It’s fall and the pumpkins are everywhere; I love it. I love the color of fall, falling leaves, the cooler weather and all things made with pumpkin. Once I see my first pumpkin of the season I know it’s time to bake my fall favorite, Pumpkin Cranberry Bread with Orange Glaze. If you like quick bread give this recipe a try, it is packed with the flavor from pumpkin, cranberries and lots of spices. Plus, this recipe makes two loaves so after you bake them you can eat one now and freeze one for later.
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Classic Pumpkin Cranberry Bread
Top with a simple orange cinnamon icing
This bread will make your kitchen smell like warm baked spicy goodness from the pumpkin, the sweet cranberries and all the fall spices of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg. There is nothing better than a warm slice of this moist bread with a hot cup of tea or cider, or maybe even a maple latte. Warm-up a slice for breakfast or an afternoon snack.
Pumpkin is such a wonderful ingredient because it goes with so many flavors.
fruit – apples, pears, cherries, cranberries
nuts -pecans, walnuts, pistachios, macadamia
chocolate – dark chocolate is a great addition
spices – cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, and ginger
liquids – honey, maple syrup, bourbon
Types of Cranberries and their uses –
Fresh cranberries are definitely seasonal showing up around November to January, Luckily they freeze well so I buy quite a few bags to last me throughout the year.
Eating fresh cranberries can be too tart to eat by themselves. The fresh berries are usually added to salads and baked goods, oatmeal, and savory dishes.
Dried cranberries are sweet and chewy like a raisin and perfect for snacking, tossed in salads, and they add great flavor to cooked and baked items.
Canned Cranberry Sauce is something I don’t use a lot but for this recipe, I make the exception. I like how moist it makes this bread and it’s full of cranberries, so don’t be afraid of using this cranberry sauce in baking. I guess you could call this a Pumpkin Cranberry Bread with Canned Cranberries.
Pumpkin Cranberry Sauce Bread Recipe Ingredients
This quick bread has a long list of ingredients but spices are what makes this bread so tasty.
- Flour
- Brown Sugar
- Baking Powder
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Cinnamon
- Nutmeg
- Cloves
- Pumpkin Puree
- Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce
- Pecans
- Vegetable Oil
- Eggs
Ingredients for the Orange Glaze
- Powdered Sugar
- Orange Juice
- Cinnamon
This is what I use for the pumpkin puree and the cranberry sauce. Both can easily be found in most markets.
For all you pumpkin lovers lets bake some bread. Making a quick bread is well….quick, no yeast, no waiting for the dough to rise, just mix and bake.
How to make pumpkin cranberry bread
- Measure all the dry ingredients in a large bowl
- Mix the pumpkin puree, cranberry sauce, eggs and oil in a smaller bowl
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until combined
- Once the ingredients are mixed up, pour into the bread pans and bake
This makes a dark-colored bread since I use dark brown sugar because I like the flavor but feel free to use white sugar, a mixture of white and brown sugar or use coconut sugar.
While your bread is baking and your kitchen is smelling deliciously spicy you can go ahead and make the simple 3-ingredient orange icing. Just mix powdered sugar, orange juice, and cinnamon. Sweet and spicy!
Once the bread has cooled top with that sweet orange icing and watch it drizzle down the sides of your fresh-baked bread.
I love how the icing flows into all the nooks and crannies in the bread.
The best way to slice a quick bread is to make nice big 1/2″ thick slices.
Need another pumpkin recipe? This Spicy Pumpkin Sheet Cake with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting is a favorite.
Ready to bake some bread? I promise you will love the pumpkin bread, it really is my favorite.
Get your bread pans ready – here is my favorite LeCreuset pan for baking bread.
