Sweet Potato Bread (vegan)
This vegan sweet potato bread is moist, cozy and packed with warm aromatic spices! For a little indulgence, you can top it with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting and pecans. And the quick bread works well with steamed, boiled or baked sweet potato!
Ingredients You’ll Need
The full list of ingredient quantities and instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Sweet potatoes provide an incredible cozy flavor, silky texture and natural sweetness! It also acts as a partial egg replacer, because it adds moisture, and its natural starches make the loaf beautifully soft.
Light brown sugar provides moisture and depth of flavor, whereas granulated sugar ensures this bread isn’t too heavy!
Oil helps prevent the loaf from being too dense and chewy. Sweet potato is high in natural starches, which can make baked goods a bit chewy. Oil helps minimize this so you get a soft and tender texture, not a chewy loaf!
Warm spices including cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. These complement the sweet potato perfectly and make it similar to pumpkin bread or carrot cake.
I’ve tested this sweet potato bread recipe with and without egg replacers (such as yogurt and applesauce) and they don’t make a difference to the texture and moisture of the bread. In other words, you don’t need any special egg replacers for this recipe!
Prepare the Sweet Potato Puree
Thankfully, making sweet potato puree is much easier than making your own pumpkin puree! The easiest method is:
- Peel your sweet potato and chop roughly.
- Steam or boil the sweet potato for around 15 minutes or until tender. Let the sweet potato fully cool.
- Puree the sweet potato with a food processor or stick blender until smooth. Measure the sweet potato as needed for the recipe.
Sweet potato puree is normally quite thick so if your food processor/blender needs a little help, you can add the milk and/or oil from the recipe to help thin the mixture. This will make it easier to blend!
Alternatively, if you have the time and patience, you can roast sweet potato for this recipe. Roast sweet potato provides a deeper flavor and slightly more sweetness. Place a whole sweet potato with its skin in the oven preheated to 425°F (220°C) and bake for 50-60 minutes, or until it’s fork-tender. When the potato has cooled, remove the skin and puree using a food processor or stick blender.
Puree made from roast sweet potato is a little thicker than if made with steamed sweet potato so you’ll need to add an extra X milk to your batter.
Prepare the Batter
Add all the dry ingredients to a large bowl and stir until well combined. Then add the sweet potato puree with the rest of the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Make sure you don’t overmix your batter, otherwise your sweet potato bread will be tough and may sink. I mixed my sweet potato puree with a little milk to help get a smoother mixture.
For the best results, here are some tips:
- If your flour is lumpy, sift it before using! When flour is lumpy, it takes longer to mix and you’re more likely to overmix the batter. This can result in a denser bread.
- Measure your flour accurately using the spoon and level method or the grams measurements. Overmeasuring your flour will result in an extremely thick batter and your final bread will be dense and dry.
- Use room-temperature ingredients, especially the milk, and sweet potato puree. Cold ingredients don’t emulsify as easily and can cause the oil to separate from the bread.
Tips for Baking
This bread is straightforward to bake and normally takes 1 hour to 1 hour and 5 minutes to bake. The length of time will depend on your oven so it’s best to watch your sweet potato bread in the last 15 minutes of baking.
Here are some baking tips:
- If your loaf is browning too quickly but is not cooked in the middle, loosely cover your pan with aluminium foil. This will reduce any radiant heat and force the middle of the loaf to bake.
- Your bread is ready when it smells fragrant and the edges start to pull away from the sides of the pan. If you gently press the middle of the loaf, it’ll gently bounce back. And of course, if you insert a toothpick in the middle, there shouldn’t be any wet batter on it (though some moist crumbs are fine).
Decorating this Sweet Potato Bread
This bread is truly incredible on its own without any toppings! However, if you’d like to jazz up your bread, you can:
- Sprinkle some pecans, oats and/or shredded coconut on the loaf before baking. If using nuts, keep an eye on your loaf at the 40 minute mark as nuts burn quickly! If they’re browning quickly, just cover the pan with aluminium foil.
- Bake the loaf as is and top with cream cheese frosting or a simple vanilla buttercream. I topped mine with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting and sprinkled chopped pecans on top.
- You can also top it with a meringue topping (reminiscent of sweet potato casserole, and similar to lemon meringue pie!)
Customizing this recipe
All gluten-free flour blends are made with different ingredients so it’ll hugely depend on the blend. However, this recipe will work well with King Arthur’s measure for measure flour. I would just recommend baking the bread for a few extra minutes to ensure it’s baked through.
