Fresh Cranberry Orange Muffins
These cranberry muffins will be your family's new favorite! They're so fluffy and delicious. Plus they're made with wholesome ingredients!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 30, 2024
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These fluffy cranberry orange muffins will make your house smell like the holidays! I hope they become your new favorite holiday muffin recipe. They’re fluffy and moist and delicious—everything I want a muffin to be.
These muffins are bursting with fresh cranberry and orange flavor. This recipe calls for fresh cranberries, which are generally available in United States grocery stores from October or November through December. You can also use frozen cranberries, but I don’t recommend dried cranberries here.
These muffins are made with wholesome ingredients like whole wheat flour and Greek yogurt. They’re naturally sweetened with honey or maple syrup. You can keep those details to yourself, though—no one will guess that these muffins are healthier than most.
You can easily mix these together by hand. No mixer required. Serve them for breakfast or brunch, or bring them to your holiday parties!
It took me eight tries to get these muffins just right, but they were absolutely worth the effort. I’m sharing the recipe again because they’re just so wonderful this time of year.
Cranberry Orange Muffin Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make these cranberry-studded beauties:
Flour
I like to use white whole wheat flour or regular whole wheat flour to make these muffins a little healthier. White whole wheat flour (available in health food stores or well-stocked grocery stores) is made with white wheat berries instead of red, and has a more mild flavor as a result. As long as your whole wheat flour hasn’t been sitting on the shelf too long, your muffins will not have a strong “whole wheat” taste. In fact, if your flour smells rancid or your muffins taste bitter, your flour has gone bad.
You can also use all-purpose flour for the most traditional muffin flavor and fluff. To make these muffins gluten free, choose Bob’s Red Mill’s gluten-free all-purpose blend. No adjustment to quantity needed with either one.
Tip: The proper way to measure flour is to spoon flour into your measuring cup and level off the top with a knife. Do not scoop flour into your cups, or you could end up with way too much flour, and dry/tough muffins.
Baking powder and baking soda
These are leavening agents, which help the muffins rise so they are light and fluffy. These ingredients are not the same thing and are not interchangeable, so be careful with your measurements!
Coconut oil, extra-virgin olive oil or butter
Like all muffins, this recipe requires some fat to yield tender, rich and delicious results. I typically use virgin coconut oil and can hardly taste it. If you use olive oil, I recommend a mildly flavored one, like California Olive Ranch’s Everyday variety. You certainly can’t go wrong with unsalted butter.
Honey or maple syrup
Instead of sugar, these muffins are naturally sweetened with honey or maple syrup! These do impart some delicious flavor, so choose your favorite.
Eggs
Eggs also act as a leavener, helping the muffins rise while also imparting richness. If you have an egg allergy or you’re a vegan, you can substitute flax eggs (see recipe notes).
Greek yogurt
Yogurt replaces sour cream, but offers the same delicious richness and tang. Yum! Check the recipe notes for a buttermilk alternative (which can be made vegan).
Vanilla extract
You know, for some luscious vanilla flavor.
Orange zest
The zest of one orange to infuse these muffins with flavor. After you take the zest off the orange, you can slice it up and eat it. I do recommend buying on organic orange if you can find one, since pesticide residue sticks to the rind.
Fresh cranberries
One bag is more than enough. You’ll blitz these in the food processor before folding them into the batter. If you’re using frozen cranberries, do not thaw them before using. Blitz them in the food processor as directed and promptly fold them into the batter. If you have leftover cranberries, you can freeze them for up to one year.
Dried cranberries are not a good substitute for fresh cranberries, for reasons elaborated in the next section.
Turbinado (raw) sugar
This is optional, but I recommend it. Turbinado sugar is large crystal sugar that lends an irresistible sparkling, crunchy top to the muffins. I bet you could even take a tiny bag of raw sugar home from your local coffee shop!
Cranberry Orange Muffin Recipe Development
I thought this recipe was going to be so easy. Take my blueberry muffin recipe, substitute cranberries for the blueberries, add orange zest—done. Not so fast, Kate!
Problem: The fresh cranberries were so much bigger than blueberries and so tart that they left mouth-puckering polka dots in the muffins. Fortunately, I found a clue in America’s Test Kitchen’s cranberry muffin recipe.
