Easy and beautiful sweet Orange Bread recipe that takes just 5 minutes hands on time and a few staple ingredients.
Orange Bread is one of our favorite easy recipes. It can be made in a large standard loaf pan or six miniature loaf pans (as shown) for easy, beautiful, housewarming gift, hostess gift and last minute Christmas gifts for teachers, neighbors and friends.
Through the years, I’ve shared several variations of my popular sweet bread recipe. This simple and sweet Orange Bread was inspired by one of my favorite sugar scrub recipes. I love the soft, citrus flavor and scent, especially during the holidays.
More Easy Sweet Bread Recipes:
- Apple Cinnamon Bread Recipe
- Easy Cinnamon Bread
- Cinnamon Roll Bread Recipe
- 5 Minute Cranberry Bread
- Sweet Bread Recipe
- Funfetti Bread
No yeast Orange Bread is made primarily with staple ingredients including sugar, flour, baking powder, salt, eggs, milk, oil and orange zest.
Zest, the outer, colorful skin of unwaxed oranges (clementines or mandarins also work) adds a lot of flavor and aroma. Simply use a zester to zest the orange. Reserve the orange to slice and garnish the top of your bread.
Can I Substitute Dehydrated Orange Zest?
Use fresh zest for the best results, but you can use use dehydrated orange zest. It’s not a 1-1 substitution because it is more concentrated, so start with 1/3 of the amount and add to taste.
Gifting this Sweet Bread for the Holidays?
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Sweet Orange Bread
Ingredients
- 2 c sugar
- 4 c flour
- 2 Tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 2 c milk
- 2/3 c vegetable oil
- 1 Tbsp orange zest
- 1 orange or clementine rind removed and sliced
- sugar for garnishing
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine sugar, flour, baking powder & salt. Set aside.
- Beat eggs, milk & oil.
- Gradually add dry mixture to wet until just moist. Fold in orange zest, garnish with orange slices and sprinkle with sugar.
- Grease 6 miniature baking dishes & pour mixture an inch below to the top to compensate for rise.
- Bake 40 minutes.
Recipe Notes
You can make this into one large 1 1/2 pound loaf if you prefer and increase baking time.
You may also really enjoy my sweet cranberry bread that always popular during the holidays.
Originally shared December 1, 2015
This is the first sweet bread that I’ve ever made, and it came out just lovely. I made a mistake at the store and bought baking soda instead of baking powder but decided to give it a try anyway. I cut the entire recipe in half so that I only had one large loaf and used 1 tsp of baking soda instead of the 1 tbsp of baking powder, along with 2.5 tsp of fresh squeezed orange juice as the acid for activating the baking soda. For the first 30 minutes in the oven it looked as though the center was not going to rise but it pulled through and ended up being absolutely beautiful and delicious. Though mine might taste slightly different from the original due to the added orange juice, I found the orange flavor to be just strong enough but still very delicate, and the texture is perfect.
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it, Maggie, thanks for sharing! I love that you put your own twist on it.
Hi Julie, I’m going to be making the orange bread, but only want to make one loaf! Should I halve the recipe? Is a “1 1/2 pound loaf” equal to a 9 x 5 loaf pan?
Yes, enjoy!
Are the orange slices added before or after baking? Looks both beautiful and delicious!
Before, enjoy!
Every thing looks delicious
thank you for sharing, very easy
ORANGE BREAD!!!! OMG!!! I need to make this bread this weekend! Looks so good!
This looks like a nice and light treat to have in the house!
I love lemon bread, but I’ve never had orange bread. It looks simply delicious! I’m adding it to my holiday baking list!
The orange slices on this bread just add to the beauty and flavor. LOVE this sweet treat.
This is the prettiest bread!
Oh my gosh this looks delicious! going to make it this winter for sure!
XO Ellen
This was a hit at our Christmas brunch.
Baked minis in aluminum pans well-greased and placed on cookie sheet for 25 minutes.
Baked full-sized pans 1/2 filled 45-50 minutes. Placed orange slices on top and batter rose over them for a delightful surprise of fresh orange mid-level. Will add a full layer of orange slices next time. Also I sprinkled about three tablespoons of sugar over top of batter, resulting in a beautiful crunchy crust.
Excellent fresh recipe with a moist cake texture. No change needed for high altitude.
Thanks for stopping back by to share! Glad you enjoyed them as well! Happy Holidays!
This looks so perfect and delicious! Love the fresh orange flavor!
Hello, where did you purchase your ceramic mini bread loaf pan(s)?
Michael’s, enjoy!
Hi Julie! Could I make this in a bundt cake pan?
Sure! I’d love to see photos…it will be beautiful! Brush the sides with non stick-cooking spray, allow it to cool a bit and release. Enjoy!
So beautiful! Love this!
Hi Julie, I have problem getting this cooked in 40 minutes, not sure why as its still wet inside, I believe the ingredients here c means cups? I would really love to make this bread as I love the citrus taste a lot.
Did you use mini loaves? If you did a full load, you’ll have to increase baking time.
Hello Julie-Yesterday I made both your peppermint cookies and the sweet orange bread. Oh my gosh, they are both delicious and I’ve passed them onto my 4 sister!
Love your blog and your ideas!
Thanks for making my day, Sandy! I really appreciate you taking the time to comment and share! I wish I didn’t enjoy those so much…there’s always January for dieting, right? Happy Holidays!