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The best quick and easy Cranberry Bread recipe, loaded with fresh cranberries, moist ricotta cheese, vanilla and olive oil, then finished with a crispy streusel topping. A Thanksgiving and Christmas favorite recipe to enjoy with your morning coffee or tea!
Jump to RecipeCranberry Bread Recipe
All you need on your Thanksgiving and Christmas table is this divine, fluffy homemade sweet bread loaded with tangy cranberries. I don’t think it lasts for more than 20 minutes after it comes out of the oven, so plan accordingly.
Super easy to make, all you need are: two bowls, a whisk and a spatula to fold everything together. Bake for 1 hour and voila: the perfect holiday cranberry loaf!
Cranberry Bread Recipe Tips + FAQ
- The Batter – to ensure a moist and fluffy bread without the use of orange juice I use Italian ricotta cheese + olive oil. It’s the best combination when making sweet breads and always yileds marvelous results even if you are not an experienced baker. Remember this pumpkin bread?
- Do Not Overmix – excessive mixing of the dough makes the bread tough, so make sure to FOLD your wet and dry ingredients just until combined for the best results.
- The Streusel – it’s simple, it’s quick but it takes your bread to the next level. There’s really no need for a glaze at all unless you insist, in which case I recommend a festive white chocolate glaze topped with sliced almonds.
- Can you use dried cranberries instead of fresh? – Not recommended in this recipe, fresh is best.
- How do you keep cranberries from floating on bread? – Add the cranberries to the bowl with the dry ingredients and give them a quick toss before folding into the wet ingredients.
- Storage – Allow the loaf to cool off completely before wrapping it in parchment paper and/or aluminum foil. Store on the kitchen counter or in the pantry for a few days. Individual slices can be refrigerated or frozen in sandwich bags or wrapped in plastic wrap for later use. Pop in the toaster oven to reheat.
Recipe Variations:
- Replace the streusel topping with a luscious white chocolate glaze instead.
- Add white chocolate chips, candied orange peel or nuts to the batter.
- Bake into little muffins instead of a loaf.
- Go over the top and drizzle with a grand marnier or orange glaze on top of the streusel. Exact measurements included in the recipe card below.
watch how to make it
5 from 1 vote
Easy Cranberry Ricotta Bread Recipe
The best cranberry bread recipe loaded with fresh cranberries, ricotta cheese, vanilla and extra virgin olive oil, then finished with a crispy streusel topping.
Print Recipe
Prep Time:10 minutes mins
Cook Time:1 hour hr
Total Time:1 hour hr 10 minutes mins
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil organic
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar organic
- 2 large eggs organic, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
- 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour organic
- 1 pinch sea salt
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 cup cranberries (fresh organic)
For the Streusel Topping
- 4 tbsp all purpose flour
- 4 tbsp granulated sugar organic
- 3 tbsp cold or frozen butter
US Customary - Metric
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350 “F
In a mixing bowl whisk together the eggs, olive oil, vanilla, sugar, sea salt and ricotta cheese. Set aside.
In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add it to the bowl with the wet mixture. Add the cranberries and using a spatula gently fold everything together.
Layer a loaf pan with baking wax paper and pour in the dough.
Quickly make the streusel topping by combining the sugar and flour together in a small bowl. Using a cheese grater, grate the cold butter on top and mix in using your fingertips, just until mixture looks like wet sand. Move quickly so the butter doesn’t melt. Sprinkle over the cranberry bread dough.
Bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean.
Grand Marnier Glaze:
Whisk together 1 c powder sugar + 1/4 c grand marnier.
Orange Glaze:
Whisk 1 c powder sugar + 3 tbsp orange juice + 1 tbsp lemon juice. Combine with the zest from 1 orange and drizzle over the cranberry bread after it has cooled off completely.
Video
Notes
- Can you use dried cranberries instead of fresh? - Not recommended in this recipe, that would yield a totally different result.
- How do you keep cranberries from floating on bread? - Add your cranberries to the bowl with the dry ingredients and give them a quick toss before folding into the wet ingredients.
- Storage - Allow the loaf to cool off completely before wrapping it loosely in aluminum foil and storing on the kitchen counter or the pantry. Individual slices can be frozen for later wrapped in plastic wrap!
RECIPE VARIATIONS
- Replace the streusel topping with a luscious white chocolate glaze instead.
- Add white chocolate chips, candied orange peel or nuts to the batter.
- Bake into muffins instead of loaf.
- Go over the top and drizzle with a grand marnier or orange glaze on top of the streusel. Recipe for both included in the recipe card.
Nutrition
Calories: 324kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 48mg | Sodium: 184mg | Potassium: 83mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 20g | Vitamin A: 220IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 46mg | Iron: 1.3mg
Course: Baked Goods
Cuisine: Italian American
Keyword: cranberry bread, ricotta bread
Servings: 10 people
Calories: 324kcal
Author: Florentina
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I’ve made this twice now and it does not disappoint! I prefer the Grand Marnier glaze over the streusel, but it’s a great bread either way!
Reply
Absolutely amazing cranberry bread. I added zest from 1 lemon a little more vanilla but that’s all. Incredibly moist and fluffy. Im planning to make 3 loaves for Thanksgiving and Christmas.Reply
Hello!
What size loaf pan are you using, 8×4 or 9×5?
All your goods look divine and I’m really excited to bake them!!!
Thank-you… EllieReply
Thank you so much Ellie Actually I have 2 different pans I make this in, the one in the video is a 9×4 Italian loaf pan. It isn’t a fussy bread, so you can even make it in a bundt cake pan if you want, just check the cake earlier to make sure you don’t over bake it. Let me know how it goes ~ Florentina
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Looks totally awesome and I do have fresh cranberries at my disposal. However, looks like powdered sugar on top. Can we do this instead of the streusel topping? thanks
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Yes absolutely you can leave out the streusel topping and just do powdered sugar or one of the glaze variations in the recipe. Enjoy! ~ Florentina
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Every time I see a pic of your magnificent lemon olive oil cake with berries I just stare and think it was too beautiful to eat. It really should be your signature cake.
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awww you are the best Judy! You just made my day Xo’s ~Florentina
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I am definitely going to try this one. Let’s see, all I need to buy today is cranberries and ricotta cheese. I might need to get a new bottle of olive oil, too. Oh, and I pinned this recipe to save and share.
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Awesome! Don’t forget to let me know how it all turned out 🙂
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Unfortunately I found today that here in the Northeast there are no fresh cranberries except around Thanksgiving. I’m hoping that this will work with blueberries.
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Hi Meg ! This is actually fabulous with blueberries, definitely give it a try ~ Florentina
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Pingback: Blueberry Ricotta Muffins Recipe - Ciao Florentina
Pingback: Blueberry and Ricotta Muffins Recipe - Ciao Florentina
This looks and sounds totally yummy! Also I really wanted to make something new with cranberries (aka something that is not cranberry sauce :-), will definitely give this a try! 🙂
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I believe you will really love this! I knew i loved it but then everyone at dinner was all over it. That’s how I know when I have a keeper 🙂 Enjoy !
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