We guarantee this Sweet Potato Bread recipe will become your new go-to quick bread. It’s flavorful, lightly sweetened, incredibly moist, and healthy! Our recipe is prepped in just 15 minutes and made with 100% whole-wheat flour, naturally sweetened with coconut sugar, and made with heart-heathy olive oil. The incredible thing is you’d never know it!
We love a quick bread recipe, they have minimal prep time and last for several days. This sweet potato loaf recipe is ideal for a healthy breakfast or midday snack on those busy weeks. Some of our other favorites are Lemon Poppyseed Zucchini Bread, Yogurt Banana Bread, and Date Nut Bread.
We made sure it’s packed with nutrients from the roasted sweet potato and whole wheat flour and sweetened with coconut sugar to keep you satisfied without even knowing it’s healthy. Using sweet potatoes in baked goods may sound strange, but trust us, the add a savory sweet flavor that’s similar to pumpkin. Be sure to try our Sweet Potato Cake next!
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
- Prepped in 15 minutes! It’s called a quick bread for a reason, stir together the batter in just minutes.
- Made with pantry staples. Most of the ingredients are probably already in your kitchen.
- Naturally sweetened quick bread. This bread is sweetened with the potato itself as well as coconut sugar.
- Made healthy with whole wheat flour. We are swapping the all-purpose flour for whole wheat for some added nutrients in each bite.
- Great to use up leftover sweet potato. We love meal prepping roasted sweet potatoes, so if any are leftover they are perfect for this recipe.
- Make-ahead breakfast or snack recipe. This loaf is the perfect quick breakfast or midday snack for a busy week.
Ingredients in Sweet Potato Bread
- Whole Wheat Pastry Flour: For recipes that are more delicate, like a quick bread or cake, we like to use whole-wheat pastry flour. It’s lighter and finer than regular whole-wheat flour and makes for an easy swap with all-purpose flour.
- Baking Soda and Baking Powder: The combination of these two leaveners is important for giving the bread lift and keeping it light.
- Coconut Sugar or Granulated Sugar: We prefer coconut sugar over refined sugars (white sugar and brown sugar) because it’s less processed and has a lower glycemic index which means it’s metabolized slower in the body and causes a lower and slower rise in blood sugar levels. It also adds more flavor than white or packed brown sugar would. However, if you don’t have coconut sugar, you can also use granulated sugar.
- Olive oil: We like the bold flavor that extra-virgin olive oil adds to baked goods. If you don’t want to use olive oil, you can use vegetable oil.
- Buttermilk: It’s is important for keeping this bread nice and moist and also activates the baking soda.
- Sweet Potato: This recipe uses roasted and pureed sweet potato. The sweet potato adds natural sweetness, flavor and moisture to the bread, much like mashed banana or pumpkin purée would.
- Eggs: Make sure you’re using large eggs (should measure about ¼ cup each or 50 grams).
- Spices: Dried ginger, salt and nutmeg are the perfect mix of spices for this bread, but feel free to add your favorite warm spies like cinnamon, allspice and/or cloves. We also add dried rosemary for a flavorful surprise.
- Dried Cranberries: These are optional, but we like the pop of sweet-tart flavor they add.
- Optional Toppings: Finish the bread with a sweet and salty crunchy topping that makes it even more delectable. The topping is made with raw pepitas (pumpkin seeds), raw sunflower seeds, oats, turbinado sugar and flaky sea salt.
Zestful kitchen’s Tip
- Be sure to roast the sweet potatoes instead of boiling. Roasting concentrates their flavor and removes excess moisture. If the sweet potatoes are boiled, their flavor will become diluted and you risk throwing off the dry-to-wet ingredient ratio.
Recipe Video
How to Make Sweet Potato Bread Recipe
Aside from whipping up a sweet potato purée (which is totally hands-off), nothing is out of the ordinary here. Follow the visual step-by-step guide below for perfect sweet potato bread!
- Preheat the oven: Preheat your oven to 350ºF (177ºC).
- Mix the dry ingredients: Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, salt and nutmeg.
- Combine the Wet Ingredients: In a separate bowl, combine the sweet potato, eggs, sugar, buttermilk, and oil.
- Mix Up the Batter: Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix just until it starts to come together. There should still be pockets of dry flour. Fold in the cranberries just until combined.
- Bake the Bread: Transfer the batter to a loaf pan lined with parchment and smooth top. Sprinkle topping evenly over batter. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 55 to 65 minutes. Let the bread cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.
More Pro Tips for Recipe success
- Keep an eye on the bread as it bakes. You don’t want to over-bake it! Bake until the top is nicely browned and just until a toothpick or skewer comes out clean.
Use the bake time in the recipe as a guide—not a rule. All ovens are slightly different in temperature, so check the bread often in the last bit of time. - If the batter has lumps of flour after mixing, that’s ok! This will actually even out during baking and keep the bread light and airy.
