This orange cranberry bread is incredibly moist, dense, and full of orange and cranberry in every bite. It’s even topped with a sweet orange glaze that puts it over the top. We think it’s the best orange cranberry bread around!
It’s taken three years of trial and error to get this bread recipe perfected. Not that I’ve worked on it for three years straight. Cranberries are only in season from mid-September through mid-November. You get what I’m saying, though. Three years of recipe testing during cranberry season.
The first year I used dried, sweetened cranberries and tried to plump them up a bit by soaking them in hot water. That loaf tasted like it had gummy candy pieces throughout, so it didn’t make the cut.
Last year, the recipe turned out too dry and way too dark. I can’t even remember where it went wrong. This is year three, and I’m happy to say it was a success!
This moist, orange cranberry bread is sweet, a little tart, and wonderfully dense. It’s the perfect dessert for any holiday dinner table. Of course we’re also partial to our apple crisp and cherry crisp, too!
How to Make Orange Cranberry Bread:
I love how quickly this recipe comes together in regards to prep work. The longest part is the baking time. Start by letting the oven preheat while you’re making the batter.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set it aside. In a separate small bowl, stir together the orange zest and sugar. The sugar should turn a light orange color and have a slightly damp consistency from the oils in the zest. Set that bowl aside as well.
I used a stand mixer for the remainder of the recipe, but a large bowl and hand mixer or whisk will also work. Place the buttermilk, oil, eggs, orange juice and vanilla in the bowl of the stand mixer. Mix the ingredients on low until they are combined.
Add in the flour mixture and orange zest and sugar. Continue to mix on low until the batter resembles a muffin or pancake batter. Next, add the cranberries. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to stir the fresh cranberries into the batter.
Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan. The cranberries float naturally, so there’s no need to try and push them down. They’ll just float back to the top. Place the pan in the oven, and bake for 70 to 75 minutes.
After the cranberry bread finishes baking, allow it to rest for 5 to 10 before removing it from the loaf pan and transferring to a cooling rack. While the bread cools, make the orange glaze.
In a small bowl, mix the powdered sugar and orange juice until creamy. The orange juice amount can be adjusted, so the glaze is the thickness you like.
Once the bread cools completely, drizzle with the orange glaze. Slice and serve! The cranberry bread stays freshest when its refrigerated in an airtight container and is best when eaten within 3 days.
Not only does this sweet bread make an awesome dessert, it makes a great holiday gift idea for friends, family, and co-workers. If you’re looking for other holiday dessert ideas, you may also like our bread pudding with rum sauce or bourbon caramel fudge.
Common Questions About Orange Cranberry Bread:
- How do you make orange cranberry bread without orange juice? In the bread portion of the recipe, substitute the orange juice for equal parts of buttermilk. Then add 1 to 2 teaspoons of orange extract. For the glaze, use a 1/2 teaspoon to 1 teaspoon of orange extract, depending on taste. Substitute the orange juice with equal parts of milk.
- How do you keep the bread from browning too quickly while it bakes? Make an aluminum foil tent to place over the bread. I did this and added the tent about 15-20 minutes before the cranberry bread finished baking.
- How do you bake at a high altitude? I live in the mountains. Do I need to adjust the recipe? We live at around 1,300 feet and are in a mountain range. Although, it’s not super high in terms of elevation, we’ve certainly had to make changes from baking at 30 feet above sea level to 1,300 feet. Here’s a great resource we found that explains how to make adjustments for high altitude baking.
- Where are the walnuts and pecans in this orange cranberry bread? I’m so glad that you asked! A member of our household has a nut allergy, so we left those out this time. However, either walnuts or pecans would taste great in the recipe. Feel free to add them as an optional ingredient.
Looking for other sweet dessert bread recipes? Give these holiday favorites a try!
Cinnamon Rolls (A Christmas Morning Favorite)
Lemon Blueberry Bread with Sweet Glaze
If you like this Orange Cranberry Bread recipe, please leave us a comment and rate the recipe card. You can also find us on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and Instagram searching for Berly’s Kitchen!