Solution: Blitz the fresh cranberries in a food processor for a few seconds to break them up. That way, you get delicious little bits of cranberries in every bite. This also allowed me to double the amount of cranberries for maximum cranberry flavor.
Problem: The muffins were still far too tart, though (and I like tart).
Solution: To counteract the tartness of the cranberries, I added 1/4 cup more honey or maple syrup, which made these muffins perfectly sweet—not too much, not too little.
Problem: The extra moisture from the additional liquid sweetener made the muffins flatten out on the top. I wanted beautifully domed, fluffy muffins, so I tried decreasing the amount of yogurt, tweaking the baking powder and baking soda, and I was almost ready to give up…
Solution: I went back to the original formula and added 1/4 cup more flour. The muffins rose like a dream!
Eight tries later, I landed on perfect cranberry orange muffins! I hope you’ll make them while cranberries are still in season.
Watch How to Make Fluffy Cranberry Orange Muffins
Recommended Equipment
This section contains affiliate links.
USA-made muffin tin: This sturdy muffin tin bakes beautiful muffins and has a non-toxic, non-stick silicone coating. I never have to grease the cups!
11-cup food processor: This Cuisinart is not too big or too small, and blitzes the cranberries in five seconds.
Microplane: It’s so easy to remove the zest from citrus with this handy tool.
Love these muffins?
Here are more of my favorite naturally sweetened, whole-wheat muffin recipes!
- Healthy Apple Muffins
- Healthy Banana Muffins
- Healthy Blueberry Muffins
- Healthy Carrot Muffins
- Healthy Raspberry Muffins
- Healthy Pumpkin Muffins
- Healthy Zucchini Muffins
Please let me know how these muffins turn out for you in the comments! I love hearing from you, and hope the recipe is a big hit.
Fresh Cranberry Orange Muffins
These cranberry muffins will be your family’s new favorite! Don’t tell them the recipe calls for healthy ingredients. These fluffy muffins are bursting with fresh cranberry and orange flavor, plus they’re whole grain and naturally sweetened! Recipe yields 12 muffins.
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
- 2 cups white whole wheat flour or regular whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
- ⅓ cup melted coconut oil or extra-virgin olive oil or melted unsalted butter
- ¾ cup honey or maple syrup
- 2 eggs, preferably at room temperature
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt*
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Zest from 1 medium orange (about 1 teaspoon), preferably organic
- 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar (also called raw sugar), for sprinkling on top
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease all 12 cups of your muffin tin or line them with papers, if necessary.
- In a food processor, process the cranberries for about 5 seconds, until they are broken into little bits (but not puréed—see photos). Set aside.
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In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir to combine.
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In a medium mixing bowl, combine the oil and honey and beat together with a whisk. Add the eggs and whisk to combine, then add the yogurt, vanilla and orange zest. Mix well.
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Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix with a big spoon, just until combined (a few lumps are ok). Gently fold the cranberry pieces into the batter.
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Divide the batter evenly between the 12 muffin cups (they will be quite full). Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with turbinado sugar. Bake the muffins for 15 to 18 minutes, or until the muffins are golden on top and a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.
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Place the muffin tin on a cooling rack to cool. You might need to run a butter knife along the outer edge of the muffins to loosen them from the pan. If you have leftover muffins, store them, covered, at room temperature for 2 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Freeze leftover muffins for up to 3 months.
Notes
Recipe adapted from my healthy blueberry muffins.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Made as stated, with white wheat flour. Mine needed 20 minutes total, and they were great, except my husband thought they weren’t sweet enough and I felt like the orange could be more pronounced. I’ll definitely make them again, and I will try with replacing some of the honey with juice from the orange and adding a tablespoon or two of sugar.
Jennifer! I was also craving just a teeny bit more sweetness so instead of modifying the actual muffin recipe, I simply added a true crumble on top before baking (butter/sugar/flour) and it was the perfect sweetness add-on. Just a thought!
Otherwise, Kate – this is a fabulous recipe. The blitzed cranberries are a total game changer. Your fans thank you for the 8 attempts!
