The Best Cranberry Orange Bread
on Dec 17, 2020, Updated Mar 04, 2024
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The Best Cranberry Orange Bread is sweet, gorgeous, and perfect for giving as a gift! Made with tangy orange zest, melted butter, and fresh cranberries.
This is one of my all-time favorite holiday treats. I make batches and batches of it to put on my friend and neighbor goodie plates, take to parties, have for dessert when friends come over for mom dates, and every other excuse I can think of.
I’m planning on having an intentional Christmas this year. Doing things because they mean something and because I want to and not just because I should or can. I know it might be crazy, but I just love making dozens of goodie plates for neighbors every year and that is for sure on my list for this season. This bread has made the list to go on them again, too! That’s saying something!
Tips and Tricks for Making Cranberry Orange Bread
- Isn’t it pretty? I got the tea loaf pan from King Arthur Flour last year for Christmas and I just love it.
- Plan on buying a few extra cranberries for your cranberry sauce recipe. When they are hanging out in the fridge after Thanksgiving, you’ll be obligated to make this bread.
- Mixing the orange zest with the sugar before you add anything is the secret of this bread. The sugar pulls the oils out of the zest and you are making orange infused sugar which really makes the orange flavor carry throughout the bread. Best trick ever!
- Feel free to double this recipe; it works great.
You can make this bread in just about any pan you have (including muffins)
I have made this recipe as traditional loaves, tea loaves (which are pictured), muffins, and mini loaves as well. It always turns out well and it always gets rave reviews. There’s something magical about those bright little pops of tart cranberry mixed in with all that sweet bread. Adding a little orange glaze to the mix really puts this bread over the top. You will love it!
How long to bake Cranberry Orange Bread based on pan size:
- Bake in a 9×5 inch loaf pan at 350 degrees F for about 1 hour and 10 minutes (70 minutes)
- Bake in a tea loaf pan at 350 degree F for around 50 minutes.
- Bake 12 muffins in a standard size muffin tin at 350 degrees F for 18-20 minutes.
- Bake mini loaf pans at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes (depending on the size of your pan).
Here’s a video on how to make the bread if you need some extra help!
Cranberry Orange Bread
Ingredients
For the bread:
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- Zest of 1 large orange
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 cup buttermilk, (here's how to make your own buttermilk)
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 2 large eggs, slightly beaten
- 1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup fresh cranberries, chopped
For the orange glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9×5 bread pan or a tea loaf pan well.
- In a large bowl, add the granulated sugar and the orange zest. Stir the mixture together until the sugar starts to turn a bit orange and is fragrant. Add the flour, salt, and baking powder to the sugar mixture and whisk to combine well.
- In a separate bowl add the buttermilk, butter, eggs, orange juice, and vanilla extract. Whisk to combine well.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Fold in the cranberries and then place the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean about 1 hour and 10 minutes for a traditional bread loaf pan (and about 50 minutes for the tea loaf pictured). If the top starts to brown too quickly, you might want to cover the bread with foil for the last 10 or so minutes of baking.
- Remove the bread from the oven and allow it to cool on a wire rack for 20-30 minutes before removing the bread from the pan. Run a knife along the edges of the pan before you turn it upside down to remove it from the pan.
- Whisk together the ingredients for the glaze until smooth. Drizzle the glaze over the warm bread and then slice to serve.
Video
Notes
- This recipe doubles well if you want to make 2 loaves.
- Bake in a 9×5 inch loaf pan at 350 degrees F for about 1 hour and 10 minutes (70 minutes)
- Bake in a tea loaf pan at 350 degree F for around 50 minutes.
- Bake 12 muffins in a standard size muffin tin at 350 degrees F for 18-20 minutes.
- Bake mini loaf pans at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes (depending on the size of your pan).
- This bread freezes great. Just cool fully, wrap up well, and freeze for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
Love Cranberry Orange Bread?! You might also enjoy these recipes:
- Soft Gingerbread Cookies
- The best banana bread recipe
- Creamy Cranberry Salad (we call it cranberry fluff) from my friend Mel at Mel’s Kitchen Cafe
I’m totally wishing I had some of this Cranberry Orange Bread in the house still, but it sure didn’t last long. I can’t wait to make another loaf. Every time I make this and give it as gifts, I’ll have multiple people ask me for the recipe. It’s just so good. Enjoy from my kitchen to yours!
I decided to bake muffins instead of bread because knowing me, I’d eat half the loaf before anyone else got to it. This recipes perfectly makes enough batter for 12 regular muffins, which I baked at 350 for 18 minutes. I added walnuts for an extra crunch and they came out amazing! The smell is absolutely Devine.
Thank you for sharing that! I’m guilty of eating way too much of it too (and just bought oranges for my first batch of the year!) so I’m certainly going to try it as muffins. Thank you for the feedback!
I bought a extra long loaf pan, but I don’t know how to adjust the oven temperature and cooking time. Can you help me with that?
Oven temp will be the same and just take 15% off of the baking time (pretty standard for any recipes using that pan), so if it’s an hour bake time, it should be done around 45 minutes. Does that help? Holler if you need some more information!
Yummy!
it’s my 2nd time baking this and omggg… I AM IN LOVEEEE.. Thank you soo much for this yumilicious recipe!!
It was great, in fact I made it for Christmas and I had extra cranberries and I’m making another loaf.
This was the most disappointing recipe I have tried! WAY too much butter!! This recipe was more like a fried dough rather than bread.
I just made this recipe last night and it’s simply delicious. My only problem is that every time I make cranberry bread the berries float to the top. What is the trick to get them to bake throughout the bread?
You could give them a quick toss in a tablespoon of flour before adding them to the bread, that generally solves sinking and floating issues!
It’s in the oven right now and my house smells SO good! This is my favorite combo for a gift bread, so glad I found your recipe as it looks better than my old standby…from the Ocean Spray package.
Thanks for sharing.
How did it turn out Peggi?!
so using my GF flour to make this. LOOOOVE the combo! Orange and cranberry
Did the GF flour work? What brand did you use?! I’m so glad you tried it with GF flour, I think that will be useful to other people so thank you.
What are the size dimensions on your tea loaf pan? I’ve had my eye on one that’s 12×4, does that sound about right or are they closer to 16 inches?
12″ x 4″ x 2½” tea loaf pan holds the equivalent of a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan.
This is the one that I got from King Arthur Flour 🙂 https://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/tea-loaf-pan I love it and the little pieces are perfect for kids!