Cranberry Orange Bread made with fresh cranberries and a sweet orange glaze is one of our families favorite. It’s a tradition to make this easy recipe each holiday season.
I love sweet bread’s, especially when I can use fresh produce to make them like this Lemon Blueberry Bread, Lemon Zucchini Bread, and Easy Banana Bread.
I also love making holiday sweet breads for neighbors and friends. I always make a dozen mini loaves of Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread in October, and I love to give this Cranberry Orange Bread around Thanksgiving and Christmas and Lemon Almond Bread all year long! And if you’re in a holiday breakfast kind of mood, don’t miss my Gingerbread Waffles!
The cranberry/orange combination is the perfect blend of sweet and tangy, and the glaze takes it over the top. It’s beautiful and completely delicious!
Easy Cranberry Bread in 6 steps:
1. Combine dry ingredients. In a large bowl add sugar and orange zest and stir well to combine. Add flour, salt, and baking powder and stir.
2. Combine wet ingredients: In a separate bowl combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, orange juice, and vanilla. Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring just until combined.
3. Fold in cranberries. Cut the fresh cranberries in half and fold them into the batter.
4. Add to bread pan. Spray two 9×5 loaf pans with cooking spray and pour batter into pan(s).
5. Bake. For regular loaf pans, bake for 60-75 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. For mini loaves, bake for 35-45 minutes. If your loaf starts to get too brown during cooking, place a piece of aluminum foil over the top to finish baking.
6. Cool and top with glaze. While the bread is cooling, make the orange glaze. In a small bowl, combine powdered sugar, orange juice, and orange zest. Whisk until smooth. Drizzle the glaze over the bread. Cut and serve.
Storing and freezing cranberry orange bread:
To store: Wrap the fresh cranberry bread in plastic wrap and store it for 2-3 days at room temperature.
To freeze: This cranberry bread freezes beautifully. Allow it to cool completely and place it in a freezer-safe bag or container. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature.
Consider trying these holiday recipes:
- Chocolate Peppermint Bundt Cake
- Rocky Road Fudge
- Caramel and Chocolate Dipped Pretzels
- Peppermint Candy Cane Brownies
- Brownie Truffles
- Christmas Cornflake Wreaths
- Homemade Caramels
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Cranberry Orange Bread
Ingredients
For the bread:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- Zest of 2 large oranges
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
- 1 cup oil (vegetable or canola oil)
- 4 large eggs slightly beaten
- 2 Tablespoons fresh orange juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups fresh cranberries halved
For the orange glaze: (Optional)
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 Tablespoons fresh orange juice
- 1 1/2 teaspoons orange zest
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray two 9x5 loaf pans with cooking spray and set aside.
- In a large bowl add sugar and orange zest and stir well to combine. Add flour, salt, and baking powder and stir. Set aside.
- In a separate medium bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, orange juice, and vanilla.
- Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring just until combined. Fold in the halved cranberries. Pour batter into prepared pans.
- For regular loaf pans, bake for 60-75 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. For mini loaves, bake for 35-45 minutes. If your loaf starts to get too brown during cooking, place a piece of aluminum foil over the top to finish baking.
- Remove from oven and set on a cooling rack for 10 minutes. Loosen the sides of the bread with a knife. Carefully remove loaf from pan. Let cool completely on wire rack.
- While the bread is cooling, make the orange glaze. In a small bowl, combine powdered sugar, orange juice, and orange zest. Whisk until smooth. Drizzle the glaze over the bread. Cut and serve. Wrap bread well and store for 2-3 days at room temperature.
Notes
Nutrition
Recipe adapted from Two Peas and their Pod.
Have you tried this recipe?!
RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
I originally shared this recipe November 2015. Updated November 2019.
Lynne says
I made two batches of mini loaves (six in a batch), baked in porcelain, mini bread pans to include as holiday gifts. Everyone LOVED them—so much that I think this may become a Christmas tradition to give friends and neighbors. I think a light dusting of flour on the cranberries before golfing them may help distribute them more evenly in the loaf. A five star yummy!
Veronica Anderson says
Thank you tossed cranberries in part flour (couple of TBLS)
helps. Also tried dried cranberries and soaking them in Grand Marnier and drained the excess liquid before tossing them in flour also worked well. But the fresh cranberries are the best
Lynn says
I just made a half batch to test this before making it for Christmas. I made it gluten and dairy free and it turned out amazing. I also used frozen cranberries. My family devoured it! Awesome recipe!
April says
I doubled this recupe and then I realized it makes two loaves to begin with. Oops. Presents for the neighbors!
Evette says
Loved the finish product and got a lot of positive feedback!!
Gregory Davidson says
Very moist and easy to make. Nice crumb. It tasted very sweet so I’d reduce the sugar by 1/3-1/2 and use at least 3C cranberries if I made it again.
Lolo says
My family’s “traditional” cranberry orange bread recipe uses frozen condensed orange juice and canned cranberries. I wanted to try something a little more fresh, plus I had a LOT of citrus fruit this year. This is the most delicious thing I’ve ever baked. Please tell me you have a recipe for banana nut bread, too!
Tara says
I had to add one more cup of flour and 1 to 2 teaspoons of baking soda to get the bread to rise. Came out perfect. Delicious
Emily says
I have to say after the reviews I read I am really disappointed with how it turned out. I bake a lot, but my loaves hardly had any orange flavor to it, and I even added extra zest and juice to it. I am going to add the glaze on (which I originally had not planned on doing) to see if that will help. The texture is fantastic, and the tart cranberries are pleasant, but instead of there being an orange flavor I get this odd aftertaste. Maybe my oranges are more on the tart than sweet side and can’t be distinguished between the cranberries? Do you squeeze the juice you need from the oranges you zest, or do you use orange juice with a more potent flavor? I think it would be valuable to mention that unless your oranges taste fantastic, it would be better to use storebought juice.