Coconut sugar will work similarly to granulated and brown sugar. However, coconut sugar tends to make baked goods denser and drier. It’s also less sweet than regular sugar, so your sweet potato bread will turn out differently.
I don’t recommend using maple syrup or date syrup for this recipe as it’ll add too much moisture.
Yes! I’ve tested this and you’ll just need to bake the loaf for 5-10 extra minutes. If you use lots of add-ins, I suggest using a 9″ (23cm) loaf pan. Add-ins do weigh down the loaf and make it denser, but it’s still incredibly delicious.
More Cozy Vegan Bakes
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Vegan Sweet Potato Bread
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups (280g) all-purpose plain flour, spooned and leveled (note 1)
- ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (100g) packed light brown sugar
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Wet Ingredients
- 1 x (~360g) very large sweet potato, or 2 x medium sweet potatoes (weighed after peeling)
- ½ cup (110g) neutral flavored oil
- ⅔ cup (150g) dairy-free milk
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar, white vinegar or lemon juice (optional)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional
Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting (optional)
- ½ cup (80g) vegan cream cheese, room temperature
- 3 tablespoons (45g) vegan block butter, room temperature
- 1 cup (100g) powdered sugar / icing sugar, plus an extra 1/2 cup (50g) if needed
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ cup (25g) chopped pecans, optional
Instructions
Make the Sweet Potato Puree (note 2 for baked sweet potato puree):
- Peel and chop your sweet potato into large chunks. Steam or boil the sweet potato for 10-15 minutes, or until tender. Let it cool completely.
- Puree the cooked sweet potato with a stick blender or food processor until very smooth. The puree should be thick. If it's too thick for your appliance, add some plant-based milk from the recipe and blend again. You'll need 1 1/2 cups (360g) of pureed sweet potato (not including the milk) for this recipe.
Prepare the Sweet Potato Bread:
- Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C). Line an 8-inch (20 cm) loaf pan with parchment paper.
- Add the dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl and whisk until combined. Add the sweet potato puree and the remaining wet ingredients and mix until just combined. The batter should be very thick. Make sure you don't overmix the batter, as this will make your sweet potato bread dense.
- Pour or scoop the batter into your prepared loaf pan and smooth the top.
- Bake the bread for around 1 hour to 1 hour and 5 minutes. The length of time will depend on how hot your oven runs. If you insert a toothpick in the center, there shouldn't be any wet batter on it (some moist crumbs are fine).
- Allow the bread to cool in the pan for around 10 minutes, then transfer it to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Prepare the Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Add the butter and cream cheese to a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer. Beat until pale, fluffy and well combined. Add 1 cup of sugar and cinnamon and beat for 1-2 minutes until just combined. Do not overbeat, as this will make the frosting too soft. For a firmer frosting, add the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar and beat until just combined.
- When the sweet potato bread has completely cooled, top with the cream cheese frosting and chopped pecans.
- If unfrosted: Store leftovers in a sealed container at room temperature for 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Or store individual slices in the freezer for up to 1 month.If frosted: Store leftovers in a sealed container at room temperature for a few hours or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. You can store frosted slices of the bread in the freezer for up to 1 month, although the frosting's consistency may change.
Notes
- Measuring the flour: Make sure you measure the flour accurately otherwise, your bread will be dry and dense. If you’re using measuring cups, use the spoon and level method where you fluff up the flour in the bag, use a spoon to add flour to a measuring cup, then level it off with a knife. I don’t recommend using the measuring cup to scoop flour out of your container as this usually packs in too much flour. Alternatively, use the grams measurements.
Gluten-free version: This recipe works well with King Arthur’s measure for measure flour, and no other changes. You may need to bake for 3-5 extra minutes. - Alternatively, you can use baked sweet potato. Preheat your oven to 425°F (220°C), place 1-2 whole sweet potatoes with their skin on a baking sheet and bake for 50-60 minutes, or until they’re fork-tender. When the potato has cooled, remove the skin and puree using a food processor or stick blender. Baked sweet potato puree is a little thicker than steamed sweet potato so I suggest using at least 3/4 cup (170g) dairy-free milk.
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Do you think it would work to use applesauce instead of the oil?
Hi Peg, you can certainly try but as the recipe already contains a high amount of sweet potato, replacing the oil will change the texture of the loaf. Hope that helps!