I call this quick bread harvest spice bread because it combines some of the best flavors of the fall season including apple, pumpkin, and cinnamon spice. This loaf is infinitely adaptable, freezes well, and can be made into muffins, too!
I call this harvest spice bread because “apple pumpkin carrot cinnamon brown sugar spice bread” was a tad too long. 😉
What’s harvest spice bread, you ask? Imagine everything you love about fall. Warm spices, pumpkin, fresh apples, cozy sweaters… well, what if we took all of those incredible components of this beautiful autumn season and packed them into a simple bread?
Um, except for the sweater. But go ahead and wear your warmest cable knit while eating a slice!
Why You’ll Love Harvest Spice Bread
- No mixer required
- Infinitely adaptable—more on that next!
- Incredibly moist
- Super flavorful and soft
- Brown sugared
- Quick & easy—pour into a loaf pan and bake
- You can use homemade pumpkin pie spice here. (See recipe Note.)
Part apple cinnamon bread, pumpkin bread, spice cake, and carrot cake, this harvest spice bread is loaded with flavor. When you decide to bake a loaf, do yourself a favor and double the recipe. You’ll want two loaves of this orange beauty and even then, it’s hard to share.
Let’s Talk Add-Ins
I use shredded apple, shredded carrot, pumpkin puree, and walnuts in this quick bread. These add-ins are completely customizable and you can make substitutions based on what you have or what you’re craving.
- Apples: Not sure why that apple in the corner above looks weirdly shiny and plastic—that was a pink lady apple, one of my favorite varieties! You can use your favorite such as Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, or Fuji. If you enjoy a certain variety in your apple pie, you’ll love it in this bread, too. Instead of apple, you can swap in zucchini or more shredded carrot.
- Pumpkin: Just like when we make pumpkin muffins, I prefer canned pumpkin puree in this bread (I like Libby’s brand), but you can use homemade pumpkin puree if you have it. Instead of pumpkin puree, try unsweetened applesauce or even mashed banana.
- Carrot: Slightly sweet and mega moist shredded carrot pairs wonderfully with these flavors. In fact, this tastes like a quick bread version of carrot cake. Instead of carrots, however, you can use more shredded apple or even shredded zucchini.
- Walnuts: Feel free to substitute pecans, raisins, or dried cranberries.
Baking Tip: It’s important that the apple and carrot are shredded, not chopped. Shredding each with a box grater creates a lot of juicy moisture which is carried over into the quick bread. Just like in these healthy apple muffins, when shredded, they act like a wet ingredient in the batter. This makes a difference in the final taste and texture of the loaf!
Behind the Harvest Spice Bread Recipe
When testing this recipe, I started with my pumpkin bread as the base. Use the same ingredients here including all-purpose flour as the base, baking soda as the leavener, seasonal spices, a mix of granulated and brown sugars, and oil to keep the bread extra moist. I decreased the amount of sugar since apple and carrot sweeten the bread and I swapped milk for the orange juice. (Orange juice brightens the flavor of my pumpkin bread, it’s so good!) I also decreased the amount of liquid since the batter was already pretty wet.
Whisk the dry ingredients in 1 bowl and the wet ingredients in another bowl. Combine the two, then pour into a greased 9×5-inch loaf pan. You can use this batter for harvest spice muffins, too! See recipe note.
How to Freeze Quick Bread
If you know how to freeze cakes, you can also freeze quick bread! Same method goes. Here are all of my quick bread recipes if you’re looking for more inspiration. Favorites include Banana Bread, Pumpkin Bread, Orange Cranberry Bread, & Zucchini Bread.
- Step 1: Bake and completely cool quick bread.
- Step 2: Once the bread cools completely, wrap it in Press & Seal or plastic wrap. From one baker to another– Press & Seal is the best product for wrapping baked goods. I find regular plastic wrap too thin, clingy, and frustrating. It definitely works, but Press & Seal is easier to use and I’ve honestly found that it keeps my food fresher. (Not working with this brand, just really love it.)
- Step 3: Write the type of bread and use-by date on a large piece of aluminum foil. For best taste and texture, don’t freeze quick bread for longer than 3 months. You could stretch it to 4 or 5 months, but the sooner you serve it, the fresher it tastes.
