Amazing 1 Vegan Apple Cinnamon Crumble Bread

Oh, there is just nothing that beats the smell of warm spices and baked apples filling the house, right? It’s the ultimate cozy hug in baked form. And let me tell you, I was determined to create the most unbelievably moist, no-fuss loaf, even without any dairy or eggs! That pursuit led me straight to this, the best **Vegan Apple Cinnamon Crumble Bread** recipe you will ever need.

It’s so straightforward, I swear you could make it before your first cup of coffee finishes brewing. I honestly developed this version after a kitchen disaster where my first crumble topping completely melted away. I almost gave up! But I went back to basics, focusing on keeping the vegan butter ice cold, and bam—that crunchy, perfect topping formed right there. Trust me, this loaf is perfectly tender inside, bursting with apple, and topped with that glorious texture bomb.

If you love homemade apple crumble but need something you can slice and serve easily, you absolutely have to give this one a try. If you want to see how I nail that topping outside of a loaf, check out my tips for making an amazing easy homemade apple crumble!

Why This Vegan Apple Cinnamon Crumble Bread is a Must-Try

So, why should you drop everything and bake this loaf right now? Because it ticks every single box for the perfect comfort bake, and it happens to be completely vegan! You get incredible flavor without any fuss.

• It stays wonderfully moist thanks to the applesauce and oil—no dry bread here!
• The balance between tart apple and warm cinnamon spice is just heavenly.
• Because we mix the batter so minimally, assembly is lightning fast!
• And that crumble? Seriously, the sweet, buttery oat topping makes every slice feel like a treat. It’s perfect with coffee, just like these easy-to-make dump cakes are great for crowds.

Essential Ingredients for Perfect Vegan Apple Cinnamon Crumble Bread

Okay, so let’s talk ingredients because this is where the magic for this vegan apple loaf comes from! We keep things simple, but quality matters, especially when you’re replacing traditional dairy and eggs. We have two main events here: the body of the bread itself and the magnificent topping. Honestly, once you see these lists, you’ll realize you probably have most of this stuff already!

If you’re looking to bulk up your arsenal of dairy-free baking staples, I highly recommend checking out my guide on 4 healthy bread recipes that use whole ingredients. Knowing what works well without eggs is key!

For the Vegan Apple Cinnamon Crumble Bread Batter

For the main bread part, we need the structure and the wet elements perfectly balanced. The dry side is super basic: all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt. For the wet side, you absolutely must use applesauce—it’s what keeps this loaf incredibly moist without eggs! Grab about half a cup of unsweetened applesauce, a little neutral oil (canola is great), and your favorite plant milk, like soy or almond.

We also need the sugars to give it that lovely crumb—a mix of regular granulated sugar and some brown sugar for depth. Don’t forget the vanilla and that essential teaspoon of cinnamon, plus a full cup of diced apples scattered throughout!

For the Cinnamon Crumble Topping

This is my favorite part, and the key here is COLD. You need half a cup of flour, the rest of your brown sugar, and that half teaspoon of cinnamon. Oats are crucial here; they give the topping some lovely structure once baked, rather than just turning into sugary dust.

But here is the real secret weapon: take a quarter cup of vegan butter and make sure it is cubed and rock hard, straight from the fridge! You need to cut that cold fat into the dry ingredients until it looks messy and crumbly. Seriously, don’t let that butter get soft, or you won’t get that satisfying crunch!

Step-by-Step Instructions for Vegan Apple Cinnamon Crumble Bread

Alright, time to get our hands dirty! This recipe flows so smoothly once you follow the exact order. I find it helps to have everything measured out beforehand, just like prepping components for Amish applesauce cake. Having everything ready makes the actual mixing process fly by, and trust me, we want to handle that moisture-sensitive batter as little as possible!

