Cranberry Banana Bread is made with flavorful fresh cranberries, sweet ripe bananas, cinnamon & nutmeg to make this fantastic take on traditional banana bread recipe.
Cranberry Banana Bread has got to be one of my favorite new recipes this season. I’ve never thought to blend the two in the past, but I’m sure glad I decided to try it out this year! The flavors are so wonderful together- the tangy fresh cranberries sweeten when baked and they just pair so well with the banana flavors. I love the spices in this recipe too. The cinnamon and nutmeg just enhance the other flavors and taste so festive.
A few tips on making the best cranberry banana bread:
- Be sure to not overmix. You do not need an electric mixer of any sort with this recipe. A regular old mixing bowl and rubber scraper work just fine.
- Spray your pan with non-stick spray or line with parchment paper. I like the baking non-stick spray as it has flour and just works better on baked goods. Parchment paper is always a good idea too as the loaf will literally lift right out of the pan.
- Don’t overfill your bread pan. I use an 8″ bread pan in this recipe and it works out to be about 3/4 full. If your pan is smaller, I suggest using two pans and splitting the batter up into 2 loaves, one larger and one smaller.
- Let bread cool IN the pan for a good 20 minutes or so, then transfer out of the pan to cool longer. Quick breads need time to rest or they’ll end up really crumbly.
- I personally feel like quick breads always taste better the next day! It gives the flavors a chance to meld and settle. So it’s a great idea to bake it a day ahead of when you need it!
Best Bread Pan?
I bake a lot of bread and the pans I prefer are either ceramic, glass or cast iron. These pans will bake bread more evenly and release the bread more easily after baking. I don’t like using dark or nonstick pans because the bread cooks unevenly. It darkens on the outside before the bread is cooked on the inside, so the coloring is uneven. Read more about which bread pan is the best here!
Cranberry Banana Bread
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup softened butter (1 cube)
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 2 1/3 cups mashed bananas (about 3 bananas)
- 2 cups fresh cranberries, rinsed
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- 2 TBSP turbinado sugar (coarse sugar) for topping, if desired
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Spray your 8-9″ bread pan with non-stick spray or line with parchment. Set aside.
- Whisk together flour, baking soda & salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar until well blended. Stir in spices, eggs, vanilla and bananas.
- Stir in flour mixture until just incorporated.
- Fold in cranberries, saving several to top bread with, if you’d like.
- Transfer mixture to bread pan. Sprinkle top with coarse sugar, if desired. Top with additional cranberries.
- Bake for 60-65 minutes at 300 degrees F. Bread will be a dark brown color and internal temp will read 190 degrees F when done.
- Cool in pan for 20 minutes. Overturn loaf onto a cooling rack to cool rest of the way. Slice & enjoy!
If you enjoyed this Cranberry Banana Bread, here are more recipes you might like:
- Best Ever Zucchini Bread
- Cranberry Jello Salad
- Caramel Apple Bread
- Raspberry Vanilla Jello Salad
- Cranberry Orange Cobbler
AVOID SUNKEN BREAD
The easiest and best way to avoid sunken bread is to use a cooking thermometer to check the inside of the loaf. Fully cooked bread will register 200°F on a thermometer. My all-time favorite thermometer is the Thermapen. It’s super fast and incredibly durable. Another great cooking thermometer is the ThermoPop which is a more basic version that works just as well!
Cranberry Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup softened butter 1 cube
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 2 1/3 cups mashed bananas about 3 bananas
- 2 cups fresh cranberries rinsed
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- 2 TBSP coarse sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Spray your 8-9" bread pan with non-stick spray or line with parchment. Set aside.
- Whisk together flour, baking soda & salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar until well blended. Stir in spices, eggs, vanilla and bananas.
- Stir in flour mixture until just incorporated.
- Fold in cranberries, setting several aside to top bread with, if you'd like.
- Transfer mixture to bread pan. Sprinkle top with coarse sugar and top with remaining cranberries, if desired.
