Cranberry Bread with Fresh Cranberries

Here is an easy recipe for cranberry bread with fresh cranberries. Fresh cranberries help to create a dessert that is bursting with juicy cranberry flavor. In contrast, while you can make a nice cranberry bread with dried cranberries, the dried cranberries lack the natural juices & mouth “feel” of delicious fresh cranberries. Your family will love the taste of this easy cranberry bread with fresh cranberries. It is perfect as a breakfast snack or simple dessert for lunch or dinner.

Delicious Cranberry Bread – Stuffed with Fresh Cranberries!

My cranberry bread recipe takes me roughly 10 minutes to prepare and clean up (excluding the baking time, of course). Please be aware that this is an oven-baked recipe. It is not made with a bread machine.

Ingredients – Easy Cranberry Bread Recipe

• 1 Cup – Milk – 230 milliliters – If you don’t have milk, you can use cranberry juice or orange juice. The use of juice also adds a nice flavor variation to the cranberry bread.
• 8 Tablespoons – Unsalted Butter (melted) – 115 grams
• 2 – Large Eggs (lightly beaten) – 144 grams – Use large eggs (not extra large eggs or jumbo eggs)
• 1 Teaspoon – Vanilla Extract – 5 milliliters
• 1 1/4 Cups – Light Brown Sugar (packed cup) – 270 grams – For a less sweet cranberry bread, you can use 3/4 cup of light brown sugar.
• 2 Cups – All Purpose Flour – 240 grams
• 1 Teaspoon – Baking Soda – 5 grams
• 1 Teaspoon – Baking Powder – 4 grams
• 1/2 Teaspoon – Salt – 3 grams
• 1 Cup – Fresh Cranberries – 100 grams

Servings – Roughly 12 slices

Equipment Needed – Measuring cup & spoons, mixing bowls, long wooden spoon, 9 by 5 inch metal bread pan, oven mitts, silicon spatula, cooling rack and an oven.

Mix Batter & Then Add Cranberries

Instructions – Easy Cranberry Bread Recipe

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (163 degrees C).
• Grease the bread pan, line the bread pan with baking parchment paper or use a nonstick bread pan in order to prevent the cranberries from sticking to the bread pan during the baking process.
• Wash the cranberries. Shake off any excess moisture. Set aside until batter is mixed.
• Soften butter in a microwave. FYI – I like to semi-melt the butter for better “mixability”.
• Lightly beat eggs.
• Add the milk (or cranberry juice or orange juice), butter, eggs, vanilla extract & sugar into a large mixing bowl. Stir these ingredients together until fully mixed.
• Then add the remaining ingredients (except the cranberries). Stir with a large spoon or whisk until the batter is fully mixed. Do not overmix.
• Add the cranberries after the batter has been completely mixed. Stir them into the batter with a wooden spoon. Make sure the fresh cranberries are evenly spread throughout the batter.
• Pour the finished batter into the bread pan. Smooth out the top of the batter within the bread pan.
• Optional – For a sugary top to the cranberry bread, sprinkle 1 tablespoon of turbinado sugar on top of the batter before you place the bread pan in the oven.
• Bake in the oven at 325 F (163 degrees C) for 65 to 70 minutes.
• Take out of the oven and let the cranberry bread cool down in the bread pan for 10 minutes. Do not remove the cranberry bread from the bread pan during this 10 minute cool down period (as this completes the baking process). Use oven mitts as the bread pan will be very hot coming out of the oven.
• After the 10 minute cool down, remove the cranberry bread from the bread pan. Use oven mitts. Place the cranberry bread on a cooling rack in order to completely cool. This cool down may take 1 to 2 hours. Gently slide a silicon spatula between the cranberry bread and the bread pan walls if the cranberry bread is stuck in the pan.
• Please read the tips section below for extra information on how to make this recipe successfully & to avoid common cranberry bread problems.

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Optional – Sprinkle Large Sugar Crystals On Top of Batter

Tips – Cranberry Bread with Fresh Cranberries

• The tips below are designed to help sweet “quick bread” novices and/or people with limited baking experience.
• Click on my “print recipe” link if you want to print out this recipe. It includes all of the recipe’s ingredients and instructions. However, the recipe print function does not include my tips section. Please read the tips section in order to avoid common recipe problems.
• This recipe is part of Bread Dad’s series on easy Quick Bread Recipes such as chocolate chip banana bread, pumpkin bread and blueberry bread.

