Sweet Potato Bread – A Moist Quick Bread Recipe

This sweet potato bread recipe is super easy and creates a tasty & orange snack or dessert. So if your family is bored with pumpkin bread or banana bread, you should try this simple “quick bread” recipe based on mashed sweet potatoes. You will also be sneaking some vitamin A, vitamin C and fiber into your family’s diet if you make baked goods with sweet potatoes.

Sweet Potato Bread

Recipe Sections

1. Ingredients
2. Instructions
3. Helpful Tips

FYI – My sweet potato bread is not a sandwich bread. Rather it is a sweet “quick bread” (similar to banana bread and pumpkin bread). Quick bread recipes use baking soda/powder to rise (and generally do not use yeast).

Sweet Potato Bread with Chopped Walnuts

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 Cups – Mashed Sweet Potatoes (cold) – 313 grams – Do not use warm mashed sweet potatoes. See tips section below for reasons.
• 1/4 Cup – Milk – 59 milliliters
• 1/2 Cup – Vegetable Oil – 118 milliliters – Use a neutral flavored oil such as corn oil or canola oil.
• 2 Eggs (Large) – 114 grams – Not extra large or jumbo eggs.
• 1 1/4 Cups – Light Brown Sugar (packed) – 270 grams – See my tips section below if you prefer to make less sweet “quick breads”.
• 2 Cups – All Purpose Flour – 240 grams
• 1 Teaspoon – Baking Soda – 5 grams
• 1 Teaspoon – Baking Powder – 4 grams
• 1 Teaspoon – Ground Cinnamon – 3 grams
• 1 Teaspoon – Vanilla Extract – 5 milliliters
• 1/2 Teaspoon – Nutmeg – 2.5 grams
• 1/2 Teaspoon – Salt – 3 grams
• Optional – 1 Cup of Chopped Walnuts – 115 grams

Servings – Roughly 12 slices

Equipment Needed – Measuring cup & spoons, mixing bowl, long wooden spoon, 9 by 5 inch metal bread pan, oven mitts, silicon spatula, cooling rack and an oven.

Sweet Potatoes Being Boiled Before Mashing

Sweet Potatoes After Mashing

Slices of Sweet Potato Bread

Instructions

How To Make Mashed Sweet Potatoes – Listed below are two options (boiling or baking the sweet potatoes). Pick the option that your family prefers.

Option 1 – Boiled Sweet Potatoes

• Peel the sweet potatoes and then cut the sweet potatoes into cubes (roughly 1 to 2 inches in size).
• Place the sweet potato cubes into a large pot and add cold water to the pot. FYI – Add enough water so the cubes are completely covered by water (with at least 1 inch of “extra” water above the cubes). You will want more water than cubes (because some of the water will boil off as steam).
• Place the pot on stove top and turn the heat to high.
• Boil the cubes in the large pot of water for 10-15 minutes. FYI – Boil the sweet potato cubes until they have completely softened. Also make sure to wear oven mitts as the boiling water might splash during boiling process.
• Remove the pot from the stove and pour the contents into a large strainer/colander. Wear oven mitts as the pot & water will be very hot.
• Use the strainer/colander to drain off ALL of the hot water from the sweet potatoes.
• After the water has been completely drained, remove the sweet potatoes from the strainer/colander. Place them in a bowl and mash all of the sweet potatoes with a fork. Do not leave any un-mashed large chunks. FYI – See the picture above for the “consistency” of the mashed sweet potatoes that I like to use when making sweet potato bread.
• Place the mashed sweet potatoes in your refrigerator to cool for at least 60 minutes. FYI – I often mash the sweet potatoes the night before and use them the next day to make my sweet potato bread.