- Bake into muffins. Heat oven to 400°F and line standard muffin tin with paper liners. Divide batter among muffin cups, sprinkle topping over batter. Bake muffins until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the centers come out clean; 15–20 minutes. Let muffins cool in pan 5 minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
- How to make sweet potato purée. Prick the surface of two medium sweet potatoes with a fork. Arrange on a foil-lined baking sheet and roast at 425ºF (218ºC) for 50–60 minutes until a knife easily slides into potato. Let cool slightly, then peel and discard skins. Transfer potato flesh to a food processor or blender and process until completely smooth.
- Make the bread dairy free. Swap the buttermilk for vegan buttermilk. To make vegan buttermilk combine ⅓ cup unsweetened almond or soy milk with 1 teaspoon white vinegar. Let the mixture rest for 5–10 minutes until curdled. Use as directed in the recipe.
- Make the bread vegan. Use vegan buttermilk noted above and swap the egg for a chia for flax egg. To make a chia or flax egg grind 2 tablespoons flax or chia seeds in a spice grinder. Combine ground flax or chia with ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons water and let rest 15 minutes in the refrigerator. Use as directed in the recipe.
Storage & Reheating
- Regular storing: Store this bread at room temperature wrapped tightly in foil for up to 2 days. Any longer and we recommend storing it in the refrigerator tightly wrapped in both plastic and foil.
- Reheating bread slices: Warm slices of bread in a toaster oven or under the broiler in your oven. You can also give them a quick pan-fry in a nonstick skillet with a pat of butter.
- For the freezer: For even longer storage can and freeze sweet potato bread. The bread will become slightly dry and won’t be as flavorful, but it is an option. To freeze this bread, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap followed by foil and finally place it in a large plastic bag.
- Sweet potato bread can be frozen for up to 6 months. When you’re ready to eat the bread remove it from the freezer and allow it to thaw at room temperature for a few hours.
FAQs
Can I make this bread with all-purpose flour?
We haven’t tested this, but it should work fine. All-purpose flour weighs more by volume than whole-wheat pastry flour, so if you use all-purpose flour we recommend decreasing the amount of flour to 1 ½ cups. Let us know how it goes in the comments below!
Can I make this bread gluten-free?
We haven’t tested this recipe with a gluten-free flour blend, so we can’t guarantee it will work. But your best bet will be to try baking this with our favorite gluten-free flour blend. If you try it, let us know!
I don’t like dried cranberries, what else can I add to the bread?
Toasted and chopped pecans, walnuts or pistachios are a great addition to this bread. We haven’t test this, but white chocolate chips or dark chocolate chunks would also be delicious.
Can I make this with purple sweet potatoes?
We haven’t tested this, but we don’t see why not. Roast and purée the purple sweet potato just as you would with a regular sweet potato.
Can I make this bread with pumpkin puree?
We don’t recommend that since pumpkin has more water than sweet potato.
More Quick Breads to Try
- Our Olive Oil Banana Bread is the best healthy banana bread you will find! It’s loaded with flavor, moist and perfectly sweet.
- For a summery quick bread, try our Healthy Lemon Blueberry Bread.
- This Browned Butter Carrot Bread is a reader favorite. It’s deeply rich thanks to browned butter and somewhat reminiscent of a carrot cake.
- Use up all that summer zucchini in this Lemony Zucchini Bread.
Sweet Potato Bread Recipe (Whole Wheat)
Description
This sweet potato quick bread is flavorful, lightly sweetened, incredibly moist (but not gluey), and even healthy! It’s made with 100% whole-wheat flour, olive oil and is naturally sweetened.
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups (180g) whole-wheat pastry flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon dried ginger
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup sweet potato purée (click for recipe)
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup coconut sugar or regular cane sugar
- ⅓ cup buttermilk
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- 1 ½ teaspoons dried rosemary optional, crumbled
- ½ cup dried cranberries
Grain and Seed Topping
- 1 tablespoon raw unsalted pumpkin seeds
- 1 tablespoon raw unsalted sunflower seeds
- 1 tablespoon old-fashioned oats
- 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar or coconut sugar
- ½ teaspoon flaky sea salt
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F (177ºC) with rack set in middle position.
- Coat a 8½ × 4½-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray. Line pan with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on two sides.
- Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, ginger, salt and nutmeg; set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together sweet potato purée, eggs, sugar, buttermilk, oil, and rosemary.
- Add flour mixture to sweet potato mixture and mix just until combined; fold in cranberries.
- Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth top.
- Combine seeds, oats, turbinado sugar, and sea salt; sprinkle evenly over batter.
- Bake bread until dark brown on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 55–65 minutes.
- Let bread cool completely in pan set on a wire rack.
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Video
Notes
Storage: Store sweet potato bread at room temperature wrapped in foil or in a zipper-lock bag for up to 2 days. For longer storage, pop the bread in the refrigerator.
