This Cranberry Orange Bread is a good one to make and enjoy during the fall holidays!
Grab some fresh cranberries and make this Cranberry Orange Bread! It’s a quick loaf bread that is super moist, and it’s a delicious choice to make for a fall breakfast. This recipe makes one loaf, which you can cut into 12 slices and display on a platter for easy grab-and-go.
How to make Cranberry Orange Bread:
Dry ingredients are whisked together in a bowl. This allows the dry ingredients to distribute evenly. In a separate bowl, you’ll combine sugar, water, orange juice, oil, egg and orange zest. Since you’ll be using orange zest anyways, take the time to squeeze a couple of oranges to use freshly squeezed orange juice instead of store-bought. It’s so much better! The wet ingredients are then stirred into the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Don’t over-mix! Fresh cranberries are then stirred in. I like to cut them in half, which is easier to do when they’re frozen. If you’re a fan of nuts, you can stir in chopped walnuts too.
Do cranberries freeze well?
Yes, they do! In fact, I buy several bags of cranberries in the fall so I can keep them all year long. Just throw your bags of cranberries in the freezer. They’ll stay good for a very long time. You can just use them frozen in your recipes and they will thaw out very quickly.
And then you can bake your cranberry orange bread in a loaf pan for 50 to 60 minutes.
How to keep the center of your bread from sinking:
Spraying the bottom-only of a loaf pan helps to prevent the center of the loaf from sinking in the middle. This allows for the batter to cling to the sides of the pan while baking and form a rounded top.
Don’t over-mix the batter. Stir the wet and dry ingredients just until they are combined.
Use the pan that is suggested for this recipe: a 5×9-inch loaf pan. If you try to use a smaller pan (4×8-inch), it’s not always successful. If there is too much batter in the pan, when it bakes and reaches the top of the pan and still needs to rise… it’s in danger of collapsing in the middle.
Note: The photos here show that my bread sank a little bit in the middle because I didn’t follow my own tips and baked it in a smaller loaf pan! 🙂
The result is a lightly sweetened orange bread that is studded with tart cranberries. It’s wonderful. Enjoy!
Here are a few more bread recipes you might like to try:
- Dutch Apple Bread
- Glazed Lemon Poppy Seed Bread
- Nutella Swirled Banana Bread
- Applesauce Oatmeal Bread
- Mom’s Banana Nut Bread
- Cinnamon Roll Quick Bread
- Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread
- Peanut Butter Bread
Cranberry Orange Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup granulated white sugar
- 3/4 cup water
- 1/3 cup orange juice (freshly squeezed is best!)
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon grated orange zest
- 1 cup fresh cranberries, sliced in half
- 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray the bottom-only of a 5x9-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
- In another bowl, whisk together the sugar, water, orange juice, oil, egg and orange zest; mix well to combine. Stir in the dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in the cranberries (and nuts, if using). Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
- Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Store, tightly wrapped or in a sealed container, in the refrigerator.
Notes
- Greasing the bottom of the pan only and not the sides helps to avoid the bread from falling in the center.
- Nutritional information does not include the optional walnuts.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I can’t make enough of these during the holiday season. It gets eaten soon after it comes out of the oven.
I made this the other day. Delicious. Thank you
I made this recipe with dried cranberries and soaked them in a little Grand Marnier (omitted the orange juice). This bread has great flavor due to lots of orange and buttermilk which makes it light and moist. The best quickbread recipe I’ve tried in years!
How do you keep the cranberries from floating to the top? Mine all did.
Hmmm, I’m not sure! I use frozen, and I slice them in half and they distribute pretty well.