Buttery and moist, these cranberry orange muffins are heavy on the flavor and bursting with cranberries in each bite.
Cranberry is an underrated fall flavor, dontcha think? It’s often lost in all the pumpkin pie and apple recipes flooding kitchens in the fall. Cranberry deserves some love! That being said, how about a POP of vibrant cranberry for breakfast? An abundance of cranberries in every soft, buttery bite. Paired with a bright zest of orange and a sweet orange glaze to finish things off.
Orange is cranberry’s soulmate. Like peanut butter is to jelly chocolate, Fridays are to wine, and french fries are to a chocolate frosty–> an obvious match made in heaven.
I love tart cranberries paired with sunshine-sweet orange. Over the years I’ve shared recipes for cranberry orange Bundt cake, cranberry orange icebox cookies, and orange cranberry bread. I have since made that bread, I don’t know, about 1 million times. Sometimes with streusel, sometimes without (who am I?), but always always always with tons of cranberries and orange zest. Divine.
And so, today’s muffins were born. Festive, fluffy, cinnamon-spiced, and packed with flavor. We’re talking huge flavor! I used my blueberry muffins recipe as the base. Why? All that glorious butter flavor packed inside. Paired with juicy cranberries and bright citrus, the combination of flavor is unreal in these cranberry orange muffins.
These are simple to make. There’s nothing fancy, nothing strange about them. Just a few basic ingredients to make one outrageous morning breakfast.
The star of the show is obviously the cranberries. You may use fresh or frozen. I go a little heavy handed on them—and I think you’ll love that. Because you know when you bite into a “fruit” muffin only to find three small blueberries in one bottom corner? So all you’re really eating is baked flour, sugar, and butter masking as a “fruit” muffin? No, that’s not happening here. All crannies, all over the place.
Besides the burst of tart cranberries, I absolutely love the texture of these cranberry orange muffins. They have more of a cake-like crumb, which is a result of creaming butter and sugar together—as opposed to using oil. They’re light and fluffy, just like cupcakes. Also: they’re so moist. Two eggs, yogurt, and a splash of orange juice (for flavor!) are to thank for their tender, moist centers.
The sweet orange glaze adds to their charm. You can leave the glaze off, but it adds a little extra orange flavor. Kevin and I both liked the muffins with the glaze more. Shocking.
If you love a little extra spice to your muffins, try my cranberry cardamom spice muffins next. Very similar to these!
Warm from the oven, these glazed cranberry orange muffins are the best treat to cozy up with on chilly mornings. Or these brown sugar cinnamon pop tarts. Both winners.
And if you can’t get enough of cranberries for breakfast, try my cranberry Christmas cake next. But don’t limit it just to Christmas… or just to breakfast!
More Muffin Recipes
I have dozens of muffin recipes on my site. Here are a few favorites:
Cranberry Orange Muffins
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 12 muffins
- Category: Muffins
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Buttery and moist, these cranberry orange muffins are heavy on the flavor and bursting with cranberries in each bite.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (120g) yogurt*, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- zest of 2 oranges
- 1 and 3/4 cups (219g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) orange juice
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) milk (any kind), at room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 cups (185g) fresh or frozen cranberries (do not thaw)
Orange Glaze
- 1 cup (120g) confectioners’ sugar
- 3 Tablespoons (45ml) orange juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C). Spray a 12-count muffin pan with nonstick spray or line with cupcake liners. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Add the granulated and brown sugars and beat on high until creamed, about 2 full minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add the eggs, yogurt, and vanilla extract. Beat on medium speed for 1 minute, then turn up to high speed until the mixture is combined and uniform in texture. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Then, beat in the orange zest until combined.
- In a large bowl, toss together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and slowly mix with a whisk. Add the orange juice and milk, gently whisking until combined and little lumps remain. Fold in the cranberries with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula.
