A quick and easy Apple Bread recipe that’s loaded with shredded apples! Spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla, this moist apple bread is perfect for fall!
Looking for more apple recipes? Try my old fashioned apple crisp!
Grandma’s Homemade Apple Bread
Around here, we call this Grandma Barb’s Apple Bread. Because my mom has been making this apple bread for as long as our daughters can remember.
This apple bread recipe is an especially wonderful treat during the fall, when the trees of local apple orchards are hanging heavy with crisp, sweet fruit. And the bread’s even better when made with apples from your very own backyard trees (right?!).
Mom has always liked to bake with apples, and this is one recipe I can count on her making every single fall. I even placed an order for a loaf when I knew she was due for a visit!
FEATURED COMMENT:
“Beautiful color and the whole house smelled liked apple pie baking. It’s absolutely DELISH, this recipe totally surpasses others! It’s moist and has such good flavor!”
-Susan
Why Are the Apples Shredded for this Bread?
At the very core of this apple quick bread is a mess of shredded apples. I recommend using an apple variety that is firm and has some tartness, such as Granny Smith, Haralson, or the sweeter Honeycrisp. Shredding the apples infuses each bite of bread with rich apple flavor. It also avoids any potential issues with diced apples, which can sometimes sink to the bottom of your bread.
If you’re wondering exactly how to shred apples, all you need is a box grater. Simply peel the apples and grate them using the largest holes on the grater. It’s super easy and doesn’t take much time at all.
A few more awesome apple recipes for you: my favorite apple crisp is an easy and super delicious treat, Apple Cinnamon Overnight Oats is a great way to get your day started, and how about a cocktail? This Apple Sangria with Bourbon and Thyme is perfect for sitting around an autumn fire or entertaining for Thanksgiving!
How to Make Apple Bread
I love how easily this quick bread recipe comes together. Here’s how to make it. You can find ingredients in the recipe card at the bottom of this post!
- Prep your tools: Preheat your oven and grease two 8×4 loaf pans.
- Shred the apples: I use the large holes on a box grater for this. Just peel the apples and then shred them, discarding the cores.
- Add sugar: In a large bowl, mix the shredded apples with sugar and let them sit for a bit. This will infuse each piece of apple with extra sweetness. Don’t worry about the liquid that will accumulate, that’s supposed to happen!
- Add remaining wet ingredients: In the same bowl as your apples, add the oil, eggs, vanilla, nuts and raisins. Stir well.
- Mix dry ingredients: In another bowl mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Mix well. There’s a good amount of cinnamon in the batter, which plays so fabulously with the apples and raisins.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients: Slowly add the dry ingredients to your wet ingredients, mixing just until you don’t see any dry bits of batter anymore.
- Bake: Pour the batter into your prepared pans and bake until the bread is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool & Eat: Let your apple bread rest in the pan for about ten minutes. Then turn out onto a rack to finish cooling. Once the bread has cooled, slice it up and dig in!
This recipe works perfectly with two 8″ x 4″ loaf pans. Here’s my favorite pans – they’re heavy duty and always release breads perfectly. I like their slightly smaller size, just a touch smaller than a more common 1-pound loaf pan.
Tips for the Best Apple Bread
- As I’ve mentioned before, shred your apples. This is actually less work than dicing, the method that many apple bread recipes call for. Plus, this method distributes the apples all throughout the bread.
- Don’t skip any steps. It will probably be tempting to skip the step where the apples and sugar sit for a bit. It does add prep time, but trust me, it’s worth it!
- Don’t over mix your batter. Just mix it enough so that all the dry ingredients are worked in and you don’t see any bits of flour.
The house smells so cozy while this bread is baking. It’s like a big apple-cinnamon hug.
This apple bread is a loaf of fall, packed with shredded apples. I think it’s truly the best apple bread recipe, with a variety of flavor and texture in every single bite.
Can I Leave Out the Nuts and Raisins?
There are very few recipes where I can get away with “sneaking in” raisins, as our daughters are not the biggest fans. And this apple bread is one of those exceptions.
However, if you or anyone in your family is opposed to either nuts or raisins, just leave them out. The bread will turn out just fine. :)
Can I Freeze Apple Bread?
The bread freezes extremely well. So I like to stash one loaf away for later. This makes for an easy baked treat with only the minimal effort of taking it out to thaw.
To freeze your apple bread, let it come to room temperature. Then wrap it in a couple layers of plastic saran wrap and place it in a freezer safe ziploc bag. This bread will keep for up to 6 months. When you’re ready to eat it, defrost the apple bread in the fridge overnight.
Like this apple recipe? Save it to Pinterest!
Apple Bread
Ingredients
- 4 large Granny Smith Haralson, or Honeycrisp apples (or your favorite firm, tart apple variety), peeled
- 2 c. sugar
- ½ c. vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 1 c. chopped roasted pecans or walnuts optional
- 1 c. raisins Craisins, or chopped dates
- 3 c. all-purpose flour
- 1 T. baking powder
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. kosher salt
- 1 T. cinnamon
- ½ tsp. nutmeg
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease and flour two 8" x 4" loaf pans. Set aside.
