Cranberry Orange Bread is a wintertime classic. The tart cranberries and sweet citrus are both in season and they offer such a bright and welcome contrast to the usually heavy foods of winter. In our house, this was a staple every Thanksgiving and Christmas morning, but it’s great to have a slice with coffee any day of the year. And since this Cranberry Orange Bread freezes beautifully, you can take a slice out and warm it up whenever you need a little taste of sunshine. :)
If you love to have a little sweet baked treat along with your homemade cup of coffee, this cranberry orange bread recipe is going to be your new fav. The loaf is sweet, rich, filled with orange essence, and dotted with fresh tart cranberries. The sweet glaze on top makes the perfect juxtaposition to the tart cranberries and the whole thing is absolutely addictive!
Ingredients for Cranberry Orange Bread
Here’s what you’ll need to make a loaf of this delicious cranberry orange bread:
- Butter: Butter keeps the loaf rich, moist, and dessert-like. We use salted butter because it’s easier to keep just one kind of butter in your fridge!
- Sugar: This recipe uses granulated sugar in the bread to sweeten everything up, and powdered sugar to create the thick orange glaze on top.
- Eggs: Eggs help leaven the loaf and give it strength so it doesn’t collapse after baking.
- Sour Cream: Sour cream is added to give the loaf moisture, richness, and even more flavor.
- Orange: We use both the orange juice and zest in this bread, in the batter and in the icing that is drizzled over top.
- All-Purpose Flour: Would it be “bread” without flour? Regular all-purpose flour is used to give the loaf body and strength.
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda: Because of the acidic ingredients in the batter (sour cream, orange juice, and cranberries), we use a combination of both baking powder AND baking soda to leaven the bread.
- Salt: A little salt always helps make the individual flavors pop and allows you to taste every element.
- Cranberries: You can use fresh or frozen cranberries for this bread. If using frozen, allow them to thaw before folding into the batter.
How to Store Leftovers
This cranberry orange bread will stay good in the refrigerator for about five days, or you can freeze it for longer storage. To freeze, slice the bread and then stack the slices with parchment between each slice. Place the stacked bread in an air-tight container, like a freezer bag, and then store it in the freezer. You can take out one or as many slices as needed and thaw at room temperature for about 30 minutes before serving or microwave until warm.
You might also like our Homemade Banana Bread recipe!
Cranberry Orange Bread
Servings 10 (1 slice each)Ingredients
- 1 orange ($0.99)
- 8 Tbsp salted butter, room temperature ($1.00)
- 1 cup granulated sugar ($0.36)
- 1 large egg ($0.09)
- 1/2 cup sour cream (0.63)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour ($0.38)
- 1 tsp baking powder ($0.06)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda ($0.02)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.03)
- 2 cups fresh cranberries ($1.33)
- 1 cup powdered sugar ($1.02)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Zest and juice the orange. You'll need about ⅓ cup juice (divided) and a ¼ tsp zest for this recipe. Wash and slice the cranberries in half.
- In a large bowl beat together the butter, sugar, and ¼ tsp orange zest with a hand mixer or stand mixer on high until the mixture is soft and fluffy (2-3 minutes). Add the egg and beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy (about 2 minutes).
- Add the sour cream and ¼ cup of the orange juice to the batter and beat again for about 2 minutes. Save the remainder of the orange juice to make the glaze later.
- In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
- Add about half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat with low speed until combined. Add the rest and beat until combined again. Finally, fold the sliced cranberries into the batter.
- Grease an 8.5 x 4.5-inch bread pan and then dust lightly with flour. Spread the cranberry bread batter into the bread pan and smooth out the surface.
- Bake the cranberry orange bread for 60 minutes in the preheated 350ºF oven, or until it is browned on top and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (a few crumbs are okay, just no wet batter).
- Allow the bread to cool in the bread pan while you make the glaze. Combine the powdered sugar with just enough orange juice to create a thick glaze (about 1.5 to 2 Tbsp). You can add a pinch of orange zest to the glaze, if desired.
- When the bread has mostly cooled, use a knife to loosen the edges, then remove it from the bread pan. Drizzle the glaze over top, then slice and serve.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Nutrition
How to Make Cranberry Orange Bread – Step by Step Photos
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Zest and juice one orange. For the bread batter and icing you’ll need about ⅓ cup juice (divided) and about ¼ tsp zest (or more if desired). Wash and slice 2 cups of fresh cranberries in half.
Use a hand mixer or stand mixer to beat together 8 Tbsp room-temperature salted butter, 1 cup granulated sugar, and ¼ tsp orange zest on high until soft and fluffy (2-3 minutes). Add one large egg and beat together until smooth and creamy (another 2 minutes).
Add ¼ cup orange juice and ½ cup sour cream, then beat together until smooth and creamy once again.