- Spoon batter into prepared muffin pan, filling them all the way to the top. Top the batter with an additional cranberry or two, for looks if desired. (I like the pop of color on top of the muffins in doing this.) Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F (218°C), then keeping the muffins in the oven, lower the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C) and bake for 18-20 more minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The total times these muffins take in the oven is about 23-25 minutes.
- While the muffins are cooling for a few minutes, make the glaze by whisking the glaze ingredients together. Drizzle over warm muffins. Allow to briefly cool before serving.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Muffins without glaze stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 5 days. Cover and store muffins with glaze at room temperature for up to 1 day or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Glazed or unglazed muffins freeze well for up to 2 months.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 12-count Muffin Pan | Cupcake Liners | Citrus Zester | Citrus Juicer | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Wooden Spoon or Silicone Spatula | Small Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk
- Yogurt: Use your favorite yogurt; I prefer low fat plain Greek yogurt but regular (not Greek) would be just fine. Try with orange flavored, vanilla, honey, nonfat, or full fat. Sour cream works as well.
- Cranberries: You can use dried cranberries if desired. If using dried, I recommend reducing the amount to 1 cup (about 130g).
- Mini Muffins: For mini muffins, bake at 350°F (177°C) for about 11-13 minutes or until baked through. Use a toothpick to test for doneness.
There’s more where these muffins came from! Try this same recipe, 3 other ways: Blueberry Muffins with Streusel Topping, Apple Cinnamon Muffins (with lots of crumbs on top!), and Peach Muffins.
For a more hearty, bakery style muffin, try these chocolate chip muffins! And here is my insanely-over-the-top-in-the-best-way-possible Orange Cranberry Bread:
Muffins were good but the glaze was nasty. I kept putting confectioners’ sugar in but I ran out and it still just pooled on top of the muffins and ran off onto the plate, making a mess. I wouldn’t bother with it. I’ve had the Costco ones with some kind of sweet streusel added on the bottom before the batter went in and that was much better.
this was incredible. there’s only two left since yesterday. i got 14 muffins out of this, and added orange extract instead of vanilla extract as that’s what i have. each muffin without the glaze came to about 120 calories each – so like – almost a diet muffin! 😉 thanks for the recipe and for posting measurements in metric. it’s SO much more accurate, which i know as a former pastry chef.
oops – i mean 173 calories – i forgot to include the flour in the measurements in the final MFP calculations lol
can the juice from the orange be used or from the juice from tropicania
I love your blueberry muffin recipe
Hi Faith, the orange juice can be fresh or store bought. Enjoy!
Help! I live in rural Iowa and cannot find a whole cranberry, be it fresh or frozen! The closest thing I can come to is dried cranberries. Dare I use them instead? If yes, should I use them in a 1:1 ratio? Thank you for any help you can provide!
Hi Becky, dried cranberries will work here — you can put them in directly from the bag, or you can rehydrate them by soaking them in water for a bit. Either works! If using dried, I recommend reducing the amount to 1 cup (about 130g).
I made these with dried cranberries (Craisin 50% less sugar); the yogurt I used was vanilla Siggi’s Icelandic Style Skyr Non-Fat Yogurt; and I used powdered milk reconstituted with OJ instead of water.
They. Were. So. F’n. Good. Great recipe! Thanks!
These cranberry- orange muffins are phenomenal!!
Very happy with the result! Love the exact batch size and the perfect toastiness. Subbed in 40g whey protein to sneak in a little extra something for my kids. Will also try with my white whole wheat, which often substitutes for or at least plays well with APF.
They didn’t raise and were soggy and dark. A complete disaster.
This is the creamiest batter. Great job on the recipe ingredients! Fantastic!!
Can you substitute cherries for cranberries? If so, what other changes would you recommend?
I can’t find cranberries but cherries are in season!
Chopped cherries would be lovely here! No changes needed.
Hello! I love your jumbo muffin recipes and was wondering if I could use my quick bread recipes in my jumbo muffin tin? I’ve had many of these recipes for years and some are from my late mom. I wasn’t sure if I needed to make any adjustments. Thank you!