- Using the large holes on a box grater, shred the apples (discard the cores). You should have 4 cups of grated apple.
- In a large bowl, fold together shredded apples and sugar, and let sit for 15 minutes until sugar dissolves. There will be alot of liquid.
- Add oil, eggs, vanilla extract, pecans, and raisins, and stir to incorporate.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir dry ingredients into the apple mixture, just until mixed. Pour into prepared loaf pans.
- Bake 55 minutes, or until golden and center tests done with a toothpick. Remove pans from oven to cooling rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Then turn breads out of pan onto rack to cool completely before slicing.
Notes
Nutrition Information:
This post was originally published in 2010. I updated some of the photographs and text in September 2019.
Autumn on the farm is such a special time. To see the fruits of farm labor harvested is one of my favorite things. And I love to share the experience with our daughters, to show them how I grew up. The following photos were taken in 2010, when I had originally shared this apple bread recipe.
Yes I did n the first time I use the greater instead of chopping up the apples into little pieces and it was so much more tastier it was so good I’m making more this week. I think I’m hooked
Oops at first all I had was the ingredients. I chopped the apple the bread came out like a pan of apple crisp. Oh well it is awesome
I made this bread and OMG WOW!!! I’m getting ready to make more, thanks for posting this yummy recipe
I just got done making this apple nut bread. It is in the oven. Can’t wait to see how it turns out. Hopefully not dry. But I’m not leaving the kitchen until it’s done, so it won’t be dry.
This is a great apple bread. I’ve given it as gifts and I’m often asked for the recipe. I added orange zest and candied ginger to the recipe.
I LOVE to hear this, Deborah – thank you!
Follow-up to my comment: I did not peel my apples before grating and I used 1/2 cup less sugar as I only had gala apples & they were really sweet.
This recipe is a keeper! I made 4 mini loaves and ate almost a whole one by myself. I left out the nuts and used a mixture of raisins, craisins and dried cherries. I also topped them with nutmeg sugar before baking.
Going to try them as muffins next.
So glad you like!!!
I followed the directions exactly as written and I didn’t over bake it. The flavor is delicious, but it’s not as moist as I’d hoped it would be.
Turned out great. Maybe I’ll share my next batch . Good stuff!
I haven’t tried the recipe yet but that sounds like a very interesting miss me. I’m 87 years old but I believe I can make that soon as I can get to town and get some apples I’m going to give it a try thank you very much for sharing
I made it for the first time today It baked really nice, but only took 45 min. In my oven!
Beautiful color and the whole house smelled liked apple pie baking.
It’s absolutely DELISH I’ve made an apple bread or two in the past couple years, but this recipe totally surpasses the others!So glad I saw it on line, and tried it out! It’s moist and has such good flavor! It will be a favorite I add to my bread recipes! I added raisins, and they gave it a little more PIZZ-AZZ THANK YOU…
So happy you liked this, Susan! Thanks for coming back to let me know. :)
I made this recipe as is, one plain and one with pecans and raisins. Both were excellent. The second loaf wasn’t even done before my husband was asking me to make another batch.
LOVE to hear this!! Thanks for coming back to let me know!
I liked this recipe a lot. There’s just the two of us so I halved the recipe and made one loaf, reducing the sugar to 3/4 C. I checked it at 50 minutes and it was done, will check at 40 or 45 minutes next time.
Just okay. A convenient way to use up extra apples, certainly edible, but I wouldn’t gift a loaf. Texture is nice, flavour very bland. A thick slice of butter helps.
Made this for my birthday. Delish. I used 2 Granny Smith and 2 sweet apples, halved the sugar, used 1 stick butter, walnuts, only changes I made.
Daughter and son-in-law came. son in law said best he has ever had and he has tried many.
Made two loaves . Hubby couldn’t keep his hands off so none left for freezer. I will remedy this pronto
This bread is delightful. Because I love orange flavor, I did add the zest of 3 oranges and scraped on vanilla bean in addition to the vanilla extract. This is a keeper. Was even better the next day. It made a lovely golden loaf. I took one to a neighbor for Christmas.
Can this be made in mini loaf pans as gifts? How long would you let them bake.
I got 4 mini loaves. I checked them at 25 minutes but they weren’t done. Added another 20 minutes and then let them cool in the pan 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.
Every oven is different so check on them periodically so they aren’t overdone.
i was skeptical about the amount of sugar but decided to stick to the recipe. it’s way too sweet for my taste, i think halving sugar would be perfect (i used apples similar to honeycrisp). aside from that it’s a beautiful loaf and the texture is great! i’m excited to play around with unsweetened things i can pair it with (i think some ricotta could be great, or a plain whipped cream or yogurt)
This bread has good apple flavor but it is too sweet. I will make it again but cut back on the sugar by at least a third. The raisins add additional sweetness.
Recipe said to bake for 55 minutes. I checked the loaves at 45 minutes and they were almost OVERbaked. Next time I will bake them a bit less.
Otherwise this recipe is a keeper.
Our new favorite apple bread. Love it , but so hard to get one to the freezer. :). Wonder if I can substitute blue berries??