Apple Carrot Bread — This apple carrot bread tastes like carrot cake that’s been infused with apples. It’s a no mixer recipe that goes from bowl to oven in minutes!
Apple Carrot Bread Recipe
This is carrot cake that’s been infused with apples and baked as a loaf. So it’s not cake anymore. It’s bread. Therefore you can have more and definitely can have it for breakfast.
Baking with both carrots and apples not only adds chewy texture and natural sweetness, but they also add so much moisture that it’s impossible to have a dry loaf. I adapted the basic ratios from my Cream Cheese-Filled Pumpkin Bread, a personal and fan favorite, to make way for grated carrots and apples.
I grated the carrot and apple by hand using the coarsest blade on a box grater. It literally takes two minutes and I’d spend much more time washing food processor parts than quickly doing it the old-fashioned way.
It’s an easy, no mixer recipe that goes from bowl to oven in minutes. The batter is very thick and that’s by design. The carrots and apples release juices while baking and if you start with a thin batter, it’ll turn too soupy during baking.
It’s soft, tender, uber-moist, dense enough to be satisfying, but still light. The cinnamon and nutmeg really shine and add so much wonderful, rich, depth of flavor to the carrots and apples. The carrots dominate and the bread has a more pronounced ‘carrot cake’ taste than apple.
It was so flavorful and moist that I didn’t even need butter. Although a browned butter glaze can do no wrong if you’re so inclined.
What’s in Apple Carrot Bread?
For this carrot apple bread recipe, you’ll need:
- Egg
- Light brown sugar
- Coconut oil
- Granulated sugar
- Sour cream
- Vanilla extract
- Cinnamon
- Gound nutmeg
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder and baking soda
- Salt
- Grated apples
- Grated carrots
Can I Substitute the Coconut Oil?
I used melted coconut oil so there’s no butter to cream and no mixer to dirty. Oil keeps bread softer and springier than butter, and I prefer the taste.
Coconut oil adds a nearly imperceptible undertone that’s sweeter and more fragrant than canola or vegetable oil, but substitute with them if you’d like.
What Are the Best Apples for Apple Bread?
Any apple will work for this carrot apple bread recipe! I used a large Fuji apple, but Gala and Honeycrisp would work as well.
How to Make Carrot Apple Bread
This carrot apple cinnamon bread couldn’t be easier to make! Simply whisk together the egg, sugars, melted coconut oil, sour cream, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg, then fold in the remaining ingredients.
Turn the batter into a greased 9×5-inch loaf pan and bake until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Once the bread is out of the oven, let it rest in the pan for about 15 minutes before removing it to finish cooling on a wire rack.
Can I Make This in a Smaller Loaf Pan?
I baked the bread in a 9×5-inch pan because I was concerned that the moisture-heavy ingredients crammed into an 8×4-inch pan would take forever to cook through and a larger pan felt safer. In retrospect, an 8×4-inch would probably have been fine. The shorter height of the bread didn’t effect our inhaling of it in one day.
Can I Double This Recipe?
Yes, simply double the ingredients and bake in two loaf pans. I’ve also had readers report success doubling the recipe and baking it in a metal 9×13-inch pan or a metal bundt pan.
Can I Freeze Carrot Quick Bread?
Absolutely! This apple carrot bread recipe is great for freezing. Wrap in a few layers of plastic wrap and a layer of foil, then freeze for up to three months.
Tips for Making Carrot Loaf Bread
When mixing together the batter, make sure the sour cream and egg are at room temperature. If they’re both still cold, the melted coconut oil will partially resolidify and you’ll wind up with chunks of oil running through the batter.
When baking the bread, you may need to tent the pan with a sheet of foil draped loosely over it at the 35-minute mark if you feel the tops and sides will become too browned before center cooks through.
Baking times will vary based on moisture content of carrots, apples, climate, and oven variances. You need to bake the carrot bread until done; watch your bread, not the clock and don’t worry if it takes longer to bake than the baking estimates provided.
When serving this apple cinnamon bread, I highly recommend slathering it with Homemade Honey Butter or Cinnamon-Sugar Butter, or drizzling it with a Vanilla Bean Browned Butter Glaze. It’s delicious as is, of course, but these extra toppings really take it up a notch.