In a separate bowl, whisk together 2 cups of all-purpose flour, 1 tsp baking powder, ½ tsp baking soda, and ½ tsp salt.
Add about half of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and beat them together on low speed until incorporated. Add the remaining dry ingredients and beat on low speed until a smooth batter forms. Do not overmix.
Fold the sliced cranberries into the batter.
Grease an 8.5 x 4.5 inch loaf pan, then dust it lightly with flour. Spread the bread batter into the loaf pan.
Bake the bread in the preheated 350ºF oven for 60 minutes or until it is golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (it may have a few crumbs but should not have wet batter coating it). Allow the cranberry bread to cool in the pan.
When the bread is mostly cool, prepare the icing. Stir together 1 cup powdered sugar with 1.5-2 Tbsp orange juice, and a pinch of orange zest if desired. Add just enough orange juice to create a thick glaze. Remove the bread from the pan, then drizzle the glaze over top.
Slice, serve, and enjoy!
Hello! I’m planning to make this today and serve it on Christmas Day but I’m not sure if I should glaze it and put it in the fridge and let it rest until then or if I should just make it on Christmas Day. What would you recommend?
Hi Tori! I know it’s past Christmas now, but for future reference, you can definitely make this ahead of time!
I made this today and it was absolutely delicious :) I didn’t have fresh cranberries so I soaked some dried ones overnight in orange liqueur and they came out of the oven almost candied in texture. Not as tart as the fresh would have been but still very nice. The only thing that went wrong was that it overflowed in the oven, next time I will put a tray underneath just in case.
do you think it would adapt well to mini loaf pans?
Probably! The bake time will be different since they are exposed to more heat that way, but I’m sure it would work great otherwise.
Hello! Can we use craisins for this recipe (dried cranberries) or are they best whole (fresh or frozen)?
I would definitely suggest fresh or frozen for this one for the most flavor. :)
Hi, Beth – can you use dried cranberries for this? Thank you!
I don’t think dried cranberries would be nearly as good in this one, unfortunately. Their texture wouldn’t be quite right with the delicate bread and the juiciness of the fresh or frozen cranberries really adds a lot of flavor.
Can I freeze it?
Yes :)
I assume that it is icing sugar that you are talking about
Yes, depending on where you live it is sometimes called powdered sugar, icing sugar, or confectioners sugar. :)
Possibly silly question—how do you measure out two cups of cranberries? I’ve looked at weights and there are wildly differing thoughts on that!
Valid question! Just pile them into a dry measuring cup. It’s pretty flexible so it doesn’t need to be exact. :)
I just made this as a trial to decide if I want to make and give as Christmas gifts. It was delicious but I want to make it in mini loaves. What would the cooking time be for mini loaves??
I’d have to test it to know for sure, unfortunately. My guess is that it will be slightly shorter because there is more exposure to the heat, but it’s impossible to estimate how much.
Whwn I make mini loaves, I generally start checking after 20 minutes.
Hi there! I’ll be trying this out soon – do you think it would turn out ok if I used reduced-fat sour cream? If not, is there anything I can do? Thanks in advance!
As long as it’s not totally fat-free, I think it will work fine. :)
I used 2% fat greek yogurt (I had all the ingredients but the sour cream and didn’t want to go to the store) and it worked well! So I’d imagine reduced fat sour cream would work too.
I used Greek yogurt as well and it worked well!
I haven’t even made this yet and I already love it. Love, love, love, love, LOVE IT!!! I made a similar recipe for my mother many years ago after she was diagnosed with cancer, except the recipe I used then called for canned cranberry sauce vs fresh cranberries. My mother loved it so much that she called later, said she was craving this bread, and – of course – I made it and shipped it overnight. You can’t beat the taste of cranberries and oranges, so I can’t wait to try this recipe!
What do you think about using whole wheat flour, or half whole wheat half white?
I feel like whole wheat flour would just be too heavy, in both flavor and texture, for this bread, even just with 50%. BUT, that’s just my opinion. You never really know if you’d like it unless you try it!
Can you use frozen berries?
Yes, just make sure to thaw them before adding them to the batter so they don’t act as little ice cubes and slow the baking process. :)
This bread is so good! I love the balance of sweet and tart and the sour cream makes it nice and moist. Definitely a keeper!
I made this last night because I had cranberries I needed to use and I was craving something sweet for breakfast with coffee. I normally don’t modify any of your recipes, but I swapped a few ingredients to make it Weight Watcher friendly and it was still absolutely wonderful! Thank you for another winner, Beth!
Hi! This looks awesome! I love the cranberry-orange combo. Just a heads up that I don’t see the sour cream listed in the main ingredients list. I read the detailed instructions and see that it takes a 1/2 cup. Looking forward to making this soon! Thanks for being such a great recipe source.