Home » Type » Bread » Vegan Quick Bread » Favorite Cranberry Orange Bread

Favorite Cranberry Orange Bread

Moist and healthy, this easy Cranberry Orange Bread recipe is naturally vegan, made with fresh cranberries and orange juice, and is the best holiday breakfast or snack bread!

top down view of sliced cranberry orange bread on parchment paper.

I’m currently working my way through a big bag of fresh cranberries and this is the second recipe of the season using cranberries. The first was this warm and delicious Apple-Cranberry Crisp.

Also, from the archives are these clean eating, no-bake Cinnamon Cranberry Energy Bites, and this Roasted Delicata Squash & Cranberry Salad, using fresh cranberries as well. So if you ever have a bag of cranberries on hand, you have a few great recipes to try out!

Why We Love This Recipe!

  • Easy, one bowl recipe. Made with just 7 ingredients and prepped in 1 bowl, makes this vegan quick bread is a cinch to make and clean up!
  • It’s healthy and vegan. This sweet orange bread, bursting with tart, juicy cranberries, is completely oil-free, egg-free, and dairy-free with no butter.
  • Great for gifting! If you like making edible gifts this cranberry orange bread is perfect for holiday or everyday gift giving. I would be delighted to be given a loaf of this flavorful bread for the holidays!
side by side photos of cranberries and orange.

Ingredient Notes

Made with simple plant-based ingredients this cranberry orange bread bakes into a wonderful vegan quick bread that is absolutely delicious!

Here is everything you will need, plus variations:

  • flour – light spelt, white whole wheat or all-purpose
  • organic pure cane sugar – or use your favorite such as coconut sugar or monk fruit sweetener for a low-sugar recipe.
  • orange juice – use fresh squeezed or bottled
  • applesauce – pref unsweetened, use store bought or make homemade Applesauce
  • cranberries – fresh or frozen
  • baking powder + baking soda
  • salt

Tasty Optional Add-Ins

  • 1 – 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon or ginger powder
  • 1 – 2 tablespoons orange zest
side by side photos showing the process of making cranberry orange bread.

How To Make Vegan Cranberry Orange Bread

Here is a quick overview of the process with photos for reference. (Note – The full printable recipe is at the bottom of this post)

  • Gather your dry ingredients (flour, organic pure cane sugar, baking powder and baking soda) and combine together in a bowl (shown above).
  • Next add the wet ingredients (applesauce, orange juice and optional vanilla extract) and stir to mix, just until flour is incorporated, add the cranberries, and mix again.
  • Pour batter into prepared loaf pan (shown below), add a few more cranberries to the top.
  • Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees F. for 50 – 55 minutes. Once done, let cool and enjoy this moist, delicious quick bread!

Top Tips

  • I left my cranberries whole, feel free to slice them in half.
  • For the applesauce, if you don’t make your own, it’s so handy to have the store bought to-go cups on hand, pref. unsweetened. They are 1/2 cup serving size, making them the perfect size for this recipe.
  • This bread will get even better the next day, once it’s had time to rest, it will moisten up and the flavors will enhance. Also, it will slice much cleaner once completely cooled, but I know it’s so tempting to cut a slice right away, just know that it will not slice as clean and that’s normal.
  • I’ve made this recipe with King Arthur’s white whole wheat bread flour, as shown here, and it was perfect. Also, I’ve used whole spelt flour with great results as well.
side by side photos of batter in loaf pan before and after baking.

Commonly Asked Questions

Can I make this cranberry orange bread gluten-free? Absolutely! You can use any gluten-free flour blend or buckwheat flour, replacing 1 – 1 the amount of flour called for. I don’t recommend using coconut flour by itself, as it’s a tricky flour for vegan baking.

Can I make this recipe without baking soda? Yes! Oftentimes I will only use 2 heaping teaspoons of baking powder with great results!

Can I freeze this quick bread? Sure thing! It will stay fresh in the freezer for up to 2 months if stored in a freezer-safe container or bag. Simply let thaw in the refrigerator before eating. Quick bread can also be stored, covered, on the counter for up to 3 – 4 days. Or store in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Can I make muffins out of this quick bread recipe? Yep! Head on over to the Vegan Cranberry Orange Muffin recipe and give it a try. They are so delicious and portable!

More Quick Bread Recipes!

Because you can never have too many quick bread recipes on hand. Try these other various bread for a change of pace!

top down view of sliced cranberry orange bread on parchment paper.

If you try this easy quick bread recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment and rate it below. I love to hear what you think, or any changes you make.

Print

FAVORITE CRANBERRY ORANGE BREAD

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

5 from 23 reviews

Made with fresh cranberries, orange juice and applesauce in place of oil, it’s the ultimate, easy holiday breakfast or snack bread!