This orange cranberry bread is incredibly moist, dense, and full of orange and cranberry in every bite. It's even topped with a sweet orange glaze that puts it over the top. We think it's the best orange cranberry bread around!
- 2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
- 1 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Orange Zest
- 1/2 Cup Buttermilk
- 1/2 Cup Canola or Vegetable OIl
- 1/2 Cup Orange Juice
- 2 Large Eggs
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla
- 1 1/2 Cups Fresh Cranberries
- 1 Cup Powdered Sugar
- 2-3 Tablespoons Orange Juice
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and grease a 9 x 5 - inch loaf pan.
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In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt until well combined. Set aside.
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In a separate small bowl, use a spoon to mix the sugar and orange zest until the sugar becomes light orange in color. Set aside.
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Add to the bowl of a stand mixer (or a large bowl and hand mixer), the buttermilk, oil, orange juice, eggs, and vanilla. Mix on low speed until the ingredients are combined.
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Add the flour mixture and the orange zest/sugar mixture. Continue to mix on low speed until all the ingredients are smooth like muffin batter.
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Next, add the cranberries and use a wooden spoon or spatula to stir until well incorporated.
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Transfer the batter to the greased loaf pan. Place in the oven and baked for 70-75 minutes. If the bread begins to become too brown, place a piece of aluminum foil loosely over the top to prevent burning.
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The bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a very light crumb. Remove the bread from the oven and allow to cool for 5-7 minutes before transferring from the pan to a cooling rack.
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While the bread cools, make the glaze.
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In a medium bowl, combine the powdered sugar and orange juice.
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Whisk or use a hand mixer on low until the glaze is smooth and creamy. Adjust the amount of orange juice to reach desired consistency.
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After the bread cools completely, drizzle the glaze over the top, slice, and serve.
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Store any leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Recipe Video
*Calories listed are an approximate based on ingredients used and serving size listed.
*Bread bakes with a light brown crust which was removed for the photos and the video to show the inside and cranberries.
Tina
For the zest…did you use a zester or a microplane? Does it matter? I just used a zester and my mom came in and said I should have used a microplane. I didn’t want to waste the two oranges it took to get 1 TBS of zest.
Kimberly
Hi Tina!
I used a microplane, but it’s whatever you’d like to use. The microplane will make a finer zest. A zester will make the pieces a little larger, but either will work. It’s your preference. 🙂
Donna
Can this bread be frozen ? I make several varieties of holiday breads for gift giving. I have to make some ahead and freeze,. This looks like a great addition to my variety and would like to add it in. My concern is the fresh cranberries. Any thoughts ?
Kimberly
Hi Donna!
We haven’t tried to freeze this bread. However, I did some searching and found a similar recipe using fresh cranberries. According to the author, cranberry bread can be frozen. Here’s a link to the post if you’d like to check it out. https://www.acedarspoon.com/cranberry-orange-bread/ Hopefully, you’ll find it helpful. 🙂 I’d wait to add the glaze until right before the bread is served. We’d love to know how it turns out if you do get a chance to freeze a loaf.
Bernice A Dufek
Can I use small loafs pans with this recipe, if so how long would I bake them? Thank You
Kimberly
Hi Bernice!
This recipe should work in small loaf pan; however, we haven’t tested it. The cook time will need to be shortened. I’d start checking for doneness around 30 minutes. The bread will be finished when a toothpick comes out clean. 🙂 Great idea!
Dana
I just made these today in mini loaf pans (3) and they came out perfect! I put the loaf pans on a small sheet pan for the first 30 minutes, to prevent them from becoming too brown on the bottom, then removed the sheet pan, put the loaf pans on the oven rack, tented with foil and continued to bake, checking every 10 minutes or so. Total cooking time was 55 minutes.
Kimberly
Hi Dana!
Thank you so much for the feedback on making the bread in mini loaf pans. That will be extremely helpful to other readers. 🙂 I love the idea of using a sheet pan to prevent over browning on the bottom and will be sure to do that the next time I bake a loaf of bread. Thanks again, and we hope you have a wonderful evening!
Bernice
Thank you so much! Can’t wait to give it a try.
