Cranberry Banana Bread
Cranberry Banana Bread is a flavorful homemade banana bread made with slightly tart, fresh cranberries and walnuts throughout. Makes great muffins too!
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Cranberry Banana Bread is one of my favorite fall recipes.
This is probably the oldest recipe I have. I have been making it every fall and winter for as long as I can remember.
As soon as late October rolls around and the bags of fresh cranberries start popping up in the grocery stores, my season of Cranberry Banana Bread making commences!
The bread is moist with lots of great banana flavor, but it also has delicious, tangy cranberries dispersed throughout. Optional, but walnuts add a great texture.
Slow Cooker Cranberry Cobbler is another great recipe that uses fresh cranberries!
Ingredients needed for this recipe (scroll down to recipe card for complete recipe):
- All-purpose flour
- Sugar
- Very ripe bananas
- Fresh cranberries
- Butter
- Milk
- Vanilla extract
- Eggs
- Baking powder
- Walnuts
Not only does this recipe make a wonderful loaf of bread, I also use it to make regular-size muffins and mini muffins!
How to serve
My husband chooses to spread butter on warm slices of this bread, but I enjoy it as-is.
I will say that if you eat it the next day, I recommend you put it in the microwave to heat it up a little bit, as it is always best when warm.
Cranberry Banana Bread can be served many ways:
- Great snack or dessert
- Slices of bread or muffins are perfect for lunchboxes
- Breakfast or brunch during the holidays
The perfect addition to this bread is a mug of Slow Cooker Boozy Chocolate Coffee!
Looking for more baked treats? Here are some favorites:
- Cinnamon Pumpkin Mini Muffins
- Double Chocolate Banana Muffins
- Baked Strawberry Lemon Donuts
- Mini Lemon Rose Bundt Cakes
NOTES:
- A 12-ounce bag of fresh cranberries will make two batches of this recipe.
- Since there is only a small window to buy fresh cranberries, I sometimes buy extra bags of them to stash in the freezer for spring & summer baking.
- This post was updated 10/27/25 with new photos.
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Cranberry Banana Bread
Equipment
- 1 loaf pan
- Mixing bowl
- nonstick cooking/baking spray
Ingredients
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
- 2 very ripe bananas mashed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup milk
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- 1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped cranberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Mix sugar and butter together in a large bowl until completely blended. Add banana, vanilla, milk, and eggs. Mix until combined.
- Add to the wet ingredients: flour, baking powder, walnuts, and cranberries. Mix until fully incorporated (without over-mixing) and pour batter into a greased loaf pan, muffin pan or mini muffin pan.
- Follow times below depending on pan used:(Loaf pan) 1 hour 10 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.(Muffin pan) 27-29 minutes(Mini muffin pan) 15-16 minutes
Notes
- Instead of trying to hand-chop small cranberries, I pulse them in my food processor.
- Make sure to use the “spoon & level” method for measuring flour.
- The darker the bananas, the sweeter, more pronounced banana flavor in the bread!
- This bread can be stored in an air-tight container or wrapped tightly in foil at room temperature for 3-4 days or 5-6 days in the refrigerator.
loved this recipe super moist