This applesauce bread is the perfect recipe for you if you’re looking for a unique make-ahead breakfast idea. We’ve taken our favorite quick bread and added applesauce and candied ginger to make it even more amazing. This bread makes a great gift, too!
A great make-ahead breakfast that’s so good with a warm cup of coffee!
When I get the urge to bake, quick bread is one of my favorite things to make. They come together super easily with basic ingredients and they’re great to have around for an effortless breakfast or quick mid-afternoon snack.
This recipe for applesauce bread is one of the best around!
The candied ginger adds just the right amount of spice to cut through the sweetness of the applesauce and sugar. There’s also a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg for that classic fall flavor.
When I first tried this spiced apple bread recipe, it was love at first bite. Now that I’ve been baking it for years, it’s a fall staple that I can’t imagine not having in my recipe box.
Plus the smell when you pull it from the oven is absolutely intoxicating! I really wish you could smell it through the screen right now, but you’ll need to trust me. It’s so good.
If you love apple desserts, you’ll also love this apple dump cake!
Ingredients needed to make applesauce bread
To make this delicious bread recipe, you don’t need much more than sugar, flour, butter, eggs and applesauce!
The only “special” ingredient you need is candied ginger, but it doesn’t take much so one package usually gets me through the whole fall baking season.
You’ll need:
- Flour
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Unsweetened Applesauce
- Candied Ginger
- Ground Ginger
- Ground Nutmeg
- Ground Cinnamon
- Milk (or unsweetened nondairy milk of your choice)
- Unsalted Butter
Pro Tip: If you dont see candied ginger (sometimes called crystallized ginger) in the baking section of your grocery store, look by the nuts and raisins. You can also order it on Amazon.
How to make a quick bread
Making a quick bread is all about the technique, but don’t worry — it’s super easy!
To make one, start by mixing the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
In the case of this bread, I mix together everything except the candied ginger first, then add the candied ginger and stir until it’s evenly distributed throughout the flour. Candied ginger is sticky once you chop it, so this prevents it from ending up in one big clump.
Next, mix together your wet ingredients (milk, eggs, vanilla, and applesauce) until they’re smooth.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold them in until just combined. You don’t need to go crazy here, just mix until everything is fully incorporated and there are no dry patches. At this point, the batter will be very thick and sticky.
Finally, stir in the melted butter. At first, it might seem like the batter is resisting coming together, but keep stirring for a minute or two and it will incorporate into a smooth, glossy batter that will pour easily into your loaf pan.
Add any toppings that you want before popping it into the oven. For this bread, I used a generous sprinkle of vanilla sugar. Chopped walnuts are also nice here. Or go all out with a crumble or streusel topping!
FAQs
Sweet quick breads and pound cakes are really similar, and this applesauce bread can definitely pull double-duty as a dessert! The main difference is in the method.
For a quick bread, the wet ingredients are folded into the dry ingredients as described above. This results in a more casual cake with a larger crumb that can sometimes be a little messy when you slice into it.
For a pound cake, the butter and sugar are creamed together first. Then the remaining wet ingredients are added, followed by the dry ingredients. This incorporates more air into the batter, making the cake a little lighter and airier. The crumb is also smaller and tighter, resulting in cleaner slices.
Stored in an airtight container at room temperature, this bread will keep well for about 5 days. I like to put a piece of paper towel in the container along with the bread to absorb any excess moisture and keep the humidity level down. This will keep the sugar topping, if you included one, from melting into the bread and getting gummy.
The bread can also be wrapped well and frozen for up to 3 months. To preserve the bread’s texture, be sure to let it cool completely before wrapping it.
I bake this bread in a 9″x13″ loaf pan, but if you don’t have one there are other options!
Make mini loaves: If you have a min loaf pan, this recipe yields enough batter to make 5 mini loaves. Bake the loaves for 25-28 minutes. These are so cute and make great holiday gifts!
Make muffins: You can also use this batter to make muffins. Fill 12 standard muffin cups about 3/4 of the way full, then bake for 28-30 minutes.
Applesauce Bread with Candied Ginger
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg
- ¼ cup finely chopped candied ginger
- 1 cup milk
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- ¼ cup unsalted butter melted and cooled
- 1 Tablespoon turbinado sugar optional
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 350°F.
- Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ground ginger, and nutmeg to a large mixing bowl. Whisk until well blended.
- Stir in candied ginger. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine the milk, eggs and vanilla. Whisk until smooth. Stir in the applesauce.
- Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients. Add the butter. Using a silicone spatula, gently fold until fully incorporated.
- Pour the batter into a loaf pan. If desired, sprinkle the turbinado sugar in a thin layer over the bread.
- Bake for 50-55 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a skewer or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let the bread cool completely, the slice into 10 slices. Store in a ziptop bag or an airtight container for up to 5 days or wrap and freeze for up to 3 months.
Oh man, I need to make this! I have candied ginger I need to use, plus a boatload of applesauce! This will be perfect!