I made these muffins last night and they are delicious! I substituted half the maple syrup for date syrup (maple syrup makes my blood sugar spike). I used frozen/thawed cranberries and they turned out fine. Thank you for sharing this recipe. It’s definitely a keeper.
Thank you for sharing, Vickie!
My son made these, and I’m pretty sure he followed the recipe exactly. He was especially stoke about sprinkling the sugar on top (we don’t eat many sugary things, so this was a an extra special treat!). They are by far the best muffins I’ve had in a long time. The whole family loves them!
Great to hear, Candace! Thank you for your review.
I just baked and sampled these muffins – so tasty! I added some white chocolate chips because they were calling my name from the pantry – no regrets;) If anything, they might have made them a bit too sweet, but that’s on me (and I’m not really complaining lol). Delicious flavour profile, and I’ll be making these again!
Do you think this could be make in a loaf pan?
I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure. Sorry!
Made this for Christmas breakfast. Everyone in family who had one said they were the best muffin they had ever had. I used All Purpose flour, maple syrup, greek yogurt (Fage brand) and salted butter as had that on hand. Used a little sprinkle of regular sugar on top. They were total perfection. Love that they are not overly sweet. Very light and GREAT flavor.
The muffins turned out perfectly. So delicious. I subbed 3/4 c. Kefir for the Greek yogurt and agave for the honey/maple syrup. Next time I’d like to add pistachios or walnuts.
I have tried many of your recipes and am always pleased how well they turn out.
I love to hear that, Val! Thank you for your review.
I made these two days ago and they were absolutely delicious! I didn’t have regular whole wheat flour but I did have Bob’s Red Mill whole wheat pastry flour so I used that and it worked fine. This is the first muffin recipe that I ever used that actually had nice big muffins with actual muffin tops! Thanks! I will make it again and maybe even try with blueberries next time! LOVED IT!! so did my husband!
Hooray! That’s great to hear, Debra. I appreciate your review.
Loved the bursting flavors in these muffins, The second time I made the muffins I added just a little cinnamon to the sugar topping, if goes so well with the orange and cranberry flavors
Great to hear, Cathy! Thank you for your review.
Thanks, Kate! These cranberry orange muffins were moist and delicious! I used coconut oil, coconut “buttermilk”, whole wheat flour measured as recommended, and honey. It’s so helpful that you give substitutions and explain how each ingredient works. I’ve just purchased “Love Real Food” and am looking forward to trying many more of your recipes!
Can this recipe be made in mini muffin tins?
You can try it! You will want to cut your bake time to half and be sure to keep an eye on them. Let me know how they turn out!
Made as directed. Added 1 cup chopped pecans as husband is a nut fiend! He grabbed one right out of the muffin tin and said that it was “the bomb”!
I never like when people rate a recipe and then state the changes they made but here it goes anyway :-). I substituted avocado oil (for no other reason than I wanted to give it a try), added 1/2 cup chopped pecans, 1 tsp. vanilla, and zest of 2 large oranges b/c I love citrus flavor. They baked up with a very nice dome and were light and fluffy. Mine also needed closer to 20 minutes. Definitely a keeper!
I made these tonight, and they are fabulous! I used whole wheat pastry flour, 5% milk fat Greek yogurt and wildflower grade A honey. Thank you so very much for sharing your recipe! It is definitely a keeper!
I’m excited you loved these muffins, Amy! I appreciate your review.
These muffins are soooooo tasty! I thought using real cranberries instead of “craisins” would be too tart but no way!!! We love these guys! My husband has asked me to make more…a sure-fire hit!!!
Thanks Kate!!
I made these using the olive oil option. I had never baked with olive oil and just wanted to give it a try. When they were still warm from the oven, the olive oil overpowered the otherwise delicious flavor and I was not a fan. Today while running out the door I grabbed one and was pleasantly surprised to see that the olive oil flavor had significantly mellowed and they were a delicious cranberry orange flavor.
