This post contains affiliate links. When you purchase through our links, we may earn a commission.
The recipe for this cranberry orange bread is as simple as it is delicious and is a must for Christmas season. Don’t forget the fragrant clementine orange sugar glaze! It adds so much flavour.
Enjoy this festive sweet bread with a cup of our Italian Hot Chocolate. It’s absolutely perfect when eaten sitting by the Christmas tree.
Christmas Baking
We all have our favourites when it comes to Christmas season baking. I like cookies but I absolutely have to have a slice of sweet bread with my morning coffee with a splash of homemade eggnog to feel truly festive. Cranberry orange bread is one of those bakes.
It’s hard to find a better pairing for cranberries than oranges. Fragrant and sweet clementines, which are abundant around Christmas season, make beautiful music together with tart and sparkly cranberries.
This sweet loaf recipe is very easy and straightforward, made soft and moist with an addition of full fat Greek yogurt to the batter. You can also use sour cream instead.
Drizzle a little bit of citrus glaze and you might not need that second cup of coffee to wake up well before dawn on Christmas morning!
Can I use dried cranberries?
I like using fresh or frozen cranberries but dried cranberries could also be used. Simply soak them in 1 cup/250ml of orange juice or hot water for 30 minutes to 1 hour before adding to the batter.
Drain well before mixing them in!
How stunning are those cranberries! If you look very carefully at the one in the center, you will see a reflection of me with my Canon.
Tips for The Best Cranberry Bread
- Use the best tasting, fragrant oranges. I prefer clementines or mandarin oranges.
- Use Greek yogurt or sour cream for a moist crumb
- You can substitute freshly squeezed orange juice with carton juice but it won’t have the same intense flavour.
- Check if the top of the bread is browning too quickly approximately 40 minutes into baking. Loosely cover with aluminium foil if that is the case to ensure even baking.
- Drizzle the loaf with a beautiful orange flavoured glaze.
- Glaze while the bread is still warm. This way it soaks up the flavour more.
Overall this cranberry orange bread is a real winner. It’s delicious, easily adaptable to any flavour and super quick to prepare.
More Sweet Bread Recipes:
- Nutella Crust Banana Bread
- Pumpkin Bread with Butterscotch Streusel Topping
- Lemon Ricotta Bread
- Russian Pound Cake (Keks)
This recipe was originally published in 12/2013. Updated with new text and photos and republished in 11/2020.
Cranberry Orange Bread
Equipment
- This is an affiliate link.Mixing bowl
- This is an affiliate link.Loaf pan
Ingredients
- 250g / 2 cups all purpose flour
- 200g / 1 cup white sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 250ml / 1 cup Greek yogurt or plain yogurt, full fat
- 60ml / 1/4 cup milk, whole or 2%
- 60ml / 1/4 cup orange juice, from 1 clementine orange/ a mandarin orange
- 60ml / 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs, large
- 2 tsp This is an affiliate link.vanilla
- orange zest, from 1 clementine or a mandarin orange
- 150g / 1¼ cup cranberries, fresh or frozen or dried (see recipe notes)
For the orange glaze
- 60g / 1/2 cup icing sugar/powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp orange juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Grease your 5″X9″ (1.5 Qt./1.5 L) loaf pan.
- In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a smaller bowl whisk yogurt, milk, orange juice, oil, vanilla extract, orange zest and eggs.
- Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and combine until blended, then gently fold in cranberries.
- Pour the mixture into the loaf pan and bake for 60-65 minutes until the cake tester comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes, then remove from the pan.
- Prepare the glaze by mixing icing sugar and orange juice in a small bowl. Pour the glaze over the top of the warm bread. Let it cool completely before slicing.
Notes
- You can substitute fresh or frozen cranberries with dried ones. soak them in 1 cup/250ml of orange juice or water for 30 minutes to 1 hour before adding to the batter. Drain well before mixing them in.
- Glaze the bread while it’s still warm, so it absorbs the flavour!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This recipe is a keeper, to be sure.. The combination of frozen cranberries and orange juice and its zest, topped with orange drizzle is just the ticket. Thanks for sharing your talent, Julia … Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas, Elaine!!
This is a beautiful recipe for Autumn/Winter. I made it a few times last year and my Polish family really enjoyed it. It did inspire me to buy a good oven thermometer because I once undercooked it. Oven temperatures do vary a bit. In any case, got a bag of fresh clementines today and will make it tomorrow for family visiting from England. I will keep this recipe in my rotation forever. Julia, many thanks to you!
I am thrilled to hear it, Meg! Thank you for your review.
After trying this recipe my wife said it is so much better than my Mom’s recipe. It was so easy to make and so delicious. I will be making more for us to enjoy through the Christmas and New Years’ holidays.
What a great review, thanks so much, Dough! Enjoy and Happy Holidays!
Turn out delish
Thx for a great recipe
My pleasure, Marina! So pleased you enjoyed it!
Thank you, Vikalinka, for the great recipe. I just made it and the taste was very good but the texture was not good, kinda too wet. I used frozen berries. Have you made this bread from frozen berries? Now I am thinking that I should have defrost them first… I really like this bread and want to make it better than this time :). Please, help me. Thank you!
I am pretty sure I used frozen cranberries as well. If the texture was too wet it might’ve been undercooked? I always recommend to test with a toothpick for doneness since oven temperatures vary so much.Other than that, it’s difficult for me to say what went wrong because I am not there with you. Good luck next time, Nataliya. 🙂
I just made this loaf for breakfast. If came together so fast and easy. The whole house smelled wonderful as it baked. The best part was how good it tasted. This is my new cranberry bread recipe! Thanks
So happy it turned out well, thank you for sharing, Jodi! 🙂
Buen día. Simplemente decirte que eres una gran cocinera. Soy española de Barcelona, nosotros medimos por gramos. Quisiera saber ¿una taza cuantos gramos son?
Un saludo,
Carmen
Carmen, one cup is 250 ml
What a glorious loaf of bread! I love the combo of cranberry and clementine.
Orange and cranberry is great combination, and I love it.
I do too and it makes such a difference to use freshly squeezed orange juice!
I love cranberry with orange; your loaf looks so bright and citrusy!