- Bake for 60-65 minutes at 300 degrees F. Bread will be a dark brown color and internal temp will read 190 degrees F when done.
- Cool in pan for 20 minutes. Overturn loaf onto a cooling rack to cool rest of the way. Slice & enjoy!
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Cranberry Banana Bread is made with flavorful fresh cranberries, sweet bananas, cinnamon & nutmeg to make this fantastic take on traditional banana bread.
Chris G says
It’s somewhere between a bread and a dense cake, but boy is it good!
Alison says
Thanks so much Chris!
Laura says
I see nuts added to ingredients and also in final picture of Cranberry Banana loaf BUT I do not see the ingredient listed in recipe
Jessica says
Sorry about that- I fixed it!
Laurie says
I just made this last week, and let me tell you… OMG.. It’s off the hook!!! Going to make more very soon and freeze them!
Nellie says
So glad you enjoyed the recipe Laurie!
Mary says
This is my new favorite bread recipe. I love cranberry bread but all of my other recipes seem to come out a little dry and crumbled. This recipe is perfection in texture and moistness. The combination of cranberry with banana flavor is out of this world! I have a batch in the oven right now and It’s going to be hard to wait through the resting time because I know how yummy it is. I’ll try because that is an important step, but no promises. 😆 Thank you for this wonderful recipe!
Nellie says
I usually can’t wait either! So glad you enjoy the bread Mary!
Laura Wekar says
could you use dried cranberries instead of fresh
Jessica says
Yes, you can. I just like to soak dried cranberries in a few TBSP hot water first. Let them site for 5 minutes, then drain and use them.
Jay says
The baking fragrance makes it tough to wait. It’s so good but I bake them in 3 small pans so I can share. Second time and there are more in my future!!
Jessica says
So glad you enjoyed the recipe Jay!
T. J. says
can you use an oven probe to bake bread with?
Jessica says
I’ve not tried it- I just stick mine in at the end to test. (I stick it into a corner, towards the middle of the bread.)
Bar Fores says
A bag full of ripe bananas for 99 cents lead me here. The addition of cranberries and pecans made me print it out. I had just brought 7 pounds of cranberries straight from the bogs of Massachusetts home to Alabama with me. Pecans from my mother-in-law’s trees were waiting to be cracked.
This recipe was perfect! Moist from the bananas, , zing from the cranberries and the crunch from the pecans. Husband and neighbors rate it A+.
I may try putting pecan praline on the top for the holidays for that extra special touch.
Jessica says
I’m so glad you liked it Bar! It’s a favorite of mine too! I think the praline topping sounds incredible!
Qauluq says
Amazingly delicious. I folded in 1 cup frozen tundra crans and added almost a cup of mixed walnut and pecans. Would definitely make again.
Alison says
Thank you so much!
Debbie says
This turned out well. I didn’t make any major changes, but I only used @ 1/4 tsp fresh grated nutmeg as 1 tsp seemed like a lot. Also I did use 3 very ripe bananas, but they measured 1 1/3 c,. It took @ 75 minutes to bake but was delicious and will definitely make again.
Alison says
I hope you continue to enjoy this one Debbie!
stacey a costanza says
Hi! I have this in the oven right now and my house smells amazing. However, it is taking much longer to bake. I followed the recipe exactly, used a 9 inch loaf pan and set the oven to 300 degrees as stated in the directions but still wet inside after 80 minutes. Was there a typo on the oven temp? Should it have been 325 or 350?
Jessica says
Baking times vary- I recommend using a cooking thermometer to test for doneness- it should register about 200 degrees F.
Terry Mcmahon says
I baked this one today to and the wife loves it I love cranberries so this is a must for me tastes great. Just one thing to mention, the recipe has chopped pecans in but nothing about how chopped or adding. I put them in with the cranberries…
Jessica says
THanks Terry, glad you liked it!
Ev says
Yes, just made it! Waiting patiently for them to completely cool!! I used 5 small loaf pans! Thank you! LOVE BUTTER and your fun name!!