We were leaving on a vacation and had a couple of sweet potatoes we needed to use before we left. I wondered if I could substitute the banana in my vegan banana bread recipe for sweet potato and make a loaf to take with us. It turned out... it worked really well and this sweet potato bread recipe was born!
Warm, festive flavours
Oil-free
Made with whole wheat flour
Refined sugar free
And just really delicious!
Ingredients For Sweet Potato Bread
Making this sweet potato bread is very similar to making a banana bread, a pumpkin loaf, etc. What I am most proud of with this recipe, is that I have been able to replace some traditional ingredients in quick breads with ingredients that provide a bit more nutrition.
This sweet potato bread is made entirely with whole wheat flour. You can, of course, use white all purpose flour or a combination of the two if you prefer. This sweet bread does have a bit of a "wheat-y" taste from the wholemeal flour but it is still delicious. Also, my experience has been that no one really notices!
I replace the oil that is usually needed in sweet breads to provide a moist crumb with tahini. Tahini is a paste made from toasted sesame seeds with a warm earthy flavour. At first, I was using applesauce as an egg and oil replacer in this recipe. Although applesauce works very well, I felt that it was lacking a bit of the richness that comes from the fats in oil. That is where tahini steps in. The fat from the seeds produces a richer taste and really tender crumb.
My final swap is that I replace the traditional white granulated sugar in sweet breads with coconut sugar, maple syrup, and chopped dates. The sweetness in this bread comes from a combination of these unrefined sources which all have warm, caramel-like sweetness to them.
Oh, and I make a vegan "buttermilk" to aid in the rise of the loaf. Simply adding apple cider vinegar to a plant milk causes the milk to curdle and create an alternative for buttermilk. I find that soy milk works best here because it is higher in fat and protein than some other plant milks.
Preparing The Sweet Potatoes
This sweet potato bread requires that you use cooked and mashed sweet potato. About 1 medium sized raw sweet potato will be needed to yield 1 cup mashed sweet potato.
Roast your sweet potato whole by pricking it all over with a fork and roasting at 425 degrees F for 40-55 minutes. Remove from the oven when the sweet potato is soft, can be easily pierced with a fork, and some of the sugars have started to bubble up through the small pricks you made.
For a quicker option, peel the sweet potato and chop it into larger chunks. Boil or steam for 10-20 minutes until soft and the chunks can be easily mashed.
Allow the sweet potato to cool before you start making the bread. If you used the roasting method you can peel away the skin and easily mash the soft flesh. Feel free to cook the sweet potato well in advance and refrigerate it for a couple of days before you make this bread. You can also freeze the cooked and mashed sweet potato and let it thaw before you use it for your quick bread.
How To Make Sweet Potato Bread
- Start with combining the plant milk and vinegar to give the milk time to curdle.
- Chop the dates into small pieces and toss them in ½ teaspoon flour. Tossing the dates in flour is a trick to prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the bread!
- In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients.
- In a separate bowl, combine the wet ingredients.
- Add the "buttermilk" to the wet ingredients and stir to combine.
- Then, gently stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients being careful to not over-mix the batter.
- With some flour still showing, add in the flour coated dates and finish combining the batter.
- Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 F for 50-55 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Allow to cool in the tin for 10-15 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Once cooled, add the optional glaze if desired and allow the glaze to set for 15-30 minutes before serving.
Recipe Cost
This vegan sweet potato bread costs me under $5 Canadian and makes one loaf that should serve about 8 large slices.
For comparison, if I were to purchase a slice of sweet bread from a cafe I would pay between $3.50 and $5 for one slice!
And, when I price out this recipe and substitute some more traditional ingredients (white flour, white sugar, oil, and eggs) my cost comes to just over $5.
Although the cost of ingredients varies for everyone, this comparison can demonstrate that it is possible for a vegan loaf to not cost considerably more than a traditional sweet bread. It might even save you a tiny bit!
Let me know in the comments below if you love this sweet potato bread as an alternative to your banana bread or other sweet loaves. If you have some leftover mashed sweet potato and have any adorable dogs in your life, try making my popular 3 Ingredient Dog Treats!
Print
Vegan Sweet Potato Bread (Oil-Free)
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 1 loaf 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Delicious vegan sweet potato bread made with whole wheat flour and it's oil-free! A naturally sweetened loaf with coconut sugar & dates!
