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This Sweet Potato Bread is everything you love about cozy fall baking, wrapped up in one delicious loaf! We’re talking incredibly moist, tender quick bread made with roasted sweet potatoes, warm cinnamon, brown sugar, and a little molasses for extra flavor. Then we top it with buttery cinnamon crunch topping, and honey, it’s the icing on the cake (except it’s bread, but you get the point!). Every slice is soft, perfectly spiced, and loaded with sweet potato goodness. Trust me, you’re gonna want the whole loaf to yourself!
For more sweet potato recipes, make my old fashioned sweet potato pie, sweet potato pound cake, and sweet potato cornbread next!
We ALL love pumpkin bread, but what about sweet potato bread?! I predict it’s going to be all the rage soon – and this recipe definitely supports that notion. The natural sweetness of the sweet potatoes mixed with warm spices and delicious cinnamon crunch topping make this bread taste just like old fashioned candied yams – but in cake form.
If you love a good homemade quick bread, this sweet potato bread recipe deserves a spot in your fall baking rotation. No yeast, no kneading, and no fancy equipment. Just a little mixing, a loaf pan, and a whole lot of deliciousness!
Sweet Potato Bread Recipe Overview
- ⭐ Difficulty: Easy
- 🕒 Prep Time: 20 minutes (excluding roasting and cooling the sweet potatoes)
- 🍞 Bake Time: 1 hour 10–20 minutes
- 🧑🍳 Total Time: Approximately 1 hour 30–40 minutes, excluding roasting and cooling
- 👪 Serves: About 10–12 slices
- 🍠 Made With: Roasted sweet potatoes, brown sugar, sour cream, cinnamon, ginger, molasses, and buttery cinnamon crunch topping
- 🍞 Why This Recipe is the Best: This isn’t your average sweet potato bread! Roasting the sweet potatoes brings out their natural sweetness, while sour cream and vegetable oil create an incredibly moist, tender crumb. Top it all off with a thick layer of buttery cinnamon sugar crunch, and every bite is pure cozy goodness!
Table of Contents
Key Ingredients You’ll Need
(The full list of ingredients and measurements can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of this post)
- Sweet potatoes: The star of the show! We roast the sweet potatoes to cook out any water to concentrate and caramelize their flavor. I recommend using small sweet potatoes for their sweeter flavor. Use leftovers to make my sweet potato tres leches.
- Brown sugar and molasses: Brown sugar adds moisture and a rich, caramel-like flavor. A little molasses takes that flavor even further and complements the warm spices beautifully. If you don’t have molasses, you can use maple syrup or just skip it entirely.
- Sour cream: One of my favorite ingredients for moist quick breads! Full-fat sour cream adds richness and tenderness without thinning the batter. Greek yogurt can also be used as a substitute.
- Vegetable oil: Keeps the bread soft and moist, even after it cools. Unlike butter, oil stays liquid at room temperature, helping the loaf maintain its tender texture.
- Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves: These warm spices are essential to any spice cake recipe. They add cozy flavor without overpowering the natural sweetness of the sweet potatoes.
- Cinnamon crunch topping: Made with brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and melted butter, this topping creates a sweet, slightly crisp layer that’s downright irresistible.
Substitutions and Variations
- Add chopped pecans. Fold 1/2 cup of toasted pecans into the batter for a little extra crunch and nutty flavor. It’ll taste like a pecan sweet potato casserole in loaf form. 😋
- Add chocolate chips. For an extra-sweet treat, fold 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips into the batter.
- Enjoy with a slather of my slow cooker apple butter or homemade honey butter, use the recipe from my honey butter cornbread! Also, peanut butter or almond butter work well here, too.
- Make a cream cheese glaze or vanilla sauce on top like how I did with my bread pudding with vanilla sauce recipe.
How To Make Sweet Potato Bread
Step 1: Roast the sweet potatoes. Bake the sweet potatoes at 425°F for 35–45 minutes, or until completely tender. Allow them to cool, remove the skins, and puree until smooth. Measure out 1 3/4 cups (420g). Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F. Add sweet potato puree to a large bowl along with sugar, brown sugar, vegetable oil, and spices. Mix until smooth.
Step 2: Finish the sweet potato bread batter. Add eggs, sour cream, molasses, and vanilla. Gently mix in the flour, leavening agents, and kosher salt and mix until just combined.
Step 3: Prepare the cinnamon crunch topping. Combine brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the melted butter until the mixture resembles crumbly, damp sand with a few small clusters.
Bake until golden. Pour the batter into a parchment-lined 9×5-inch loaf pan and sprinkle the cinnamon crunch topping evenly over the batter. Bake for 1 hour 10–20 minutes, or until a long wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out without wet batter. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Britney’s Pro Tips
- Measure your ingredients carefully. Too much flour can make the bread dry, while too much sweet potato puree can leave the center gummy. I recommend using a kitchen scale for best results, the gram measurements can be found in the recipe card.
- Don’t overmix the batter. Once the flour goes in, mix just until the dry ingredients disappear. Overmixing develops gluten, which can make your bread tough instead of soft and tender.
- Use a long wooden skewer to check for doneness. Insert it into the center all the way down toward the bottom of the loaf. It should come out with a few moist crumbs but no wet batter. A regular toothpick may not reach the center of this deep loaf.
