Cinnamon Apple Bread Recipe
This easy cinnamon apple bread is an easy quick bread with a moist, cake-like texture. With a crispy stresel-like topping and plenty of fresh apples and cinnamon swirl, this bread is perfect for breakfast, snack, or delicious dessert.
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This is the absolute BEST Apple Bread recipe on the internet. Swirled with cinnamon sugar and juicy apple pieces, try this Apple Bread recipe out and see why it has been pinned over 1 million times and has over 250 amazing reviews!
I whipped up this easy cinnamon apple bread recipe last weekend to prepare for the momentous occasion of college football starting back up and wanted to share it with you today. This bread is ah-mazingly delicious (I know I made that word up but believe me, it warrants it’s own made up superlatives!)
Want muffins instead? Try this apple cinnamon muffins recipe!
Why I love this recipe
I can’t even describe to you how insanely good this apple bread makes your house smell while its baking-and it’s perfection to have a slice when it’s warm out of the oven! It is a soft bread with a moist crumb and crunchy streusel-like topping and cinnamon swirl.
If you try it too I’d love it if you popped back and gave it a five-star review in the comments section!
Ingredients
- apples – red delicious, granny smith, and gala are some of my favorite varieties
- cinnamon
- brown sugar
- granulated white sugar
- baking powder
- eggs
- butter
- flour
- vanilla extract
- milk
Step by step
- Preheat the oven and spray a loaf pan with nonstick spray.
- Mix the cinnamon sugar and chop your apples. Set aside.
- Beat the butter and sugar together in a stand mixer (affiliate link) or with a hand mixer.
- Add eggs and vanilla and mix until combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix again. Add the milk a little at a time until the batter is just combined.
- Pour half of the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Top with half of the apples and cinnamon sugar mixture.
- Pour in remaining batter and top with remaining apples and cinnamon sugar.
- Pat toppings into the top of the bread with the back of a spoon and bake for 50 minutes.
- Let the bread cool for ten minutes before removing from the pan.
Tips for best results
- Be sure to choose a firm apple variety such as Granny Smith, Pink Lady, Gala or Fuji. Softer types of apples won’t stand up to the baking.
- Swirl a knife through the batter if desired before baking if you want the apple chunks and cinnamon sugar more uniform through the bread.
Storage
Store bread covered with plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 3 days. Store in the refrigerator for up to a week.
This bread also freezes well. Simply allow the bread to cool completely then wrap in foil and store in a freezer bag. When you are ready to eat the bread, allow to thaw at room temperature before serving.
You might also like some of my other popular recipes like my Best Dirt Cake Ever, Dark Chocolate Truffles, Peanut Butter Apple Crisp, Homemade Easy Biscuit Recipe, Cinnamon Apple Cake, Apple Crisp Cheesecake, and Dutch Apple Crumble Pie.
If you try this recipe please comment and rate it below, I love hearing from you!
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Apple Cinnamon Bread
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 8 1x
Description
This is the absolute BEST Apple Bread on the internet. Swirled with cinnamon sugar and juicy apple pieces, try this Apple Bread recipe out and see why it has over 250 amazing reviews!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2/3 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 large apple, peeled and finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease and flour a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.
- Mix brown sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl and set aside.
- In a stand mixer (affiliate link), combine white sugar and butter until smooth.
- Add eggs and vanilla and continue to beat on medium speed until combined.
- Add flour and baking powder, then milk.
- Pour half the batter into the prepared pan.
- Cover with half of the apples.
- Pat apples into batter with the back of a spoon.
- Sprinkle with half of sugar and cinnamon mixture.
- Pour the remaining batter over apple layer; top with remaining apples and add more brown sugar/cinnamon mixture.
- Pat topping into the batter with the back of a large spoon. Use a butter knife held vertically to swirl figure eights through the batter to slightly incorporate the topping.
- Bake for 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Cool in pan 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
Notes
Store bread covered with plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 3 days. Store in the refrigerator for up to a week.
This bread also freezes well. Simply allow the bread to cool completely then wrap in foil and store in a freezer bag. When you are ready to eat the bread, allow to thaw at room temperature before serving.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 50 mins
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1" slice
- Calories: 327
- Sugar: 28.8 g
- Sodium: 31 mg
- Fat: 13 g
- Carbohydrates: 48.9 g
- Protein: 4.7 g
- Cholesterol: 77.3 mg
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Made this recipe yesterday. When I tried it……I knew instantly what was missing….SALT ! I wondered if I had just forgotten to add it(?) Nope…wasn’t in the recipe. I truly believe it needs salt to balance the sweet and add flavour. Salt enhances flavours. I will try it again adding a 1/2 tsp of salt.
Yes, this is one of the few recipes I don’t add salt to. I’ll have to try with it next time I make it and see how it differs. Thanks for the feedback Leanne! ~Melissa
I followed the recipe exactly and going by the reviews I expected it to have more flavor than it did. It’s still good, but felt more of a breakfast kind of sweet than something I would eat for a dessert. It did make my house smell great, but I was a little let down with the flavor. It looks beautiful, but I think next time I might do more apples, cinnamon, and brown sugar and distribute it throughout the loaf instead of just the middle and the top. I might just have more of a sweet tooth than some other people I guess?
I’m sorry you didn’t find it sweet enough Jennifer, if you make it again with some adjustments I’d love to hear how you thought it changed the flavor. ~Melissa
I was wondering if I can make this with my bread maker? My bread maker is new so needless to say I have no idea what I’m doing lol! The instructions just say liquid ingredients first, then dry then last is the yeast and the yeast must be separate from the wet ingredients. Any suggestions would be much appreciated!