Hi Priscilla, for the most part, quick breads should work just fine as muffins or jumbo muffins. You can follow the baking time and directions from these jumbo blueberry muffins as a guide. Hope this helps!
I used what I had on hand to make these and ended up with some slight adjustments. 1 orange zest instead of two, 1/4 sour cream + 1/4 cup (and 2 tbsp) milk. Coconut oil instead of butter. And after reading the comments i only used half the cinnamon (1/4 tsp). I also made the mistake of baking for 425F for 15min because I was in a rush and misread the instructions. Luckily I smelled them and pulled them out at the perfect time and they were perfect. I probably could have used half or even a third the amount of glaze that I made, so I will make less of it next time. In spite of all my troubleshooting, these were a hit! My husband and his coworkers LOVED them, calling them “clouds” and “perfect consistency”. My husband was asking me to make them again after his first muffin. I’m sure they would be even richer if I made them exactly to the recipe, but they were good regardless! My favorite part about this recipe is how versatile and forgiving it is. It really built my confidence with baking and I am excited to make these again when cranberry season rolls back around.
Hi Sally. Can This recipe be baked in jumbo muffin pans? I love your jumbo blueberry muffins. I bake them for friends at work and wanted to surprise them with a different kind. Thank you
Hi Sharon, absolutely! You can follow the baking time and directions from jumbo blueberry muffins as a guide.
Hi! I tried these muffins with a flax egg & whole wheat & they turned out amazing !!! I added chocolate chips instead of cranberries – even the kids loved them !
I really like this recipe but usually use vegetable oil instead of butter. This time I stayed true to your recipe and used butter, the flavor was good but the Texture was a bit dry.
I still like the the recipe though
Awesome muffins! Can I do less zest and more juice instead and keep the same flavor? If so, how should I substitute?
Hi Morgan, more juice will add too much moisture to the batter. Best to use zest!
It would be nice to have the nutrition info for these and all your recipes
Hi Denise, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
Delicious! I subbed the eggs with flax eggs, as I didn’t have any eggs left, and turned out fine. The batter seems so thick but they are light and moist.
I have made these before and added some pecans as they were left over and I didn’t have oranges at the time (with a plain glaze). This time, the cranberry orange per the recipe. Great both ways! Would be wonderful if you could put time and temp for 6 jumbo muffins as well as mini-muffins in your notes. I often make 6 and give them as gifts (smaller than a loaf and bigger than a regular muffin). I am always poking into the oven to see if they are done yet! LOL! Which is probably not good for baking 🙂 I have found notes for 6 muffs in the comments, but to scroll through the comments is rather tedious and I often give up. Thank you for your great recipes though! Always enjoy coming back for more!
The glaze puts it over the top
Delicious! I used frozen cranberries, sour cream and substituted 1/4 c of white flour for wheat flour. They raised beautifully and are so so moist. I used the recipe’s baking directions and when they were almost done, I’ve put the oven at a low broil for the last 1.5 minutes to give them a golden look. Next time, I’m going to add more orange zest and omit the cinnamon as we found the cinnamon overpowered the orange test. Thanks for the recipe!
These were SO good and worth the effort! I even made a second batch for the freezer once we tried them.
I liked the recipe it needed a bit more sugar to counteract the tartness of the cranberries though imo.
Do you remove muffins from baking tray before glazing?
I usually do, but you don’t have to.
Pretty good. Don’t really care for the cinnamon. Mine didn’t rise very well, just slightly domed. I used frozen berries and since you aren’t supposed to thaw them I think the batter is maybe too cold to get much spring in 5 minutes? Also made the banana nut and they rose great so that seems like the major difference in the batters( used sour cream since I didn’t have yogurt) . They tasted ok but personally felt the orange and cranberry didn’t need the cinnamon but will add some coarse sugar on top the next time. Didn’t really want icing but they are a little tart without a little sweet topping. Could have been the cranberry were more tart as well but I’ve used the same brand for scones and the scones weren’t too tart.