Apple Fritter Bread — Soft, fluffy bread that’s stuffed AND topped with apples, cinnamon, and sugar!! Like apple fritters in bread form!! Best apple bread EVER!
Table of Contents
Spiced Apple Fritter Bread Recipe
I have fond childhood memories of devouring fried apple fritters from the local greasy-spoon bakery. What I wouldn’t give for one of those fritters now!
Thankfully this bread tastes as decadent as the apple fritters of my childhood. No deep frying required. It’s the best apple bread I’ve ever had. Actually, it’s more like an apple loaf cake disguised as bread but I’m not complaining.
The apples and sour cream (or Greek yogurt) keep the bread so soft and moist and if that’s not enough, the glaze lends even more moisture, gooeyness, and flavor.
You really don’t ‘need’ the glaze, but in keeping with a true apple fritter theme, you ‘need’ the glaze. It soaks in wonderfully and on the second day this bread is a supremely soft, glaze-filled sponge.
Apple Fritter Bread Ingredients
To make this recipe for apple fritter bread, you’ll need the following:
- Apples
- Granulated sugar
- Cinnamon
- Light brown sugar
- Egg
- Vegetable oil
- Sour cream
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Confectioners’ sugar
- Cream or milk
Using Greek Yogurt vs Sour Cream
You’re welcome to use either sour cream or plain Greek yogurt in this recipe. You’re also fine to use lite sour cream, if desired.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Apple Fritter Bread
The cinnamon apple fritter bread comes together quickly, easily, without a mixer or yeast, and with ingredients you likely have on hand. Here’s how:
- In one bowl, you’ll need to stir together an apple-cinnamon mixture.
- In another bowl, you’ll mix together a cinnamon-brown sugar mixture.
- And in the last bowl, you whisk together the quick bread batter.
- Pour half the batter into the loaf pan, top with apples and cinnamon, top with cinnamon-brown sugar, and repeat with the remaining batter, apples, cinnamon-brown sugar. Bake.
- This apple quick bread needs to cool for at least 30 minutes before it’s safe to glaze.
Is Your Loaf Browning Too Quickly on Top?
I recommend tenting the pan with foil in the last 10 minutes of baking to prevent excessive browning on the top and sides of bread before center cooks through.
Recipe FAQs
I recommend using an 8×4-inch loaf pan. Some readers have made this successfully in a 9×5-inch pan, while others who’ve tried using a 9×5-inch haven’t had enough batter. Using an 8×4-inch should guarantee enough batter to properly fill the pan.
You can use any kind of apple you’d like in this apple fritter bread recipe, but my favorites are Fuji, Gala, Envy, or Honeycrisp.
I’ve only made the apple fritter loaf as written, so I can’t say whether or not it would work in a different pan.
Yes! It’s best within 48 hours of baking it, but it will last up to 5 days on your counter.
Storage Instructions
This apple cinnamon fritter bread will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 6 months. I don’t recommend storing it in the fridge because it’ll dry out.
Recipe Video Tutorial
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Apple Fritter Bread
Ingredients
Apple-Cinnamon Mixture
- 1 large apple or 2 small peeled, cored, and diced into 1/4-inch pieces (about 1 heaping cup when diced; try Fuji, Gala, Envy, Honeycrisp or similar)
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon
Cinnamon-Brown Sugar Mixture
- ¼ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon
Bread
- 1 large egg
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup canola or vegetable oil
- ¼ cup sour cream or Greek yogurt, lite okay
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
Glaze
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
- about 2 to 3 tablespoons cream or milk, or as necessary for consistency
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Spray an 8×4-inch loaf pan with floured cooking spray, or grease and flour the pan; set aside.
Apple-Cinnamon Mixture:
- To a small bowl, add all ingredients, and stir to combine; set aside.
Cinnamon-Brown Sugar Mixture:
- To a small bowl, add both ingredients, and stir to combine; set aside.
Bread:
- To a large bowl, add the egg, sugar, and whisk vigorously until smooth and combined, about 1 minute.
