For almost as long as I can remember, my family has made my great-grandmotherâs special cranberry salad recipe for Thanksgiving. As part of the tradition, we gathered in the kitchen the night before, and each person helped with one step of the process: chopping fresh cranberries, dicing pecans, peeling an orange, pouring in sugar, whipping up raspberry Jell-O, and preparing the decorative mold.
Yet the next day, no matter how hard we tried, the cranberry salad rarely slid out of that metal mold in one piece. We coated it with cooking spray ahead of time, ran it under hot water, used different amounts of gelatin⌠But by the time I graduated from college, you could count the number of perfectly molded Thanksgiving cranberry salads on one hand.
At least it always tasted good!
Eventually, for some reason many of us canât recall, we decided to skip the Jell-O and metal mold, and we just tossed the rest of the ingredients together in a bowl on Wednesday evening. At our feast, we transferred our new version (more of a relish than a âtraditionalâ cranberry sauce or salad!) into a nice serving dish, andâŚ
Everyone loved it! The fresh cranberry flavor truly shone, the slightly crisp texture paired perfectly with the moist turkey, and it was so much easier to make.
Weâve made that updated version almost every year since!
HoweverâŚ
Out of habit, we still usually end up buying enough ingredients to make my great-grandmotherâs original recipe⌠Which could easily serve a small army.
As a result, we often end up with lots of extra cranberries and oranges sitting in the fridge many days later, long after the Thanksgiving feast leftovers disappear. So this year, I thought aheadâŚ
And Iâm planning on baking this Healthy Cranberry Orange Banana Bread with the leftover fruit! Itâs simple to make, and itâs the perfect use for the overly ripe bananas often sitting on my counter too. đ
This healthy breakfast quick bread is supremely moist, and itâs bursting with so much fruit flavor! Naturally sweet banana, bright sunshiny orange, and a lovely zing from the tangy cranberries. Bonus: each slice is 114 calories!
HOW TO MAKE HEALTHY CRANBERRY ORANGE BANANA BREAD
Letâs go over how to make this healthy cranberry orange banana bread! Youâll start with some dry ingredients: white whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda (yes, you need both â more on that in a moment!), and salt.
In case you havenât heard of it before⌠White whole wheat flour has the same health benefits as regular whole wheat flour (like extra fiber and micronutrients!). It also has a lighter taste and texture thatâs similar to all-purpose flour. This is because it comes from white wheat, which is softer and lighter in flavor compared to red wheat, which is what regular whole wheat flour is made from. White whole wheat flour is definitely one of my pantry staples!
Then youâll whisk orange zest into that mixture! The citrus flavor is much more concentrated in the orangeâs peel than in its juice, so this is actually what provides the majority of the orange flavor! However, because the citrus flavor can easily overpower the banana flavor, youâll only use a small amount. (Unless, of course, youâd rather not taste the banana⌠Then use as much zest as youâd like! đ )
Instead of ample amounts of oil or melted butter in traditional recipes, you merely need ½ tablespoon in this one. That really helps keep your healthy cranberry orange banana bread low calorie and low fat! Then I bet you can guess how this loaf gets the rest of its moist and tender textureâŚ
If you said bananas and Greek yogurt, youâre right! I love baking with Greek yogurt because it adds the same moisture to your batter as extra butter or oil but for a fraction of the calories, and it gives your baked treats a protein boost too. Win-win!
The banana plays 3 roles in this healthy cranberry orange banana bread! {a} Fruit flavor (obvious, Iâm sure!), {b} moisture (we just covered that!), and {c} natural sweetness. Because of this last role, you want to use the ripest bananas that you have. The ones that look more brown than yellow â or, even better, pure black! â are perfect. This is because extremely ripe bananas have more natural sweetness than the pure yellow ones, so you wonât need to stir in much additional sweetener.
Hint: I used this liquid stevia as the teensy bit of additional sweetener! Itâs plant-based, no-calorie, and clean eating friendly. You can use it in all of these recipes of mine, too!
Remember how I said you needed both baking powder and baking soda? Itâs because youâll stir a small amount of vinegar into the batter. The vinegar (an acid) reacts with the baking soda (a base). When they react, they create air bubbles! Those air bubbles help your healthy cranberry orange banana bread rise, and they also give it a more tender texture. By the time your breakfast loaf finishes baking, you wonât be able to taste either one â I promise!
One last ingredient⌠The fresh cranberries! I always prefer using fresh cranberries when theyâre in season. Theyâre deliciously bright and tart! I blitz them in my food processor instead of chopping them by hand. Super easy!
Before you slide your loaf pan into the oven, remember to cover the top with foil! I try to âbumpâ up the foil in the center so the batter has room to rise without touching the foil. (You can see how I do that in my video above the recipe here!)
This foil âtentâ helps your healthy cranberry orange banana bread bake more evenly. The center of the loaf doesnât crack nearly as much (if at all!) compared to when you donât use the foil tent, and it also prevents the top from burning. Youâll remove it partway through baking, just to make sure the top turns a lovely golden color!
Then once your healthy cranberry orange banana bread finishes baking⌠and fully cools to room temperatureâŚ
Cut yourself a slice (or two!) and enjoy! And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees Iâll see your picture! đ ) Iâd love to see your healthy cranberry orange banana bread!

Healthy Cranberry Orange Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 2 Âź cups (270g) white whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ž tsp baking soda
- Âź tsp salt
- 2 tsp orange zest (about 1 medium â see Notes!)
- ½ tbsp (7g) unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
- 3 large egg whites, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp liquid stevia
- Âź cup (60g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 1 cup (260g) mashed banana (about 2 medium â see Notes!)
- 2 tbsp (30mL) plain white vinegar
- 6 tbsp (90mL) orange juice (about 2 medium â see Notes!)
- 1 ½ cups (150g) fresh whole cranberries, diced (see Notes!)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Coat a 9x5â loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk in the orange zest. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, egg whites, vanilla extract, and liquid stevia. Add in the Greek yogurt, stirring until no large lumps remain. Stir in the mashed banana. Stir in the vinegar. Alternate between adding the flour mixture and orange juice, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, and stirring just until incorporated. (For best results, add the flour mixture in 4 equal parts.) Gently fold in the cranberries.
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Cover the top with foil, crimping the edges around the panâs rim to seal, and try to push up the foil in the center to ensure it doesnât touch the batter while baking. Bake covered at 350°F for 35 minutes. Acting very quickly, remove the pan from the oven, and carefully remove the foil. Immediately put the pan back in the oven, and continue baking the banana bread for an additional 33-38 minutes (for a total of 68-73 minutes) or until the top feels firm to the touch and looks golden or a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few crumbs attached. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before carefully lifting out and transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
You may also like Amy’s other recipesâŚ
⥠The Ultimate Healthy Cranberry Orange Muffins
⥠Healthy Cranberry Orange Oatmeal Scones
⥠Healthy Cranberry Orange Oatmeal Cookies
⥠Healthy Cranberry Orange Pound Cake
⥠Healthy Cranberry Orange Oatmeal Muffins
⥠The Ultimate Healthy Chocolate Banana Bread
⥠Healthy Cranberry Pecan Banana Bread
⥠âŚand the rest of Amy’s healthy banana bread recipes!
I made this recipe last night and it’s so delicious! I had to stop myself from eating half the loaf. The cranberry-orange combination is one of my favorites and adding the banana just puts it over the top. Thanks so much for sharing.
I’m so glad you loved this quick bread, Vickie! That’s the best kind of compliment there is, if you were tempted to eat half the loaf by yourself. đ Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know — it means a lot!