Ingredients
“Buttermilk”
- 1 cup plant milk (use soy for best results)
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
Dry Ingredients
- ½ cup pitted deglet noor dates, chopped small
- 2 cups whole wheat flour, spooned and leveled
- ⅓ cup coconut sugar
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
Wet Ingredients
- 210g (1 cup) sweet potato, cooked and mashed (see notes for preparation)
- ⅛ cup maple syrup
- ¼ cup tahini
- 1 ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
The Glaze (optional)
- ½ cup organic icing sugar
- 2-3 teaspoon plant milk
*Ingredients you need that are not part of our pantry and freezer tips.
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and grease a 9x5 loaf pan with vegan butter.
- Prepare the vegan buttermilk by adding vinegar (or lemon juice) to soy milk. Set aside.
- Chop the dates quite small and toss them in ½ teaspoon whole wheat flour to coat. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients.
- In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients. Add the buttermilk (which should now be visibly curdled) to the wet ingredients, stir, and immediately pour into the dry ingredients.
- Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until nearly all of the flour is combined and add the flour dusted dates. Finish stirring the batter just until no more flour is visible.
- Pour the batter into the greased loaf pan, spread it into the corners, smooth the top, and sprinkle the top with 1 teaspoon coconut sugar if desired.
- Bake for 45-55 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean (mine always takes 50 minutes).
- Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes in the tin. Then, turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before serving.
- To add the optional glaze, it is helpful to have the loaf lifted above a cutting board or piece of parchment paper to catch the drips. Whisk the icing sugar with just enough plant milk to make a smooth and thick but pourable glaze. Drizzle the glaze over the top of the loaf and spread to evenly coat. The glaze will drip down the sides of the bread and set in 15-30 minutes. Once the glaze is set, slice, and serve!
Notes
Approximate Cost: $4.99 CAD with the optional glaze. A slice of a store-bought sweet bread would cost me between $3.50 and $4.50. If I were to make this recipe with more traditional ingredients (white flour, white sugar, oil, and 2 eggs) my cost comes in over $5 at roughly $5.22. So this vegan version may not cost significantly more than a traditional loaf and might even save you a little bit.
210 grams or 1 cup cooked and mashed sweet potato will require about 1 small to medium sized raw sweet potato. Cook the sweet potato whole by pricking it all over with a fork and roasting for 40-55 minutes at 425 degrees F until soft. Alternatively, peel and chop the sweet potato into larger chunks and boil or steam for about 10-20 minutes until soft. You want the sweet potato to be very soft and easy to mash. Allow the sweet potato to cool before adding it to this recipe.
To make this loaf into 12 muffins, bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 55 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American, Canadian
Shanice
Definitely making this. Love finding new sweet potato recipes. Thank you!
Kathryn Alexandre
I'm glad you're excited for this one! Can't beat sweet potatoes. Let me know how you like it when you give it a try!
Debra Erber
I never use Soy milk. Will almond milk work?
Kathryn Alexandre
Soy milk curdles much better than almond milk from my experience so you can certainly use almond milk you might just find that it doesn't curdle quite as much in order to be effective as a buttermilk replacement. The loaf will still turn out really nicely though. It may just have a little less rise!
MAUREEN
We are gluten free with oat flour or chickpea flour work for this?
Kathryn Alexandre
hmm I haven't tried any gluten-free flours with this recipe unfortunately. I would think a 1:1 flour would work quite well but the loaf might be more dense and not rise as much. There seem to be some other recipes online just using oat or chickpea but I'm sorry I can't be sure if those would work here. If you do try it let me know how it works out for you. I'm sure others reading the comments will find it helpful to know as well.
Susan C
This came out spectacular. It was light and fluffy, with a taste similar to gingerbread. What a great way to use up cooked sweet potatoes. Disclaimer: I followed the measurements and instructions exactly as written, but used what I had on hand, which included using: dairy skim milk (instead of plant milk), granulated sugar (instead of coconut sugar), and peanut butter (instead of tahini).
Kathryn Alexandre
Oh nice! I'm glad you were able to use what you had on hand and loved the texture and flavour! Thank you so much for giving it a try Susan and for letting me know it was a hit for you! We really appreciate you taking the time to leave a lovely star rating! Enjoy your loaf 🥰