cranberries to the sweet potato bread mixture.

More Recipes To Try

• Sweet Potato Muffins
• 20+ Cupcakes To Make This Fall
• Salted Honey Parker House Rolls
• Cake Batter Dip