- Add the oil, sour cream, vanilla, and whisk until smooth and combined.
- Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and stir until just combined, don’t overmix.
- Turn half the batter out into prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula; set remainder aside. Note that there isn’t lots of batter so make sure not to add more than half.
- Evenly sprinkle half the apples over batter in an even, flat layer; set remainder aside.
- Evenly sprinkle half the cinnamon-brown sugar over the apples; set remainder aside.
- Add the remaining batter, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula, making sure to push it into all corners.
- Evenly sprinkle the remaining apples.
- Evenly sprinkle the remaining cinnamon-brown sugar.
- Place loaf pan on a baking sheet as insurance against overflowing apple juice and bake for about 40 to 48 minutes (I baked 43 minutes), or until top is domed, set, and toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs but no batter, noting that if you go down too far you’ll hit juicy apples. The apples on top will be juicy with slight bubbling. In the last 10 minutes of baking, tent pan with foil (loosely drape a sheet of foil over pan) to prevent excessive browning on the top and sides of bread before center cooks through.
- Allow pan to cool on top of a wire rack for at least 30 minutes (I cooled overnight in the pan) before turning out onto rack to cool completely before glazing.
Glaze:
- In a small bowl, add the confectioner’s sugar and slowly drizzle in the milk, whisking until smooth and combined. Add milk as necessary for desired consistency.
- Evenly drizzle glaze over bread before slicing and serving. Extra glaze can be spread on the cut surface of the bread like you’d spread butter on toast; or you can halve the glaze recipe if you’re not a glaze person. I’m comfortable keeping glazed items at room temp, but if you’re not, drizzle glaze only over portion of bread you plan to consume immediately.
Notes
- Pan size: Some readers have made this successfully in a 9×5-inch pan, while others who’ve tried using a 9×5-inch haven’t had enough batter. Using an 8×4-inch should guarantee enough batter to properly fill the pan.
- Baking time: Baking times could range dramatically based on type of apples used and their juiciness, climate, pan size used, oven variance, etc. Bake until your bread is done.
- Storage: Bread will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 6 months; I don’t recommend storing it in the fridge because it’ll dry out.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Apple Dessert Recipes:
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Carrot Apple Cream Cheese Cake – If you like carrot cake, you’re going to LOVE this version that includes apples and a tunnel of cream cheese that runs through the center!! EASY, amazing, and a MUST-MAKE!!
Carrot Apple Bread — Carrot cake with apples added and baked as a bread so it’s healthier! Super moist, packed with flavor, fast and easy!
Caramel Apple Crumble Foil Packs – EASY, zero cleanup, made on the grill (or oven) in record time, and tastes amazing!! Juicy apples, chewy crumble topping, and luscious salted caramel…SO irresistible!!
Cinnamon Spice Applesauce Bread with Honey Butter — Applesauce keeps this bread so soft & moist! It’s like apple spice cake, disguised as ‘bread’ so you can have extra!
5-Minute Microwave Apple Cinnamon Crumble For One (vegan, GF) – Warm, hearty, healthy & fast! Makes a great breakfast or snack!
Crustless Apple Pie — Sometimes called Swedish apple pie, this EASY recipe for apple pie without a traditional pie crust is a FAST, foolproof, no-mixer recipe! It’s loaded with cinnamon-spiced apples in every bite, dense, chewy, hearty, and is next level when topped with ice cream and salted caramel sauce!
Easy Apple Cobbler — A spiced apple filling is topped with a sweet biscuit topping before being baked to golden brown and bubbly perfection! Apple cobbler is such an EASY dessert to make and tastes even better when drizzled with caramel sauce and served with a scoop of ice cream!
Originally published February 20, 2015 and republished August 7, 2020 with updated text.
Any recipe to keep Autumn alive in my kitchen is a winning one. The only problem I would have with this bread is waiting for it to bake and cool. The smells coming out of the oven would drive me insane.
