A delicious orange flavored quick bread with pops of fresh blueberries dispersed throughout. Perfect as a muffin or a loaf.

The orange and blueberry flavor combination is not unheard of, but also not a common pairing. Which is surprising as it tastes so good together!

It’s so hard to achieve a strong orange flavor and not use extract! The orange extract leaves such an unpleasant after-taste, so it’s often combined with cream, like creamsicle, to temper the flavor. Real orange flavor in baked goods is quite uncommon.

Recipe Testing

I determined to figure out a way to achieve a strong orange flavor without using an extract for this quick bread. For round one, I tried a fresh squeezed orange, plus orange zest, but the orange flavor was barely discernable over the fresh blueberries.

In other recipes, like sauces and glazes, where I want a strong orange flavor, I use orange juice concentrate. So, for round two I decided to try orange juice concentrate instead of a fresh squeezed orange juice. I didn’t have another orange on hand for zesting, so I left it out on round two. The flavor was better, but I supposed the zest would enhance the orange flavor even more. On round two, I also added 2 cups of fresh blueberries, just like I had in round one. I loved the blueberry addition, but wondered if it was just too much.

In round three, I used orange juice concentrate again, plus zested orange peel. I used less fresh blueberries, 1 ½ cups this time. The orange flavor was just right. I could taste orange equally with the fresh blueberry favor. Success!!

Fresh Blueberries

An Amazon Link for Baker Bette’s Cookbook: Baker Bettie’s Better Baking Book

This quick break recipe is again adapted from Baker Bettie’s Better Baking Book. The texture of the original recipe, without add-ins, is very light. Using a little less fresh blueberries really kept that airy texture intact. And making sure to coat the fresh blueberries with flour before adding them to the quick bread batter kept them from sinking to the bottom. The blueberries were equally dispersed throughout the loaf, which gave an orange and blueberry burst with every bite! And I absolutely loved the coarse sugar sprinkled on top.

This post might contain affiliate links, please check out my full disclosure policy. I only refer products I have tried and tested.

Ingredients in the Orange Blueberry Quick Bread Recipe:

Here’s a link for my favorite GF Flour: Cup4Cup Multi-purpose Gluten Free Flour

All-purpose flour: All-purpose flour is used in this recipe. Cake flour is not needed for the light, airy texture. However, if you desire a gluten-free alternative, this quick bread recipe works great. My favorite GF flour mix is Cup4Cup Multi-purpose flour. Substitute 1:1 Cup4Cup for all-purpose flour. Then, add an additional 2 Tablespoons of GF flour to give the centers the perfect dome.
Baking powder: This is the main form of leavening for this recipe. Baking powder starts reacting upon contact with wet ingredients, so add wet ingredients at the end and mix as little as possible to keep the rise in the batter. The baking powder also reacts with heat, so the oven will help this quick bread rise perfectly.
Egg and Milk: Room temperature ingredients are very important for this recipe. Room temperature ingredients mix easier and coat the flour best, keeping the gluten formation at a minimum—making the crumb less chewy—and giving a light texture to the quick bread. Room temperature ingredients also soak into the flour better, creating a moist quick bread.
Oil: A neutral flavored oil, like canola, avocado, grapeseed, will be a better choice to allow the orange flavor to shine.

Ingredients that Give the Amazing Flavor:

Orange juice concentrate: I would recommend a healthy, fresh squeezed orange juice concentrate. You do not dilute it with water. Just defrost it and add it directly to the wet ingredients.
Orange zest: Zest just the orange part of the peel, trying not to get too much of the white part, and you will get a better flavor.
Fresh blueberries: Smaller blueberries work better than super plump blueberries in a quick bread.
Coarse or Turbinado Sugar: This additional ingredient on top of the quick bread creates a crunchy, crisp top to the crust of the bread. It’s an amazing addition!

A link for: Coarse Decorating Sugar

Enjoy eating Orange Blueberry Quick Bread

How to Make Orange Blueberry Quick Bread:

At least 30 minutes before baking, measure the milk and set out with the egg to allow to come to room temperature. Preheat oven to 400° F and prepare muffin tins with liners. Or for a loaf, preheat oven to 350° F and spray loaf pan with non-stick spray. Recipe will make approximately 14-16 muffins or one loaf.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together dry ingredients—flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Then, in a small bowl, lightly toss fresh blueberries with 1 Tablespoon flour (enough to lightly coat each blueberry). In a separate bowl, whisk together wet ingredients—egg, milk, oil, orange juice concentrate and 2 Tablespoons orange zest.
Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredient bowl. Stir for about 30 seconds with a spoon or rubber spatula until just combined. The batter should still be lumpy. Gently fold in the blueberries.
Fill the muffin liners with batter to about a ½ inch from the top of the liner. Or fill loaf pan. Sprinkle each muffin or loaf top liberally with coarse sugar. Bake muffins at 400° F for 18-22 minutes (or bake loaf at 350° F for 50 minutes) or until lightly brown and the tops spring back when gently touched, or a toothpick is inserted in the center and comes out almost clean (with a few small crumbs attached).
Let the muffin trays or loaf pan cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes before serving. I find the fresh blueberries need to cool and settle a little, so this quick bread tastes even better after an hour or two. Store uneaten muffins/loaf covered in foil or plastic wrap in refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Try this amazing flavor pairing for your Mother’s Day brunch! Orange blueberry muffins may just become your requested choice!

–Kim

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