Best Cranberry Bread EVER is one of my husbands favorite sweet bread recipes using cranberries. He would eat it all year round if he could.
But for the fact that fresh cranberries aren't in season except in the fall.
In desperate times I have made this cranberry bread recipe with dried cranberries also.
This sweet bread recipe is moist and delicious. It is the best cranberry bread recipe you will ever bake.
So as soon as I spotted the cranberries in the produce department of my grocery store I bought a bag and set about looking for my recipe.
But first, there is a little story about this recipe I must share. I found this recipe on the internet somewhere.
I did not note the name of the website I found it on.
Shame on me I know. There is no excuse for it, but it happens.
My Recipe Collection
So back to my story. I have been collecting recipes for years.
I have a big three-ring binder that I keep all my favorite recipes in.
It is full of page protectors stuffed full of recipes.
When I make a recipe, either one that I have torn out of a magazine, copied and saved from the internet, scribbled down on a scrap of paper or created myself.
I stick it in a page protector in a binder. I have some recipes in there from 10 years ago that I have never even made but keep telling myself that one day I might need.
So they stay there.
For the recipes that I do make.
If it turns out really good and one of my family members love it I jot a note on it for the times I am looking for something to make and don't really know what I want until I see it.
You know what I mean, don't you?
The recipe note says David loved it, made it 12/31/06. Two years in a row I made this delicious homemade cranberry bread recipe.
I will guess that I made it at least 5 times the first year. It could have been more, but it is definitely not less.
Double Recipe!
Because the first time I made it I only made one loaf. He ate that loaf in no time at all.
After that happened twice I got smart. I doubled the recipe and made two loaves every time after.
That way at least I had a chance to have a piece for breakfast the next day. That first loaf did not last the entire day let alone overnight.
Notice I said I made this recipe two years in a row.
Well, the third cranberry season rolls around and I can't find THE RECIPE!!!
I look all over the place. In the binder, in between the pages of my favorite cookbook.
Nope can't find it. So what do I do that year? I try some other cranberry bread recipes.
Now mind you I have made cranberry bread for many years and have those recipes in my binder to prove it!
But none those recipes are good enough.
My husband can tell immediately they are not THE RECIPE.
I don't know what it is about this cranberry bread recipe but it is so good and the husband can tell this difference when I tried tricking him with a different cranberry bread recipe.
He can be a pain sometimes.
Favorite Cranberry Bread Recipe Found!
The next fall rolls around and I am looking through the recipe binder and there it is THE RECIPE.
I am not sure what happened. Maybe the pages were stuck together.
I don't know for sure but I am happy to say THE RECIPE is safe and sound and I have made three loaves in the past two weeks.
Hubby is a happy cranberry bread eating fool.
How to make The Best Cranberry Bread Ever
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg, well beaten
- 2 tbsp butter or margarine, melted
- 2 tbsp hot water
- ½ cup orange juice
- ¼ cup orange zest
- 1 cup fresh cranberries
Directions
- Preheat oven to 325 F. degrees.
- Sift together dry ingredients into a large bowl.
- In a separate small bowl mix the egg, butter, hot water, orange juice and orange zest: stir until moistened.
- Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just moistened.
- Fold in cranberries.
- Spread into a large greased loaf pan.
- Bake 60 minutes in a preheated oven.
Recipe Expert Tips
- Orange juice: It takes 2 large freshly squeezed navel oranges to get almost ½ cup of fresh orange juice. You can add a bit of water to bring it up to a full ½ cup of orange juice if you need to. It's such a small amount it doesn't affect the flavor at all.
- Orange zest: Also for the zest. I just zested the two oranges I used. I didn't even measure it. Do whatever you are comfortable with. 2 large thick-skinned navel oranges will yield about ¼ cup of orange zest.
- Batter: The batter is very thick. Scoop it into your bread pan and smooth the top.
- Cranberries: If using dried cranberries for this cranberry bread recipe measure 1 cup dried cranberries and allow them to soak in the fresh orange juice. Strain the cranberries from the juice. Mix the orange juice into the wet ingredients following the recipe. Add the soaked dried cranberries to the recipe as written in step 5.
Helpful products for making the Best Cranberry Bread recipe
- Deiss PRO Citrus Zester Grater: Best zester fine fine citrus zest used in this recipe.
Print the Cranberry Bread Recipe below.
The Best Cranberry Bread Ever
Ingredients
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 large egg (well beaten)
- 2 tablespoon butter or margarine (melted + plus enough to grease the pan)
- 2 tablespoon hot water
- ½ cup orange juice
- ¼ cup orange zest
- 1 cup fresh cranberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 F. degrees
- Lightly grease non stick bread pan with butter.
- Sift together dry ingredients into a large bowl.
- In a separate small bowl mix the egg, butter, hot water, orange juice and orange zest: stir until moistened.
- Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just moistened.
- Fold in cranberries.
- Spread into a large greased loaf pan.
- Bake 60 minutes in a preheated 325 degrees oven.
- Cool completely on a wire cooling rack in the pan before slicing.
Video
Recipe Expert Tips
- Double the recipe: This recipe works fine if you double it. Make one loaf to test it out and see how you like it. Then next time double the recipe. You can freeze the extra loaf for another day.
