This cranberry orange bread recipe combines the popular flavor of cranberry bread with the tart pop of citrus. Combined you have one of the absolute best and most moist cranberry orange bread recipes ever. It’ll be one of your go-to cranberry bread recipes every year.
Why Cranberry Orange Bread
It all started when my mom convinced me to try mixing cranberry juice into my orange juice. The tart flavor of the cranberry perfectly balances the sweetness of the orange. Cranberry orange juice is still my favorite drink, but it’s gone far beyond just juice now. I absolutely love the tartness of cranberries and how they can complement a sweet salad, baked good, or even soup so well.
Where to Find Cranberries All Year Long
The recipe I’m sharing today is one that I got from my good friend Kristin. She made it for a baby shower we hosted together a couple of years ago, and I knew I had to have it. If you can’t find fresh cranberries, you can use frozen cranberries in this recipe as well. They’re typically available all year long at Whole Foods.
How to Make This Cranberry Orange Bread
The cranberry bread is fairly simple to make but does take a little bit of time because you start out by chopping all of the cranberries in half. But I’m getting ahead of myself, let’s start at the beginning.
First, gather your ingredients.
Next, chop all of your cranberries in half. Whole cranberries would make for one hard to eat cranberry bread. Once they’re chopped, cover the cranberries with sugar.
And then you’re going to measure out your dry ingredients and set aside.
Once the bread is done, serve sliced or just bite off chunks of the mini loaves like I do. No matter the way you slice it, it’s going to be delicious.
Free Printable Cranberry Bread Gift Tags
These cranberry orange mini loaves are perfect for a fun summer gift for a friend. I made an “Oh say cran you see” one for 4th of July and then because I was in a corny mood, made three other free printables that you can really use whenever. Be prepared; puns ahead.
I’ve also got some great holiday printables you can use with this cranberry bread. It makes the perfect neighbor, teacher, hostess, you name it gift. Click on the image below to see all of the fun holiday cranberry inspired printables. Or click on the links below each individual image to download each individual tag.
Other Gifts to Give with This Cranberry Orange Bread
- Orange Cranberry Marmalade
- Cranberry Orange Loose Leaf Tea
- Cheerful Cranberry Orange Candle
- Organic Cranberry Orange Lip Balm
- Cranberry Orange Body Butter
Cranberry Orange Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 4cupsflour
- 2tspbaking soda
- 1 1/2tspsalt
- 2cupssugar + 1/4 cup to put on top of the cranberries
- 4cupsfresh or frozen cranberries cut in half
- 2Tbsgrated orange rind
- 2eggs
- 1cuporange juice
- 1cupwater
- 2/3cupvegetable oil
- 2cupschopped pecans or walnuts
Instructions
- Slice cranberries in half. Top with 1/4 cup sugar then set aside.
- Mix together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, combine 2 cups sugar, orange rind, and vegetable oil.
- Add eggs and combine.
- Slowly add flour mixture, orange juice, and water to sugar mixture.
- Once all mixed together, add chopped nuts and cranberries.
- Divide batter into small greased mini loaf pans and bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes.
Recipe Notes
If you would like to make a large loaf rather than mini loaves, this mixture will make two large loaves. Bake a large loaf for 60-70 minutes.
Yum yum! This looks delicious – and those tags are so cute! Pinned!
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This looks so fun and delicious. Totally pinning. What a great gift!!! đŸ™‚
This looks so good! I love Cranberries combined with oranges. The “corny” is great. That’s definitely my sense of style. Thanks for sharing a great recipe! #client
This looks awesome! I am going to have to try this bread plus cranberries in my orange juice now! yum!
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Visiting from Saturday Night Fever! This bread looks amazing!
What cute printables! Your cranberry pictures make me really miss fall (we’re stationed in Hawaii right now). Visiting and Pinning from SNF!
I have a minimal amount of time to enjoy my baking & cooking hobbies, so it is important to me that when I get to a blog, i can actually find the recipe and print it easily. I have scrolled through 3 times and cannot see the recipe. I also have trouble reading the faded print. I can barely see what I am typing right now. I don’t need a number of cranberry pictures. I want the recipe! Thanks!
The recipe is included in two places at the end of the post, both with links to print. đŸ™‚ Also, the print throughout the blog is not faded, it’s black. Maybe it’s the device you’re on?
The recipe says it uses 1 cup of water but you never say when to add it.
It’s in step 5 along with the orange juice.
was wondering if you think i need to adjust anything if i am going to omit the nuts?
I’ve never tried it without the nuts, so I can’t hep you. Hopefully it worked out for you!
This sounds wonderful! How many regular size loaves does it make?
It typically makes one regular size loaf.
This looks so delicious! I just mixed up a batch this cranberry orange bread and popped it in the oven. Wow does it smell yummy! I had to taste the batter and I have to say if it tastes as good as the batter it is going to be amazing! I have to note that it filled TWO regular sized loaf pans, not one.
Thanks for the note!
How many standard sized loaf pans will this recipe make? How long would you bake for standard sized pans?
When making large loaves, I typically cook it for 60-70 minutes depending on how quickly your oven bakes. If the top is beginning to brown and the middle is not cooked through, cover the top with foil and let it cook for a few more minutes.
I would love to make this for Thanksgiving but as a larger loaf. Have you made this recipe in that way? How long would you adjust the baking time?
