This healthy apple bread recipe is a nutritious way to start your day, perfect for a healthy breakfast or a delicious snack. This flavourful loaf is a guilt-free treat, packed with naturally sweet apples, warm spices like cinnamon, and wholesome ingredients.
Enjoy while apple season is in full swing when you can get your hands on fresh, crisp apples! This recipe makes the most of their natural sweetness, allowing us to reduce the need for added sugar while still delivering a wonderfully rich flavour.
Contents
There are multiple ways to make this simple apple bread recipe so you can adapt it to your needs and preferences! The apple bread is naturally vegan and can be made with gluten-free flour as well. See ‘The Healthy Breakfast Bread Formula’ for options.
Ingredients
- plain or all-purpose flour
- baking powder
- ground cinnamon
- salt
- grated, fresh apples
- unsweetened applesauce
- milk or yoghurt (vegan, if needed)
- vegetable oil (such as olive oil)
- maple syrup, optional
- walnuts to garnish, optional
(see recipe card for quantities)
Flour
Regular flour definitely works, as well as wholewheat flour. My favourite flour is spelt flour—I use it for all my recipes. I also like kamut flour.
You may replace half of the flour with oat flour, however, it’ll make the bread softer and possibly crumbly, unless you add eggs (do this, if you want to use oat flour only. 2 eggs should do).
Baking Powder
For best results, always make sure the baking powder you use is fresh and hasn’t been sitting in your pantry for a while. Optionally, swap with ¾ teaspoon of bicarb/baking soda and 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar.
Cinnamon
Adding warm spices to this healthy homemade apple bread is almost a must! Cinnamon and apples simply go well together. Ground ginger, nutmeg, and clove are a great addition, too.
Salt
Salt enhances the flavour and brings out the sweetness of the apples. Make sure to use rock or sea salt and not iodised table salt.
Fresh Apples
It doesn’t really matter what type of apples you choose. Whether you prefer Granny Smith, Pink Lady, or Fuji apples—they all work.
Granny Smith apples are more on the sour side, so you’ll end up with a less sweet apple bread. Pink Lady apples are naturally sweet, hence you may need less sweetener.
I prefer the apples grated. You may chop the apples into small pieces, too, if you like them chunky. Just make sure they’re not too big. Keep them small (roughly blueberry-size)!
Unsweetened Applesauce
You can easily make your own applesauce at home (see ‘Instructions’). If you don’t have the time for it, you should be able to get it in your grocery shop. Just ensure there are no added sugars!
Milk/Yoghurt
I love adding a mix of milk and yoghurt (half a cup each). Yoghurt adds more moisture and makes the bread fluffier—just think of buttermilk pancakes. Very similar effect.
Vegans can absolutely substitute with plant milk/yoghurt. Almond or oat milk will taste best with the apples.
Vegetable Oil
I prefer using virgin olive oil for my baked goods. Some people like avocado oil for baking, too. Sunflower and canola oil are often highly processed and considered less healthy, or wholesome.
Coconut oil is also an option, but I find it’s a heavy oil, meaning it may weigh down the loaf a bit, making it more dense and less fluffy.
Maple Syrup
I love to sweeten with maple syrup, especially for this healthy apple cinnamon bread because it adds that delicious flavour. But honestly, the apples are sweet enough for me so I sometimes like to omit the sweetener in this recipe altogether.
Any other liquid sweetener works here as well. Or even granulated sugar such as brown sugar or coconut sugar. Since we focus on healthy apple bread, I’d stick to a refined sugar-free version though.
Equipment
For this apple cinnamon bread recipe, you’ll need a small loaf pan/tin. Other than that, only your usual baking equipment: a large mixing bowl, wooden spoon or spatula, and a scale or measuring cups and spoons.
Instructions
How to Make This Healthy Apple Bread
Step 1. Preheat your oven to 175 °C / 350 °F and prepare your small loaf pan/tin, lining it with parchment paper or greasing it (if non-stick).
Step 2. In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients.
Then add wet ingredients and combine well. Here, it’s important to adjust the amount of milk and/or yoghurt you’re adding.
I recommend adding the milk bit by bit until you achieve the desired texture (see picture below). If you want to add maple syrup, definitely use less milk.
The batter should be thick and sort of heavy as you can see in the video as well. Anything runnier than that might result in a slimy, not-fully-baked apple bread!
Step 3. Scoop the batter into your prepared loaf tin. Sprinkle with walnut pieces and cinnamon, and drizzle with agave or brown rice syrup (optional). Bake in the centre of the oven for 45 – 50 minutes.
When you touch the top, it should spring back when it’s done. Or you can use a skewer—when it comes out clean, you’re good to go. Just keep in mind that this healthy apple bread has a soft, moist texture.