Option 2 – Baked Sweet Potatoes

• Preheat oven to 400 F. FYI – It can take 10-20 minutes to fully preheat an oven.
• Wash the exterior of the sweet potatoes to remove any dirt and then dry the sweet potatoes with paper towel.
• Pierce each of the sweet potatoes 3 or 4 times with a fork. FYI – This allows steam to escape during the baking process.
• Place the sweet potatoes on a baking sheet.
• Place the baking sheet in the oven to bake for 45 to 60 minutes at 400 F. Use oven mitts. FYI – The baking time will vary due to the size of your sweet potatoes. Smaller sweet potatoes bake faster.
• Remove the baking sheet from the oven. Wear oven mitts.
• Test the sweet potatoes with a fork to see if the baked sweet potatoes are soft & the fork slides in easily. Wear oven mitts as the oven, tray & sweet potatoes will be very hot. FYI – If not done, bake for another 5 minutes. Then retest with a fork.
• If done, let the sweet potatoes cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. FYI – This allows the sweet potatoes to firm up so they do not break when you move them. Also right after baking, the sweet potatoes are super hot and can burn you (via steam or the potato itself) if you try to move them.
• After this initial cool down, move the sweet potatoes to a wire cooling rack and let them cool down for another 5 to 10 minutes. FYI – The wire cooling rack helps to avoid sweet potatoes with a soggy bottom and prevents overbaking (versus leaving them on a hot baking sheet).
• When cooled, scoop out the baked sweet potato flesh and mash.
• Place the mashed sweet potatoes in your refrigerator to cool for at least 60 minutes. FYI – I often mash the sweet potatoes the night before and use them the next day to make my sweet potato bread.

How to Make Sweet Potato Bread

• Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. FYI – Depending on the size of your oven, it can take 10-20 minutes to fully preheat (so preheat your oven early!)
• Lightly beat the eggs.
• Add the cold mashed sweet potatoes, milk, vegetable oil, eggs and sugar into a large mixing bowl. Stir until completely mixed.
• Then add the remaining ingredients. Stir until the batter is fully mixed. FYI – I prefer to use a large spoon to mix the batter. An electric mixer can overmix the batter and this can lead to gummy & rubbery sweet potato breads.
• Optional – After the batter is fully mixed, you can stir in 1 cup of chopped walnuts.
• Pour the finished batter into a nonstick bread pan. Smooth out the top of the batter within the bread pan.
• Bake in the oven at 325 F for 65-70 minutes.
• Take out of the oven and let the sweet potato bread cool down in the bread pan for 10 minutes. Do not remove the bread from the bread pan during this 10 minute cool down period. Use oven mitts as the bread pan will be very hot coming out of the oven. FYI – Do not skip this step as the “cool down” completes the baking process.
• After 10 minutes, remove the sweet potato bread from the bread pan. Place the bread on a cooling rack in order to completely cool. This cool down may take 1-2 hours.
• Please READ the tips section below for extra information on how to make this recipe successfully & to avoid common problems.

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Helpful Tips

• The tips below are designed to help sweet potato bread “novices” and/or people with limited baking experience.
• Click on this “print recipe” link if you want to print out this recipe. It includes all of the recipe’s ingredients and instructions. However, the recipe print function does not include my tips section. Please read the tips section in order to avoid common recipe problems.
• This recipe is part of Bread Dad’s series on easy Quick Bread Recipes such as banana bread, cranberry bread and pumpkin bread.

• Sweet potato bread is a nice “orange” alternative to pumpkin bread. It is perfect if you can’t find pumpkin puree or you don’t want use a canned ingredient (that might have crazy preservatives, etc.). Moreover, sweet potatoes generally have more nutrients than pumpkins.
• Sweet potatoes add a wide variety of nutrients including vitamin A, vitamin C, fiber and potassium. For more information, you should read Wikipedia’s article on Sweet Potatoes.
• Make sure you are using sweet potatoes and not true yams (they are different!).
• However, many people in the USA label sweet potatoes as “yams” – so things can be a little confusing! Nevertheless, many supermarkets in the USA only sell sweet potatoes (but they might be identified in the store as yams).
• Sweet potatoes have smooth skins and taste sweeter than true yams. Sweet potatoes usually have an orange interior. However, there are sweet potato varieties with different colored interiors (such as purple). In contrast, true yams have rough “bark” like skins and taste starcher & drier than sweet potatoes. For more on the differences, you should read the Wikipedia articles on sweet potatoes and yams.
• If you see canned “yams” in your store, take a look at the label. The ingredient label often states that the manufacturer is using “sweet potatoes” to make their canned yams.