Sweet Potato Bread Recipe FAQs
Not quite! Both are moist, warmly spiced quick breads, but sweet potatoes have a naturally sweeter, richer flavor than pumpkin. If you’re a fan of pumpkin bread, you’ll probably love this sweet potato version too.
Yes, you can freeze sweet potato bread. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, followed by aluminum foil, or place it in an airtight freezer bag, and it will stay fresh for up to 3 months; thaw at room temperature before serving.
I recommend sticking with freshly roasted sweet potatoes for this recipe! Roasting gives them a deeper, naturally sweet flavor and a thick consistency that works beautifully in quick breads. Canned sweet potato puree can vary in moisture, which may affect how the bread bakes. For the best results, go with roasted!
Store sweet potato bread in an airtight container or tightly wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 3 days. For longer storage, refrigerate it for up to a week, or freeze it for up to 3 months.
You can but I do not recommend it. The sweet potatoes can become waterlogged, leaving you with a watery, overly dense bread. Roasting is the best method to ensure the best flavor and texture.
Yes, as long as they’re plain and haven’t been mixed with butter, sugar, milk, or other ingredients.
Sweet potatoes add a ton of moisture, but too much can leave your bread dense or gummy. Make sure to measure exactly 1¾ cups (420g), and bake until the center is completely set. My tip: Insert a long wooden skewer into the center of the loaf. A few moist crumbs are fine, but wet batter means it needs more time.
More Quick Bread Recipes
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Sweet Potato Bread with Cinnamon Crunch Topping
Equipment
- 9×5 inch loaf pan
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups (420 g) Roasted Sweet Potatoes, (pureed), about 3-4 small sweet potatoes
- 1 cup (220 g) Brown Sugar
- 1/4 cup (50 g) Sugar
- 1/2 cup (112 ml) Vegetable Oil
- 1 tbsp (15 g) Molasses, (optional)
- 1/3 cup (80 g) Sour Cream
- 2 large (100 g) Eggs
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 cups (250 g) All Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
- 3/4 tsp Kosher Salt
- 2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1 tsp Ground Ginger
- 1/2 tsp Nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp Ground Cloves
Cinnamon Crunch Streusel
- 1/2 cup (110 g) Brown Sugar
- 2 tbsp (16 g) All Purpose Flour
- 1 tbsp Cinnamon
- Pinch salt
- 1 tbsp (14 g) Salted Butter, (melted)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Wash and dry sweet potatoes, then place onto a baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 35-45 minutes, until they become fork tender and begin to slightly leak a brownish color syrup (this means the sweet potatoes have caramelized – yum!) Allow them to cool, then remove the skin and place into a blender and puree until smooth, about 30-40 seconds. Measure out 1 3/4 cups sweet potato puree (420g) and store any leftovers in an airtight container. 1 3/4 cups Roasted Sweet Potatoes Note: this can be done up to 4 days in advance of making the sweet potato bread.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Line a 9×5 inch loaf pan with parchment paper so that there's about 2 inches overhang. Set aside.
- Add cooled sweet potato puree, brown sugar, sugar, and vegetable oil to a large mixing bowl. Whisk everything together for about 1 minute, until combined and smooth, ensuring that there's no clumps. Then add molasses, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla extract. 1 3/4 cups Roasted Sweet Potatoes 1 cup Brown Sugar 1/4 cup Sugar 1/2 cup Vegetable Oil 1 tbsp Molasses 1/3 cup Sour Cream 2 large Eggs 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- Add the dry ingredients – all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, and kosher salt, cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, and ground cloves. Continue to mix until fully combined, about 20-30 seconds, until combined and smooth. 2 cups All Purpose Flour 1 tsp Baking Soda 1/2 tsp Baking Powder 3/4 tsp Kosher Salt 2 tsp Ground Cinnamon 1 tsp Ground Ginger 1/2 tsp Nutmeg 1/4 tsp Ground Cloves
- Make the cinnamon crunch streusel by combining brown sugar, cinnamon, flour, and a pinch of salt. Add melted butter and use a fork to mix together until the texture resembles crumbly wet sand. 1/2 cup Brown Sugar 1 tbsp Cinnamon 2 tbsp All Purpose Flour Pinch salt 1 tbsp Salted Butter
- Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and top with the streusel. Bake for 1 hour and 10-20 minutes, until a wooden skewer inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Allow the bread to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
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- Prep the sweet potatoes correctly! Roast, Don’t Boil: Roasting sweet potatoes enhances their natural sweetness and keeps them from getting waterlogged, which can negatively impact the bread’s texture. Also, allow the sweet potatoes to cool prior to assembling the batter.
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- Measure Accurately – Use a kitchen scale: Weighing your mashed sweet potatoes ensures consistent results. Sweet potatoes can vary in moisture, so a consistent weight keeps the recipe balanced.
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- Wooden Skewer Test: Insert a long wooden skewer into the center of the loaf, all the way down to the bottom of the pan. It should come out with a few moist crumbs but no wet batter. I don’t recommend using a butter knife for this, it’s smooth surface can cause wet batter to glide off, making you think the cake is done when it isn’t.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I make this recipe at least once per month. I have it for breakfast with a cup of coffee and it’s so so good.