Apple Cinnamon Bread — Cozy Fall Loaf

By Elizabeth Waterson // Sep 28, 2024 (Updated Oct 16, 2026) // Leave a Comment

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This Apple Cinnamon Bread is soft, moist, and packed with fresh apples tossed in cinnamon sugar, then finished with a sweet cinnamon sugar crust. I love using both shredded and diced apples because the shredded apples add moisture throughout the loaf, while the diced pieces give you little bites of tender apple in every slice. Melted butter and applesauce create a rich, soft crumb, and the brown sugar adds a lovely caramel-like sweetness. Since this is a quick bread, there's no yeast or rising time, making it an easy fall recipe to enjoy for breakfast, an afternoon snack, or warmed up with a little salted butter.

slice of cinnamon apple bread on a white plate on a light brown surface. — Sweet cinnamon apples tucked into a soft, buttery loaf with a little cinnamon sugar crunch on top. Just add coffee!

Quick breads are some of my favorite recipes to develop. They are perfect any time of day because generally the sweetness isn't over powering. Check out all of my quick bread recipes. This is the perfect autumn quick bread, the apples are tossed in a cinnamon sugar mixture and mixed throughout this cinnamon bread batter. Cinnamon and apples are just a match made in heaven, if you have more time to bake then try my Fluffy Apple Cinnamon Rolls.

hand holding a slice of bread up to the camera.

The Ingredient Cast Behind This Loaf

Apples (Shredded + Diced): Shredded apples lock in moisture; diced apples add bursts of texture and bite. I used Granny Smith but you could use another variety of Cooking Apples: Granny Smith, HoneyCrisp, Pink Lady, Fuji, Gala, Braeburn, Cortland.
Butter, Applesauce & Milk: These wet ingredients help keep the crumb moist without being overly dense.
Flour, Baking Powder, Baking Soda, Salt, Cinnamon: The dry base and leaveners give structure and lift; cinnamon weaves in warm depth.
Eggs & Vanilla: They bind the batter and bring a comforting flavor note.
Extra Brown Sugar + Cinnamon Topping: Sprinkled on top before baking, this caramelizes into a sweet, crusty finish.

Adding a ½ cup to 1 cup of roasted pecans or roasted walnuts would be a lovely idea!

bowls with ingredients for cinnamon apple bread on a sheet pan on a light brown surface.

For ingredient quantities please reference the recipe card below. On the recipe card there is a button for US or M (Metric) measurements.

Whisk, Fold, Bake & Enjoy

wet ingredients whisked together in a glass bowl on a light brown surface with a brown and white linen. — Whisk together the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, apple sauce and whole milk.

dry ingredients sifted into wet ingredients then mixed in a glass bowl on a light brown surface with a brown and white linen. — Place a fine mesh sieve on top of the bowl then sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, and salt then mix to combine.

shredded apples and chunks of apples tossed in cinnamon sugar in a glass bowl on a light brown surface with a brown and white linen. — Combine the diced apples, shredded apples, brown sugar and cinnamon.

cinnamon apples mixed into quick bread batter in a glass bowl on a light brown surface with a brown and white linen. — Add the cinnamon apples the bread batter and fold until just combined.

cinnamon apple bread before and after baking in a metal pan. — Pour into the prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle additional brown sugar and cinnamon on top if desired and bake. Cool on a wire rack.

There you have it this moist, tender apple cinnamon bread is the perfect snack this autumn. It's easy to make and perfect for a kids baking project!

My Secrets for Moist Apple Cinnamon Bread

After making countless quick bread recipes I have learned that over mixing the batter creates a tough bread. So be careful when mixing.
Don't skip the tip in the recipe card about tenting the loaf the last ten minutes of baking time. Since loaf cakes require long bake times sometimes the top can brown too quickly before the middle is set, so if you take a piece of foil or parchment paper to "tent" the top it will help keep it from browning too much.
Cooling the bread in the pan before inverting on to a wire rack to cool completely. The bread will be too delicate when it first comes out of the oven, trust me. I have tried to rush this and ended up with a broken loaf!