Interior Of A Sweet Potato

• Use refrigerator COLD mashed sweet potatoes to make your sweet potato bread. Why? Warm mashed sweet potatoes can prematurely activate the gluten in the bread (and this leads to a rubbery & gummy bread). In addition, cold mashed sweet potatoes have a more consistent texture (whereas warm sweet potatoes can “leak” moisture & steam and this can throw off the recipe).
• To make 1 1/2 cups of mashed sweet potatoes, you will need roughly 2 or 3 large sweet potatoes or 3 or 4 medium sweet potatoes… as sweet potato sizes vary!
• FYI – Boil MORE sweet potatoes than you need/expect so you are not short on the mashed sweet potatoes. You don’t want to be short a 1/4 cup of mashed sweet potatoes & be forced to boil extra sweet potatoes.
• The boiling time to make the mashed sweet potatoes will vary based on the amount of water used, the amount of sweet potatoes added to the pot, the size of sweet potato cubes (smaller cubes soften faster), the temperature used to boil the water, etc.
• Some people prefer to bake their sweet potatoes (thanks Roger!) instead of boiling them. Baked sweet potatoes generally have more flavor versus boiled sweet potatoes (as the boiling can dilute some of the sweet potatoes’ natural sugars).
• However, I prefer to use boiled sweet potatoes because they are much faster to prepare (versus baking them), you don’t have to heat an entire oven for 45-60 minutes and they add a smoother & creamier texture to sweet potato bread.
• Nevertheless, both options (boiled or baked sweet potatoes) work well when making a sweet potato bread recipe!
• FYI – Others like to microwave their sweet potatoes. However, given variation in potato sizes, you run the risk of some sweet potatoes “exploding” in the microwave, some coming out too dry and/or some being cooked on the outside but hard in the middle.
• Visitors – Do you prefer to use boiled, baked or microwaved sweet potatoes when making sweet potato bread? Please post your thoughts in the comment section below.

• Mashed sweet potatoes have roughly the same amount of moisture content as mashed bananas. Mashed sweet potatoes have a moisture content around 65%-80% (depending on the variety of sweet potato, the amount of liquid drained off after boiling, etc.). In comparison, mashed bananas have a moisture content around 75%.
• There is some variability between different varieties of sweet potatoes. Some contain more moisture and others less.
• This moisture variation can throw off the recipe a little so make sure to fully bake your sweet potato bread. See the tips further down on the page about the “toothpick” test & thermometer test in order to make sure your sweet potato bread is fully baked.
• I generally make this sweet potato bread recipe with Beauregard sweet potatoes, a sweet potato variety commonly found in many USA supermarkets. What sweet potato variety do you like to use when making sweet potato bread? Comment below.

• FYI – I have tried making this sweet potato bread recipe with 1/4 cup more of mashed sweet potatoes and eliminating the 1/4 cup of milk. However, it was too dry. The milk helps to make a moister sweet potato bread.
• Some people like to roast their sweet potatoes in the oven. However, this takes much longer than boiling the sweet potatoes.
• Don’t use leftover mashed sweet potatoes stuffed with sugar, marshmallows, etc. to make this sweet potato bread recipe. This will throw off the sugar & moisture ratios of the sweet potato bread. You are more likely to have a baking disaster.
• If any leftover mashed potatoes after making this sweet potato bread then serve the leftovers as a side for dinner! Seriously, many people like to turn leftover mashed sweet potatoes into sweet potato pancakes, sweet potato muffins, sweet potato frosting, etc. FYI – I like to turn my leftover mashed sweet potatoes into tasty spread to put on my cold cut sandwiches.