• Use fresh cranberries for the best results. Using frozen cranberries can have the problem of adding extra moisture and this can throw off the recipe (and leave it undercooked).
• If you use frozen cranberries, you need to make sure that there is no extra moisture being added to the batter. Many frozen packaged cranberries have tons of ice crystals (and if you add the ice crystals, you will be adding too much moisture). To get around this problem, you should wash off the ice crystals, strain the cranberries in a colander and then dry the cranberries with a paper towel. Just make sure the cranberries are completely dried off before adding them to the batter.
• The use of fresh cranberries (versus dried cranberries) in this recipe helps to create a “juicier” & moister cranberry bread.
• Do not cut up the fresh cranberries (e.g. cut in half) or you can release excess moisture into the batter. This can result in the middle of the cranberry bread sinking/collapsing.
• Optional – You can easily turn this recipe into a delicious & crunchy cranberry nut bread. Just replace the 1 cup of fresh cranberries (called for in the recipe) with 1/2 cup of fresh cranberries & 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts or chopped pecans.
• Optional – If you want a sweeter cranberry bread, you can sprinkle 1 tablespoon of turbinado sugar (a brown sugar with large sugar crystals) on top of the batter before you place the bread pan in the oven. See picture above. You can find turbinado sugar in most large supermarkets (usually in the baking supplies section next to the “regular” sugar products).
• Visitors – Do you like to add any extra ingredients to your cranberry bread? Chopped nuts? Orange zest? Extra spices? Special toppings? Please leave your tips & recipe variations in the comment section below.

• Do not add extra moisture to this recipe or your cranberry is more likely to be underbaked, sink in the middle and/or have the cranberries sink to the bottom or float to the top. Examples of adding extra moisture include not measuring ingredients correctly, adding ice if you use frozen cranberries, using extra large or jumbo eggs instead of large eggs, etc.
• Be careful about adding any extra cranberries (beyond what is called for in the recipe). Too many cranberries can make the cranberry bread more fragile because there will be a relatively smaller “bread” portion (versus cranberry portion) binding the cranberry bread together.
• In addition, you should make sure the cranberries are spread throughout the batter and not concentrated in one area (or there could be less “structural integrity” where the cranberries are concentrated).

• Optional – If you want a greater cranberry “appearance” to your cranberry bread, you can gently press a few cranberries into the top of the batter before you place the bread pan in the oven.
• This recipe uses milk because there are a billion cranberry bread recipes made with orange juice. I wanted to make something less “orangy” and use a liquid ingredient that many people have at home (milk). However, as I said above, if you don’t have milk (or can’t drink milk), you can use cranberry juice or orange juice. The use of juice also adds a nice flavor variation to cranberry bread.
• Optional – If you can’t drink dairy milk, you can use non-dairy milks such as plain oat milk and plain soy milk. Of course, you should also replace the butter in the recipe with vegetable oil or plant-based butter if you are allergic to dairy.
• Optional – I also like to use cranberry juice when making this recipe because it adds more cranberry flavor (and creates a slightly “pinker” bread interior). However, if you do not have cranberry juice readily available, you can use milk, orange juice, etc.
• Optional – You can turn this recipe into an orange cranberry bread by using orange juice as the liquid (instead of using milk or cranberry juice) and by stirring 2 tablespoons of fresh orange zest into the batter.
• If you want to see what cranberry orange bread looks like then check out my recipe for Cranberry Orange Muffins. These muffins are made with cranberries, orange juice and orange zest.
• Visitors – What liquid or juice do you like to use in a cranberry bread recipe? Milk? Orange juice? Cranberry juice? Other? Please leave your milk & juice thoughts & variations in the comment section below.

• Optional – If you are out of butter or want to avoid the saturated fat associated with dairy-based butter, you can replace the butter with a NEUTRAL flavored vegetable oil (e.g. corn oil or avocado oil ) on a 1:1 basis.
• Stronger flavored oils (e.g. peanut oil or extra virgin olive oil) may NEGATIVELY impact or change the taste of the cranberry bread. You want to use an oil that has very little flavor.
• If you want to use olive oil, you should use a light or mild olive oil.
• Some of my visitors prefer to use a plant-based butter versus using dairy butters or vegetable oils.
• A number of my visitors also like to use avocado oil in order to make their quick breads & banana breads. Avocado oil has a neutral flavor and is high in monounsaturated fats. However, as you are probably aware, avocado oil is usually significantly more expensive than corn oil.
• Butter versus Vegetable Oil – Obviously, the use of butter adds the classic buttery taste to “quick bread” recipes such as cranberry bread, banana bread and pumpkin bread. Whereas the use of vegetable oil (instead of butter) creates a moister tasting cranberry bread. Why? Because vegetable oil is a liquid at “normal” room temps whereas butter is a solid. Moreover, there is more fat in vegetable oil (because water makes up roughly 15% to 20% of butter) and more fat creates a more tender & moister tasting quick bread.
• Some of my visitors like to use a 50/50 blend of butter and vegetable oil. This combination provides some of the buttery flavor that their family loves plus some of the extra moistness & tenderness associated with vegetable oil.
• Visitors – Do you prefer to use butter or vegetable oil to make cranberry bread? Please post your butter & oil thoughts in the comment section below.

