The Thanksgiving Dish My Mom Always Makes Is Actually From the Back of the Bag

We didn’t have a lot of strict Thanksgiving traditions growing up; each year, we’d experiment with different turkey techniques, get creative with our side dishes, and generally take a more non-traditional approach to the holiday. In fact, my clearest Thanksgiving memory as a kid is when the fire department had to come because we accidentally left the manual in our brand-new oven...not our finest moment.

But there were always a few staples that had to be on the Thanksgiving table: dad's stuffed mushrooms, mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes, and my mom's cranberry bread. As with many of our so-called 'family recipes,' it turns out that the cranberry bread was printed on the back of a bag all along. Despite that, it remains my all-time favorite Thanksgiving dish. Here’s why it should earn a spot on your table, too.

The Cranberry Bread Recipe My Family Swears By from Ocean Spray

I never realized that this wasn’t some secret chef’s recipe or a long-held family heirloom until I figured out why my mom always insisted on buying Ocean Spray cranberries—no other brand would do. It turns out her cherished Cranberry-Orange Bread recipe was printed right on the back of the Ocean Spray bag all along.

I can’t recall exactly how this cranberry bread tradition began, but I do remember falling in love with it immediately. We always served it at the start of the meal, alongside soups and salads—even though it’s basically a dessert. And really, who doesn’t want to start with dessert on Thanksgiving?!

It’s a simple quick bread recipe that comes together in less than an hour, with the perfect balance of sweet and tart. I know it’s easy because my mom, who wasn’t much of a baker, always made it. This cranberry loaf was the one staple on our Thanksgiving table every year—except for one fateful year when she accidentally swapped salt for sugar, and we all nearly choked on the disastrous results.

The best part of this recipe, now featured on Ocean Spray’s website, is that it uses both orange juice and zest, which gives the bread a punch of bright citrus flavor. Plus, it only requires one bowl, making cleanup a breeze on Thanksgiving. Pro tip: we always use a food processor to quickly chop the cranberries—otherwise they roll all over the cutting board, making the task far more tedious than it needs to be.

If you're searching for a Thanksgiving dish that complements all the holiday flavors but is much easier to make than traditional bread or roll recipes, your search ends here. You can find a nearly-identical recipe on Dinogo, complete with hundreds of glowing 5-star ratings and rave reviews to prove it.