THANKS SO MUCH it looks so yummy
When making large loaves, I typically cook it for 60-70 minutes depending on how quickly your oven bakes. If the top is beginning to brown and the middle is not cooked through, cover the top with foil and let it cook for a few more minutes.
I make cranberry surprise every fall, which seems similar except it’s a pie not a bread. I use a teaspoon of almond extract, and let me tell you, the mild almond taste pairs so unbelievably well with the cranberries! I would suggest adding it to your bread. You won’t regret it!
I’ll for sure have to try that, thanks for the tip!
excellent just made this. Hubby and daughter loved it. Changed recipe a bit. 1 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar and used 2 cups sliced fresh cranberries total. Didn’t want it too tart. Also used different baking pans. Did muffins, baby loaf and mini loafs. Baking times vary . But the same batch had excellent results overall. Will make again.
If I was hoping to modify the recipe to make mini orange cranberry muffins is that doable?
sure Karen, just make them in mini muffin tins and decrease the time. The time will depend on how hot your oven bakes but I would probably recommend starting to check them between 7-9 minutes in mini muffin form. Also, I’d recommend chopping your cranberries a tad smaller so that you don’t have a huge cranberry chunk in each muffin.
awesome! thank you – I will try it out đŸ™‚
You weren’t kidding about the preptime. but my friends are going to love these mini loafs and they look amazing ….
How many mini loaves does this recipe make?
I made this recipe and it gave me 7 mini loaves
Thanks for letting me know Christal. Hope you enjoyed them!
How big is the big loaf? What size pan? I made this and it made WAY more than just a single large loaf. Could I use a 9×13 pan?
Sorry, this actually makes two loaves. I’ve updated the recipe.
Can Craisins be substituted?
They probably can be but it’ll change the flavor and texture of the bread so I would highly recommend using actually cranberries instead.
Are the mini loaves supposed to be cooled before dumping out of the loaf pan? Can’t see any other reason why they stuck half in the pan. .
Did you grease the pans before you put the batter in? I would also let them cool slightly before dumping out of the pan but no, I’ve never had any problem with them sticking in the pan if they were fully cooked and you’d greased the pans prior.
I too make cranberry bread/ muffins all year. I pulse the frozen cranberries in my food processor a few times and they come out beautifully. Much quicker! It also works with fresh cranberries too,
Can you substitute dried cranberries – can’t find frozen or fresh this time of the year
I LOVE the cran orange flavour but I need gluten free. Have you ever made it without wheat flour ? Any suggestions how I could alter it to suit?? Sounds sooo delicious !
Unfortunately I don’t really have enough experience to give you recommendations on how to make it gluten free without significantly impacting the flavor and texture.
Hi this looks soo yummy, can I replace frozen cranberries with dried ones, if yes then shud the quantity be altered we don’t get fresh/frozen cranberries where I live. Thanks
I’ve honestly never tried it with dried cranberries, but I’m sure it would work. It likely just won’t be quite as moist as the regular recipe.
If you use dried cranberries, you should rehydrate them in water or orange juice first.
Great tip Donna!
Wonderful! I only had enough cranberries for half of the recipe, omitted the nuts and baked them in jumbo muffin silicone cups. Flavorful, moist, cranberry/orange combo made in haven. Thanks so much for the wonderful recipe.
I love your red loaf pan.
This will be the second holiday season I will be making this bread. It is so fantastically yummy and received rave reviews! The only thing I will change this years is buying several bags of cranberries to freeze so come Jan. or Feb. I will still be able to mix another batch up. Thank you so much for sharing.
Do the whole, fresh cranberries need to be boiled first?
Nope Tina, just cut and toss into the batter!
Looking forward to trying tomorrow. Can we replace butter for vegetable oil?
Thank you.
I’ve never tried that D, I think it might change the texture of the bread. Sorry!
What do I need to do to keep the loafs from being to moist even though they are done.
Do you mean they came out too moist even if they were cooked all the way through? This is a pretty moist recipe because of the orange juice and the cranberries, if it’s too moist, I’d recommend cooking a bit longer.
Can I get the recipe for the orange bag pls
The recipe for the bread is at the very bottom of the post.
This recipe looks perfect for Christmas gifts! Can I make ahead and freeze?
Thanks for your help!
Yes JanVA you can make ahead and freeze, just know that the loaves may be not be quite as moist as if you ate them without freezing.
Would love to try recipe for cranberry orange bread but can’t seem to get full recipe? Help?
The full recipe is at the bottom of the page. Sometimes if you’re looking at it on mobile it can be hard to find, so look on a desktop computer and if you’re still having problems email me and I can send it to you.
I made these loaves yesterday and they turned out beautifully. They were moist, delicious and very flavourful. I would suggest that the cranberries be tossed in flour instead of sugar as this prevents the cranberries from sinking during the baking process. Whenever baking with fruit, it should be coated with flour. Thank you for this great recipe that will become part of my holiday baking repertoire from now on.
I made this yesterday and tried it out in three containers: regular bread pan, mini loaf pan and muffin tins. My favorite was the muffin tins with foil liners for 22 minutes. They were moist and fluffy! All three were delicious though! Thanks so much for the recipe!
Glad you enjoyed them Teresa!
I loved how crisp brown sugary this was when it was fresh.
I made it in bread, loaf pan size.
This was lovely and I’ll make it again.
I didn’t bother with sugaring the cranberries. I just skipped that bit as I love their tartness.
I made this as a gift for my elderly parents, and they loved it. I didn’t get to taste it, but it smelled Devine out of the oven.