Pumpkin Cranberry Bread with Orange Glaze
Equipment
- Bread pan
- Mixing bowl
Ingredients
Bread Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups AP flour
- 1 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. nutmeg
- 1 tsp. ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 16 oz. pumpkin puree
- 16 oz. can whole berry cranberry sauce
- 3/4 cup chopped pecans
- 2/3 cups canola oil
- 4 eggs
Orange Glaze Ingredients
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1/8 cup orange juice
- 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Grease two 9 x 5 loaf pans
- Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
- In another large bowl mix the pumpkin, cranberry sauce, pecans and oil.
- Break the eggs into a small bowl and beat. Pour the eggs into the pumpkin bowl and stir until combined.
- Bake for 60 - 70 minutes, test with a toothpick
- Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pans
- Cool the bread in the pans for 10 minutes then remove to a cooling rack.
- Mix the glaze ingredients together
- When the bread is completely cooled drizzle the glaze on top of the bread.
- Cover the bread with plastic wrap. This bread will keep on the counter for two days or in the refrigerator for five days.
Notes
Nutrition
Pumpkin Cranberry Bread with Orange Icing Drizzle
There is nothing better than a slice and this pumpkin cranberry sauce bread that is full of plump cranberries, pecans and your favorite fall spices that add that extra special flavor to this bread.
Thanks for stopping by today for some tasty pumpkin recipes.
I love this recipe. Thank you for sharing. Now I should make this for my family
Thanks, this is a great recipe.
Seriously, I just the canned cranberry sauce for all kinds of recipes but I have never used it in bread, so I tried it and wow does it ever add moistness and flavor to this bread. I love this recipe makes two loaves. I froze one for Thanksgiving day. Just one less dessert I have to worry about.
This sounds like a perfect recipe to try for this pumpkin season. The orange glaze sure adds the flavor to the bread.
I love the pumpkin and orange flavors together. It’s great bread.
This pumpkin and cranberry bread looks delicious and would make me so happy in the morning with my cuppa coffee or a slice after my gym sesh. I will be definitely making this as I have all ingredients ;-). So excited to making this bread now and take with me as I tend to snack on wrong stuff lately after my gym lately. Perfect timing!! Thanks so much for sharing this beauty!
I have been known to eat the wrong things after my workout too. I guess that is why I work out!
This pumpkin cranberry bread looks and sounds absolutely delicious! I would love to serve this for breakfast with a big pot of tea!
Yes, it is perfect with a big pot of tea.
This is such an amazing flavor combo! Perfect for the holidays!
It’s hard not to have pumpkin and cranberry flavors for the holidays.
This looks so comforting with all the warming spices that all pair so well with pumpkin. I love using cranberry sauce in baked goods, and so I will have to try this recipe once I get my hands on some cranberries.
I agree cranberry sauce adds great flavor and texture to baked goods.
This bread sounds delicious with the addition of cranberries. That glaze looks great.
I love the orange glaze, it adds the perfect flavor to the bread
This is a perfect Christmas morning recipe, just like Kacie said! I can’t wait for the smell of it baking, and I think I might do a few practices with it, just to get me in the Christmas mood!
We just baked again for store in the freezer for Christmas morning. I love you get to loaves at once.
This sounds like the perfect bread for the festive season; I can just imagine nibbling on a hunk of it, toasted with butter on Christmas Day morning.
I agree, I love toasting the bread to bring out more flavors and then the butter just melts right into all the nooks and crannies.
I have searched for this recipe after losing it a while ago. It appeared on the side of a can of supermarket brand pumpkin in the mid 80’s. We always baked the whole recipe in our large Bundt pan. Such a good bread.
Isn’t it nice to finally find an old recipe? I’m just getting ready to post a bread recipe I finally found that my mom used in the 70’s. I went back in my books to look at this recipe and it was from Wesson Oil, I think it was an advertisement in a magazine. I’m going to try this in a bundt pan as well. Thanks ~ Jere’
Where did you get that square an with the individual sections?
The square pan with the triangles is a Wilton pan. I bought it at Michaels several years ago. I love it.