Cranberry Nut Bread
Updated Nov. 18, 2025
- Total Time
- 1 hour 20 minutes, plus overnight cool
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 2cups all-purpose flour
- 1cup sugar
- 1½teaspoons baking powder
- ½teaspoon baking soda
- ½teaspoon salt
- ¼cup butter
- 1egg
- ¾cup orange juice
- 1tablespoon grated orange rind
- 1½cups chopped fresh cranberries
- ½cup chopped pecans
Preparation
- Step 1
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Greasing 9-by-5-by-3-inch baking pan.
- Step 2
Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut in butter until the mixture resembles corn meal.
- Step 3
Beat egg until thick and light. Stir in orange juice and rind. Lightly stir this mixture into the flour mixture just until the ingredients are blended. Fold in cranberries and nuts.
- Step 4
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the bread is golden brown and springs back when lightly touched.
- Step 5
Cool on a rack, wrap in foil and hold overnight before slicing.
Private Notes
Comments
This is the Ocean Spray cranberry nut bread recipe from the package- loved by many generations. Do yourself a favor and just melt the butter and mix in with the other wet ingredients - per original instructions.
I doubled the orange rind and the nuts both. This consistent with a life given to excess. I made gifts of this bread over the holidays and EVERYONE raved about it.
This recipe is spectacular! I followed it exactly, although I made a minor substitution, swapping walnuts for the pecans because that was what I had on hand. The recipe doesn't specify either way, but I'd recommend using fresh-squeezed orange juice- I just juiced the orange I used for the zest and it yielded exactly 3/4 cup of juice. I second the suggestion of sprinkling demerara sugar on top before baking, it makes this bread extra special.
The recipe calls for 1/4 cup of butter, i.e. half of a stick. Every quick bread I’ve ever made (and I’ve made many) uses either a whole stick of butter, or if the recipe calls for oil, the equivalent amount of fat, i.e. 1/2 of a cup. I’ve made the recipe several times using a whole stick of butter, and it was delicious! Have people used 1/2 stick of butter as the recipe suggests, and if so, how did it come out?
Doubled this recipe as I almost always to (I like to have baked goods in my freezer!) My oranges had great zest but lousy juice; was only able to to get 1/2 a cup from three oranges! So I used all the zest, but made up the rest of the liquid with whole buttermilk, and added 1 tsp of orange extract to help make up for the loss of orange flavor ofthe juice. Toasted the pecans (I added 1/4 extra per loaf and I’m glad I did! This recipe is a keeper!! I am SO glad I doubled the recipe and now have one loaf squirreled away for the days when I want a sweet but don't feel like baking, or company comes on short notice!! Parchment lined the loaf pans. One comment mentioned gifting this - what a great gift it would make!!
Why do we need to resist eating for an entire overnight? I've made lots of breads, I've never waited until the next day to try it, nor have I EVER COME ACROSS A RECIPEE THAT calls for this extended waiting period. Any ideas?