This recipe for cranberry orange muffins ticks all the boxes: it's healthy, delicious and super fast to pull together for a festive dessert or everyday breakfast on the go.
These healthy muffins are a staple during the fall holidays when fresh cranberries line the produce aisles. But I often find myself craving them year round; they are just SO good for a quick homemade breakfast or anytime treat. Thankfully, frozen cranberry muffins are available all year. 🙂
Can't get enough healthy muffin recipes? Check out these easy blueberry muffins or banana chocolate chip muffins.
🌿 Ingredients
All easy to find ingredients in this recipe. And feel free to substitute frozen for fresh cranberries!
See recipe card below for exact quantities.
📝 Instructions
To get started, preheat your oven to 400°F and grease or line one 12-muffin tin or two 6-muffin tins. Then, wash and zest the orange, and set the zest aside.
Pro tip: If you don't have a citrus zester, you can also use a chef's knife to slice thin peels off the orange and then finely mince them.
Squeeze 2 tablespoons of juice from one half the orange and set the juice aside (you can either eat or save the other half of the orange; I usually eat it because who can resist a freshly cut orange!)
Now, mix the dry ingredients together in a medium mixing bowl: the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and orange zest. I like to use a whisk to incorporate everything really well.
In a larger bowl, use a whisk to beat the eggs a little and then add the sugar, brown sugar, sour cream, orange juice, butter and vanilla. Whisk everything again until the wet ingredients are well incorporated.
Using a silicone spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the wet until they are just incorporated (don't over mix here.)
And last but not least, fold the cranberries into the batter and then divide the batter evenly into your muffin cups.
Bake your muffins for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let them cool in the tins for 5 minutes, and then remove onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
📋 Substitutions
Here are some common substitutions you can make depending on dietary preferences and needs:
- Gluten free cranberry orange muffins - use any all purpose gluten free flour in place of the regular flour (I tested with Cup4cup Gluten Free Flour)
- Cranberry orange muffins with yogurt - substitute plain Greek yogurt for sour cream
- Sugar alternatives - use coconut sugar instead of the white and/or brown sugar for a lower glycemic sweetener
🔪 Equipment
Here is the equipment you'll need to make this recipe:
- muffin tin
- muffin liners
- zester, or chef's knife and cutting board
- medium and large mixing bowl
- whisk
- silicone spatula
🍱 Storage
Muffins will stay fresh in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days, or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
🎉 Top tip
Definitely use a fresh orange to make the zest and juice for this recipe. It only takes minutes to prep and makes all the difference in these delicious healthy muffins. 🙂
Enjoy!
🍳 Recipe
Cranberry Orange Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour or gluten-free flour (see notes)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 orange
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- ⅓ cup white sugar
- ¼ cup packed brown sugar
- ⅓ cup sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
- ¼ cup unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted, plus extra for greasing (see notes)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup cranberries fresh or frozen
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease or line one 12-muffin tin or two 6-muffin tins. Wash and zest the orange, and set zest aside. Squeeze 2 tablespoons of juice from one half the orange and set aside; you can eat or save the other half of the orange.
- Mix the dry ingredients: Place the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and orange zest in a medium mixing bowl and use a whisk to incorporate.
- Mix the wet ingredients: In a larger bowl, use a whisk to beat the eggs a little, then add the sugar, brown sugar, sour cream, orange juice, butter and vanilla and whisk again.
- Make the batter: Using a silicone spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the wet until just incorporated (don't over mix.) Fold the cranberries into the batter and then divide the batter evenly into the muffin cups.
- Bake: Bake muffins for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let muffins cool in the tins for 5 minutes, and then remove onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
- Enjoy: Serve immediately, or save covered for up to 4 days in the fridge or up to 2 months in the freezer.
Debra Teich
Well you also forgot to tell your reader to add orange juice to wet ingredients! I winged the baking soda and, so far, I can see my muffins are rising. Used Bob's 1 for 1 GF flour. Maybe that helped.
Allison
Thanks so much for letting me know, Debra! I've updated the recipe accordingly, and I hope the muffins still turned out great despite these omissions!
Debra Teich
Cranberry-Orange Muffins call for baking soda, but no measurement is given! Can you correct this? I started making the recipe but am at a loss as to what to do about the baking soda.