This moist & flavorful orange cranberry bread is packed with orange zest and tart cranberries, topped with cinnamon streusel, and finished with orange glaze. It’s one of my favorite quick bread recipes to prepare because it always draws a crowd!
When I think of the fall season, many flavor duos come to mind, but no flavor combination is more delicious than orange + cranberry. I love tart cranberries paired with sunshine-sweet orange. Over the years I’ve shared recipes for cranberry orange muffins, cranberry orange Bundt cake, cranberry orange icebox cookies, and cranberry orange scones… and my classic cranberry sauce and these cranberry brie puff pastry tarts both contain a pop of orange flavor, too. All incredible, but nothing rivals today’s quick bread. It’s the original and I recommend making two loaves because trust me, it will disappear quickly!
3 Parts to Orange Cranberry Bread
- Bread: I use buttermilk and vegetable oil here to ensure a supremely moist and flavorful bread.
- Streusel: Homemade cinnamon streusel comes together with simple everyday ingredients and is a welcome addition to this quick bread. You’ll love the textural variation in each bite. While I believe streusel is never optional, this bread is still dazzling without!
- Orange Glaze: A drizzle of orange glaze on top heightens the bright orange flavor of this orange cranberry bread.
Craving plain cranberry bread? You can leave off the streusel and/or orange glaze. Same bake time and temperature. Or if you want to add some sparkle, try adding some sugared cranberries on top before serving.
Cranberry Bread Ingredients
Don’t be overwhelmed by the ingredient list below—you’ll notice most of the ingredients are repeated in each part of the recipe.
- Flour: All-purpose flour is the base of this quick bread recipe. Because we’re loading it up with lots of add-ins, we need a sturdy flour.
- Baking Soda: Baking soda helps the bread rise.
- Salt + Vanilla Extract: Salt and vanilla extract add flavor. (Try using homemade vanilla extract.)
- Cranberries: We use 1 cup of chopped cranberries. I recommend using fresh or frozen cranberries, though dried cranberries will also work. If using frozen cranberries, do not thaw. If you have leftovers, try my cranberry cardamom spice muffins next!
- Pecans or Walnuts: While optional, chopped nuts are a wonderful addition and complement the flavors of the bread. I always use them! If you love the combination of cranberries and pecans, you must try my cranberry cake as well.
- Egg: One egg binds everything together.
- Sugar: We use both brown sugar and granulated sugar to sweeten this bread.
- Buttermilk: We use buttermilk for added moisture, but also because the lactic acid in buttermilk is what helps the baking soda do its job. Want to use sour cream and milk instead? You definitely can. See my cinnamon swirl quick bread, which is another favorite recipe of mine. This bread batter recipe is similar and you can use 1/3 cup sour cream and 2/3 cup whole milk here too.
- Oil: While butter provides unbelievable flavor, nothing beats the moisture that oil brings. We use oil in this quick bread recipe to produce a moist and soft bread, and also because the flavor of butter would get lost with all of the other flavors.
- Orange Zest: Orange zest adds a lovely punch of flavor to the bread. Save the juice for the orange glaze!
How to Make Orange Glazed Cranberry Bread
- Make the streusel. Use your hands, two forks, or a pastry cutter to cut the cold butter into the other streusel ingredients. The colder the butter, the less likely the streusel will sink down into the cooking bread.
- Make the batter. Mix the dry ingredients together in one bowl and the wet ingredients together in another. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until no lumps remain. No electric mixer needed!
- Pour into prepared pan. Top with streusel.
- Bake. This bread can take anywhere from 45 minutes to over an hour in the oven. Why the huge gap of time? All ovens are different. Oven air flows, oven hot spots, etc. Quick breads are thick and having the center baked through properly takes time.
- Make the glaze. Combine ingredients together and drizzle over cooled bread.
- Slice, serve, and enjoy!
Similar to banana bread and carrot cake, this bread was even more flavorful and moist on day 2. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love it warm out of the oven, but I especially enjoy it the next morning. It’s a perfect treat to serve guests because you can make it the evening before.
