This Vegan Apple Bread is moist, fluffy and packed full of juicy caramel-flavoured apples made fragrant with warming cinnamon. It's gluten-free and refined sugar free, and also yeast-free which means there's no kneading or proving required. It's great for breakfast, brunch, a snack or dessert and is perfect for sharing with a crowd. Great for Thanksgiving, Christmas and other holidays!
What type of apples should you use for baking?
- I recommend using eating apples for this recipe, rather than cooking apples.
- The reason why I recommend eating apples for this particular recipe is because eating apples are naturally sweeter so less added sugar is required.
- I recommend peeling the apples before using them.
How to make this recipe
Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.
- Place the coconut oil, coconut sugar, apples, vanilla, cinnamon and salt in a pan.
- Leave to cook on a low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes until slightly softened - it doesn't matter if not completely cooked.
- Mix together all the ingredients for the bread batter in a mixing bowl - use a measuring jug to measure out the plant-based milk.
- Transfer half of the bread batter to a one-pound loaf tin.
Tip: Line the tin with greased baking paper to make the bread easier to remove.
- Now carefully place the cooked apple mixture on top of the bread mixture in the loaf tin.
Tip: Make sure to leave a little gap around the edges so that the apples don't spill out of the bread.
- Transfer the remaining half of the bread mixture into the loaf tin, making sure the apples are completely covered.
- Use a chopstick or a skewer to swirl through the batter to create a marbled effect - start at one side and insert the chopstick or skewer all the way through to the bottom. Move it up and down in a zigzag shape until you get to the other side of the loaf tin.
- Bake in the oven for around 45 minutes, until risen and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
Tip: Leave to cool completely on a cooling rack before slicing.
How long does this keep for?
- This Apple Bread keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days.
- Make sure to wait until it has cooled down completely before packing away to store, otherwise the trapped moisture in the bread will condense and it will become soggy.
Substitutions you can make to this recipe
- You can use any type of oil: coconut oil, olive oil or vegetable oil.
- You can use any type of plant-based milk: almond milk, rice milk, soy milk, cashew milk, oat milk etc.
- You can use any type of liquid sweetener: date syrup, maple syrup, agave syrup, brown rice syrup etc.
- The apple cider vinegar is crucial as the acidity reacts with the alkali bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) - it can be replaced with lemon juice.
- You can replace the ground almonds with ground walnuts.
- You can use plain flour, wholemeal (whole wheat) flour or spelt flour instead of the gluten-free flour if you're not gluten-free.
Ingredients you can add to this apple bread
- You can top this cake with chopped walnuts, pecan nuts or flaked almonds before baking.
- You can add raisins, chopped dates, chopped dried figs or dried cranberries to the batter.
More gluten-free vegan quick-bread recipes
- Gluten-Free Vegan Bread
- Gluten-Free Vegan Blueberry Banana Bread
- Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Banana Bread
- Gluten-Free Vegan Cornbread
- Gluten-Free Vegan Orange Poppy Seed Bread
If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I'd really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo @rhiansrecipes #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Vegan Apple Bread (Gluten-Free)
This Vegan Apple Bread is moist, fluffy and jammed full of juicy caramel-flavoured apples made fragrant with warming cinnamon.
Print
Pin
Rate
Servings: 12 slices
Calories: 226kcal
Ingredients
For the apples:
- 3 apples , cored, peeled and diced (about 700g/25oz in total) *
- 1 teaspoon (1 tablespoon) coconut oil
- 3 tablespoons coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch salt to taste
For the bread:
- 60 g (¼ cup) coconut oil (or sub olive or vegetable oil)
- 200 ml (⅘ cup) unsweetened almond milk (or any other plant-based milk)
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar ** (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- 6 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) ground almonds (almond meal) ***
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) gluten-free flour blend (or sub plain flour if not gluten-free)
- 2 heaped teaspoons baking powder (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
Instructions
For the apples:
- Place the apples, coconut oil, coconut sugar, cinnamon and salt in a pan with a lid.
- Leave to cook on a low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes until slightly softened - doesn't matter if not completely cooked.