- Step 4: Wrap the bread in the aluminum foil and place in the freezer. You could place the wrapped bread in a freezer container or freezer-friendly zipped top bag, but I often just freeze it after wrapping in aluminum foil.
- Step 5: Freeze for up to 3 months. To thaw, transfer the frozen bread to the refrigerator one day before serving. Sometimes I forget and just let the bread thaw at room temperature for several hours, but it’s better to thaw at a slower rate in the refrigerator. Make sure you thaw bread while it’s still in the wrapping. Don’t unwrap before thawing.
Baker’s Tip: Two layers of wrap is key! The first layer keeps the bread fresh and the aluminum foil ensures no condensation will seep in. Double layer = maximum freshness and no freezer burn. Moisture is the enemy, so don’t be afraid to add another layer of Press & Seal or aluminum foil.
Harvest Spice Bread
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 1 loaf
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Part apple bread, spice cake, pumpkin bread, and carrot cake, this harvest spice bread is loaded with flavor. This loaf is infinitely adaptable, freezes well, and can be made into muffins, too!
Ingredients
- 1 and 3/4 cups (219g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg*
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves*
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger*
- 1/2 cup (120ml) vegetable oil, canola oil, or melted coconut oil
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (115g) pumpkin puree (canned or fresh)*
- 1 heaping cup (140g) peeled and shredded apple*
- 3/4 cup (100g) peeled and shredded carrot*
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) milk
- 1 cup (130g) chopped walnuts*
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan. See notes for muffins.
- Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger together in a large bowl until combined. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk the oil, eggs, granulated sugar, brown sugar, pumpkin, shredded apple, shredded carrot, and milk together until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Gently whisk until *just* combined. Fold in the walnuts. Batter will be semi-thick.
- Spread the batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 55 – 65 minutes. (I like to loosely cover the bread with aluminum foil halfway through to prevent heavy browning on top.) Baking times vary so keep an eye on yours. The bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out *mostly* clean with zero raw batter. Remove the bread from the oven.
- Cool completely in the pan set on a wire rack before removing and slicing. Cover and store leftover bread at room temperature for up to 3-4 days or in the refrigerator for up to about 10 days.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: See blog post above for detailed freezing & thawing instructions.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Vegetable Peeler | Box Grater | 9×5-inch Loaf Pan | Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Cooling Rack
- Muffins: Grease a 12-count muffin pan or line with liners. Prepare batter in step 2. Spoon the batter evenly into each liner, filling each all the way to the top. Bake the muffins for 5 minutes at 425°F (218°C) then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C). Bake for an additional 15-17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The total time these muffins take in the oven is about 20-22 minutes, give or take. Cool muffins for 5 minutes in the muffin pan, then transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling. Makes 16-18 muffins.
- Spices: Instead of nutmeg, cloves, and ginger, you can use 3/4 – 1 teaspoon of store-bought or homemade pumpkin pie spice or apple pie spice. This is in addition to the 2 teaspoons of cinnamon—you will still add that.
- Pumpkin: I prefer canned pumpkin puree in this bread (I like Libby’s brand), but you can use homemade pumpkin puree. Instead of pumpkin puree, try unsweetened applesauce or mashed banana.
- Apples: Use your favorite apples such as Pink Lady, Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, or Fuji. Instead of apple, you can swap in shredded zucchini or more shredded carrot.
- Carrot: Don’t use pre-shredded carrots found in the produce aisle. They’re on the dry side. Rather, freshly grate 2 small/medium carrots to yield approximately 3/4 cup of moist carrot shreds. Instead of carrots, you can use more shredded apple or even shredded zucchini.
- Walnuts: Feel free to substitute chopped pecans, raisins, or dried cranberries.
Hi Sally, I would like to try this recipe.
Any reason why there is no baking powder in this recipe?
Will the bread raise nicely without it?
I did your pumpkin muffins with crumble today and, although they are delicious in taste, they didn’t raise at all. I noticed that there is no baking powder in both recipes.
Any feedback please?
Thank you.
Hi Maggie! Baking soda does the trick in both batters. But for a little extra lift, feel free to add 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder.
Can you please tell me if using a processor to shred the apple and carrot (separately) will yield the same results as a box grater?
Hi Andi, Yes, if you have the shredding attachment for your food processor you can use that!