• Make sure all of the hot water has been completely drained from the sweet potatoes before mashing them. Any extra water will throw off this recipe and lead to the sweet potato bread being underbaked and/or cause a collapse in the middle of the sweet potato bread.
• Optional – Depending on your family’s taste and dietary preferences, you can turn this recipe into a sweet potato nut bread by mixing 1 cup of chopped walnuts into the batter. FYI – For a more “nutty” appearance (see picture near top of this page), I often like to mix 3/4 of a cup of cup walnuts into the batter and then sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup on top of the batter (after the batter has been poured into the bread pan). If you are tired of walnuts, you can also use chopped pecans in order to make a delicious sweet potato nut bread.
• Optional – If you like lower sugar sweet potato breads, you can use 3/4 or 1 cup of light brown sugar. FYI – I like to use 1 1/4 cups of light brown sugar in this recipe (versus the usual 1 cup of sugar used in my banana bread recipes) because sweet potatoes tend to be less sweet than ripe bananas.
• Visitors – What extra ingredients do you like to add to your sweet potato bread? Chopped walnuts or chopped pecans? Chocolate chips? Dried fruit? Different spices? Please leave your sweet potato bread suggestions & tips in the comment section below.

• You should use a NEUTRAL flavored vegetable oil (e.g. corn or canola oil) in order to make this sweet potato bread recipe.
• Stronger flavored oils (e.g. peanut oil) may NEGATIVELY impact or change the taste of the sweet potato bread. You want to use an oil that has very little flavor.
• If you want to use olive oil, I would recommend using “mild”, “light” or “extra light” olive oil as they would have the least impact on the flavor of the sweet potato bread. Unfortunately, extra virgin and virgin olive oil have stronger flavors and are more likely to negatively impact the taste of your sweet potato bread.

• Use FRESH ingredients (e.g. baking soda and flour) for the best results. For example, if you use stale baking soda and/or baking powder, your sweet potato bread will not rise properly and will be too dense. Baking soda & powder is best if used within 6 months of opening the container. Using baking soda from an open container (that has been deodorizing your refrigerator for months) may lead to subpar results. Old & hard baking soda/powder may lead to rising problems and/or leave small bitter clumps in your sweet potato bread.
• Old flour can affect the taste of sweet potato bread. Old flour can spoil and taste bitter, sour, musty, etc. Sweet potato bread made with old flour does not taste great!
• Try to keep your ingredients (e.g. flour) in airtight food containers in order to extend their shelf life and avoid spoilage (e.g. exposure to moisture, pests and dust).
• Flour (if stored in an open bag and not in an airtight container) can absorb a lot of moisture from the air. This extra moisture throws off recipes and can lead to sweet potato bread collapses, etc.

• This doesn’t happen often but if the top of the sweet potato bread looks too moist or undercooked, you should try the “toothpick test”. Gently push a wooden toothpick or wooden skewer into the top of the bread and see if any batter sticks to the toothpick. If batter is sticking to the toothpick then it hasn’t completely cooked. Place the bread pan back into the still hot oven for another 3 to 5 minutes. Make sure to wear oven gloves because the bread pan will be very hot. After the 3 to 5 minutes, remove the bread pan and test the sweet potato bread again with a toothpick.
• Instead of the “toothpick test”, some people like to use a bread thermometer to test if their sweet potato bread is done. Generally, a “quick bread” (e.g. sweet potato bread or pumpkin bread) is done when the internal temperature reaches 200-205 degrees F. Just make sure to measure the temperature in the center of the loaf for the most accurate reading.
• If you like “harvest” type quick breads, you might also like to try my recipes for Dried Cranberry Bread, Pecan Banana Bread, Blueberry Banana Nut Bread and Pumpkin Cranberry Bread.

