Cinnamon Raisin Bread recipe that requires no yeast! It has a fantastic raisin bread flavor and a soft texture everyone loves. Simple to make & you’ll love the wonderful scent as it bakes! Lovely cinnamon raisin quick bread!
Cinnamon Raisin Bread is a recipe I found a version of in the archives here in Butter With A Side of Bread. I made it into a smaller loaf and did a cinnamon swirl that just gave the bread an incredible flavor. It’s an easy-to-make quick bread that you’ll absolutely love!
Quick Bread is any bread using leavening agents other than yeast. The best part about quick breads is how quick and how much easier they are to make, without requiring the time-consuming work and the climate control needed for traditional yeast breads.
What is sweet cinnamon raisin bread?
Unlike the more traditional cinnamon raisin bread you think of, this is a fast and easy quick bread recipe meaning it’s made with a thick batter and not a yeast-risen dough. Perfect for easy prep, little effort, and great flavor delivery!
Sweet Cinnamon Raisin Bread Ingredients
-Butter: We ned 1/4 cups of melted butter (half a stick).
-Egg: One egg will work as the binder in our bread so that it doesn’t crumble apart.
-Brown sugar: Adding 1/4 cup of brown sugar will add a depth of flavor as well as some sweetness.
-Milk: 3/4 cups of milk will help to thin down the batter into a perfect consistency and give the bread nice moisture.
-Vanilla: We want 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract to help enhance the flavors in this bread. Use higher quality vanilla for stronger results.
-Flour: The base of our bread batter is 2 cups of all-purpose flour.
-Leavening Agents: We need 1 teaspoon of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda so that the bread will rise as it bakes and create a nice crumb.
-Salt: A 1/2 teaspoon will enhance the flavors of this bread wonderfully.
-Raisins: We want to use 1/2 cups of raisins in the batter, but if you aren’t a fan of raisins then you can omit them.
-Cinnamon: Adding 3 teaspoons of cinnamon into the batter will ensure that we have a tasty and flavorfully spiced loaf of bread.
-Vanilla Glaze: We make our vanilla glaze with 2 tablespoons of butter, 2 tablespoons of milk, a teaspoon of vanilla, and about 1/2 or more cups of powdered sugar.
How to make cinnamon raisin bread
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a bread pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and set and then set it aside.
In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together the egg and melted butter.
Add in the brown sugar and the milk, stirring until combined.
Stir in the dry ingredients, the dough will be thick.
Scoop out about 1/2 cup of the bread batter and place it into a smaller bowl.
Stir in 3 teaspoons of cinnamon until completely incorporated.
In the larger portion of batter, stir in the raisins and vanilla.
Transfer the dough to the bread pan by layering and alternating the non-cinnamon dough with drops of the cinnamon dough. Then take a knife and swirl the cinnamon mixture around.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 60-65 minutes and allow to cool for 30 minutes then prepare the glaze.
Vanilla glaze:
In a bowl combine the glaze ingredients until well mixed. The glaze will be thick, but still pourable.
Pour the glaze on the bread and let it run down the sides a bit. Let the bread sit for 10 minutes until the glaze has set.
Slice into pieces and serve.
Enjoy!
SWEET CINNAMON RAISIN BREAD
Ingredients
Cinnamon Raisin Bread
- 1/4 cup butter melted
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 cups milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 3 tsp cinnamon
Easy Vanilla Glaze
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 TBSP melted butter
- 1-2 TBSP milk
Instructions
How to make Cinnamon Raisin Quick Bread
- Preheat your oven to 350 F. Coat a standard bread pan with cooking spray and set aside.
- Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the egg and melted butter. Add in brown sugar and milk and stir until combined. Stir in dry ingredients. (Dough will be thick.)
- Scoop out about 1/2 cup of bread dough and place in a smaller bowl. Add 3 tsp cinnamon and stir dough until completely incorporated.
- Stir in raisins and vanilla to the larger portion of dough.
- Transfer dough to the bread pan by layering & alternating the non-cinnamon dough with drops of the cinnamon dough. I first spread some of the non-cinnamon dough, then put 2 dollops of cinnamon dough on top. Layer again, repeating the same process, then take a knife and run it through all the dough, swirling in the cinnamon mixture.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 60-65 minutes. Let cool for 30 minutes, then proceed with glaze instructions below.
How to make the Easy Vanilla Glaze
- Whisk ingredients together and let cool until glaze is thick, but still pourable. (Sometimes I find it's easier to let it cool until mostly solid, then microwave for 8-12 seconds, until glaze is just barely pourable. That's how you get a nice white coating on the bread, as opposed to having the glaze run off too much.) Pour glaze on bread, letting it run down the sides a bit. Let bread sit for 10 minutes until glaze has hardened. Slice into pieces and serve.
- Store leftover bread in an airtight container.
Video
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How long does it take to bake our Cinnamon Raisin Bread recipe?
