Vegan Cranberry Orange Bread

Tis' the season for vegan cranberry orange bread! There is something about flavorful dessert breads that I have always loved, and cranberry orange is no exception. I feel like cranberry orange is such an underrated flavor. I honestly wish stores carried cranberries all year around, because I'd be making this bad boy all the time! This is the best cranberry orange bread recipe, because it contains whole foods plant based ingredients. Therefore you can make it as all the time and never feel gross or sluggish.

What makes this Vegan Cranberry Orange Bread healthy?

I am glad you asked (even if you didn't, I am excited to tell you why)! Honestly I find it so annoying that there are so many vegan dessert bread recipes online that claim to be healthy, but turn out to be loaded with refined ingredients and high fat oils. This whole foods plant based cranberry orange bread is free of all those unhealthy ingredients and filled with nutrient dense clean ingredients. I mean, if you're going to make a recipe with fruit in it, why would you ruin it with processed sugar when nature gives us all the natural sugar we could ever want?

Making Gluten-free cranberry orange bread vegan:

This vegan cranberry orange bread also happens to be gluten-free. To be completely honest I actually prefer making my dessert bread recipes with gluten-free flours, because they turn out so moist and fluffy. I also find that wheat (at least whole wheat) leaves a strong wheat flavor which conflicts with the sweet dessert breads. One key difference between this vegan gluten-free cranberry orange bread and other gluten-free bread recipes is that the flours I use are whole foods plant based and not refined. It's important when baking gluten-free that you choose the whole foods flours and not processed gluten-free mixes, because they are often not any healthier than their gluten counterpart. I absolutely love making plant based dessert breads, and I have quite a few on my blog. Here are some of my favorites:

• Whole Foods Plant Based Banana Bread
• Apple Cider Chai Bread

Why purée the oranges for this vegan cranberry bread?

While you could definitely use the orange juice for this vegan cranberry orange bread recipe, I would encourage you to try puréeing the oranges into a pulp. Why? It's simple really; when you purée the oranges you end up with more fiber. I always opt for the higher fiber options, because you really can't go wrong (definitely talk to a nutritionist about this!). Fiber keeps you full longer, and helps your body flush out the bad stuff. This is a huge reason my recipes never contain refined sugar and rarely contain oil; because they have zero grams of fiber! Anyways the fiber from the purée helps the cranberry orange bread solidify, so that you get nice clean slices!

@theallnaturalvegan

Cranberry orange bread!! #vegan #glutenfree #food #fyp #christmas #christiantiktok #foodrecipe #foodvegan #healthydessert #michaelbublé #christmastime

♬ It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas - Michael Bublé

Fresh cranberries vs. dried cranberries?

While you could use either of these for this vegan cranberry orange bread recipe, I would strongly encourage you to choose fresh cranberries. Why? Almost all dried cranberries out there are sweetened with sugar. Whereas fresh are obviously not (yay for natural!). You can find some unsweetened dried cranberries, I still wouldn't recommend them for this cranberry orange recipe, because I think the fresh cranberries add an extra moisture boost! I do like keeping some dried on hand for other baked goods!

How to eat healthy during the Holiday's:

If you're like me and you are the only vegan in your family, the holiday's can be hard. Even when there are vegan options and treats they're not usually healthy. Over the past three years of eating vegan and whole foods plant based, I have figured out how to successfully eat healthy during the holidays. In order to do this, make sure that you bake at least one healthy vegan dessert, such as this refined sugar-free cranberry orange bread. I say this so that you have a healthy go to option. Therefore you can still splurge and have a little of the processed vegan treats, but you fill up on the whole foods plant based cranberry bread.

Ingredients for this Vegan Cranberry Orange recipe:

• Oats/Oat flour
• Oranges
• Cranberries
• Vanilla extract
• Baking soda
• Coconut flour
• Ground flaxseed
• Applesauce
• Soy or coconut milk
• Date syrup

That's it! This vegan cranberry orange bread is such an easy winter dessert recipe. I love making this for Thanksgiving and Christmas, or as soon as cranberries hit the shelves!