I just made this bread for the first time and it will definitely not be the last time! It is SO good! As others have done, I baked with a mixture of apple, carrot, and zucchini. I also swapped 3/4 cup of whole wheat flour for the AP flour and used almond milk (because I ran out of regular milk). This is the perfect not-too-sweet fall spice bread. Plus it makes the whole house smell heavenly from all the spices. Thanks for a great recipe!!
This is seriously the best bread recipe I’ve ever tried! I’ve made it multiple times, trying different fruit/veggie variations because it’s so easily adaptable and you really can’t mess it up. My favorite combination to use for the pulp mixture so far is a small zucchini, a medium sized carrot, and a gala apple, and then stir in a half cup of golden raisins and a heaping half cup of chopped walnuts at the end. Lawd help me, sooooo good!! I’m also going to bake loaves of this to gift ppl with this year. Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe, Sally! You’re the best!!
Hello! Is there a way to reduce the sugar in this recipe? I don’t like overly sweet. I prefer to use maple or date syrup. Thank you!!!
Hi Kristen, We haven’t tested this recipe with liquid sweetener, but I’d start with slightly reducing some of the other liquid ingredients. If you’d like to use an unrefined sugar, coconut sugar would be the best option.
So delicious! I’ve made it twice already this week and it was a huge hit in the house. Wonderful recipe!
I made this bread yesterday and my husband announced it as “amazing”! I liked your idea of switching out the spices for either pumpkin pie or apple pie spice blend. I had a British spice blend on hand called Mixed Spice (coriander, cassia, ginger, caraway, nutmeg, cloves) and used that as well as the cinnamon. Really an easy to mix recipe (no need for stand mixer), bakes as described, moist and super tasty. I did also add 1/3 cup of orange juice soaked dried cranberries. This is a keeper. I’m making a batch to freeze for later.
EXCELLENT FALL RECIPE with perfect and easy directions. Takes a little extra time to prepare chopped and shredded items but well worth all the efforts! I will make this every fall now. Thank you!
This is a nice alternative to pumpkin bread! I love all the ingredients & it seems healthier. I used 1-1/4 cups of white flour, 1/4 c. whole wheat & 1/4 c. teff flour. I am experimenting with teff flour & it seems to work better when I use a small amount. Teff adds protein so I am always looking for that! Maybe due to the teff flour, it seemed a little crumbly, so next time I will add more oil somehow! Thanks for a great recipe, Sally!
So good!
Tastes like fall!
Sally thank you so much for this recipe, made it yesterday, my husband and I loved this bread. This will be our new favorite. Happy Fall season. Godspeed!
Loving this recipe. I made the original recipe as muffins last week, and used an extra apple to replace the carrots as quick bread last night, as I was out of carrots. Both are so delicious. A new family favorite!
To freeze this (or any) quick bread, try cooling the loaf completely, then slicing it, wrapping each slice in plastic wrap, then freezing two wrapped pieces in a single freezer bag or piece of foil. You can then just thaw what you need at one time, and the next part of the loaf will still be fresh when you are ready for it. For a big family that might not matter, but there are just two of us and the two-pieces package is just right for breakfast or afternoon snack.
I think I’ll need try this with gluten free flour. I hope it’s a success like your zucchini cake recipe was. We loved it. My husband doesn’t have to eat gluten free, but I do so he gets to eat what I bake. This sounds delicious.
A big hit with my family! Will definitely be making again very soon!
I made this bread with carrots, zucchini, and pumpkin puree and the bread came out amazing! I actually prefer this bread to the regular pumpkin bread. I added an extra 1/4 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice which made the bread more flavorful. Next time, I want to try this recipe with whole wheat flour.
I went back and tried this recipe with whole wheat flour and it tasted great! I only used one tablespoon of milk because my zucchini produced a lot of liquid.
I made this with some mealy apples that I wanted to use up. I switched out 3/4 flour to whole wheat and used pecans since that is what I had. I had planned to use apple sauce in place of of the pumpkin puree but I totally forgot. The bread turned out really good anyway. I only baked for 50 minutes and I think if I had gone much longer it would have been dry without the added moisture.