• Use FRESH flour for the best results. Ingredients that have been sitting in the pantry for months can become stale or pick up weird smells & flavors.
• Try to keep your ingredients (e.g. flour) in airtight food containers in order to extend their shelf life.
• Flour absorbs moisture from the air (if kept in an open bag and not an airtight container). This extra moisture can throw off recipes and leads to overly wet batter and/or an underbaked cranberry bread.
• This recipe is based on using all purpose flour. Do NOT use bread flour or the cranberry bread can come out gummy.

• Make sure to use “large” eggs and not extra large eggs or jumbo eggs. If you use extra large or jumbo eggs, you will be adding too much moisture to the recipe (and your cranberry bread might come out underbaked).
• FYI – In the USA, you will usually find egg cartons labeled as containing eggs that are large, extra large or jumbo. This recipe requires the use of eggs labeled as large and not extra large or jumbo.
• Make sure to use level teaspoons & tablespoons when measuring ingredients (such as flour and baking soda). You can level off the ingredients in a measuring spoon or cup with the flat back of a butter knife or similar utensil. No “mountains” of ingredients in your measuring spoons & cups!! Adding too much of an ingredient can lead to recipe problems (such as too much flour can result in overly dry baked goods).

• Make sure to grease the bread pan, line the bread pan with baking parchment paper or use a very good nonstick bread pan.
• Cranberries can become VERY sticky after the baking process (especially on the bottom of the bread pan).
• Baking parchment paper is probably the best solution to prevent sticking (especially if you are using really sticky ingredients such as chocolate chips or fresh cranberries). It also allows you to lift the cranberry bread out of the pan without disturbing the top of the cranberry bread… in case you have added any special ingredients (such as chopped nuts or chocolate chips) to the top of the cranberry bread.
• FYI – Baking parchment paper is NOT regular paper. It is a specialty paper designed for use with baking.

• Be gentle when removing the cranberry bread from the bread pan because it is stuffed with cranberries. Consider using baking parchment paper if you want the least potential for any baking mishaps when removing a baked good from a bread pan. 
• Wait for this easy cranberry bread to completely cool down (e.g. 1 to 2 hours after being removed from the oven) for better “sliceability”. A still warm cranberry bread will crumble/break more easily when cut (when compared to a cooled down cranberry bread). It is also better to use a sharp serrated knife when cutting homemade cranberry bread.
• While some people think cranberry bread is only a Thanksgiving dessert, I think it is perfect for any occasion because fresh cranberry bread is so delicious.

• Make sure that your oven has been completely preheated. If the oven has not been properly preheated, this quick bread could come out undercooked.
• Depending on the size of the oven, it can take 10 to 20 minutes to fully preheat an oven.
• If your oven does not have a built-in thermometer, you can buy an inexpensive oven thermometer that you can place inside your oven in order to correctly gauge the temperature & make sure the oven has been fully preheated.
• Place the bread pan in the middle of the oven to reduce the chance of “over browning” the cranberry bread. You do not want to place the bread pan near the oven’s heating elements (usually on the top and/or bottom of the oven).

• After baking the cranberry bread – This doesn’t happen often but if the top of the cranberry bread looks too moist or under cooked, you can try the “toothpick test”. Gently push a long wooden skewer into the top of the bread and see if any batter sticks to the skewer. If batter is sticking to the skewer then it hasn’t completely cooked. Place the bread pan back into the still hot oven for another 3 to 5 minutes. Make sure to wear oven gloves because the bread pan will be very hot. Remove the bread pan and test the cranberry bread again with a long wooden skewer.
• Instead of the “toothpick test”, some people (including me) like to use a digital bread thermometer to test if their cranberry bread is fully baked. Generally, a “quick bread” (e.g. banana bread or cranberry bread) is done when the internal temperature reaches 200-205 degrees F. Just make sure to measure the temperature in the center of the loaf for the most accurate reading. If you remove the cranberry bread before it reaches this internal temperature, it is likely to be underbaked and sink in the middle.
• To prevent your cranberry bread from potentially sinking, you should read my “Why does my banana bread sink in the middle?” page (as it reviews the reasons for & potential solutions to this issue). While the page looks at banana breads, the information also applies to other similar quick bread recipes (that use baking soda/powder) such as cranberry bread and pumpkin bread.
• If you have a problem with small white flour “lumps” appearing in moist cranberry breads & quick breads, you should consider using a whisk to mix your batter. Just don’t overmix the batter (as overmixed cranberry breads & other quick breads turn out gummy & tough). This is why I never use electric mixers to mix my quick bread batter as there is a greater chance of overmixing the batter.