Step 4. Place the apple bread on a cooling rack. You can remove it from the loaf tin after 5 – 10 minutes. Let it cool down to room temperature before slicing it.
Enjoy with honey, nut butters, jam or whatever your heart desires!
How to Make Your Own Applesauce
It’s a very straightforward process! You only need to stew apple pieces and then puree them once soft and cooked! You can watch the video below to see how it’s done.
The Healthy Breakfast Bread Formula
This recipe follows my healthy breakfast bread blueprint—meaning you can customise and adapt it to your own needs and preferences! Here’s how:
- Flour: All-purpose/plain flour, wholegrain flour, wheat flour, spelt flour, gluten-free flour blend (depending on brand, may need to add eggs or egg replacer), buckwheat flour → use 2 cups or 280 – 300 g (240 g for gluten-free flour blends)
- Baking Powder: 2 teaspoons
- Salt: ¼ – ½ teaspoons
- Veggies/Fruit: unsweetened applesauce, mashed bananas, pumpkin puree, sweet potato puree, or even yoghurt → use 1 – 1 ½ or yield 300 – 400 g | → 1 heaped cup or yield 275 – 300 g for yoghurt
- Milk: cow’s milk, any plant-based milk (almond milk, oat milk, etc.), coconut milk, water → use ½ – 1 cup or 125 – 250 ml. Add this bit by bit until the desired texture is achieved.
- Eggs: The blueprint is naturally vegan, however, if you like to add eggs for extra nutritional value, you absolutely can → use 2 eggs
- Fat: Olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, almond spread, tahini → use ⅓ cup or 80 ml (for nut/seed spreads: 80 g)
- Sweetener: Coconut sugar, maple syrup, agave syrup, brown rice syrup (less sweet), date paste → use no more than ¼ cup or 60 ml / 50 g. Can be omitted! When adding liquid sweetener, you’ll need less milk.
- Spices: Cinnamon, clove, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, vanilla → about 2 teaspoons max, in total
- Mix-ins: Chocolate chips, nuts, dried fruit, cacao powder → 2 handfuls | → ¼ cup or 20 g of cacao powder (or cocoa)
Use this guide to create YOUR perfect breakfast bread!
Check out my sweet potato cake recipe which you can easily bake in a loaf pan as well. I also have a few banana bread recipes here on my blog. This one here combines pumpkin and bananas!
Substitutions & Variations
Gluten-free: Buckwheat flour definitely works for this healthy apple bread recipe. I reckon a regular gluten-free flour blend should be fine, too, but this may strongly depend on the brand and its blends. If unsure, you can always add 2 eggs.
Apples & Applesauce: Use 3 large bananas and turn it into a vegan banana bread. Use 1 cup / 250 – 300 g pumpkin or sweet potato puree for a healthy autumn breakfast bread!
Oil-free: I don’t recommend going oil-free because our body needs fat! However, if you prefer you can swap the oil for almond or hazelnut spread (I think they would go well with the apples). You can also use coconut milk for milk since it has a higher fat content and omit the oil.
Storage
Store this healthy vegan apple bread in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. You may also freeze it in a zip-lock bag or container for up to 6 months.
Top Tip
Turn this recipe into healthy apple muffins! Simply bake the batter in a muffin tray for 20 – 25 minutes.
If you love apples, here are more vegan apple recipes for you:
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups / 300 g all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 small fresh apples grated (Granny Smith, Pink Lady, Fuji, etc.)
- ½ cup / 120 g unsweetened applesauce
- 1 cup / 250 ml milk or yoghurt vegan, if needed, see notes
- ⅓ cup / 80 ml vegetable oil such as olive oil
- ¼ cup / 60 ml maple syrup optional, use less milk
- 1 handful walnuts to garnish optional
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 175 °C / 350 °F and prepare your small loaf pan/tin, lining it with parchment paper or greasing it (if non-stick).
- In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Then add wet ingredients and combine well. Here, it’s important to adjust the amount of milk and/or yoghurt you’re adding. I recommend adding the milk bit by bit until you achieve the desired texture (see picture). The batter should be thick and sort of heavy as you can see in the video as well. Anything runnier than that might result in a slimy, not-fully-baked apple bread!
- Scoop the batter into your prepared loaf tin. Sprinkle with walnut pieces and cinnamon, and drizzle with agave or brown rice syrup (optional). Bake in the centre of the oven for 45 – 50 minutes. When you touch the top, it should spring back when it’s done.
- Place the apple bread on a cooling rack. You can remove it from the loaf tin after 5 – 10 minutes. Let it cool down to room temperature before slicing it. Enjoy with honey, nut butter, jam or whatever your heart desires!
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