- Orange juice: It takes 2 large freshly squeezed navel oranges to get almost ½ cup of fresh orange juice. You can add a bit of water to bring it up to a full ½ cup of orange juice if you need to. It's such a small amount it doesn't affect the flavor at all.
- Orange zest: Also for the zest. I just zested the two oranges I used. I didn't even measure it. Do whatever you are comfortable with. 2 large thick-skinned navel oranges will yield about ¼ cup of orange zest.
- Batter: The batter is very thick. Scoop it into your bread pan and smooth the top.
- Cranberries: If using dried cranberries for this cranberry bread recipe measure 1 cup dried cranberries and allow them to soak in the fresh orange juice. Strain the cranberries from the juice. Mix the orange juice into the wet ingredients following the recipe. Add the soaked dried cranberries to the recipe as written in step 5.
Marlene
I made it with no modifications and it was delicious. It does not rise much.
Jackie
Can I use coconut or almond flour in place of the regular flour?
Arlene Mobley
Sorry but I have never tried this with almond or coconut flour. I don't think it would work well because you would need to make adjustments to the other ingredients.
Cathy Gertner
PLEASE correct the amount of liquid for the recipe. Is it 1/2 cup total orange juice or 1 cup. Your NOTES say a FULL CUP but the instructions call for 1/2 cup. 1/4 CUP of orange zest is TOOOO much. I think it should be 1/4 TEASPOON.
Arlene Mobley
Cathy thank you for pointing out the typo in my recipe notes. I am sure most readers understood that was a typo and that the recipe amounts listed in the ingredient list were the correct amount of orange juice. Sorry, it confused you.
The amount of orange zest is correct at 1/4 a cup. 1/4 a teaspoon of orange zest isn't worth the trouble and would not add any orange flavor to the cranberry bread.
Large navel oranges with thick skin are perfect for zesting and juicing used for this recipe. I use a zester that makes very fine orange zest. You can see an example here (affiliate link) https://amzn.to/2Lzc5tg
Morla
Would this make muffins? Or is it too dense?
Arlene Mobley
Hi Morla
Yes this will make muffins
Ace
The Best Cranberry Bread Indeed!
Got really low on groceries last night, but had some cranberries lying around, so gave it a try. Turned out DELICIOUS even though I had to alter the recipe a bit- I only had one orange which yielded about 1/4 cup juice, so I added 1/8 cup grapefruit juice and 1/8 cup water. I also used gluten-free flour (the all-purpose kind) instead of regular flour. Still, turned out just fine! By the way, if you try REALLY hard, you can get 1/4 cup zest (unpacked) from 1 medium orange 🙂
Thanks for sharing! I added it to my special handwritten recipe book!
Arlene Mobley
Ace
So glad to hear that the recipe turned out good with your gluten free flour. I'm sure my GF readers will appreciate knowing they can convert this cranberry bread recipe to gluten free!
Linda Poole
When using dried cranberries you noted to use an EXTRA 1/2 cup of orange juice to soak the cranberries in. I just want to clarify that you still use another 1/2 cup of orange juice when mixing the wet ingredients. And is it an extra cup of cranberries or just the one cup total. Sorry for my confusion, I just want to get it right.
Arlene Mobley
Linda yes you are right. If using dry cranberries you will use an extra 1/2 cup of orange juice to plump up the dry cranberries.
Lori
Question: Orange Zest. I have a dried orange zest I bought from a bulk food store. Would I truly use 1/4 cup?? Help.
Arlene Mobley
Lori
I'm not sure how thick the zest is that you bought. I use a micro planer zester and it makes really fine orange zest. I usually zest a very large orange. You could try adding 1/8 of a cup of the zest you have and see how it turns out. If it doesn't have much orange flavor the next time you make it use the half cup. Also I would let your dry orange zest soak in a bit of oj or water before you use it in this recipe. I've found dried zest doesn't impart much flavor compared to freshly zested.
QuickBreadSooZee
Does the loaf rise much? If I make smaller loaves ...would I alter the cooking times? I want to make this for gifts.
Flour On My Face
No these do not rise much. The cranberry bread is very moist and dense. I would start checking the loaves at 20 minutes by sticking a toothpick in the center.
mamaharaz
I really want to try this, how do I make them with dried cranberries?
Flour On My Face
To use dried cranberries for this recipe you will need an extra 1/2 cup of orange juice and a cup of dried cranberries. Soak the dried cranberries in the 1/2 of juice for about a 1/2 hour before mixing the ingredients and proceed with the instructions. The cranberries will absorb most of the juice. Add the cranberries and whatever juice is left. Fold in when the recipe calls for adding the fresh cranberries.
Flour On My Face
Renee
Thank you so much for pointing out my typo. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup of orange juice.
arlene
Renee
This looks great-- I plan on trying it... I have a couple questions about your recipe though-- your recipe calls for 1/2 c. of orange juice, but your description calls for 1 cup? Also, I'm assuming that you used fresh cranberries? Thanks! - Renee
The Urban Baker
i just adore cranberries! when november rolls around, I hoard cranberries. i stock up for the winter, meaning, I have enough cranberries to last me through june. this bread looks heavenly!
The Urban Baker
i just adore cranberries! when november rolls around, I hoard cranberries. i stock up for the winter, meaning, I have enough cranberries to last me through june. this bread looks heavenly!