Dorrie
Hi, would I be able to use milk, instead of buttermilk?
Kimberly
Hi Dorrie!
Milk would probably work fine. However, we haven’t tested it with regular milk, so I can’t say with 100% certainty. If you happen to have lemon juice or vinegar, maybe try making a buttermilk substitute by adding one tablespoon to a cup of milk, stirring, then letting it stand for 10 minutes or so to thicken. Then just use what you need of it. We hope you enjoy it! Have a great day! 🙂
Dorrie
Thank you! I will try that.
Kimberly
You are most welcome!
Dellwynne Wesley
We don’t get fresh cranberries in New Zealand…would frozen berries work the same?
John
Good Morning, that’s a great question. Yes, frozen berries would work. Just make sure to thaw them out and pat them dry before you cook with them. Also, just a quick note, they may not float to the top of the bread. Other than that, you should be good to go to use frozen berries. Have a great day 🙂
Cindy
This was a wonderful recipe! Only change I made was frozen cranberries and they were still frozen when I put them in. They didn’t float to the top. I baked in small loaf pans for 35 minutes. I added zest to glaze. My friends loved it. This is a keeper.
John
That’s great, Cindy! Thank you for coming back to rate the recipe card and leave a comment. Kim and I hope you have a wonderful day 🙂
ALevy
Delicious recipe – I made using pampered chef stone pan which works great! I may try the small loaves next time . My son likes the cranberries through the bread like another cranberry bread recipe my family loves. This seems more like cake to him but still very good.
John
Thank you fro coming back to comment! Kim and I are happy you enjoyed the bread. Have a lovely day 🙂
Barbara Boos
Did you know, if you coat the cranberries in flour before hand, they won’t all float to the top of the loaf?
Kimberly
Hi Barbara!
Thanks for sharing that information! That’s a great tip. Some people have asked about that on Facebook, so that info will be helpful if other readers would prefer the cranberries to be dispersed throughout the bread instead of floating to the top. 🙂 Thanks again, and have a great evening!
KImmylouwho
I didn’t want the cranberries floating on top so I chopped 1/2 cup of the cranberries and mixed in with the 1 cup of whole cranberries. i found that it only needed 60 minutes to bake. Also, I put toothpick holes in the bread when warm and poured half the glaze on top which soaked in the bread. later I put the other half on the cooled bread. Yummy!
John
Thank you for coming back to comment Kimmy! I’m glad it worked out for you and you enjoyed. Have a lovely day and a wonderful holiday season. 🙂
Lisa
This bread was delicious! I made it exactly to the recipe with the exception of the cranberries. I coursely chopped them in my Ninja before adding in instead of putting in whole cranberries. I cooked for 45 minutes and then another 25 with foil on top. No brown crust.y top! Yummy recipe!
John
That’s wonderful, Lisa! Kim and are thrilled to hear that. Thank you for coming back to comment on and rate the recipe card. Have a lovely day 🙂
bonnie
what can I sub for the one c. of sugar
Kimberly
Hi Bonnie!
We haven’t tried to sub anything for the sugar, so I’m listing a few things that might work. Brown sugar in equal amounts would work for sweetness, but the texture and color would change a bit. Here’s an article I found with several substitutions. It lists maple syrup, brown rice sugar, and honey to name a few. There’s also some additional information. I hope you find it helpful. If you get a chance to make the bread with a substitute, we’d love to know how it turns out. Have a great evening!
Valerie Holstein
A delicious recipe! Will definitely make again. Because my buttermilk was frozen in the freezer and I wanted desperately to make the recipe, I substituted 1/4 cup regular sour cream plus 1/4 cup milk for the buttermilk. I used frozen cranberries and they were interspersed throughout the loaf. Because I used a darker colored loaf pan, I reduced the oven temperature to 325 degrees F. Took approximately 75-80 minutes to bake. Loaf came out a beautiful golden color. Thank you so much for this recipe.
John
Thank you, Valerie! Kim and I are glad you liked the cranberry bread. Thank you again for coming back to comment on and rate the recipe. Have a lovely day 🙂