Two Baking Tips
- Buy an oven thermometer. Unless you have a brand new or regularly calibrated oven, your oven’s temperature is likely inaccurate. Incorrect temperature ruins baked goods and you waste hours spent on the recipe and money spent on ingredients. The inexpensive remedy to this mess is an oven thermometer. While cheap, they’re irreplaceable in a baker’s kitchen. Place it in your oven so you always know the actual temperature.
- Cover your bread with aluminum foil. I note this in the instructions below as a reminder. About halfway through baking, loosely cover the loaf with aluminum foil. This will allow your bread to bake evenly on all sides and prevent the top from getting too brown before the center bakes through.
If you’re looking for another fall quick bread recipe, this apple cinnamon bread is a tried-and-true favorite.
Print
Orange Glazed Cranberry Bread
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 55 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 1 loaf
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This is moist and tender orange cranberry bread with buttery streusel and a zingy orange glaze. It’s perfect for guests or with a warm cup of tea in the early morning or afternoon. See notes for freezing instructions.
Ingredients
Streusel
- 1/4 cup (31g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 2 Tablespoons (30g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3 Tablespoons (43g) unsalted butter, cold and cubed
Bread
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (105g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (240ml) buttermilk, at room temperature*
- 1/3 cup (80ml) vegetable oil (or melted coconut oil)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons orange zest
- 1 cup (110g) cranberries, fresh or frozen (do not thaw)*
- optional: 1/2 cup (65g) chopped pecans or chopped walnuts
Glaze
- 1 cup (120g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1–2 Tablespoons orange juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Spray a 9×5-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray.
- Make the streusel first: Whisk the flour, sugar, and cinnamon together in a medium bowl. Cut in the cold butter with a pastry cutter, your hands, or two forks until mixture resembles pea-size crumbs. It’s important to keep the streusel cold, so place in the refrigerator (covered or uncovered) until ready to use in step 4.
- Make the bread: Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together until combined. Whisk in the buttermilk, oil, vanilla, and orange zest. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, then whisk to completely combine. Avoid over-mixing. Fold in the cranberries and nuts (if using).
- Pour the batter into prepared loaf pan. Top evenly streusel, pressing the streusel down gently into the top of the bread so it sticks.
- Bake the bread for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Cover loosely with foil about halfway through to ensure even browning. Poke the center of the bread with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, the bread is done. Oven times will vary between ovens. My bread usually takes 1 hour. Cool bread completely in the pan set on a wire rack.
- Make the glaze: In a small bowl, whisk the confectioners’ sugar and orange juice together. Add more orange juice depending how thick you want the glaze. Drizzle over cooled bread.
- Slice and serve. Cover and store leftover bread at room temperature for 1 day or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: For longer storage, you can freeze the glazed or unglazed bread for up to 3 months. Allow to thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before glazing (if needed) and serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9×5-inch Loaf Pan | Glass Mixing Bowls | Pastry Cutter | Whisk | Silicone Spatula | Cooling Rack
- Cranberries: 1 cup dried cranberries may be used instead of fresh/frozen. You can slice the cranberries in half, if desired. I leave them whole.
- Buttermilk: Buttermilk (an acid) is required for this quick bread recipe. If you don’t have any, you can make a DIY buttermilk substitute. Add 2 teaspoons of white vinegar or lemon juice to a liquid measuring cup. Then add enough whole milk to the same measuring cup until it reaches 1 cup. (In a pinch, lower fat or nondairy milks work for this soured milk, but the bread won’t taste as moist or rich.) Stir it around and let sit for 5 minutes. The homemade “buttermilk” will be somewhat curdled and ready to use in the recipe. Another option is to use sour cream and milk instead of buttermilk. See my cinnamon swirl quick bread. This bread batter recipe is similar and you can use 1/3 cup sour cream and 2/3 cup whole milk here too.
