Apricot Orange Irish Soda Bread
Apricot Orange Irish Soda Bread is rustic and crusty on the outside, and moist and tangy on the inside. It’s studded with chopped apricots and orange zest for a sunny twist on the classic!
I owe my love of Irish soda bread to my sons’ first grade teacher, because she made it from scratch and brought it to school for her classroom St. Patrick’s Day feast.
Obviously I loved it, and I never knew how easy it was to make! That was 6 years ago, and I’ve been making it ever since.
This Irish soda bread recipe was adapted from a Barefoot Contessa recipe. I made it whole grain this time around by swapping out half of the all purpose flour with half whole wheat white, and used a bit less sugar.
The fun part is coming up with different flavorings from the original version, which contained currants and orange zest.
Somewhere along the line I thought adding chopped apricots to the mix instead of currants would be a good idea, and I fell for it.
I bumped up the orange zest, because the more orange flavor the better in my book. The result is a sunny, bright soda bread with plenty of spring appeal.
I love spreading orange marmalade on my soda bread for breakfast. The citrusy, slightly bitter marmalade and the sweet chewy dried apricots make one great combination.
If marmalade isn’t your thing, just straight up butter will always do the trick.
Whether you decide to make this Apricot Orange Irish Soda Bread as a side for your traditional St. Patrick’s Day meal or make it any old day for breakfast is no matter.
It’s easy, it’s delicious, and you can’t go wrong because there’s never anything better than homemade bread is there?
There’s not in my world anyway. 🙂
More St. Patrick’s Day recipes:
If you make this recipe I’d love to hear from you! Leave a comment and rating below, or tag me @flavorthemoments on Instagram!
Apricot Orange Irish Soda Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour plus 1 tablespoon to toss with the dried apricot
- 2 cups whole wheat white flour*
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter cut into 1/2″ dice
- 1 3/4 cup cold low fat buttermilk shaken
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons orange zest
- 1 cup chopped dried apricots
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Add the dry ingredients to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or use your handheld electric mixer. Mix the dry ingredients on low speed.
- Add the cold butter cubes and mix on low speed until the butter is completely mixed into the dry ingredients. Use your fingers if necessary to work any large chunks of butter into the flour.
- Using a fork, beat the egg, buttermilk, and zest in a measuring cup. Turn the mixer on low speed, and slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mixing just until combined.
- Toss the dried apricots with the reserved tablespoon of flour, then mix into the dough on low speed just until combined. The dough will be VERY wet!
- Pour the dough out onto a well floured surface and sprinkle with flour. Flour your hands, and knead a few times until it’s in the shape of a round loaf. Place on the prepared baking sheet.
- Using a serrated knife, cut a small “X” into the center.
- Bake 45-55 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.
Notes
- *I like to make this bread whole grain, but you may substitute the white whole wheat flour for all purpose flour (4 cups + 1 tablespoon total).
- This bread is delicious with butter or orange marmalade for breakfast, or as a side dish with your corned beef and cabbage!
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
64 Comments on “Apricot Orange Irish Soda Bread”
I’ve never tried Irish soda bread before, but this looks SO good!
It’s really delicious, especially warm out of the oven!
I love the orange and apricot additions! I’ve been wanting to try out an Irish soda bread for a while now. Oh man, I hear you on the cold. I’ve felt the same way for about a week now (along with my husband) – the congestion is killing me. So not fun.
Sorry to hear you’re under the weather, too. It definitely is not fun! This Irish soda bread is the one to try! I’ve been hooked since I tried it years ago.
What a great twist on soda bread!
Thank you! Hope you give it a try!
I never even thought to substitute something else for the currants. That is brilliant, I will need to try this recipe. That peanut butter chocolate chip banana bread caught my eye as well!
I have nominated you for a Liebster Award!!! All of the information is in my blog post at http://cookingwithcurls.com/2013/03/14/liebster-award-what-now/
Congratulations – Lisa
Thank you, Lisa, that’s so exciting. I’ll check it out ASAP.
It looks so good! I love the flecks of apricot and it looks so soft and moist!
Thanks, Averie! I can’t imagine eating it without apricots now!
This looks delicious, Marcie! I love that you added chopped apricots to it – not only for flavor but they look so pretty! I’d love a slice of this with some butter for breakfast!
Thank you, Kristine! I love the color of apricots, and this bread is phenomenal with butter! 🙂
Love soda bread and your variation looks so fresh and nice. The crust looks really nice Marcie.
Have a great week.
Thank you, Ash! The thick, golden brown crust is one of my very favorite parts of this bread…besides the apricot. 🙂 Happy Monday! 🙂
Oooo apricot!!! I need to try soda bread soon!
Apricot makes everything better! 🙂
Well no wonder this Irish Soda Bread got so much coverage, it looks great! I love the flavours Marcie, and how easy it seems to come together. I can’t wait for St. Patrick’s Day – I always celebrate it because it’s two day after my birthday so I look at it as an extended birthday treat :).