Preparing the Pan and Dry Ingredients

First things first, get that oven warmed up to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 Celsius). While it’s heating, take a moment to properly grease and flour your standard loaf pan—that’s usually 9×5 inches. Next, grab your biggest mixing bowl! Whisk together the main flour portion (that’s 1 1/2 cups), the baking soda, and the salt. Just a quick whisk to make sure everything is distributed evenly. That’s the dry base set!

Mixing the Batter and Adding Fruit

Now for the wet side in a separate bowl. Mix up both the granulated and brown sugars, then stream in the applesauce, oil, plant milk, and vanilla. Whisk until it looks unified and smooth. Once that’s done, pour all those lovely wet ingredients right into the bowl with your dry stuff. Now, this is incredibly important: mix it until they *just* barely disappear together. Seriously, stop mixing when you still see a few flour streaks. Overmixing is how you turn this beautiful bread into a brick!

Once the batter is reluctantly combined, very gently fold in your diced apple and that teaspoon of cinnamon. Then, pour the whole thing into your prepared loaf pan. Don’t flatten it down too much, just let it settle.

Creating and Applying the Crumble Topping

This is the fun part, but remember our rule: everything needs to be cold static for this topping! Take your separate small bowl and toss together the topping flour, brown sugar, oats, and that final half teaspoon of cinnamon. Now, drop in your cold, cubed vegan butter. Use your fingertips—or a pastry blender if you have one—and work the butter into the flour mix. Pinch and rub until it looks like coarse gravel or pea-sized crumbs. Don’t overwork it to the point where the butter melts into a paste! Once it’s crumbly, just sprinkle that topping evenly across the top of the batter in the pan.

Baking and Cooling the Vegan Apple Cinnamon Crumble Bread

Pop the loaf into the preheated oven. It usually takes about 50 to 60 minutes. You’ll know it’s ready when you test the center with a toothpick and it comes out clean—no goopy batter sticking to it! After you pull it out, let it hang out in that hot pan for a full 10 minutes. This resting time is essential, especially for vegan loaves, to help them firm up before you try to remove them. After ten minutes, carefully turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing. Patience pays off huge here!

Tips for the Best Vegan Apple Cinnamon Crumble Bread Texture

I’ve learned a few hard lessons creating this recipe, mostly involving sad, dense bread that looked perfect coming out of the oven! Since we’re not using eggs to help with lift, getting this texture right is all about technique. If you follow these little pointers, your Vegan Apple Cinnamon Crumble Bread will be perfectly tender every single time.

First up: the apples! Seriously, don’t grab those mushy, sweet apples from the bottom of the fruit bowl. You need **firm apples** for this. Granny Smith apples are my absolute favorite because they hold their shape beautifully and give you a nice little tart punch to balance out the sugar. Honeycrisp works if you have them, but avoid Red Delicious—they just turn to sauce!

My second biggest tip relates back to what I mentioned in the instructions: **Do Not Overmix the Batter**. When you combine your wet and dry ingredients, mix only until you see the dry streaks disappear, and then STOP. If you keep stirring away, you’re developing gluten way too much, and that gluten builds up protective walls, making your beautiful, light bread dense and chewy. We want tender, not tough!

Finally, let’s talk about that beautiful topping. If you want to take things up a notch on crunch factor, try adding some chopped nuts right into the crumble mixture. I really love adding about a quarter cup of pecans or walnuts. It adds a beautiful earthy flavor and extra crunch that pairs wonderfully with the cinnamon. You can see how I use nuts in another one of my favorite bakes here in my lemon raspberry crumb bars recipe—the principle is exactly the same!

Ingredient Substitutions for Your Vegan Apple Cinnamon Crumble Bread

Because we all bake differently, and sometimes the pantry just doesn’t cooperate, I wanted to chat quickly about swapping things out in this Vegan Apple Cinnamon Crumble Bread. Don’t panic if you’re missing one specific item!