  • Author: Julie | The Simple Veganista
  • Prep Time: 10min
  • Cook Time: 55 min
  • Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
  • Yield: Makes 810 Slices 1x
  • Category: Quick Bread, Snack
  • Cuisine: American
  • Diet: Vegan

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 2 cups (240 g) flour (light spelt, white whole wheat or all-purpose)
  • 2/3 cup (133 g) organic pure cane sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • generous pinch of salt
  • 1 cup orange juice
  • 1/2 cup (113 g) unsweetened applesauce
  • 1 heaping cup (129 g) fresh or frozen cranberries, plus more for the top*

Tasty optional add-ins:

  • 12 teaspoons vanilla (add with orange juice)
  • 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon or ginger powder (add with dry ingredients)
  • 12 tablespoons orange zest, optional (add with cranberries)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9 x 5 loaf pan.
  2. In a mixing bowl, add the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt, stir to combine.
  3. Add in the applesauce, orange juice and optional vanilla, mix until flour is incorporated, don’t over mix, stir in the cranberries and optional orange zest, give a few extra stirs.
  4. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan, strategically arrange a few more cranberries on top, and place on center rack in the oven, bake for  50 – 55 minutes.
  5. Remove from oven, let cool and enjoy.

Store, covered, on the counter for up to 3 days, or keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Also, you can freeze your bread, stored in a freezer safe container for up to 2 months, let thaw in the refrigerator.

Notes

*I left my cranberries whole, feel free to slice them in half. If using frozen cranberries, let thaw in the refrigerator overnight or on the counter for a few hours before using.

For the applesauce, if you don’t make your own, it’s so handy to have the store bought to-go cups on hand, pref. unsweetened. They are 1/2 cup serving size, making them the perfect size for this recipe.

This bread will only get better the next day, once it’s had time to rest, it will moisten up and the flavor will greatly enhance. Also, it will slice much cleaner once completely cooled, but I know it’s so tempting to cut a slice right away, just know that it will not slice as clean and that’s normal.

I’ve made this recipe with King Arthur’s white whole wheat bread flour, as shown here, and it was perfect. Also, I’ve used whole spelt flour with great results as well.

If you don’t have applesauce on hand, use 1/3 cup light flavored olive oil or your favorite neutral cooking oil.

Conversion: For weight conversion, I recommend double-checking the King Arthur Ingredient Weight Chart for your specific ingredient.

FOLLOW TSV on FacebookInstagramPinterest, or RSS for more updates and inspiration!

54 Comments

  1. Katherine in Ontario says:

    This bread turned out SO good!! I have made it several times. I am a gluten-free (due to a wheat allergy) vegan and am SO happy that I took a chance on this recipe.

    I use Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour. I use whatever juice I have, including lemonade :) and olive or canola oil instead of applesauce (allergic to apples).

    Thank you so much. Now I have a lovely bread I can have and BONUS, it’s quick and easy to make.






  2. Janis Walker Fields says:

    Can I use oat flour iin the cranberry orange bread instead ? I need it to be gluten free.

    1. Julie | The Simple Veganista says:

      Yes, you sure can! I would suggest reducing the oat flour slightly by a few tablespoons since it tends to soak up moisture more than regular flour. You can always try with full amount too! Enjoy!

  3. Evelyn Norwood says:

    This has been my go-to recipe through the fall and winter. I have enjoyed it many times.
    I have used white whole wheat flour, or a combination of white whole wheat and regular whole wheat. I subbed different sweeteners, and used plant milk when I had no oranges or orange juice.
    I went to make it again and could not find any cranberries, either fresh or frozen. I decided to cut up a fresh pear in lieu of the berries. The result was a moist, sweet bread that ay now be my favorite. I will try apples next!
    Thank you for a truly delicious and versatile recipe.






  4. Elizabeth says:

    I made this for Christmas morning and it was a hit with the entire family! I subbed Lakanto Golden Monkfruit sweetener for sugar and frozen cherries for the cranberries (the grocery store was out of cranberries) and also used regular whole wheat flour. It was delicious, and I can’t wait to make it again!






  5. This looks amazing and I’m totally gonna try this recipe! I also wanted to let you know that in the first part when you listed the ingredients, you put “baking powder + baking powder” and I’m assuming you meant the 2nd one to be “soda”? Just wanted to let you know!

  6. is there anything I can sub the sugar with ?

    1. Julie | The Simple Veganista says:

      You can sub with pure maple syrup or a zero sugar sweetener like Lakanto Monkfruit Sweetener. Hope that helps!

      1. Hi! Super excited to make this recipe in bulk to freeze for this fall! Thanks so much. Could I use coconut sugar or would that mess up consistency…..

        1. Julie | The Simple Veganista says:

          Coconut sugar will work fine! Happy baking, and enjoy your loaves of bread!

  7. Wonderful Plant-Based Recipes~ 🍏 🍊 Thanks! :💚






  8. Judy in Quebec says:

    Fantastic loaf, so easy to make, and if you’re doubting whether it will be moist, BELIEVE. It’s amazing.
    I added chopped pecans the first time, then also added sunflower seeds the second time. Didn’t quite have enough apple sauce so used a drizzle of avocado oil. THANK YOU!






    1. Judy in Quebec says:

      Oh yes and I also used 1c white, 1c whole wheat flour :)






  9. Hi there- what can I substitute orange juice with?

    1. Julie | The Simple Veganista says:

      You can replace the orange juice with unsweetened non-dairy milk or water. If you don’t mind a pink loaf, you can sub with cranberry juice. Hope that helps!

  10. Cindy Vega says:

    Recipe calls for fresh cranberries. They are uncooked. Do you cook them first or put them in raw/fresh?

    1. Julie | The Simple Veganista says:

      Yes, use fresh, uncooked cranberries. They will soften and burst as the bread bakes. Enjoy! :)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe rating 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star