Thank you, Jessica, and St. Patrick’s Day is such a fun celebration, it certainly would be a great time to extend one’s birthday! Sounds like a great idea! 🙂
This looks amazing, Marcie! So glad you are sharing it again. I’ve never tried Irish soda bread before and I love the apricot and orange addition!
Thank you, Kelly, and I hope you try soda bread soon! It’s such a nice, easy way to enjoy homemade bread. 🙂
What a lovely variation on Irish Soda Bread! Love the flavors here. Glad you did a re-boot on this recipe because I must have missed it in the past! But now I’ve got it on lock down!
Haha…I’m glad it’s on lock down, Liz! 🙂
What a great variation on soda bread! I’ve never seen anything quite like this before and I love it 🙂
Thank you, Medha! 🙂
This bread has such wonderful flavors! I bet it tastes absolutely amazing.
Thank you, Jennifer! Apricots and orange together with tangy buttermilk really is a delicious combination!
This is the best Irish Bread I have ever seen. Love the add of apricots and oranges.
Thank you, Ella! 🙂
This bread look absolutely gorgeous, Marcie! Your pictures are just stunning. I’ve never made a soda bread before, but now I definitely want to! I love the fruity flavors in here. Sounds so perfect to warm me up on a cold day. Pinned!
Thank you so much, Gayle! I hope you try soda bread soon — it’s quick, easy, and so delicious. Perfect for a cold day for sure. 🙂
This Irish soda bread looks lovely – really like the addition of apricot and orange! Delicious, Marcie! I actually made soda bread for the very first time the other day, couldn’t believe how light and tasty it was! Need to try your recipe very soon, it will be fabulous! 😀
Thank you, Jess! It looks like it would be so heavy, so it’s a very pleasant surprise that it’s so light! 🙂
I love the look of this bread, so pretty Marcie! 🙂 Pinned.
Thank you, Manali! 🙂
Marcie, that is so awesome! I think Lori is so sweet!!! ok, I’ve been stuffing my face with so many carbs lately because it’s so darn cold. . I need a few slices of this gorgeous apricot orange irish soda bread!!! WANT!!!
Lori is such a supportive blogger to so many people! I’m a huge carb lover, so this bread is a big weakness for me when it’s around. I even did it for dessert! haha Thanks, Alice! 🙂
I love the flavors in this! What a delicious sounding bread.
Thanks, Natalie! 🙂
Thank you, Lindsey, and this bread makes me warm and fuzzy inside too! I love how fast Irish soda bread is to make too, so we can get our homemade bread faster! 🙂
It looks amazing Marcie and I’ll definitely try it! Love soda bread, but never had it with apricots, I’m sure it tastes awesome!
I’ve been wanting to learn how to make Irish soda bread for quite some time now. I’ll be starting with your recipe Marcie, it seems just perfect.
There’s really not much to making soda bread, which is why I love it — it doesn’t get much easier. 🙂 Thanks, Kathy!
What a fun twist on traditional Irish soda bread!! The flavors seriously sound so good. This was a great recipe for a makeover! 🙂
Thank you, Jess! 🙂
This soda bread looks great Marcie! I wish I was enjoying it with my coffee right now! I can so imagine sinking my teeth into it. Oh, and you can assume – PINNED!
I loved it with my coffee, and the next best thing would be sharing some with you over coffee! And of course, thanks for the pin. 🙂
Great minds think alike! I made Irish soda bread just yesterday, although I guarantee it wasn’t half as fun as this is! I LOVE that there’s both apricot and orange in this bread! So perfect for spring coming up (hopefully) soon!
ALL soda bread is fun in my book, Sarah! Can’t wait to see yours…’tis the season! 🙂
What a beautiful bread. With those bright colors and the apricot taste, it sounds perfect for spring!
Thank you, Pamela! These flavors really do make it feel like spring! 🙂
Oh how I love good Irish soda bread … but can you believe I still have never made it at home??? I need to put it on my list to make (for real this time! haha). I would even eat some of this with some jam for dessert right now!!
I think this year’s gonna be the year you make it, Ashley! And I did have this for dessert with jam! 🙂
I completely agree — apricots should be included in baking more often! They add such a tart-sweet flavor. 🙂
What???? You’ve never eaten or made soda bread? You know I would send some over if it would keep during shipping! Overnight Express, maybe? 🙂
Thank you, Stacy, and I hope you get to enjoy some soon, and thanks for the pin! Hope you have a wonderful rest of the week! 🙂
Marcie this bread looks fabulous! I love the apricot/orange spin on your version. And how funny, I just posted a soda bread redo of one of my old recipes, too, now that I’ve upgraded my camera. Great minds!! Pinning. 🙂
Thank you, Alyssa! Great minds alright — ’tis the soda bread season! 🙂
This looks like such an amazing bread Marcie! Love that you used dried apricots!
Thank you, Christin! 🙂
Have you ever made this recipe as muffins or scones? If so, your tips. Thanks!
I haven’t tried that — sorry! I think it would work out fine to divide the dough into smaller portions and score the top as directed. The baking time would be shorter, so be sure to keep an eye on it if you try that!
Saw your Irish Soda Breaf Muffins recipe,so will try combining the recipes to see how it goes😊
I’d love to hear how it turns out!