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.
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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.
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crystal
Hi,
I've been making your recipe but using apple pulp from my juicer (instead of whole cut up fresh apples) and mixing that into the batter. it comes out amazing every time. so, thank you! and possibly to get more hits on your blog you could suggest this.
Great work Rhian!
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, so happy to hear that!
Dani
Made the bread today and out less sugar, the result is good and have a good flavor.
Thank you for the recipe.
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, so glad you liked it!
Sheyla Mendoza
This recipe was PHENOMENAL. My family (non-vegans), usually aren’t the biggest fans of my vegan baked goods, but when they tried this, they actually enjoyed it and even said that they’d eat it again if I made it. I made it this morning and it’s currently 10 pm and it’s almost gone! I reduced the oil and sugar since my family and I aren’t too big on overly sweet baked goods, and overall this recipe was so good. I also used oat flour in place of the gluten-free flour and it worked fine. I didn’t have much almond flour and was down to 1 cup, so I improvised and used 2 tablespoons of coconut flour since it’s more absorbent than other flours. This recipe is great and everyone should try it!
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, so happy to hear that!! And thank you for sharing your substitutions, that's great to know!!
Michele
Awesome! One of the best GF and vegan recipes ever!!! I have tried many recipes but never really like the consistency of the bread but this was fantastic! Tender and light and very flavorful. I also substituted some oat flour for the GF flour. I used 1 cup oat flour and 1/4 cup GF flour. I also added walnuts and about 1/4 tsp of apple pie spice to the batter! My hubby loved it. I will definitely share your site with my other GF and vegan friends. Thank you for sharing. 🙂
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, so happy to hear that!
Loreta
Hi 🙂 do I need to use both GF and almond flour? Or I can choose between these two?
Or can I replace almond flour with the buckwheat flour? If yes so how many grams?
Rhian Williams
You need to use both. Almond flour can't be replaced with buckwheat flour, but can be replaced with ground walnuts or ground sunflower seeds!