Most substitutions are pretty easy, and the structure of this loaf is quite forgiving, especially since we have structure boosters like applesauce already baked in. For example, if you don’t have canola oil on hand, any neutral oil will work just fine—sunflower oil or even a light olive oil is okay, though I wouldn’t use anything with a super strong flavor!

When it comes to plant milks, stick to soy or almond milk if you can, as they are the most neutral in flavor. Anything too heavily flavored, like coconut milk straight from a can, might change the taste profile too much for this perfect apple loaf. But if you need to swap the applesauce? My go-to alternate moistener is mashed ripe banana. You can use mashed banana in a 1:1 ratio for the applesauce. It will change the flavor profile slightly towards banana bread territory, but it keeps the loaf dairy-free and incredibly tender. If you want to see how banana works in another recipe, take a look at my fabulous Amish applesauce cake where the principle is similar!

If you ever want to try making this recipe completely gluten-free, you can swap out the all-purpose flour for a good quality 1-to-1 gluten-free blend that contains xanthan gum. Just be extra careful not to overmix the batter, as gluten-free flour can get gummy very fast when overworked!

Storing Your Delicious Vegan Apple Cinnamon Crumble Bread

Okay, you held your willpower back (good for you!), and now you have this gorgeous, crumbly loaf sitting on the wire rack. The next question is: how do we make those leftovers last so we can keep enjoying this treat? Since this bread is so moist thanks to the applesauce, we want to store it in a way that keeps that tenderness locked in!

For short-term enjoyment—say, the next two or three days—leaving it right on the counter at room temperature is perfectly fine. Just make sure you wrap it up tight! I usually slice the loaf maybe two-thirds of the way through, wrap the whole thing tightly in plastic wrap, and then slide that bundle into an airtight container or a zip-top bag. The crumble topping adds texture, but it can also absorb ambient moisture, so sealing it up is key.

If you’re making this bread ahead of time or know you won’t finish it in three days, freezing is your absolute best friend. You have two options here. You can freeze the entire cooled loaf, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and then a layer of foil to prevent any freezer burn. Or, even better for quick snacking, slice the Vegan Apple Cinnamon Crumble Bread first, and then freeze the individual slices! That way, you only have to thaw what you need.

When you’re ready to eat a frozen slice, pull it out. If you’re impatient (which, let’s be honest, I totally am), you can microwave it for about 15 to 20 seconds—it gets surprisingly good again! But for the absolute best texture, pop that slice into a toaster oven or a regular oven set to about 300 degrees for about five to seven minutes. It warms the apple chunks and crisps that gorgeous crumble topping right back up. It’s like baking it fresh all over again! It works just as well as reheating a slice of my famous homemade banana bread.

Serving Suggestions for Vegan Apple Cinnamon Crumble Bread

Okay, so you have managed to let this glorious loaf cool down enough to slice—congratulations! That means it is officially ready to be enjoyed, and honestly, this bread stands perfectly well on its own. That cinnamon-apple flavor is complex enough that you truly don’t need much else!

However, that crumble topping is already a little sweet and buttery, so we don’t need heavy frostings or thick sugary glazes, which is one of the things I love about this specific apple loaf. It’s naturally beautiful!

For a perfectly decadent dessert experience, you absolutely must serve a warm slice with a scoop of good quality vegan vanilla bean ice cream melting slowly over the top. The cold creaminess against the warm, spiced bread? It’s perfection, I’m telling you. If you’re eating it as breakfast or a mid-afternoon snack, it frankly needs nothing more than a steaming hot cup of coffee or maybe some spiced herbal tea.

If you want just a tiny bit of extra visual flair, go ahead and sift a whisper of powdered sugar right over the top of the bread before slicing. It looks professional without adding any fuss! If you’re looking for other sweet dips and toppings for fun gatherings, you might love the recipe I have for chocolate chip cookie dough dip, but for this bread, keep it simple!