For the bread:
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Place the coconut oil in a large bowl and melt over a saucepan of boiling water or in the microwave (skip this step if using any other oil).
- Once melted, add the milk to the same bowl along with the vinegar, maple syrup, vanilla and ground almonds.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.
- Mix well, adding a tiny splash more milk if it's looking too dry.
- Transfer half of the mixture to a loaf tin (I used a one-pound loaf tin) lined with greased baking paper.
- Now carefully place the cooked apple mixture on top of the bread mixture in the loaf tin - make sure to leave a little gap around the edges so that the apples don't spill out of the bread.
- Transfer the remaining half of the bread mixture into the loaf tin, making sure the apples are completely covered.
- Use a chopstick or a skewer to swirl through the batter to create a marbled effect - start at one side and insert the chopstick or skewer all the way through to the bottom. Move it up and down in a zigzag shape until you get to the other side of the loaf tin.
- Bake in the oven for around 45 minutes, until risen and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
- Leave to cool on a wire rack before slicing.
- Keeps well in the fridge for up to a few days.
Notes
*This amount is equivalent to 5 ⅔ cups of coarsely chopped apples.
**The acidic vinegar is essential for reacting with the alkali bicarbonate of soda to produce a fluffy batter. You can alternatively use lemon juice.
***You can alternatively use almond flour.
Make sure to wait until it has cooled down completely before packing away to store, otherwise the trapped moisture in the bread will condense and it will become soggy.
Nutrition Facts
Vegan Apple Bread (Gluten-Free)
Amount Per Serving
Calories 226
Calories from Fat 117
% Daily Value*
Fat 13g20%
Saturated Fat 5g25%
Sodium 55mg2%
Potassium 88mg3%
Carbohydrates 26g9%
Fiber 3g12%
Sugar 13g14%
Protein 3g6%
Vitamin A 25IU1%
Vitamin C 2.1mg3%
Calcium 79mg8%
Iron 0.9mg5%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Made the recipe?Tag @rhiansrecipes on instagram and use the hashtag #rhiansrecipes!
Disclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you purchase any of these products, a small percentage will come to me with no extra cost to you! This income will go towards the running of this blog - thank you.
Kathy
Delicious! I gave some of this to friends and they loved it!
I particularly like the minimal sweetness...just enough.
Rhian Williams
Thank you s omuch, so happy to hear that!
Kate
This was delicious!!!
Two questions for you:
1. I needed 6 apples to make 700grams. It was very moist and when I cut it, it fell apart. I think I did something wrong there 🙁
2. Can I use oat flour instead of the almond meal? Or all flour?
Many thanks again for such a great recipe!!!
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much for your feedback! What type of gluten-free flour did you use? Was there any extra liquid with your apples when you added the cooked apples to the batter? You can't use all flour or oat flour instead of the almond meal, unfortunately! You can replace the almond meal with ground walnuts or ground sunflower seeds, though!
kl
5 *
Thanks for sharing this recipe. I used up what was in my cupboard: some almond flour -about a third cup, then made up the rest with quinoa four and brown rice flour, with the all purpose flour amount as per recipe. I skipped the syrup as I limit sweetener, though used 1 tablespoon coconut sugar for the apple mix of about 4 apples with a few raisins added. And only used a small amount of vegetable oil -about 3 tablespoons. I used a vanilla chickpea milk instead of vanilla essence. Despite the substitutions, it was delicious and a good consistency.
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, so happy to hear that! And thank you so much for sharing your substitutions!
jacquie
this looks wonderful and i would certainly like to try it but i don't have a scale and apples vary a lot in size. Do you know how much it would be in cups? thanks so much
Rhian Williams
Hi! The required amount is about 5 2/3 cups of coarsely chopped apples! I hope that helps!
Kathryn
This looks delicious and we just brought home a bag of wild apples we picked on a nature walk.
Looking forward to trying this.
Just wanted to verify - the only liquid when cooking the apples is the coconut oil?
Thanks. 🙂
Rhian Williams
Thank you! Yes that's right, the juices from the apples will be released whilst cooking so you won't need to add any extra liquid!