Glad to hear it, Lucy! It’s amazing how much baked goods shift in flavor after a rest. I always think they’re better after a few hours or more. :)
Just made them! Gave 4 away to thank friends, and just had one myself. Mmm-mmm-mmm! But I did use a generous 2 tablespoons of orange zest. 1 teaspoon would not give it enough orange flavour. Used maple syrup, GF flour, and Liberty Greek Yogurt. Sprayed non-stick muffin tins with Snow Cap Premium Baking & Culinary Spray and the muffins popped out easy-peasy. Thanks for your expertise, Kate!
Thanks, Carllie! Glad you enjoyed them!
You don’t explain why you can’t used dried cranberries. In Australia it’s the only ones you can buy.
Hi Rachel, sorry about that. Dried cranberries are sweetened and fresh cranberries are not. I had to modify this recipe from my usual muffin recipe (like my blueberry muffins) to add extra sweetness to counteract the tartness of fresh cranberries. If you follow this recipe with dried cranberries, the result will be awfully sweet. Dried cranberries shrink significantly, so I also think you’d have to decrease the amount of dried cranberries for similar results. Basically, dried cranberry muffins would need to be a whole new recipe. Hope that makes sense! For something like this one, I’d actually suggest my raspberry muffins, and you can substitute orange zest for the lemon. :)
Thank you for being so thorough. I really appreciate the information you provide regarding the ingredients.
I love your recipes. We chose to make some breakfast muffins last minute so we had to substitute ingredients for what we had.
I made these with my son; instead of sugar we used 1/2 Cup of runny honey, and instead of yogurt we used sour cream because that is all we had available. We also added the last bit of dates from the pantry (about 1/2 cup chopped). No oranges so we used lemon zest. 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder because no baking soda.
because our oven is messed up and heats too much we baked them at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. MMMMMM mmmmm super soft, great height and delicious. Thank you so much. Your recipes are perfect but also great spine recipes to adjust.
So glad your muffins turned out well, Nancy! Thank you for sharing your notes!
Delicious! I love the tartness of the cranberries!
I will eliminate 1/4 honey next time around, but that is because I added white chocolate and walnuts to the recipe. :)
Thank you for sharing, Nicole!
Hi Davida,
I really want to bake these muffins and I have a couple questions; I’d really appreciate your input:
1 – I can’t find frozen cranberries anywhere so I was thinking I will just use fresh blueberries. Will that work? It sounds good to me.
2 – I would really like to reduce the amount of maple syrup – can I reduce it from ¾ cup to ½ a cup without ruining the integrity of the recipe and muffins?
Thanks so much for letting me know!
Lynne
Hi Lynne, If you want to use blueberries I would recommend my Healthy Blueberry Muffins. Changing the amount of sugar and type will impact your results. It is needed as part of the liquid.
Hi Kate,
Thanks so much for your input! And guess what? I finally found frozen cranberries at a really healthy market (Sprouts didn’t carry them)
Have a wonderful weekend!
Lynne
Kate, I applaud your efforts to tweak this recipe to perfection. I think you’ve done it! Wow, it is such a killer combination of nutritious ingredients, easy assembly, and amazing flavor. I’ve made it a few times now and my family devours the batch every time.
Thank you, Emma!
Where do you post nutritional info. Including calories.
Hi Vicki! It’s below the notes section. Click on the Nutrition Information header to expand it.
I was wondering, how would you store these? I need them the 27th (today is the 24th) what is the best way to keep them fresh until then?
You can freeze or store them in the refrigerator.
Has anyone used AP flour?
I don’t have any wheat.
Sure, that should work too. Let me know how these muffins turn out for you!
Delicious!! Thank you for all your recipes!!
You’re welcome, Michele!
I made this for my parents and it was a hit! I’ve already received a request for another batch. :)
This recipe is absolutely gorgeous and the muffins come out looking like the ones you buy at a pastry shop
Your website is great and when I have to pick a new recipe, I come to your website for sure. Thank you Kate !
I love to hear that, Catherine! I appreciate your review.
I have made other muffin recipes of yours Kate and they were delicious, so I decided to give these a try. My husband loves lemon cranberry. I almost substituted orange rind for lemon but decided to stick with the original recipe. Yum-my! I used fresh, but frozen, cranberries. I had to cook for an extra 4-5 min but I have a convection oven so maybe the difference. Your recipes never disappoint…thank you for sharing!
You’re welcome, Kimberly!