Frequently Asked Questions About Vegan Apple Cinnamon Crumble Bread

I totally get it—baking without eggs and butter always brings up a few extra questions! People are worried about texture, especially since this is a loaf bread meant to be sturdy and moist. I’ve gathered the ones I hear most often from readers who are trying this recipe for the first time. It’s really tough to mess up, I promise, but these tips will help ensure your first attempt at **dairy-free baking** is a slam dunk!

How do I know for sure when the bread is done?

This is the big one! Since this is a heavier loaf with fruit inside, you can’t just rely on the top looking golden brown. You need to use the toothpick test, but do it right. Insert a clean toothpick right into the center mass of the bread, avoiding any large pockets of apple chunks if you can. If it comes out clean, or with just a few dry crumbs clinging to it, you are golden. If it comes out coated in wet batter, it needs more time. If you’re still nervous, check the edges; if the bread has started to naturally pull away from the sides of the pan, it’s usually ready to come out!

Can I swap the apples for something else?

Yes, you absolutely can! This recipe is very flexible because the applesauce already provides a lot of moisture. If you aren’t feeling apples, pears work beautifully as a direct swap—just dice them the same size. You might want to add just a tiny pinch extra cinnamon, as pears are slightly milder than apples. I wouldn’t recommend using soft berries like raspberries straight in the batter, though, because they tend to break down and make the bread gummy. If you want to try something different, check out my guide on 4 healthy bread recipes for more fruit inspiration!

What is the best way to make this gluten-free?

I know so many of you are curious about making this a great **gluten-free apple loaf**! The best way to approach this is to use a high-quality 1-to-1 gluten-free all-purpose baking blend. Make sure your blend already contains xanthan gum; if it doesn’t, mix in about half a teaspoon with your dry ingredients. My biggest piece of advice here is to be extremely careful not to overmix the batter once the wet hits the dry, as gluten-free flours can get unpleasantly pasty very quickly if handled too roughly.

Do I need to use vegan butter for the crumble?

Yes, for the best flavor and texture in that topping, I really hope you don’t skip the vegan butter! It needs to be cold and firm so you can cut it into the flour and sugar mixture. That cold fat is what creates those little pockets of flavor that melt during baking, resulting in that perfect, crunchy, melt-in-your-mouth topping. Margarine often has too much water content, and liquid oils won’t work at all for this specific step.

Estimated Nutritional Snapshot of Vegan Apple Cinnamon Crumble Bread

If you’re tracking your macros or just curious about what’s in that delicious slice, here is a rough estimate of the numbers you can expect. Since we are using plant-based fats and whole fruit, it’s actually quite reasonable for a sweet treat!

• Serving Size: 1 slice
• Calories: About 280
• Fat: Around 12g (mostly unsaturated!)
• Carbohydrates: About 42g, with 2g of helpful fiber
• Protein: 4g

Now, remember, these figures are just estimates based on the general ingredients listed. If you use a different type of oil, or maybe sneak in some walnuts like I suggested, those numbers will shift a little. If you are trying to keep sugar low, you can always tweak the recipe by following the advice I shared about reducing the granulated sugar—you can check out more information on how fruit impacts sugar in my post about the surprising sugar content of fruits!

Estimated Nutritional Snapshot of Vegan Apple Cinnamon Crumble Bread

If you’re tracking your macros or just curious about what’s in that delicious slice, here is a rough estimate of the numbers you can expect. Since we are using plant-based fats and whole fruit, it’s actually quite reasonable for a sweet treat!

• Serving Size: 1 slice
• Calories: About 280
• Fat: Around 12g (mostly unsaturated!)
• Carbohydrates: About 42g, with 2g of helpful fiber
• Protein: 4g

Now, remember, these figures are just estimates based on the general ingredients listed. If you use a different type of oil, or maybe sneak in some walnuts like I suggested, those numbers will shift a little. If you are trying to keep sugar low, you can always tweak the recipe by following the advice I shared about reducing the granulated sugar—you can check out more information on how fruit impacts sugar in my post about the surprising sugar content of fruits!

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