Cranberry Orange Bread with a simple orange glaze is a holiday classic quick bread. It cooks up moist and delicious, perfect for breakfast, lunch, dinner or a simple snack.

sliced orange cranberry bread on a wooden cutting board — Image: Feeding Your Fam

Cranberry Bread with Orange Glaze

If you are looking for something simple to bake for the holidays for your fam or even as a gift to give away to friends, this Cranberry Orange Bread is it! Quick breads are sweet, take just a few ingredients and to me are like a big muffin in bread form.

This Cranberry Bread includes a recipe for a delicious Orange Glaze that adds a ton of flavor. It is up to you if you dredge the bread in this glaze or not, it really is amazing without it, but the orange, citrus flavor adds so much to this bread.

sliced cranberry orange bread on a wooden cutting board — Image: Feeding Your Fam

Ingredients

Butter– using unsalted butter allows you to control the amount of salt in the recipe
Sugar– adds sweetness to balance out the tartness from the cranberries
Eggs– bake with room temperature eggs to keep all of the ingredients at a good temperature
Sour Cream– bring the sour cream to room temperature before adding to the mixing bowl. A good substitute for the sour cream is Greek yogurt or even low fat sour cream.
Flour– this recipe is made with all purpose flour, I have not tried it with any other flour
Baking Powder– necessary for the bread to rise and get fluffy
Salt– balances the flavor of sweet
Orange Zest– the zest creates bursts of flavors in the bread
Cranberries– fresh or frozen can be used, the whole berries are added in the bread

Full ingredient measurements and recipe instructions can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

cranberry orange quick bread batter in a loaf pan — Image: Feeding Your Fam

Tips for making Cranberry Orange Quick Bread

Using fresh cranberries is best when baking this bread. Frozen cranberries can be used as well, just allow to thaw a little before adding to the batter
Bake until a toothpick comes out clean when placed into the center of the bread
Don’t turn off the timer and forget your bread is in the oven like I did!!
Do not over mix the bread batter, this will make the bread a bit tough
It is best to let the bread cool completely before slicing and covering with the glaze
This recipe makes one large loaf in a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan

How to Store and Freeze Cranberry Orange Bread

To Store: Cranberry bread can be kept wrapped in plastic wrap or in a bag on the counter for up to 3 days

To Freeze: This quick bread can be frozen, wrapped in plastic wrap or place in a freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw on the counter.

sliced cranberry bread covered with an orange glaze on a wooden cutting board — Image: Feeding Your Fam

If you are looking for other Family Friendly meals or desserts follow along with me on YouTube or Facebook where I share simple recipes to help you with Feeding Your Fam! Make sure to subscribe so you will be notified when a new recipe is shared.

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote