Cranberry Orange Bread

Tart cranberries and sweet orange juice combine to make this Cranberry Orange Bread that is perfect for breakfast or brunch, or even for dessert! This is the perfect quick bread for the Christmas season.

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Cranberries and oranges are meant for each other! If you love the combo as much as we do, you should also try these Cranberry Orange Cookies, this Cranberry Orange Cheesecake, Cranberry Orange Baked French Toast Casserole, or Cranberry Orange Cupcakes.

For me, cranberry and orange is one of my very favorite holiday flavor combinations. Something about it just screams Christmas to me. I love the sweetness and the brightness from the orange, and the tartness from the cranberries. And we all know that we eat with our eyes first, and the orange and red colors are just stunning.

This Cranberry Orange Bread is perfect to make all holiday season long. It would even be perfect for neighbor gifts! I love serving it alongside a holiday breakfast, (as well as these Cranberry Orange Scones!), but it really is good all day long during the whole season! It is not super sweet, so it makes a great breakfast

Ingredients

• Flour – I use all-purpose in this recipe
• Sugar – you’ll need just regular, granulated sugar
• Baking Powder – The original recipe posted here had 1 tablespoon of baking powder, which has always worked for me. But after some comments from readers, I re-tested with cutting that amount in half and it worked great. So the recipe now shows 1 1/2 teaspoons.
• Salt
• Zest of 1 Large Orange – I use a microplane to zest the orange. Make sure you zest just the orange part, and not the white part under the orange.
• Fresh Orange Juice – it’s easiest if you zest the orange before you squeeze the juice from it. You may need 2-3 oranges, depending on how big and juicy they are.
• Eggs – I use large eggs.
• Vegetable Oil – I like to use vegetable oil in this recipe, but you could use another neutral oil of your choice. Or for more flavor, you could use an equal amount of melted butter.
• Fresh Cranberries – these are usually pretty easy to find at any grocery store throughout November and December. You can also use frozen cranberries. No need to thaw, just mix them in.
• Pecans – I prefer pecans, but you could use walnuts or almonds as well. Or you could leave the nuts out completely.

How to make Cranberry Orange Bread

This Cranberry Orange Bread is pretty simple to make!

1. Prepare your loaf pan by spraying it with nonstick cooking spray and then lining it with parchment paper. I fold mine to fit and make sure to have enough hanging over the edges so that you can use those to pull the bread out when it is finished.
2. Sift together all of the dry ingredients, then stir the orange zest in.
3. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients. (Kind of like a hole in the middle of the dry ingredients – so that there is a sort of bowl in the center where you will pour your wet ingredients.)
4. Add the orange juice, eggs and vegetable oil to the center of the well.
5. Stir everything together. You want to only stir until it is moistened and mixed. Over-stirring will toughen your bread.
6. Fold the cranberries and the nuts into your batter.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake!
8. You’ll know the bread is done when a tester inserted in the center comes out without any wet batter on it, or if you gently push on the middle of the bread, it should bounce back up.

What Size of Pan to Use

One of the biggest problems readers have when it comes to making quick breads is having their bread overflow. And I think that the size of the loaf pan has a lot to do with this.

I have multiple loaf pans, and when I got them out and actually measured them, I found that they were all very different. One was much wider on top and tapered down to a skinnier base. One said that it was a 9×5-inch pan, but was a good half inch smaller on each side. So I decided that the most accurate way to measure would be by the volume of the pan.

The pan that I used for this recipe was printed as a 9×5-inch pan, and help 8 cups of liquid. My loaf was not even close to overflowing, so you may even be able to use a slightly smaller pan.

You could also make mini loaves, but the amount of loaves you would need to make will be determined by the size of the pans. Muffins would also work, as well.

Tips and Tricks

• As with all quick breads, do not overmix the batter. It will cause the bread to become tough.
• This bread freezes well. Once the loaf has cooled completely, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap then place it in a freezer safe container or in a ziplock bag. You can freeze it for up to 3 months. To thaw, let it sit at room temperature.
• Store any leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
• If you want a sweeter bread, you could add a glaze or icing to the top of the loaf.

More Quick Bread Recipes

Eggnog Quick Bread with Eggnog Icing
Banana Bread Recipe
Zucchini Bread Recipe
Coconut Bread
Chocolate Cinnamon Bread

Tools Used to make this Cranberry Orange Bread

You will need a 9×5-inch loaf pan for this recipe.
Lining the pan with parchment paper helps a lot to be able to get the bread out of the pan easily.
I use a fine mesh strainer for sifting the dry ingredients. You can also use a sifter, or if you don’t have either of these, you can whisk the dry ingredients with a wire whisk.

Cranberry Orange Bread

5 from 4 votes

Author: Deborah Harroun

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes minutes

Servings: 12 servings

Course: Bread

Cuisine: American

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Tart cranberries and sweet orange juice combine to make this Cranberry Orange Bread that is perfect for breakfast or brunch, or even for dessert! This is the perfect quick bread for the Christmas season.

1x2x3x

Ingredients

• ▢ 2 cups flour
• ▢ 1/2 cup sugar
• ▢ 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder*
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon salt
• ▢ grated zest of 1 large orange
• ▢ 2/3 cup fresh orange juice
• ▢ 2 eggs lightly beaten
• ▢ 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• ▢ 1 1/4 cups fresh cranberries
• ▢ 1/2 cup pecans chopped

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350ºF.  Line a 9x5-inch loaf pan with parchment paper and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
• Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl.  Stir in the orange zest.  Make a well in the center and add the orange juice, eggs and vegetable oil.  Stir gently, just until almost combined.  Fold in the cranberries and nuts, making sure you don’t over mix the batter.
• Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.  Bake in the preheated oven until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. 
• Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Recipe Notes:

*The original recipe here had 1 tablespoon of baking powder. It always worked for me, but some people had some problems with it. So it has been re-tested with 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and the loaf worked well.

My loaf pan is 9x5-inches and an 8 cup capacity. I have found that although many loaf pans say they are 9x5, they are actually bigger or smaller. This recipe works with an 8 cup capacity pan, but has not been tested in a smaller or larger pan.

Adapted from The Great Big Baking Book

SUBSTITUTIONS: You can use frozen cranberries instead of fresh. No need to thaw, just stir them into the batter. This recipe has not been tested with dried cranberries. The end result would be different for sure, but they may work if they are soaked in orange juice first.

If desired, you can substitute melted butter for the vegetable oil.

FREEZE: The loaf can be frozen. Let it cool completely before wrapping it tightly in plastic wrap and then place it in a freezer safe container or ziplock bag. Freeze for 2-3 months. To thaw, leave the loaf at room temperature until fully thawed.

STORE: Store any leftovers in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Nutrition information provided as an estimate only. Various brands and products can change the counts. Any nutritional information should be used as a general guide.

Nutrition Information

Serving: 1slice, Calories: 208kcal (10%), Carbohydrates: 26g (9%), Protein: 4g (8%), Fat: 10g (15%), Saturated Fat: 1g (6%), Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g, Cholesterol: 31mg (10%), Sodium: 110mg (5%), Fiber: 1g (4%), Sugar: 11g (12%)

Keywords: cranberry bread, cranberry orange bread