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Carrot Apple Bread
Ingredients
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- â…“ cup liquid-state coconut oil, canola or vegetable may be substituted
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup cup sour cream, lite is okay; or Greek yogurt may be substituted
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- ¾ cup grated carrots, about 1 large peeled and trimmed carrot
- ¾ cup grated apples, I used 1 medium unpeeled Fuji; try Gala, Honeycrisp or similar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Spray one 9×5-inch loaf pan with floured cooking spray, or grease and flour the pan; set aside. (I haven’t tried the recipe in an 8×4-inch pan and cannot comment on how long it will take to bake, but use an 8×4 pan if you prefer a taller loaf.)
- In a large bowl, add the the first eight ingredients, through nutmeg, and whisk to combine.
- Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, optional salt, and fold with spatula or stir gently with a spoon until just combined; don’t overmix.
- Add the carrots, apples, and fold gently to combine.
- Turn batter (it’s very thick, this is what you want) out into the prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula.
- Bake for about 45 to 52 minutes (I baked 50 minutes) or until the top is golden, the center is set, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter.*
- Allow bread to cool in pan for about 15 minutes before turning out on a wire rack to cool completely before slicing and serving.**
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Easy Quick Bread Recipes:
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!
Cinnamon and Spice Sweet Potato Bread — Eating your vegetables via soft, moist bread is the best way! My favorite way to eat sweet potatoes!
Apple Fritter Bread — The bread tastes as decadent as the apple fritters of my childhood, no deep frying required and it’s more like cake disguised as bread.
The Best Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread — This pumpkin chocolate chip bread is truly the best homemade pumpkin bread you’ll ever make. It’s moist, packed with chocolate chips, and tastes like fall!
Blueberry Zucchini Bread — This blueberry zucchini bread is a quick, no-mixer recipe that’s sweet, but not too sweet. Each bite is bursting with fresh blueberries!
Pumpkin Banana Bread — Soft, moist, fluffy and so much better than another loaf of plain banana bread.
Snickerdoodle Bread — Between the cinnamon-sugar on top, cinnamon in the batter, and the cinnamon chips, the bread is full of wonderful and prominent cinnamon flavor without being overpowering.
Originally published November 9, 2014 and republished on Friday, March 13, 2020 with updated text.
Hi Averie! Thanks for posting this recipe. I know you prefer that people attempt the recipe as written, but I just made one substitution that worked well fir my purposes. I was excited to make this for a camping trip, but am without a car and didn’t have an egg. I would have asked a neighbor, but it’s my day off, so I imagined no one would be home. I wound up subbing half a banana for the egg in this recipe. This definitely makes the bread sweet, and less “carrot-cake-like,” but i was looking for a breakfast bread anyway, so this works! Â I guess that just means I’ll have to try the recipe “your way” before apple season is over. :-) Thanks again!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Glad the banana worked out and I have so many version of banana-carrot, banana-apple, carrot-zucchini, zucchini-banana…I have intermingled all my quickbreads over the years and things usually seem to work out :)
Averie, I had to come back here to tell you how much my family and I LOVE this bread! Lovely texture and perfect flavor. It is going in the permanent repeats file. :) I did use the 8×4 loaf pan and it was perfectly done in 55 minutes. Thanks for the awesome recipe!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you and that you and your whole family just love it! And that it’s going into the permanent repeats file. :)
The carrot apple bread looks delicious!! I was wanting to make this in individual loaf pans for gifts  How much batter would you recommend for the smaller pans?
It’s really hard to say but I never fill pans more than 2/3 full. Sometimes just half full, depends on the batter, how tall you want the loaves, etc. Enjoy!
I just made these with a few adjustments and they were delicious! I didn’t have any brown sugar or vanilla, so I used the 1/4 c granulated sugar as called for plus an additional 1/3 cup granulated sugar + 2T maple syrup. They were SO good! I left my apples in small chunks because I prefer the texture and used about a cup, a whole medium honeycrisp. I also didn’t have a loaf pan (was baking at the boyfriend’s house!) so I made this recipe in a cafe muffin tin. It made 6 cafe-size muffins, baked at 350 for 25 minutes. YUM! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Glad the tweaks you made worked out and you’re super pleased! And you’re resourceful in the kitchen, i.e. no brown sugar, no bread pan, etc. but it all worked out!
