Gluten-Free Apple Bread

Sweet, moist Gluten-Free Apple Bread with delightful chunks of fresh apples, warm spices and an amazing cinnamon swirl. This satisfying comforting treat is ideal for breakfast or snack when you’re craving apple cinnamon flavors! Refined sugar-free, moist, fluffy, and an absolute explosion of fall!

If the whole season of fall could be summarized in the form of a single quick bread recipe, it would be this moist loaf.

This gluten-free apple cinnamon bread is that warm surprise that makes you take a deep breath and sigh, “Life is good.”

I first shared this recipe back in 2014 and it has been one of my favorite fall treats ever since!

While I typically make my treats lower in sugar and dairy-free, this particular apple bread recipe pulls out all the stops. It’s rich in that iconic buttery bliss and is so nice and sweet that one slice will actually be enough!

In my humble opinion, it is truly the best apple bread recipe (and has been loved by thousands of readers over the years).

This yummy apple bread includes a secret ingredient – Greek yogurt! – which helps leaven the bread and also gives it a moist buttery tang. 

Trust me, you will just want to hide pieces of it in the pockets of your enormous fall scarf and pull them out whenever you feel the need for something remarkable.

It is just the absolute perfect recipe for apple bread. I bet it will become a staple in your household not just during apple harvest season, but regardless of the time of year!

If you’re looking for a lower sugar apple bread, you can make my Healthy Apple Oatmeal Muffins and bake the batter into a loaf. 

The best part is this easy apple bread recipe requires ingredients you likely already have on hand and is just such a blast to make!

Let’s chat about those basic ingredients for this cinnamon apple bread.

Ingredients for Apple Bread:

Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour: To make this apple cinnamon quick bread gluten-free, we use a gluten-free flour blend. 

I make this apple cinnamon bread with Bob’s Red Mill’s Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour, which makes for a fluffy loaf that you’d never in a million years guess was gluten free. I’ve been raving about this blend because just as the package says, it works perfectly as a 1:1 replacement for regular all-purpose flour.

If you have a favorite brand of gluten-free flour, feel free to use it here! King Arthur and Pamela’s will work great!

If you don’t follow a gluten-free diet, use regular all-purpose flour.

Coconut Sugar: To keep the bread refined sugar-free, I sweeten it using coconut sugar, which is lower on the glycemic index than cane sugar.

If you prefer baking with cane sugar, you can replace the coconut sugar with brown sugar or white sugar – either work! 

If you’d like to keep it added sugar-free (the apple has natural sugar), use your favorite sugar-free sweetener!

Butter: Unsalted butter is the fat portion of this recipe and it makes for such luscious flavor and texture!

Greek Yogurt: Non-fat plain yogurt is added for two main reasons. It brings moisture and creamy tangy flavor to the bread and it helps to leaven it, similar to buttermilk or sourdough. This all star secret ingredient plays a huge role in the deliciousness of the bread.

Eggs: A couple large eggs help fluff up the bread to give it that delicious airy rise. You want the eggs to be at room temperature (same as the butter) so that the wet ingredients mix together easily.

Baking Powder: The leavening agent here, baking powder helps ensure the bread bakes evenly and stays held together nicely once it is sliced.

Cinnamon: A generous amount of cinnamon complements the fresh apple chunks and also gives a hearty fall vibe. For the best result, use a good quality Ceylon cinnamon.

Apples: One large Granny Smith apple goes into this bread to bring all that delicious tart flavor. I find granny smith apples are the best apples for apple recipes because they boast such huge apple flavor.

You can use any kind of apples if you have a favorite, such as honeycrisp apples or pink lady apples. 

Optional Additions:

Add ⅔ cup of finely chopped pecans or walnuts to the bread if you love a nutty flavor and texture.

Enjoy the combination of chocolate and apples? Add up to 1 cup of chocolate chips.

Now that we’ve covered the simple ingredients list, let’s make a loaf of this Life is Good Bread, shall we?

How to Make Gluten-Free Apple Cinnamon Bread:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly oil a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan  with nonstick cooking spray (or line a loaf pan with parchment paper).

In a small bowl, add the ingredients for the apple cinnamon mixture. Stir well, and set aside.

In a stand mixer or a mixing bowl, cream together the butter, coconut sugar, and vanilla extract (wet ingredients) with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Note: if you don’t own a stand mixer, you can use a large bowl and a hand mixer.

Add the eggs one at a time and continue mixing on medium speed until well combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

In a separate mixing bowl, stir together the gluten-free flour, baking powder, and salt (dry ingredients).

Pour the flour mixture into the bowl with the wet mixture and mix just until combined (avoid over mixing).

Add the Greek yogurt and mix until smooth and well combined. If need be, use a rubber spatula to gently fold the bread dough together.

Spread half of the bread dough in the prepared loaf pan.

Spread about 2/3 of the apple cinnamon mixture over the dough evenly.

Spread the remaining bread dough on top, followed by the remaining apple cinnamon mixture.

Bake the loaf for 50 minutes in the preheated oven, or until it tests clean. The bread will be very dark because of the cinnamon. I assure you, it isn’t burned. This is just due to the darkness of the cinnamon.

Remove the apple bread from the oven and let the bread cool for at least 20 minutes before transferring it to a cutting board. Cut thick pieces of this healthy gluten-free apple bread and serve it warm with butter and honey.

Store any leftover apple bread in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 7 days. If you’d like, you can cover the bread pan in aluminum foil or plastic wrap and store it at room temperature for the first two days. You can also freeze it in a zip lock bag for up to 3 months. 

And that’s it!

This delicious cinnamon swirl apple bread is the perfect breakfast or snack for apple season and beyond. We also enjoy it as dessert!

If you’re really wanting to get genius, you could add pecans or chopped walnuts to the bread batter. You can even drizzle the whole thing with a powdered sugar glaze or homemade caramel or serve it with apple butter. Just throw your sails to the wind. Grab life by the Moist Breads.

If you love sweet quick breads, also check out these gems!

More Healthy Gluten-Free Bread Recipes:

• The BEST Gluten-Free Banana Bread
• Chocolate Oatmeal Banana Bread
• Paleo Double Chocolate Banana Bread
• Paleo Strawberry Banana Bread
• The BEST Gluten-Free Zucchini Bread
• Paleo Carrot Cake Banana Bread
• Healthy Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread
• Paleo Lemon Blueberry Bread
• Healthy Oatmeal Zucchini Bread
• Paleo Cranberry Orange Bread

May all your loaves be moist!

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission off items you purchase at no additional cost to you.

This post was originally published on November 7, 2014 and was sponsored by Bob’s Red Mill.