Cranberry Orange Bread Recipe

A serving platter of sliced cranberry orange bread with orange and cranberries around it.

Cranberry Orange Bread Recipe

Easy Cranberry Orange Bread is ready in a flash! The batter stirs together easily and produces a moist, soft loaf with perfectly balanced tart cranberry and sweet orange flavors.

Course bread, Breakfast, Snack

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 55

Cool Time 20

Total Time 1 25

Servings servings

Calories 452kcal

Author John Kanell

Equipment

9x5 inch loaf pan

Ingredients

Cranberry-Orange Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour (240g)
1 cup granulated sugar (200g)
1¼ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup whole milk room temperature (120mL)
½ cup vegetable oil (120mL)
Zest of 1 orange
2 tablespoons orange juice (about ½ orange)
1 large egg room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries (95g)

Orange Glaze

1½ cups powdered sugar sifted (180g)
3 to 4 tablespoons orange juice
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Orange zest

Instructions

For the Cranberry-Orange Bread:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9x5-inch loaf pan or spray with baking spray.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In another large bowl, whisk together milk, oil, orange zest and juice, egg, and vanilla until well combined.
Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and stir just until combined. Fold in the cranberries. Transfer the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top off with the spatula.
Bake for 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Let the bread cool in the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Carefully remove and let cool completely on the wire rack.

For the Glaze:

In a small bowl, whisk together sugar, orange juice, and vanilla until smooth and desired consistency. Drizzle over the cooled bread. Garnish with orange zest before slicing, if desired.

Notes

If you want to skip the glaze, sprinkle the top with sugar. This will add a lovely sugar crust to the top of the loaf! Evenly sprinkle one tablespoon of granulated or sparkling sugar over the batter after you have smoothed it in the loaf pan.
If the top of the loaf is quite brown after 30 minutes, loosely cover the top with a sheet of aluminium foil. You can add this any time during baking if you see the top is taking on a lot of color and the center isn’t close to being done. This foil will shield it and slow down the browning process.
No need to toss the cranberries with flour first. Some recipes call for tossing the cranberries with flour before mixing them into the batter to prevent them from sinking. The batter in my recipe is thick enough to keep the cranberries suspended, eliminating the need for this extra step!

Nutrition