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Orange Cranberry Bread recipe is a tangy and sweet quick bread that can be made with little effort. Your kitchen will smell amazing and this bread is perfect with a hot cup of coffee.
Orange Cranberry Bread Recipe:
The delicious combination of cranberry and orange comes together in this moist and delicious cranberry orange bread recipe. It is simply the best and so quick and easy.
You might also want to try this recipe for cranberry muffins. They are also easy to make and so tasty. This bread combines that sweet and tangy flavors of cranberries while staying moist and delicious.
This Moist Cranberry Orange Bread is the perfect holiday bread. Serve it has a dessert, snack or with your morning coffee. The orange juice combined with the cranberries go so good together. It is my favorite combination.
What is a quick bread?
This type of bread does not use yeast but instead uses baking soda and baking powder for the leavening process. This is often used for muffins, bread recipes and similar baked goods.
Fresh vs Frozen Cranberries:
In this recipe we used fresh cranberries. I typically use fresh around the holidays when they are on sale and dried during the other times of the year.
Using dried cranberries you might notice that they dried cranberries are a bit chewy. Also are a little sweeter than fresh cranberries. Frozen cranberries is also good in this recipe.
There is no need to thaw them, just mix them right in the quick bread batter and bake.
Ingredients for cranberry orange bread:
- All-purpose Flour
- Granulated Sugar
- Salt
- Baking Soda
- Baking Powder
- Egg, slightly beaten
- Fresh Orange Juice
- Unsalted Butter, softened
- Hot Water
- Nuts, chopped finely
- Fresh or Frozen Cranberries, chopped finely
How to Make Orange Cranberry Bread:
- Step 1 – First, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray bread pan with cooking spray.
- Step 2 – In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and baking powder. In a small bowl, slightly beat egg.
- Step 3 – Add orange juice and butter, mix until well combined. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until well combined
- Step 4 – Chop cranberries and nuts in food processor or with a sharp knife. Stir in water, nuts and cranberries into mixture JUST until combined but don’t overmix
- Step 5 – Spread batter evenly into 1 standard bread pan or mini pans. Bake large pan for 60 minutes or small pans for 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Step 6 – Remove from oven and cool on wire rack.
- Step 7- Remove from pan. Store in airtight container.
Orange Cranberry Bread Tips:
- Food Processor – I highly suggest you use a nice food processor like these on Amazon if you don’t have one. You could use this mini food processor but it won’t get the ingredients quite as fine.
- Chopping Cranberries – Now, if you do not have one you can chop the cranberries with a knife. The food processor is just easier.
- Cooking Spray – Make sure to spray the bread pan thoroughly with the cooking bread. This makes it easy to remove the bread after it is done cooling.
- Mixing Ingredients – Just mix ingredients until combined. Do not overmix.
- Baking Pans – You can make this quick bread in a standard loaf pan or mini bread pans. Cooking in mini bread pans makes for perfect gifts for the holidays.
Variations:
- Powdered Sugar – Dust the top of the bread with powdered sugar.
- Orange Glaze – Make a glaze with powdered sugar. You can even add in some orange zest for added flavor.
- Nuts – Mix in nuts to the cranberry quick bread batter for added flavor.
- Cream Cheese – This bread is even tasty to spread some cream cheese on a slice.
How to Freeze Cranberry Orange Bread:
This recipe freezes great and I try to always freeze a few loaves. You can make a lot all at once and then freeze them.
Just wrap it in cling wrap and place in a freezer bag. Allow it to thaw on the counter until you are ready to serve. Your family will never know it came out of the freezer.
When I make a double batch, I like to make one loaf and then use the rest of the batter to make medium or mini loaves. We eat the large loaf straight away and then freeze the smaller loaves for later. Everyone loves getting to enjoy some now and later!
You can also freeze slices of this bread so that you only are taking out what you need at that moment.
How to Store:
This is the perfect bread to make ahead of time. If you like to meal prep your dinners, you can also prepare bread for the week as well. This bread is great to add to your breakfast or your kids lunches.
Store the bread in an air tight container. You can leave at room temperature for about 3 days or refrigerate for up to a week.
This is the Best Cranberry Orange Bread:
Each bite is delicious and the sweet oranges and tart cranberries make such a great treat. We have even used cranberry sauce when we didn’t have fresh cranberries on hand. You can go wrong with this recipe.
We have made regular size loaves, mini loaves and even muffins. This is a great recipe and perfect for the holiday season.
We love making homemade gifts. Homemade Bread, muffins, cookies, or fudge are the perfect homemade items to give as gifts. We have so many people outside of our family to buy for and this makes it easy to give a gift without breaking the budget.
This bread is perfect to make ahead of time. Rather you are making a mini loafs to give out to your kids teachers or planning for breakfast for the week ahead, these are the best option.
Easy Cranberry Bread Recipe:
We love that this easy cranberry orange bread is bursting with cranberry in every bite and that combination orange flavor just really completes this bread recipe. Every loved this bread recipe.
The ingredients are really simple – most of which you probably have in your pantry. The only thing you might not have is the cranberries, but you can pick some of those quickly.
It seems cranberries are always on sale during the holidays and it’s the perfect time to make this easy bread recipe. We like to make these around the holidays when we can get cranberries for really cheap.
Print this recipe for Cranberry Orange Bread below:
Cranberry Orange Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 egg slightly beaten
- ½ cup fresh orange juice
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 2 tablespoons hot water
- ½ cup nuts chopped finely
- 1 ½ cups fresh or frozen cranberries chopped finely
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
- Spray bread pan with cooking spray
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and baking powder
- In a large bowl, slightly beat egg
- Add orange juice and butter, mix until well combined
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until well combined. Chop cranberries and nuts in food processor or with a sharp knife. Stir in water, nuts and cranberries into mixture JUST until combined but don’t overmix
- Spread batter evenly into 1 standard bread pan or mini pans. Bake large pan for 60 minutes or small pans for 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean Remove from oven and cool on wire rack.
- Remove from pan. Store in airtight container.
Nutrition Facts
More quick bread recipes:
- Cinnamon Swirl Bread Recipe
- Healthy Banana Bread Recipe
- Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Recipe
- Pumpkin Banana Bread
Can you use left over cranberry sauce?
Yes you can.