Sour and sweet, the combination of orange and cranberry is the cat’s meow. It’s sweet enough to be enjoyed for dessert, but practical enough for breakfast.

For obvious reasons, this orange cranberry loaf is more of a winter bread. In case you stumble upon this recipe out of season, you can absolutely make it with fresh blueberries instead.

Tips for Making Cranberry Orange Bread

Be sure to use fresh orange zest – not the dried stuff. To get fresh zest, use a microplane to remove the orange layer. Avoid the white pith underneath as it has a bitter taste.

This recipe is great because it’s adaptable to fit any size loaf pan or muffin tin. I’ll guide you through it with some baking options. Also, if you love a little crunch, you get to add chopped walnut or pecan.

A drizzle of vanilla icing upgrades this loaf from healthy to dessert status. Whatever you decide, be sure to stock up on cranberries while they are in season.

Tip: Freeze cranberries in sealed bags and enjoy all year long.

Cranberry Orange Bread

Cranberry and orange go perfectly together in this bread, and the walnuts add a little bit of crunch. Add a drizzle of vanilla icing at the end for a sweet treat or slather with warm butter. See note for how to adapt this recipe for muffins.

5 from 3 votes

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bread, cranberry, orange

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes minutes

Servings: 8 people

Calories: 312kcal

Author: Chef Sara Furcini

Ingredients

Wet Ingredients

• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup cane sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp orange zest from 1 orange

Dry Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup fresh cranberries
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 400° F and prepare a loaf pan by smearing the inside with butter, dusting with flour, and using a strip of parchment paper to line the bottom.

  Whisk together the wet ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.
  

  Combine the flour and baking powder in a large bowl, stir to combine. Add the cranberries and walnuts and toss to dust with flour. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and use a spatula to gently fold. The batter will be lumpy, just be sure not to stir–I like to cut into the lumps with an up and down motion with my spatula just until there is no visible dry flour. Pour into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 25-27 minutes or until golden brown on top and a toothpick comes out mostly clean.

Notes

You may need to bake the bread for more or less time depending on the size of your loaf pan. Large muffins may take between 22-24 minutes. A good rule of thumb is to keep the oven door closed until you see the top turning golden brown. At this point, you can use the toothpick test to determine if the inside is fully cooked.

If you want to ice your loaf, use a simple mixture of 2 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, and 3 Tablespoons milk.

Feel free to leave the nuts out. This will not affect the baking time.

Here are some loaf pans that people like for baking this type of bread (affiliate link).

Nutrition

Calories: 312kcal | Carbohydrates: 34g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Cholesterol: 25mg | Sodium: 311mg | Potassium: 277mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 70IU | Vitamin C: 0.3mg | Calcium: 119mg | Iron: 1.8mg

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*This recipe was republished after increasing the amount of cranberries in the recipe.