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 (it’s great in this apple zucchini bread, too!)
- 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.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Hi Sally…I cannot wait to make this next week. This is the perfect day-after-Thanksgiving breakfast treat! If I don’t have cloves what do you suggest?
Thank you for another unique recipe!
Stephanie
Hi Stephanie! You can just leave out the ground cloves. Replace with a little extra cinnamon. Hope you love it!
These are awesome! Making now for a 3rd time in 2 weeks. My kids love them(they are 24 year old twins). Such a great balance of spice, carrots, pumpkin & apple. This has become a family favorite. Thanks Sally!
Can I make this with just pumpkin, raisins and walnuts as mix-ins or does it require carrots and apples?
Hi Anisa! For a plain pumpkin version, here’s my pumpkin bread (basically the same recipe just with all pumpkin). Free free to use milk instead of orange juice, if desired. Replace chocolate chips with raisins and chopped walnuts.
This is the first quick bread I have ever made and I am 54. Once I read this recipe I knew it would be divine. Just got done having my first slice and it is unbelievably delicious. Came out just like the pictures above. Perfect. I can’t wait to make it for others! Thank you!
Love this recipe so delicious. My family devoured it in 1 day. Will make again. Only problem I have – bread is so wonderfully moist but it crumbles when I slice it. What might I have done wrong?
Hi Sally,
I’m excited to try this but my query is If I only have 11ml milk and this calls for 30ml can I sub in 19ml orange juice or water?
Or do you think orange juice will create too many competing flavors or I can do that substitution without ruining this bread?
Thank you!
Hi Vi Kate! I think orange juice would be excellent here. (I use it in my pumpkin bread!) Use the milk you have, then make up the rest with orange juice.
Made bread in loaf pan pumpkin cans and muffins. It was a big hit with my friends and family. Many thanks for a delicious bread. Recipe is a keeper.
Can you use whole wheat white flour?
Yes! The bread will be a bit denser, though.
Would you still use equal amounts?
Yes! Or you could try half whole wheat flour and half all-purpose flour 🙂
Hi, all of your recipes that I’ve tried have been great. My quick breads, like this harvest bread, don’t ever cook through in the middle unless I sacrifice the rest being overdone. I’ve tried foil covering for part of the bake time and broiling at the end and it still doesn’t matter. Any ideas and or recommendations on pan material? I’m at a loss. Thanks so much!
Hi Alexza, I’m wondering what size pan you are using? Perhaps next time you can try not filling your pan as much and if you have leftover batter use it to make a few extra muffins!
Made this today with my three year old (who loves baking Sally recipes with me) and it’s delicious! I added 1/2 cup chopped walnuts and 1/2 cup craisins. A little schmear of cream cheese on top makes it a fabulous evening snack!
Great recipe, well spiced – the nutmeg was over pouring in the raw batter but baked so nicely into it. Walnuts make it! Don’t skip!
Yummy! I made this recipe exactly and it tasted sooo good. So I made another one. My problem… I can never wait til it cools lol. Yup I’m one of those people
Wow, this bread is delicious! I might even like this more than pumpkin bread, which I did not think was possible! The spices in this bread are so warm and cozy, and it combines two of my very favorite things: carrot cake and pumpkin bread.
I used extra carrot in place of the apple and dried cranberries instead of nuts. Love how this bread turned out!
Could I use well drained crushed pineapple in place of pumpkin?
I haven’t testede it with pineapple but it should work. Let me know if you try it!
I’ve made three loaves so far, and a fourth will be made today. This is so delicious. Twice I used egg substitute and nut milk, and my vegan daughter is beyond thrilled, and my husband will still eat it too. Thank you for this recipe!
Sally, thank you for the Harvest Spice Bread recipe! It is definitely rated a five ! Made one for our home and it constantly was being nibbled away. Made a few more to take to friends and to a couple of appointments .Got rave reviews from all. Keep sending winners. I love you!
Harvest bread is the essence of fall! Made it yesterday and it disappeared by bedtime! I had about a cup of pumpkin left over, so made it again today and doubled the recipe. I added turbinado sugar to the top and raisins to one loaf for my raisin loving fiancé. The other loaf is coming with me to work tomorrow! Perfect! xx
this was the PERFECT fall bread! i brought it to a friend’s house last weekend to watch football and it was absolutely demolished. i sprinkled a little turbinado sugar on top before baking and it gave a nice little crunch/crust on top. definitely will be making again!
OMG.. This is just as delish as you described! The only thing I had to substitute was the eggs (I used Bob’s Red Mill’s egg replacement cuz of an egg allergy); The rest I followed exactly and I can’t stop picking at it. I LOVE how you added all the fruits and veggies together in this and the name is PERFECT! LOVE IT! Another perfect recipe to add to my cookbook. Thank you!
This bread is absolutely delicious!! I followed the recipe exactly and swapped out apple pie spice for the other spices and added the walnuts too. It worked perfectly! An excellent Fall bread! Moist and so flavorful! I’ll definitely make this again but maybe as muffins!
Just finished a piece of this delicious bread for breakfast with a cup of tea. I followed the recipe exactly only subbing Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 gluten free flour. I had to bake it for about 75 minutes but it was absolutely perfect. No one even knew it was gluten free. It was so good and moist with wonderful spice. I already had the ingredients in the house so it was so simple to throw together. This bread was another hit recipe from you Sally. Thank you for working so hard to give us such delicious goodies.
Is it possible to sub honey for some of the sugar without messing up the moisture ratio?
Hi Sabrina! I 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.
I made this on the weekend as muffins and they are delicious! I used spelt flour and did not have any apples so I used zucchini instead. Thank you for another great recipe!
Made this last week on a whim (even doubled the recipe), and it was delicious! Added pecans and dried cranberries, and used my food processor to shred all the goodies inside. Making again tomorrow, as both loaves are already gone! A friend’s super picky toddler loved it too. I call that a win!
Wow, just wow! I’m a huge Sally fan…but this recipe is absolutely the best!
Banana bread, move on over. Harvest Spice Bread is going to be my new favourite to make. All the time. Any occasion. I made it for a school picnic & was happy I followed the advice to make a double batch. The only add-in I followed when I doubled it was to keep to 1 cup walnuts & to add 1 cup of raisins. I had everyone drooling. Thank you, Sally for working so hard on perfecting your recipes. As I tell people : it’s not me – it’s just a really good recipe!
Making this again today! Delicious
I made a double batch of this, and the flavor was amazing but the bread turned out so badly I had to throw it out—it seemed that the apples maybe released too much moisture, because the inside just wouldn’t bake no matter how long I left them in (true for both the 9×5 and the mini loaves). I even squeezed a lot of the juice out of the shredded apple before adding it, even though the recipe doesn’t say anything about that. I’m so disappointed!! Any thoughts on what went wrong?
Hi Christine, I would guess that it wasn’t the apple but another ingredient that simply wasn’t measured correctly when doubling the recipe.
I made the muffin version of this recipe today. They are delicious and surprisingly moist. I made a few changes, including using half whole wheat flour, adding a heaping tablespoon of both chia seeds and flaxseed meal, cutting the granulated sugar in half, and sprinkling white sanding sugar on top. This is an excellent recipe!
Baked a double recipe in three 1-lb. loaf pans. Just finished cooling and had the first slice. Yum! It is tender and moist and spicy – really a perfect recipe. I’ll be freezing one of the extra loaves and sharing the other with my colleagues on Monday. Thank you!