Hands down one of the best sweet bread recipes!! Simple to make but takes time with grating the apple and carrots but worth every minute in the end!
Since making this the first time I have added raisins and pecans because I like the crunch from the nuts. You are correct in that you have to test it to make sure it is done. The batter is very wet. THANK YOU!!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you!
Can I substitute regular yogurt instead of greek?
No, it’s too thin and runny and the batter will get too watered down.
My husband and step son loved this bread. They loved the taste and it was moist. Therefore, it is a hit and it is a recipe that I will make again. I did use greek yogurt and even lowered the sugar content. Thanks.
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Glad it’s a winner with the family, too!
can I use garbanzo bean flour for the pumpkin apple cake and with reading will it rise
No that substitution will not work.
This recipe looks amazing. My son has ana egg allergy- do you think I could substitute applesauce for the egg?
Hmmm, I haven’t tried it and so cannot say for sure. I am sort of thinking no only because the apples AND the carrots are so juicy, to then add more liquid with applesauce, seems like it may not bind together. But you never know til you try! You’ll likely need to add more flour.
Hi Averie,
I’ve followed your blog for awhile and tried a few of your recipes and so far they’ve worked out well! I made this bread last week for the first time and made 2 more batches since then. it’s so good! and we love that there’s no butter :) we also add some raisins to it, and it’s just like eating carrot cake!Â
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! And that the others you’ve made have been great, too! I personally love raisins in carrot cake but so many people are anti-raisin that I leave them out if I’m cooking for my blog :)
Delicious! I made them as muffins so I could add pecans to some for my husband. Baked at 350F for 25 minutes. SO GOOD!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you as muffins!
Hi Averie,Â
Made this this morning, the house smelled awesome, the bread tastes great… It just didn’t come out in a loaf, totally fell apart. I followed everything exactly (used plain Greek yogurt) but just used regular cooking spray, not floured. Would that make that much of a difference? Also, how much should it rise? It didn’t appear to rise a whole lot but your pictures didn’t look like it was too much thicker than mine.Â
Anyway, regardless of my presentation, it tastes awesome and I’m okay eating it by the spoonful out of a bowl :)Â
I don’t think it was the cooking spray…two things, a loaf that falls apart and that doesn’t rise much indicates something wrong w/ the flour and/or baking soda/powder. I swear by King Arthur flour over all other brands b/c the results speak for themselves. Possibly you had really juicy apples/carrots and they needed a bit more flour to help bind the loaf together and with other brands of flour, you could need even more b/c King Arthur has more gluten than other brands so does a better job of binding things. Also if your baking soda/powder are older than 4-5 months old, I would replace and start new with those. Glad the taste is great and I bet an additional 1/4 cup of flour and brand new leaveners and you’ll be in business!
I only have 100% stone ground whole wheat flour and I just baked this and it came out GREAT!
***It’s important for whole wheat batter to sit for AT LEAST 10 minutes before you bake it.*** It’s also pertinent to follow the directions completely even if you are making substitutions. These directions are very clear and helpful. Thanks for this yummy recipe!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you even with 100% whole wheat flour. Yes, whole wheat flour absorbs (and needs) so much more moisture to rise well and letting the batter rest was a good call. Thanks for the compliments on how my directions are written – I appreciate it!
Hi Averie! I love love love your website and your logo. How cute! We are still working on a unique logo for our page, but we are newbies compared to you. =) I’m going to be trying this recipe for sure. It’s great for me to have something to send with my husband for a mid-morning snack. We do green smoothies in the morning, but as a man he says he “needs something more” haha So this will be perfect! Thanks!
I made this last night and it turned out SO WELL. First time baking with coconut oil and it was absolutely delicious! :)
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! And now your eyes are opened to the beauty of baking with coconut oil!
This recipe looks great! Unfortunately though I’m lactose intolerant. Do you have any suggestions for a non-dairy substitute for sour cream/greek yogurt? I can’t stand the taste of soy and coconut yogurts because they’re so sweet, so i’m hesitant to try those. Thank you!Â
There are a lot of non-dairy yogurts/sour creams on the market and I think you’d just have to experiment with what you prefer from a taste perspective since you seem to have strong opinions already…so I wouldn’t want to steer you into one that didn’t meet your expectations. But start trying, and see what you come up with!