Bake into muffins: Heat oven to 400°F and line standard muffin tin with paper liners. Divide batter among muffin cups, sprinkle topping over batter. Bake muffins until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the centers come out clean; 15–20 minutes. Let muffins cool in pan 5 minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
How to make sweet potato purée: prick the surface of two medium sweet potatoes with a fork. Arrange on a foil-lined baking sheet and roast at 425ºF (218ºC) for 50–60 minutes until a knife easily slides into potato. Let cool slightly, then peel and discard skins. Transfer potato flesh to a food processor or blender and process until completely smooth.
DAIRY FREE: Swap the buttermilk for vegan buttermilk. To make vegan buttermilk combine ⅓ cup unsweetened almond or soy milk with 1 teaspoon white vinegar. Let the mixture rest for 5–10 minutes until curdled. Use as directed in the recipe.
EGG-FREE/VEGAN: Use vegan buttermilk noted above and swap the egg for a chia for flax egg. To make a chia or flax egg grind 2 tablespoons flax or chia seeds in a spice grinder. Combine ground flax or chia with ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons water and let rest 15 minutes in the refrigerator. Use as directed in the recipe.
Nutrition
Serving: 1sliceCalories: 269kcalCarbohydrates: 38gProtein: 5gFat: 10gSaturated Fat: 1.7gCholesterol: 41mgSodium: 362mgFiber: 4gSugar: 14g
Like this? Leave a comment below!I love hearing from you and I want to hear how it went with this recipe! Leave a comment and rating below, then share on social media @zestfulkitchen and #zestfulkitchen!
This recipe and article were originally published on October 16th 2019.
This bread looks so soft, fluffy and amazing! I love the presentation with the seeds on top too – just stunning.
Thank you Katerina! 🙂 I’m in love with this one!
This bread is SO amazing and hearty!! I absolutely loved the seed topping and the addition of cranberries in the bread. I will definitely be making this at Thanksgiving too.
This is perfect – especially the seed topping!!
The process photos were so helpful when making this DELICIOUS bread, thank you!!!
I loved the crunchy seeds on top! Will make this again.
I made this last night and it was great! When I mashed the potatoes the mash was really sweet so I cut the sugar in half and it is sweet enough. Thank you for sharing the recipe 🙂
Would I need to change the ingredient ratios to substitute butternut squash for the sweet tators? I still have a couple dozen of them from my garden.
Thanks
Hi Stephen! Great question—I have a butternut squash in my pantry right now and I’m intrigued to try it this weekend. If I do, I will report back!
In the meantime, I anticipate the butternut squash will have a higher moisture content than sweet potatoes. My first thought was to decrease the buttermilk, but the more I think about it I would instead leave the ratios the same and add a few tablespoons of flour as needed. I would make the batter as directed, and if it looks and feels too loose I would add a couple tablespoons of flour (and no more than 3 or 4 tablespoons). It should be pretty thick (thicker than banana bread batter), the video and step shots will be a good reference for showing the thickness of the batter.
I hope that helps, I’d love to hear how it goes!
OMG! I just made this bread and cannot be happier, as well as my kids! It turned out so well and I used a local heirloom course salt for the topping and it just elevated it! Thank you so much for this incredibly yummy recipe! My kids are asking to have it for breakfast tomorrow!
Yay! Hi Valerie! I am SO happy to hear you and your kids loved this bread. And that local salt sounds amazing! Always a good day when you can sneak some veggies into a tasty bread 😉
can I omit buttermilk for plain milk instead. I will make this !
Absolutely, I recommend adding a teaspoon of vinegar to the 1/3 cup of milk and letting it rest for 5 minutes before using it in the recipe. This will essentially create buttermilk. I hope that helps!
This is incredible! Beautifully moist and fluffy. Love the crumb. Rosemary is a nice touch too. We threw ourselves at it, a little while out of the oven and almost devoured the whole thing. I made a double batch, subbed some of the flour for oats, added some cinnamon and turmeric and also subbed the cranberries for sliced pear. Decadent.
Could i use purple sweet potatoes instead of the regular ones in this recipe?
Absolutely! Not sure how the color will change during baking, but the bread will work just fine with purple potatoes!
Ms Lauren Grant…I have now made this delish Bread countless times…so GOOD!!! Importantly…your Print RECIPE is incredibly well written, with consistent reliable results, very detailed and properly organized…so nice to find this gem (and you!) ✌
I made it into muffins and it was excellent . It smelled so good in the oven and remained moist even in the fridge. Although did sub 50% of AP flour. Most importantly it was tasty.
I’m so happy to hear they turned out well as muffins! And glad it worked well with AP! Thanks for trying them and for leaving a comment!
Yummy! Changed the sweetener to 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup brown sugar because it’s what I had. 45 minutes in a 9×5 loaf pan. Love the topping!!
So glad you enjoyed this recipe Pam! Thanks for sharing what you did!