- Muffins: Grease a 12-count muffin pan or line with liners. Prepare streusel and batter in steps 2 + 3. Spoon the batter evenly into each liner, filling each to the top. Press streusel into the tops of each. Bake the muffins for 5 minutes at 425°F (218°C) then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C). Bake for an additional 15-17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The total time these muffins take in the oven is about 20-22 minutes, give or take. Cool muffins for 5 minutes in the muffin pan, then transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling. Makes 18 muffins.
Quick Bread Recipes
I welcome easy recipes around the holidays. What I love most about quick breads is that they’re universally delicious and, best of all, they’re QUICK! Here are a few seasonal quick bread recipes to make next:
See all of my quick bread recipes.
My go to recipe for orange cranberry!
Can this recipe be successfully doubled to make two loaves with no alterations?
Hi Carole, for best results (and to prevent over or under mixing the batter), we recommend making two separate batches rather than doubling.
This recipe looks amazing! Can you make muffins with the batter instead of a loaf and adjust the baking time?
baking time?
Hi Isis, see recipe Notes. Happy baking!
Hi Sally and team…I’m wondering if I can/should add a bit of lemon juice to the cranberries if I use dried? I understand dried cranberries aren’t as tangy as fresh. Right now, dried cranberries are all I have. Thank you!!
Hi Nan, it’s not necessary, but certainly feel free to soak the dried cranberries in some lemon juice before adding to the batter. Hope you enjoy this bread!
Hello, I’ve made your strawberry bread and loved it. I’m wondering if for this recipe the cranberries shoukd also be coated with 1 tbsp of flour and whether it would benefit ftom 1/4 tsp of baking soda that yhe strawberry quickbread required? Thanks!
Hi Lia, cranberries aren’t nearly as wet as strawberries, and they do not sink. In fact, they usually float and the top of the bread has the most! No additional baking soda is necessary here.
I made it 1 month ago, went too sure, but I just took it out of the freezer, Nd wow, I like it very mu h. Thank you. I’m already receiving your emails. Awesome.
I love this recipe! Even without the strudel or the frosting it’s a winner. I make it into muffins and cake size too.
This has become one of my favorite breads, for sure. I like it so much that I always double the ingredients and make two loaves. The question I have is do you think it would “work” if I were to double the ingredients and use a 9 x 13 x 2 glass baking dish? Second, I use glass (vs. metal) loaf pans. Do you have a preference for one over the other, and, if so…why? Thank you, in advance for your anticipated reply.
Hi Roger, We are happy to hear how much you enjoy this recipe! We haven’t tested doubling this in a 9×13 inch pan, but it should work. We are unsure of the exact bake time needed though. You can bake most quick bread loaves in either glass or metal, although we do usually use metal. You would use the same baking temperature for both, but bake time may be a few minutes longer when using glass as it takes longer to heat up.
When I make this bread it takes 70 minutes about. But the last time I made it the center was still too moist, just this side of gooey, but definitely too moist. What would you suggest…less oil, or less water, or more time, or hotter oven?
Hi Mary Dee, if the middle still seems a bit moist, we’d recommend a few extra minutes of bake time. If you’d like, feel free to tent the bread with foil half way through bake time. This will prevent the edges from over baking while allowing you to keep it in there for a few extra minutes to ensure the middle is baked through. Hope this helps!
Some of the best dang cranberry bread I have ever had. I think I used just about every bowl and measure cup and spoon in the kitchen but it was worth it. The kitchen smelled AMAZING. Awesome recipe.
I love this recipe and enjoy making it. I was wondering if dried cranberries would taste the same as the fresh. I cannot find fresh cranberries right now. Thanks!
Hi Michelle! They won’t taste as fresh and tart, but will work just fine. Use 1 cup of dried cranberries.
I made this with the pecans and it was absolutely superb. So nice w a cup of afternoon tea or for a festive treat at breakfast. Brought it to my Christmas hostess and she, who is very picky, raved about it. Thank you!