A regular 8-9″ loaf pan of cinnamon raisin quick bread will bake in about 60-65 minutes. If you like using mini loaf pans, they take 30-35 minutes to bake. If you’d like to adapt this recipe for muffins instead, bake those for 14-18 minutes. Always check for doneness either by measuring the temperature of the bread with a meat thermometer- it should read 190 degrees F, or by inserting a toothpick in the center and having it come out clean.
Did your cinnamon raisin bread sink in the middle?
This happens to me occasionally too! Often it’s because I’ve over mixed the batter. Quick bread (referring to a bread recipe that doesn’t use yeast) does not like to be stirred too much, so try to just barely mix all the ingredients together. Another culprit could be overfilling the pan. The bread pan should be only half full each time. As always, make sure your leavening ingredients- baking soda and baking powder- aren’t too old. Baking soda should only be on your shelf for 6-9 months before purchasing new. I purchase it in bulk (I bake a lot!) and refrigerate it to help it last longer.
AVOID SUNKEN BREAD
The easiest and best way to avoid sunken bread is to use a cooking thermometer to check the inside of the loaf. Fully cooked bread will register 200°F on a thermometer. My all-time favorite thermometer is the Thermapen. It’s super fast and incredibly durable. Another great cooking thermometer is the ThermoPop which is a more basic version that works just as well!
Best Bread Pan?
I bake a lot of bread and the pans I prefer are either ceramic, glass or cast iron. These pans will bake bread more evenly and release the bread more easily after baking. I don’t like using dark or nonstick pans because the bread cooks unevenly. It darkens on the outside before the bread is cooked on the inside, so the coloring is uneven. Read more about which bread pan is the best here!
More amazing quick bread recipes that we love:
- Sweet Coconut Quick Bread
- Easy Banana Bread
- Best Zucchini Bread recipe
- Easy Lemon Quick Bread
- Yogurt Banana Bread recipe
- Dutch Apple Quick Bread
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Quick Bread
- Caramel Banana Nut Bread
- Best Ever Pumpkin Bread
- Lemon Buttermilk Quick Bread
- Caramel Apple Quick Bread
- Cinnamon Raisin Quick Bread
- Peppermint Chocolate Quick Bread
- Cranberry Orange Quick Bread
- Cinnamon Roll Quick Bread
- How to make Banana Bread
You’re going to love this simple and easy cinnamon swirl quick bread recipe. It’s as easy to make as it is to enjoy and you are no doubt going to enjoy it to the last crumbs.
Suzanne Lajoie says
please be more specific on the amount of sugar. instructions says to add brown sugar with egg and butter and to add sugar with flour, but no sugar in list of ingredients.
Jessica says
My apologies! I fixed it- no granulated sugar is used, just the 1/4 cup of brown sugar. 🙂
Kristen Chidsey says
You have me craving this! Looks incredible!
linda cook says
I don’t usually make comments on recipes but I made the glaze exactly as stated. It has been sitting for over 8 hours and still is runny. I think there is too much wet to dry. Any suggestions?
Nellie says
I’m not sure why it’s still runny! Perhaps try increasing the amount of powdered sugar a little bit next time and see if that fixes the problem?
Karen Melvin says
How was the weather when you tried this? For a glaze to set well, it must not be humid or rainy. Also, though this may seem counter intuitive, increasing the powdered sugar will most likely not remedy the problem, especially if humidity or air dampness is an issue. Decreasing the milk is your best bet, or if serving cool or cold, perhaps increasing the butter slightly? Powdered sugar is liquefied by the milk, as well as the heat, and also moisture in the air and from your loaf. Butter is only liquefied by heat. Hope this helps! Icing cakes in humid rooms is bad hoodoo for the same reasons! Speaking from experience! ????
tbdrew says
Mine came out dry. I don’t know how to fix that. And my glaze came out beige – I assume from the vanilla – but it tasted good.
Jessica says
Do you check the temperature of your bread to gauge doneness? I find that helps to get it perfectly cooked! It sounds like yours was a bit overcooked.
Jessica says
Does it matter if it’s light or dark brown sugar?
Jessica says
Nope- you can use either light or dark brown sugar.: )
Penny Warren says
I’m confused on the glaze too. Mine is beige just like the color of the melted butter. I followed the directions but I definitely don’t have that thick white glaze that’s in the photo.
Jessica says
It likely has to do with the kind of vanilla extract you’re using that’s adding the color.
Sarah Gajewski says
Delicious!! Mine was done (200 degrees) after 45 minutes. So maybe this is why some have had problems with it being dry? Check temp early. So yummy and easy!
Alison says
Thank you Sarah!
Tony says
Can you put bananas in this too?
Jessica says
I haven’t tried putting bananas in, but I don’t see why not! I’d add just 2 smashed bananas and add 2-3 TBSP more flour.
Teresa says
I followed the recipe as written. The batter was really thick and I could not spread it. It came out dry. Seems like it needs more liquid. Tried to slice it and it crumbled. Tasted good but was unable to slice it to serve to guests.