-Shauna
Hi Shauna, this is a quick bread, not a yeast bread, so I wouldn’t recommend making it in the bread maker since you don’t need to let it rise or knead it at all. Hope that helps! ~Melissa
Thanks for the reply Melissa!!
Many bread machines these days have a setting to make cakes in addition to yeasted breads. I wouldn’t hesitate to try it in your bread machine if it does have such a setting. The cycles run differently on the cake setting.
The most amazing bread recipe! Thank you for sharing this. I have now made this 4x in 2weeks. I follow your recipe but this time used buttermilk and put ice cream Carmel sauce on the top layer before being. Can’t stop eating it! Happy in Kansas City, MO.
That’s fantastic! I am so glad you love it as much as I do, I just made some last week for my church group. I’ll have to try the caramel version next time! Take care, Melissa
I just made this and omg it’s so delicious!! My hubby couldn’t get enough of it!! Thanks for sharing the recipe 🙂
OMG!!!! This apple bread is heavenly ? Wonderful recipe, thank you for sharing. I followed recipe as written, used a large Granny Smith Apple . My husband really loved it as well. I will be making it frequently,and share with my friends?
Just made your Apple Bread. DELICIOUS!!! I couldn’t find my loaf pan, so I made it in an 8×8 pan.! Thank you so much for the recipe.
I don’t know what went wrong with my bread! Although it is brown and I left it few more minutes in the oven at 400° it just came uncooked inside! I wish you would’ve tell us more about the battering, when I was pouring the flour, baking powder and milk, the mixture turn like cookie dough really dense,was it supposed to be like this?
I was looking for a 5 star Apple bread and your recipe popped up and said 10. Lol. So I gave it a try. But I tweaked it first. I used vanilla yogurt instead of milk. And oh my word. 10 stars is right. This is spot on. The right amount of everything. I even ran out of vanilla. But thanks to the yogurt I didn’t need it. And right now I’m making my second loaf. I’m using a smaller loaf pan. And it fits just great. I really didn’t want to wait til it cooled to take it out of the pan. But I knew if I didn’t it would stick. I can’t wait to see what else you have on your site. But. This is a real keeper. Thanks so much.
I found your recipe on Pinterest and it sounded delicious, but after reading all the rave reviews I just had to see what all the fuss was about!? This bread is awesomely flavorful and so moist. I cut the recipe in half since there’s only two of us and used two mini loaf pans, baked for 35 mins. And you’re right, the smell was heavenly while they were baking. I also subbed half the a.p. flour w/whole wheat pastry flour and added ~2T of chopped pecans. Thank you for sharing this divine recipe!
Had a hankering for some late-night baking last night and made 2 loaves of this! I would agree with many other commenters to up the chopped apples. However, I still love it! Can’t wait to pass out to friends and neighbors to see what they think.
Just took this bread out of the oven and it is divine. I used almond milk instead of whole milk and the bread just was perfect. Thank you so much, this is definitely a favorite.
I made this bread last night. I added a little cinnamon to the whole mixture. I also used coconut milk instead of regular and in addition made a coconut milk and powdered sugar glaze to put on top. Needless to say it came out amazing!! Thank you, this recipe has been added to my permanent collection.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Michelle!! I’m about to make some this afternoon too!
I love this bread! I use two Granny Smiths plus golden raisins, and a little extra brown sugar, because I am a sucker for crumbly topping. For the full-on autumn experience, I add 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp ground cloves, and 1/8 tsp ground ginger to the brown sugar mix, and instead of flouring the pan after I grease it, I “cinnamon” the pan. I find that this recipe is really flexible — I made it with gluten free flour (Pamela’s) and vanilla soy milk the first time, and it still turned out great!
(As a funny side note, I have two pet parrots, and this is a healthy enough treat to give them a little [without the topping]. They go NUTS over it. Like you have never seen two animals so beside themselves with excitement.) 🙂
That’s awesome Nicoline-I’ll try the cinnamon in the pan when I make this next time too-great tip!
I have one kid with a dairy allergy, so I have to substitute most recipes. No problems with using coconut oil and almond milk instead. In fact, I should have made two loaves because it went way too fast! Our neighbors were also raving over it. Thank you for a wonderful recipe!
I used Honeycrisp apples and this was a huge hit on Christmas morning! Delicious!
Oh my~~ I baked last night and had this gorgeous bread for dessert this morning. It is so good. My apple boy said first he will only have one bite but now he said I will eat them all. I just changed one thing, mixed apple with brown sugar after I chopped apple. It turned out so great. Thank you for the recipe.
You’re very welcome, I’m glad you enjoyed it!
What kind of apply do you use?
Great recipe. It was moist and flavorful!
I was on a cooking kick today, and gave the original recipe a whirl. I found the batter to be really sticky, but it didn’t stick at all in the buttered and floured pan.
I like the taste very well, but like a lot of commenters, I will probably add an extra apple or two in the next batch I make. Also, I might cut the brown sugar and cinnamon by about 1/3 – keep the same amount in the middle, but less on top, as I found it just wanted to spill off when I took it out of the pan.
Thanks for the great recipe!
Just had two thick slices of this bread and it is really tasty. I’ll be making it again. Too bad I only had enough eggs for one loaf or I would have made more. Thanks for the yummy and easy recipe! I used two apples instead of one because they were starting to go bad – lots of apple goodness!