• In case, you didn’t see this in the “equipment used to make this recipe” section, this recipe is based on using a standard 9 by 5 bread pan. This means that the interior of the bread pan (not exterior) measures 9 inches in length, 5 inches in width and 2 1/2 inches in depth/height. Of course, Bread Dads are crazy about exact measurements… thus the use of measuring tapes! Ha!
• Please use the suggested 9 x 5 inch metal bread pan to make my recipe. If you start using different sized pans, there is a greater potential for bread top collapses (potentially less bread pan “wall” support for the quick bread as it rises), different interior batter to exterior bread ratios (thus the need for different baking times – so more likely under or overbaked versus my recipe’s baking time), smaller pans are more likely to overflow, etc.
• My recipes are based on using a metal bread pan and NOT a glass bread pan. Glass bread pans bake faster than metal bread pans. If you use a glass bread pan for my recipes, you are more likely to overbake your cranberry bread (e.g. burnt crust).

• You should always try to use relatively fresh baking soda & powder for the best results. For example, using baking soda from an open container (that has been deodorizing your refrigerator for months) may lead to subpar results. Old & hard baking soda/powder may lead to rising problems and/or leave small bitter clumps in your homemade cranberry bread.
• Cranberry bread is a type of sweet “quick bread” (similar to banana bread) because it uses baking powder and/or baking soda to rise and does not use bread yeast. This results in a faster rising baked good that tastes more like a muffin or cake and not like a sandwich bread. FYI – Cranberry bread is also known as cranberry loaf bread, cranberry quick bread or cranberry bread cake.
• If you like cranberry desserts & snacks, you should try out Bread Dad’s recipes for Berry Banana Bread (made with blueberries & cranberries), Cranberry Banana Bread, Cranberry Banana Nut Bread (with chopped walnuts) and Cranberry Banana Muffins.
• Or if you are looking for a cranberry “quick bread” made with dried cranberries, you should try my Cranberry Bread with Dried Cranberries recipe.

• If you have a problem with a homemade cranberry bread recipe, please make sure that you are following the recipe exactly (e.g. using the correct oven temperature), using the correct amounts of ingredients (e.g. don’t eyeball the measurements versus using a measuring cup or accidentally add a tablespoon when a teaspoon is called for), using the correct ingredients (e.g. baking soda/powder versus yeast or all purpose flour versus bread flour), etc. Please don’t “wing” things with recipes.
• My recipes are based on US ingredient measurements (e.g. US cups & tablespoons). However, as a courtesy to our European visitors, I have also included some very ROUGH European equivalents (e.g. grams & milliliters). Since I rarely use European measurements when baking, please let me know in the comment section below if any of the European ingredient measurements need to be changed (e.g. for XYZ ingredient, milliliters are more commonly used versus the grams information listed in the recipe).
• Always wear oven mitts/gloves when dealing with bread pans & a hot oven.
• For other delicious quick bread recipes (e.g. banana bread, pumpkin bread or cornbread), please visit Bread Dad’s main section for Quick Bread Recipes.

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Questions & Answers – Cranberry Bread with Fresh Cranberries

What is cranberry bread?

Cranberry bread is a sweet “quick bread” that is used for desserts and snacks. It is not a sandwich-type bread. Cranberry bread is loaf shaped, muffin-like and can be made with fresh cranberries, frozen cranberries or dried cranberries. Quick breads are made with baking powder and/or baking soda and not with bread yeast. Other types of quick breads include banana bread, pumpkin bread, strawberry bread, applesauce bread, etc.

Can I use frozen cranberries in cranberry bread?

Yes. You can use frozen cranberries in cranberry bread if you do not have fresh cranberries. Just make sure that you are not adding any extra ice with the frozen cranberries. Otherwise, you will adding too much moisture to the recipe and the cranberry bread could come out undercooked or soggy. In addition, frozen cranberries should not be used to replace dried cranberries (if dried cranberries called for in a cranberry bread recipe) because the frozen cranberries might add too much moisture and cause the cranberry bread to be soggy.

Can I use dried cranberries to make cranberry bread?

Yes. You can use dried cranberries to make a delicious cranberry bread. Quick breads that use dried cranberries tend to be a little sweeter because the manufacturers of dried cranberries often add extra sugar to the dried cranberries. For details on how to make cranberry bread with dried cranberries, please take a look at our Cranberry Bread with Dried Cranberries recipe.

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Reference Sources

1. Wikipedia, Cranberry
2. Wikipedia, Dried Cranberry
3. Wikipedia, Quick Bread

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6. Pumpkin Cranberry Bread

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