I have made this bread about 4 times and it was delicious each time I have used different add-ins mango puree which was really tasty I go heavy on the clove because I just love it’s aroma their is no way you can mess up this bread it is so forgiving today I used 12 ct muffin tins and the muffin was excellent I had to bake them about 10 min longer because I used thawed shredded carrots they had a lot of moisture in them. This is my all time favorite bread all year looking forward to coffee and muffins in the morning.
P.S. my sister baked Sally’s chocolate cake and she have not stopped talking about how good it is I plan to bake it for my birthday next month Sally you recipes are the best yet! Thank you for sharing.
Brought this bread to work last fall – very well received. Was all eaten in one day between four workers. I held the walnuts in case someone didn’t like nuts.
Love this bread! I’ve made it twice now with much success. I had some issues with the top-center of the bread not cooking fully, so I recommend tenting the bread with foil towards the end (I don’t cover the whole bread with foil as the recipe is written. Other than that, it’s always perfect!
I just made this bread and it is delicious! I used banana baby food in place of the pureed pumpkin and pecans in place of walnuts. I had to cook it for an extra 25 minutes but I think my loaf pan was 8X4. There is a little bit of a bitter taste maybe from the baking soda? I used 1 tsp. OR do you think it could be the pecans? I’ve made this before and forget what I used but I know it didn’t have this bitterness. Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks.
Hi Shelly! If there were no changes besides the size of the pan and baby food, I’m not sure what it could be. Are the pecans particularly old? They can turn rancid. How do they taste outside of the batter?
I just can’t get over how much I love this bread. I am normally a stickler for seasonally appropriate flavors (no warm spices in spring or summer!) but I can make an exception for this bread. I could eat it every day. I love how adaptable it is to whatever fruits and veggies I need to use up. It is a winner any time of year!
I’m excited for the Autumn Harvest Bread.
My house smells amazing and it just elevates my spirit. My husband is going to love this after dinner treat with coffee… I’ll be having high tea at 8 PM, I’m such a rebel.
Love your recipes Sally!
I just finished baking this harvest Spice Bread and it’s all you said it would be and more I used what I had 1 grated med. Apple, 1/2 cup very ripe mango puree 1 cup grated carrots that I had Frozen and thawed, 1\2 cup golden and regular raisians no nuts omitted the milk because of the wet ingredients I was using. Everything else I used as the recipe stated it is the most delicious bread I have ever eaten the spices and fruit & carrots makes a perfect combination. This will be my new go to recipe thanks for sharing now I plan to try some of your other recipes I love to bake. Oh yes I’ve eaten two small slices already just so tasty and flavorful!
Doubled the batch and baked these into 7 gorgeous mini loaves for gift giving! Baked for 30-32 mins. This bread screams holidays and is just pure comfort in every bite. Love it!
I made this into muffins, and they were delicious!! I had some leftover pumpkin and some apples I wanted to use up. I was wondering if they’d be good together when I came across this recipe. Perfection! I also had some chai spiced frosting left from making your chai latte cupcakes for an event a few days ago. My husband, who has quite a sweet tooth, topped his muffins with the chai frosting. It was really good!
I made this on Sunday with banana instead of pumpkin and it was gone before I could blink! Everyone loved this bread. Today is Tuesday and I am now making a double batch so I may actually get more than one piece! Thanks for the great recipe
These have become a new staple in our food bag when we head to hockey games & tournaments! My family LOVES them. I leave the pumpkin out and use applesauce, just because of family preference, and they’re outstanding just the same! If I can keep enough in the house to freeze, I’ll be putting several loaves in the freezer to pull out as needed for our busy hockey weekends!
Had to come to leave a review – if I could give it 20 stars I would!! Thanks Sally for your reply earlier – luckily I had more milk to use this time. I reduced the white sugar to 66g but otherwise everything was perfect as written – I made then in 3 mini loaves and baked for 30-32 mins – plain, chopped walnuts, and chopped dried cranberries- hard to choose a fave but perhaps the cranberries add in, wins out just a little bit more. All SO GOOD! This recipe is a keeper, I love making your pumpkin bread and moist spice cake and apple bread too so this is a delicious combo 🙂
Thanks Sally!
I thought maybe the flavors would compete with each other, but I did it anyway: pumpkin, carrots, zucchini AND apple. Instead of walnuts, I used dried cranberries. This bread is yummy. My new favorite quick bread.