• To prevent your sweet potato bread from sticking to the bottom of the bread pan, you should consider either “greasing” the bottom of the pan with butter or vegetable oil, using a cooking spray, using a nonstick pan or lining the interior of the bread pan with baking parchment paper.
• Baking parchment paper is probably the best solution to prevent sticking (especially if you are using really sticky ingredients such as chocolate chips or fresh blueberries). It also allows you to lift the sweet potato bread out of the pan without disturbing the top of the sweet potato bread… in case you have added any special ingredients (such as chopped nuts or chocolate chips) to the top of the sweet potato bread.
• FYI – Baking parchment paper is NOT regular paper. It is a specialty paper designed for use with baking.
• Do NOT use an electric mixer to mix your ingredients (when combining the wet and dry ingredients). I prefer to use an old fashioned wooden spoon. An electric mixer can easily overmix the ingredients if used too long. Unfortunately, overmixing batter can result in a rubbery & gummy sweet potato bread.

• Make sure that your oven has been completely preheated. If the oven has not been properly preheated, this quick bread could come out undercooked.
• It takes roughly 10-20 minutes to preheat most ovens with some variability due to the size of the oven, planned baking temperature (hotter takes longer), etc.
• If your oven does not have a built-in thermometer, you can buy an inexpensive hanging oven thermometer that you can place inside your oven (in order to correctly gauge the temperature & see if the oven has been preheated to the correct temperature). Moreover, some built-in oven gauges can be 25-50 degrees different than the actual temperature inside the oven. For the best results, you should know the actual temperature inside your oven (as this reduces the potential for over or undercooked baked products).

• In case, you didn’t see this in the “equipment used to make this recipe” section, this recipe is based on using a standard 9 by 5 bread pan. This means that the interior of the bread pan (not exterior) measures 9 inches in length, 5 inches in width and 2 1/2 inches in depth/height. Of course, Bread Dads are crazy about exact measurements… thus the use of measuring tapes! Ha!
• Please use the suggested 9 x 5 bread pan to make this recipe. If you start using different sized pans, there is a greater potential for bread top collapses (potentially less bread pan “wall” support for the quick bread as it rises), different interior batter to exterior bread ratios (thus the need for different baking lengths), smaller pans are more likely to overflow, etc.
• My recipes are based on using a metal bread pan and NOT a glass bread pan. Glass bread pans bake faster than metal bread pans. If you use a glass bread pan for my recipes, you are more likely to overbake your sweet potato bread (e.g. burnt crust).
• My recipes are based on using a regular oven and NOT a convection oven. Convection ovens bake faster than regular ovens and require less baking time than what is stated in my recipes.

• Place your sweet potato bread in the middle of your oven. If you place it on the top or bottom racks, the sweet potato bread may be too near the oven’s heating element and bake faster than expected.
• When making this recipe, many international bakers prefer to use a kitchen scale versus using measuring cups. A kitchen scale provides greater accuracy because the amount of ingredients in a measuring cup can vary somewhat (e.g. a cup of fluffed flour vs a cup of densely packed flour). Therefore, this recipe also includes gram/milliliter measurements.
• If you have a problem with a sweet potato bread recipe, please make sure that you are following the recipe exactly (e.g. using the correct oven temperature), using the correct amounts of ingredients (e.g. don’t eyeball the measurements versus using a measuring cup or accidentally add a tablespoon when a teaspoon is called for), using the correct ingredients (e.g. baking soda/powder versus yeast or all purpose flour versus bread flour), etc. Please don’t “wing” things with recipes.

• Always wear oven mitts/gloves when dealing with hot ovens, baking trays, bread pans, etc.
• Warning – Do not add the optional chopped walnuts if anyone who might eat this sweet potato bread has peanut and/or tree nut allergies.
• For more “quick bread” ideas (e.g. cranberry bread, pumpkin bread or banana bread), please visit Bread Dad’s sections for Quick Bread Recipes or Banana Bread Recipes.

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Reference Sources

1. Wikipedia, Sweet Potato
2. Wikipedia, Quick Bread
3. Wikipedia, Yam

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