Blood Orange Cranberry Quick Bread

Moist, tender blood orange cranberry bread sweetened with honey and speckled with white chocolate is the perfect cold weather quick bread. My secret is soaking the dried cranberries in blood orange juice to rehydrate them and infuse extra cranberry-orange flavor. Enjoy with a nice pat of warm butter during your morning cup of coffee or tea.

Originally I found a version of this recipe under the label of my Siggi’s plain yogurt and it has since then taken several forms. Not sure if it’s a character flaw of mine or if it’s one of my best qualities, but I cannot seem to leave a recipe alone. You too? Or is it just me?

Let’s Talk Ingredients

In one version of this quick bread, I added white chocolate and nuts. We loved the white chocolate and did NOT like the nuts. It seemed to clash with the blood orange flavor. I also tried making this with brown sugar and did not care for the taste of that either. Below is the sweet spot of ingredients for this delicious bread.

• Flour: I like to use a 3:1 ratio of all purpose flour and oat flour in this recipe. Feel free to substitute the oat flour with almond flour. Gluten free flour will not yield great results.
• Baking powder, baking soda, salt: leavening agents, salt for flavor boost.
• Blood orange zest: Adds the perfect punch of natural orange flavor and oil.
• Honey: provides the perfect sweetness and extra moisture for this bread.
• Eggs: provide structure and help emulsify the batter. I have not tried any egg substitutions in this recipe.
• Oil: Flavorless oil, such as canola.
• Yogurt: vanilla yogurt preferred, but plain will work well too. Add a dash of vanilla extract if using plain.
• Orange juice: freshly squeezed from blood oranges after zesting them.
• Cranberries: dried or fresh will work.
• White chocolate chips: Our preferred add-in to this batter. You could omit if you prefer.

How to make the best blood orange cranberry bread

1. Pre-soak dried cranberries in freshly squeezed orange juice.
2. Preheat the oven to 350F/177C. Either line a loaf pan (9″x5″) with parchment or butter & flour the pan.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and orange zest.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together honey, eggs, oil, yogurt (vanilla). Strain the cranberries out of the orange juice and add only the orange juice, whisk to combine. Fold in the cranberries and white chocolate chips.
5. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake on the center rack for 50-55 minutes or until nicely browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
6. Remove from oven and cool in the pan for 30 minutes on a cooling rack. Remove bread and continue to cool on a cooling rack. It will slice best when it is fully cooled.
7. Top with a sprinkle of powdered sugar, serve with a warm pat of butter.

Helpful tips for making the best quick bread

There are a few tricks I use to make sure my bread comes out perfectly. If you’re curious about my wildflower pan, it’s from Nordic Ware. I’m a huge fan of their products! Maybe it’s because I’m from Minnesota and they are, too, but really it’s because they have high quality products and endless bundt pans with gorgeous designs!

1. Don’t use an oil spray! Oil spray may cause the outer edges of the bread to take on a burnt taste. Instead, prepare the pan with parchment paper (preferred) or butter and flour. If you use a high quality non-stick pan, use the parchment paper method.
2. Pre-soak the dried cranberries! Soaking the cranberries in the blood orange juice ahead of time hydrates them perfectly for maximum flavor.
3. Watch the top! After about 45 minutes, watch the top to make sure it isn’t browning too quickly. Cover loosely with aluminum foil to ensure the top will stay golden brown.

More of my favorite quick bread recipes

• Pumpkin Banana Bread: It has all the fall pumpkin spice flavors plus added sweetness from the ripe bananas.
• Caramel Apple Bread: This moist and flavorful bakery-style caramel apple bread is glazed with a thick and crunchy caramel icing. It’s bursting with cooked, juicy apples and warm, fall flavors.
• Chocolate Chip Banana Bread: Delicious classic banana bread with melty bites of chocolate.
• Applesauce Bread: With lots of applesauce and some dried apples for extra flavor, this bread is super moist and makes a wonderful breakfast treat.

Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. I endorse products that I love and use daily.