The scent was pure heaven! You’re smart to have thought about that without even baking this…there is something about apples, cinnamon and sugar, baking as a bread or pie especially, it’s intoxicating!
This bread is EVERYTHING!
Thank you :) Have an awesome weekend!
I miss my younger days when I could just about anything without any worries! This bread looks so delicious Averie. I have been wanting to bake something with apples lately and this is perfect enough excuse! :)
This would be quite dangerous in my presence!
My absolute favorite dooughnut in the world is an apple fritter! I can’t wait to try this recipe…I can tell already it’s going to be very bad for my waistline!! I just discovered your blog about a month ago, and everything you post looks absolutely delicious.
Well thanks for finding me and the compliments!
This is basically everything I love in life. Def will make the apple fritter.
Oh, sorry, my point about the Amish/Mennonite baking is that those women know their stuff in the kitchen! If anyone ever has the opportunity to eat their baked goods or, even better, to learn from them, jump at the opportunity!
I was in Amish country several years ago–a friend and I stayed at a Mennonite B&B. The host knocked on our door and asked if we would like to sample the apple fritters she had made for breakfast the next day. Um, duh, of course we would! It was soooo delicious.
Therese has a good eye–I hadn’t noticed the discrepancy in loaf pan size–let us know! I may even bake this today …
I would love to live near Amish women who knock on my door with homemade goodies :) Normally I’m the one doing the door-knocking in my neighborhood!
8×4 – Enjoy!
Oh we definitely NEED the glaze. You are taking me back to Sunday donut runs after Church, and I’m loving it!
You live in Wisc, right? Well I grew up in MN and after church donut runs were about the only good thing to come from going to church :) That’s bad but I admit it :)
Couldn’t agree more about the glaze–I definitely need it. The top of this loaf really looks like a fritter…I can imagine how delicious it tastes! This is a very tempting loaf!
One of my faves in a long time, Paula!!
Gahhhhh. It’s taking all of my self-control to NOT go into the kitchen and make this immediately. I’m such a sucker for apple fritters, and now having it in quick bread form is so dangerous for me!!!! (Especially with impending wedding dressing fittings ;) )
Well good luck with your dress fittings and you are in great shape and you could probably eat a whole loaf yourself and it wouldn’t matter :)
Hi Averie! Just wondering about the pan size – next to yield in the recipe you list a 9X5 loaf but in the directions you talk about a 8X4 pan. Which did you use? Can’t wait to try it! My husband loves apples! Thanks!
8×4, great catch thanks :) Fixed! LMK if you try the bread and what your hubby thinks!
Oh my gosh how I love apple fritters (and yes I miss my metabolism,haha). This bread looks amazing! PINNED :)
That cake you made today though…seriously. THAT is what I would give anything to be able to just devour. That frosting..and banana cake of any kind seriously steals my heart!
I grew up eating an apple fritter EVERY SATURDAY morning. Ahhh the days of donuts each week without having to retire from wearing skinny jeans.
But then you made this healthier (love the Greek yogurt!) bread and my apple fritter loving self rejoiced! Pinning :)
Thanks for pinning and what I wouldn’t do to be able to go back to the days of weekly fried apple fritters!
Ok where we live we actually have an Apple fritter festival..it’s two weeks long of eating apple fritters…people buy multiple dozens at a time and start lining up to buy them as early as 6am so this recipe is close to my heart. I can’t wait to make it…I’ll be a hero at work with this bread..as it’s a long wait until the festival each year.
I’ve noticed that things like out-of-season pumpkin, or mint, or apple recipes…actually do better when they’re out of season, as people seem to ‘appreciate’ them more, rather than in-season when there’s such an onslaught! Point being, I can see how this would be a big hit when there’s no festival going on, as a tide-you-over kind of recipe.
And the 6am lines, I grew up with fairs and festivals like that. People take that stuff seriously!! It sounds like an amazing festival!
Children have crazy metabolisms. I can never get over it.
This bread looks amazing, and I’m sure it tastes better than actual apple fritters. Anything with cinnamon running through it is the best!