Orange Chocolate Swirl Bread

In this Chocolate Swirl Bread recipe, a sweet yeast bread dough is flavored with orange zest and swirled with semi-sweet chocolate. It’s delicious paired with orange marmalade!

Creating This Orange Chocolate Bread Recipe

My absolute favorite flavor to pair with chocolate is orange. It always has been.

Maybe that comes from receiving a chocolate orange in my stocking each Christmas as a child. Whatever the reason, that flavor combination has stuck with me as a favorite through my childhood and into my adult years.

I knew for this season I wanted to make something with chocolate and orange together. I took a simple cinnamon swirl bread recipe, loaded it up with orange zest, and substituted chocolate chunks for the cinnamon mixture.

Served toasted with a dab or marmalade on it, this orange chocolate swirl bread is magic on my taste buds!

Orange Chocolate Swirl Bread Ingredients

This sweet yeast bread recipe is incredibly easy to make and requires no special ingredients. Here’s what you’ll need to make the bread:

• Milk
• Unsalted butter
• Yeast
• Warm water
• Granulated sugar
• Orange zest
• Vanilla extract
• Eggs
• Salt
• All-purpose flour
• Semi-sweet chocolate chunks

For the complete ingredient list and detailed instructions, scroll to the bottom of this post for the FREE printable recipe card.

How to Make Orange Chocolate Swirl Bread

I’ve given detailed step-by-step instructions on how to make this chocolate swirl bread in the recipe card below. Here’s a brief overview.

1. Make the sweet yeast dough.
2. Place the dough into an oiled bowl and cover with a dish towel. Set aside to rise until doubled in size.
3. Once the dough has doubled, punch it down and let it rest for 10 minutes before rolling it out into a rectangle.
4. Once the dough is rolled out, sprinkle with chocolate chunks.
5. Roll the dough up, starting from the shorter end.
6. Place the rolled up dough into a greased loaf pan. Let rise another 90 minutes.
7. Bake the bread for 30 minutes at 350F.

The above is simply a quick summary of this recipe. Check out the full recipe in the free printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for all the detailed instructions.

Can I Make Mini Bread Loaves?

Yes! I baked the dough in four small loaf pans (the directions below are for one loaf, though).

All you need to do is dive the dough into four equal parts, then roll them into out into smaller rectangles. I just eyeballed it.

If you’re concerned about what size, you could probably just stir the chocolate straight into the dough instead of rolling it in.

Storage Instructions

The chocolate orange bread can be double-wrapped in plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for 2 to 4 days or frozen for 3 months.

Tips for Making a Sweet Yeast Bread

• If you store your yeast in the fridge, let it come to room temperature before adding it to the warm water.
• You’ll know your yeast is still active and good to use if it begins to foam in the warm water after about 5 minutes.
• You’re welcome to add more orange zest to the bread dough, if desired. However, do not add orange juice for more orange flavor as that will affect the texture of the bread.

Read more: Here are even more tips for baking with yeast.

More Easy Yeast Bread Recipes:

I’ve been making yeast breads for years. Here are some of my favorites:

Let your kids get messy in the kitchen and help you make these amazing Caramel Pecan Brioche Rolls. They are the perfect weekend or holiday treat.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls are the perfect fall treat! Pumpkin spice dough is rolled with plenty of cinnamon and sugar, and then slathered with cream cheese frosting.

This Vanilla Sweet Bread is delicious on its own, but is even better when transformed into french toast!

While these tender Sweet Potato Rolls will make an excellent addition to any Thanksgiving menu, they’re also a great way to use up leftover baked sweet potatoes for a post-Thanksgiving treat.

This Cinnamon Pull-Apart Bread is essentially a monkey bread from scratch with a homemade caramel topping.

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