Gluten-Free Vegan Cranberry Bread

This Gluten-Free Vegan Cranberry Bread is moist, fluffy and filled with juicy, tart-sweet cranberries! It's easy to make, comes together in one bowl and is refined sugar free too. It's great for dessert, breakfast, brunch or a snack, and makes a perfect festive treat for Christmas!

Tips for making Cranberry Bread

• You'll need to soak the cranberries first to make them soft. Otherwise, they won't have a good texture when baked, and as they cook they will absorb moisture from the bread batter, causing the bread to be dry.
• I recommend soaking the cranberries overnight in orange juice, apple juice or any liquor of choice, such as brandy or sherry.

How to make this recipe

Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.

• Soak the cranberries overnight.

• Mix together all the ingredients in a mixing bowl.

Tip: Make sure to use a measuring jug to measure out the exact amount of plant-based milk!

• Transfer the batter into a one-pound loaf tin.

Tip: Make sure to line the loaf tin with greased baking paper - this will make removing the bread from the tin so much easier!

• Bake in the oven for 45 minutes.

• Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

• Leave to cool before slicing.

Substitutions you can make to this recipe

• You can use any type of oil: coconut oil, olive oil or vegetable oil.
• You can use any type of plant-based milk: almond milk, rice milk, soy milk, cashew milk, oat milk etc.
• You can use any type of liquid sweetener: maple syrup, agave syrup, brown rice syrup etc.
• You can replace the ground almonds (almond meal/almond flour) with ground walnuts.
• For a nut-free version: replace the ground almonds (almond meal/almond flour) with ground sunflower seeds or use 30g (¼ cup) coconut flour instead of 150g (1 ¼ cup) ground almonds, and use a nut-free plant-based milk.
• You can use plain flour, wholemeal (whole wheat) flour or spelt flour instead of the gluten-free flour if you’re not gluten-free.

Flavour substitutions you can make

• You can replace the dried cranberries with any other dried fruit, such as raisins, sultanas, dried blueberries, dried cherries, or chopped dried mango, dried figs, dried pineapple, dried papaya, dried apricots, dates etc.
• You can add chocolate chips.
• You can sprinkle over some flaked almonds or coconut flakes before baking.
• You can add some almond extract.
• You can also add some orange zest, orange extract or orange blossom water.

Serving suggestions

This Cranberry Bread tastes delicious on its own, but also works well with toppings such as:

• Jam.
• Marmalade.
• Lemon curd.
• Cranberry sauce.

How long does this keep for?

Best eaten on the day it’s made, but keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days. 

More vegan sweet bread recipes

• Gluten-Free Vegan Orange Poppy Seed Bread
• Gluten-Free Vegan Pumpkin Bread
• Gluten-Free Vegan Zucchini Bread
• Gluten-Free Vegan Apple Bread
• Gluten-Free Vegan Carrot Bread
• Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Bread
• Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Bread

If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I’d really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo @rhiansrecipes #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.

Gluten-Free Vegan Cranberry Bread

This Gluten-Free Vegan Cranberry Bread is moist, fluffy and filled with juicy, tart-sweet cranberries!

5 from 2 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: dairy-free cranberry bread, gluten-free cranberry bread, vegan cranberry bread, vegan cranberry loaf cake

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour

Servings: 10 slices

Calories: 264kcal

Author: Rhian Williams

Ingredients

For the cranberries:

• ▢ 120 g (1 cup) dried cranberries
• ▢ Splash orange juice (or apple juice, or liquor of choice, such as brandy or sherry)

For the cranberry bread:

• ▢ 60 g (¼ cup) coconut oil (or sub olive or vegetable oil)
• ▢ 200 ml (⅘ cup) unsweetened almond milk (or any other plant-based milk)
• ▢ 2 tablespoons lemon juice *
• ▢ 8 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ Pinch salt
• ▢ 150 g (1 ¼ cup) ground almonds (almond meal) **
• ▢ 150 g (1 ¼ cup) gluten-free flour blend (or sub plain flour if not gluten-free)
• ▢ 2 heaped teaspoons baking powder (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

Instructions

For the cranberries:

• Place the dried cranberries in a bowl.
• Add some orange juice, apple syrup or liquor of choice (such as brandy of sherry) until the cranberries are roughly covered.
• Place in the fridge and leave to soak overnight.

For the cranberry bread:

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
• Place the coconut oil in a large bowl and melt over a saucepan of boiling water or in the microwave (skip this step if using any other oil).
• Once melted, add the milk to the same bowl along with the lemon juice, maple syrup, vanilla, salt and ground almonds.
• Sift in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.
• Add the soaked dried cranberries.
• Mix well, adding a tiny splash more milk if it’s looking too dry.
• Transfer the mixture into a loaf tin lined with greased baking paper (I used a one-pound loaf tin).
• Bake in the oven for around 45 minutes, until risen and golden brown, and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
• Leave to cool on a wire rack before slicing.
• Keeps well covered in the fridge for up to a few days.

Notes

*The lemon juice is crucial as its acidity needs to react with the alkali bicarbonate of soda to make the bread fluffy. If you don't want to use lemon juice, replace with 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar instead.

**You can alternatively use almond flour.

Nutrition Facts

Gluten-Free Vegan Cranberry Bread

Amount Per Serving

Calories 264 Calories from Fat 126

% Daily Value*

Fat 14g22%

Saturated Fat 5g25%

Polyunsaturated Fat 0.3g

Monounsaturated Fat 1g

Sodium 57mg2%

Potassium 66mg2%

Carbohydrates 34g11%

Fiber 4g16%

Sugar 19g21%

Protein 5g10%

Vitamin A 0.2IU0%

Vitamin C 1mg1%

Calcium 93mg9%

Iron 1mg6%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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