Tasty. Toothpick or temp. Quick bread internal about 205f but seems hi for this bread. ?
This bread is literally the BEST bread ever!!! Everything is so perfect about it!! So much flavor. So moist. So delicious. Made several mini loaves in the last month!! I used whole wheat white flour and just added a touch more buttermilk and it was PERFECT!! Thank you!!
Helloo, I’m keen on using a 9 inch springform pan for the recipe. How much do you reckon the baking time would be? Thank you soo much! Also, a hugee fan, all the recipes I’ve tried out thus far have been super successful:)
That would be fine, but the cake will be quite thin. I’m unsure of the best bake time, but it will be shorter than if using a loaf pan since the cake will be thinner. I would begin checking for doneness at 25 minutes.
Made this in a loaf pan, the bread was sooo good. Got a ton of rave reviews. Could you please consider posting a recipe using dates and walnuts or a recipe for a fruit cake. I know recipes abound on the internet, but it’s only the recipes I’ve tried from your website that have turned out spectacular, so as a rule, I only ever bake recipes from your website.
Can this recipe be made gluten free? If so, what GF flour blend do you recommend?
Hi Ellen, we haven’t tested a gluten free version of this bread. Although some readers report using an all-purpose 1:1 gluten-free flour in many of our recipes with success, you should expect slightly different results anytime you substitute ingredients. Let us know if you give it a try!
This was absolutely delicious!
I’ve tried few recipes from your site already and they’ve always been a big hit! Thanks for all you do!!
This turned out perfect! I am getting ready to make a second loaf now! Yum!
I love this recipie and made it exactly as instructed the first time and my bread collapsed and the middle refused to cook. I re made the recipie except this time I didn’t cover it with foil and my bread came out perfectly. I think opening up the oven and covering it in foil collapsed my bread
WOW! actually to die for. Such a perfect rich cake works as a breakfast strudel
This recipe is amazing! Can I make it in mini loaves instead? How many from one recipe and do I need to change anything? I want to give as gifts
Hi Richelle! Mini loaf pans vary greatly in size so we can’t say for sure how many you will be able to fill and the exact bake time. Use the same oven temperature and you will know they are finished when a toothpick inserted in the loaf comes out mostly clean!
Loved loved it! The glaze is a must. Will gift for Christmas.
Made this for our Canadian Thanksgiving and it was a hit! The only modifications I made was to add candied orange to the cake batter and made a cream cheese Grand Marnier frosting!
This recipe is so good, I am very picky with cranberry bread. It’s light and delicious. I make mine in the foil pans to share and freeze. Thank you very much
Amazing, like all of your recipes!! I lowered the flour to 1 3/4 cups and the buttermilk to 3/4 cup so I could add 1/2 cup of sourdough discard, and used dried cranberries, as that’s what was available near me. I brought it to a morning meeting and everyone raved. Thanks so much!
I am anxious to try this recipe! I love cranberries! Would almond flour work in place of regular flour?
Am I reading this correctly? You can use 1 cup of dried cranberries in place of the 1 cup of fresh or frozen. Dried is all we can get this time of year in my area.
Hi Paul, yes! 1 cup of dried cranberries will work.
I thought this bread was deliciously moist. I added 1/2 cup pumpkin. I exchanged brown sugar for the white sugar in the crumble topping. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Could I use blueberries instead? I can’t find cranberries anywhere right now lol
Hi Deitra, we can’t see why not. Or you might enjoy this blueberry muffin bread instead. Let us know how it goes!
This orange cranberry bread was spectacular! The best I’ve ever made, and that’s a huge compliment. I subbed 1/3 of the white flour for whole wheat, but followed the rest to a t. The streusal and glaze make the bread so special. Yummy!
This was quick and easy and so delicious! Thank you!
Came out great
This is an amazing cranberry bread recipe! I’ve made it 4 times this season because I had fresh cranberries and everyone loved it! I even added a tablespoon of butter to the glaze recipe and it was awesome! Thank you for this tasty dish!!!