Name: Cranberry Orange Bread Pudding
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 65 min
Ingredients: 4 cups milk; 6 eggs; 2 tsp vanilla extract; 1 tsp cinnamon; 1/2 tsp cloves; 1/4 tsp allspice; 1 cup granulated sugar; 2 Tbsp orange zest; 1 1/4 cups fresh cranberries; 1 loaf thick bread, cubed (day old/crusty bread is best; I used brioche); 3 Tbsp butter, melted; 1-1 1/2 cups powdered sugar; 1/2 tsp vanilla extract; 2 Tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice; 1 tsp orange zest (optional--it makes the glaze extra orange-flavored!)

Cranberry Orange Bread Pudding

ByMichelle Dec 5, 2017Mar 7, 2020 UpdatedMar 7, 2020

This post may contain affiliate links.

Jump to Recipe Pin Recipe

5 from 1 vote

This easy homemade Cranberry Orange Bread Pudding is topped with an orange glaze, and is the perfect holiday dessert! This bread pudding recipe comes together quickly and is a total crowd pleaser!

Cranberries used to be the one thing at the Thanksgiving dinner table I avoided like the plague. As a kid, the gelatinous-looking, tart purple thing (that doesn’t taste like jello at all) was not nearly as appealing as, well, everything else. It was most definitely the one thing that “missed” the plate.

Fast forward a few years (with a homemade cranberry orange sauce recipe in tow), cranberries never miss the plate, and if I had my way, they’d never ever miss the dessert table either.

Whether it’s this Cranberry Orange Bread Pudding, Cranberry Orange Cake, or Cranberry Almond Bundt Cake (or maybe even this Cranberry Apple Crisp), you can bet I’ll be getting dessert seconds (and maybe thirds if no one’s looking).

Cranberry and orange is a classic flavor pairing, because the sweetness (and the citrus) of the orange cuts through the tartness of the cranberries. By nature, fresh cranberries are extremely tart, and often need something sweet to tone them down.

In the bread pudding recipe, the tartness of the cranberries are offset by three things: sugar, orange zest, and an orange glaze. The cranberries still have a bit of a zing to them, but it is entirely complemented by the sweetness of the rest of the dessert.

Have you ever made bread pudding? Bread pudding is very similar to a French toast casserole, although most French toast casseroles are soaked in the egg/milk mixture overnight and baked with a crumb topping.

Bread pudding, on the other hand, is, more often than not, only soaked somewhere between 15-30 minutes before being baked in the oven. I

’m not 100% sure and certain on this point, but in my understanding, bread pudding is supposed to be a bit ‘softer’ in the middle than a French toast casserole, which is a bit dryer in the center (which I think has to do with how long each are soaked in the egg/milk mixture.)