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
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
-
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.
-
In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir to combine.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
Is there a fee to subscribe?
There is not! It’s a free newsletter.
I used white whole wheat flour. It may have been over mixing but then there was no way it would have been mixed properly if I didn’t gently stir for awhile. I used more of a folding method rather than stirring.
Second time I used half all purpose flour and half white whole wheat. Not quite as tough or dense. I also found them better the second time as I left about half the cranberries whole and I used two huge navel orange for the zest so that was probably twice the amount called for in the recipe. Not much of an orange flavour with what the recipe calls for, in my opinion anyway.
So delicious! Full of flavor and very moist. I used the zest of the whole orange, which I thought was may more than 1 tsp, but I could be totally wrong. I zested it in to the bowl of ingredients, and I thought it looked to be 1 Tbsp. I was okay with that though, I love zest and just went with it. I am definitely saving this recipe, thank you!
I made these this week and they made great breakfast muffins for the holiday season. I used olive oil and honey and ended up using nonfat greek yogurt since that’s what we had around. They turned out fantastic.
Hi Kate! I just made these with cashew yogurt instead of regular, both my girls are allergic to milk, and they were perfect! I used maple syrup, and since I didn’t have oranges at hand I used tangerines for the zest and yummm! perfectly sweet and tart, and we added some xmas sprinkles on top that make them look amazing! This is my new go-to recipe, ty so much!
I’m happy this worked out so well for you, Erika!
Just made these muffins and they are so yummy and easy to make. Made extra and put in freezer for Christmas company. Thanks again Kate!
Could I substitute the eggs for something other than flax eggs, like apple sauce for example? I have an egg and dairy allergy but still trying to figuring out all the options for substituting eggs.
Hi Julie, unfortunately that won’t work. Or at least, I haven’t seen that working well. Is there a reason you don’t want to use flax eggs?
If for some reason neither flax eggs nor real eggs will work–I made these with aquafaba (3 Tb to replace 1 egg) and they turned out well, but are a bit more dense than they are when made with eggs. Still yummy!
I have used Energ-e Egg Replacer and it’s worked great!
We enjoyed these muffins they were moist and flavorful, not too tart and I even less honey, however did use sprouted whole wheat flour. I made mine with buttermilk, as I did not have yogurt in the house, and added walnuts. Will definitely make them again!
I’m happy to hear that, Michelle!
These are wonderful! When I saw “fluffy” in the name of the recipe I was skeptical as my muffins are usually dense, regardless of the recipe. But these are so light. I used Bob’s Stone Ground whole wheat pastry flour, liquid coconut oil, honey and a large orange instead of a medium one because I wanted some extra orange flavor. When fully combined, the batter was thicker than I expected so I squeezed a quarter of the orange into the bowl, which totaled approximately a tbsp of juice. I also love that the recipe doesn’t make a huge amount (I got 14, even with filling the muffin cups to the top) as it’s the perfect amount for a family holiday breakfast. Lastly the cranberries give them a beautiful look. So happy I found this recipe!
I’m glad these lived up to their name for you, Beth! I appreciate your review.
Hi! Would fresh frozen whole cranberries work?
You could try it, although I find frozen fruit tend to have a lot of moisture when thawed. Let me know!
This recipe looks delicious!! Thank you?
Could I use dried cranberries?
Unfortunately, this recipe was a bit tricky and worked best with fresh for me.
I just made these using dried cranberries – and while I can’t say how much better they would be using fresh since I haven’t tried it that way, I think they turned out good! So I’d say if you really want to make these but only have dried cranberries it works out fine. (Saw the comment above saying they work best with fresh, but decided to go for it anyway)
I also made with dried cranberries (specifically ‘baking cranberries) and found they turned out well. I added a bit less sweetener (I used just 1/4C brown sugar) to balance the added sugar in the dried cranberries.
I also made with dried, just soaked a cup of dried in boiling water for 15 minutes. I only had mandarins on hand and I think next time I’ll go super sparingly on the zest. The texture is as usual phenomenal! Thank you again Kate
How can I add protein powder? How Could much should I substitute for flour?
I haven’t tired it, so I can’t say for sure. Sorry!
These are delicious! I used 1/2 gluten-free flour and 1/2 almond flour to substitute and make these gluten free and you couldn’t tell at all. Everyone in my house loved them!
These muffins turned out fabulous! I used 2+ cups of leftover cranberry orange relish, instead of the whole cranberries and orange zest. And, only 1/3 cup of maple syrup. Great way to use leftover fresh relish. Love the whole wheat and healthy ingredients.
Excellent. Didn’t have Greek yogurt, so used regular low fat yogurt, and it worked great. I don’t know why bakeries insist on selling tasteless high calorie muffins when recipes like this are available. Not too sweet, so a good breakfast.
Exceptionally good. I used regular whole wheat flour and maple syrup, which I reduced to 2/3 cup instead of 3/4. Mine definitely needed the full 18 minutes (might have been 19 to 20, all said and done, by the time I got them out). You are always my first stop for healthy, but still indulgent-tasting, muffin recipes. Thanks again, and Happy New Year!
Happy New Year, Amanda! Thank you for sharing your variation.
Flavourful, fluffy and a perfect way to use up the extra cranberries that were not needed for my cranberry sauce. Great recipe – it will be a go-to for me!
Didn’t have oranges so used a lemon instead. Success! Great idea to chop the cranberries a bit smaller. Light and delicious muffins! My kids say, “5 stars!”.
Thank you for your review, Megan!
Made these muffins with whole wheat flour, olive oil and honey. Delicious! They are a perfect balance of tart with a hint of sweet. Thank you for the recipe.
You’re welcome! Thank you for your review.
This recipe is a total winner. I have substituted brown or cane sugar instead of the liquid sweetener, and sour cream or buttermilk instead of greek yogurt, because they were what I had on hand, and they still turned out moist, fluffy, and divine. I also went ahead and chopped up the flesh of the orange I zested, and added that, while using only one cup of cranberries, and it was really good. Your baking recipes always turn out so well for me. I love the creamy batter of this recipe. Thank you so much!
I’m glad it still worked with your substitutions! Thank you for your review, Courtney.
I was really excited to make this recipe but it didn’t turn out as well as I thought it would. I didn’t have Greek yogurt so I used Cottage cheese & a little bit of lemon Noosa other than that I followed the recipe exactly as written. I can’t imagine that small substitution would make a huge difference but maybe it does… I won’t be making this recipe again.
I’m sorry this one didn’t turnout for you. Likely the cottage cheese. Baking can be quite the science!
These were as good as your recipes usually are! I used 2.5 C oat flour and .5 C flax seed meal to make it GF; 1/4 C honey since we don’t like things too sweet, and added about 1/8 C sour cream to make up for the honey reduction (ran out of greek yogurt); and 1 tsp orange extract since I didn’t have oranges. Delicious, with a great texture! Next time I’ll definitely try with the orange zest, that was the only thing I wish I had been able to use.
Thank you for sharing, Charleen!
These were excellent and will definitely make them again! I never have luck with muffins- always dense & hard. These were fluffy & moist. I used honey and 2% Greek yogurt.
Thank you for sharing, Kim!
I had planned on makin a double batch of these muffins so I zested 2 large oranges. In comments, you said not to use frozen cranberries. That is all I had. I made them doubling the zest. Yum – best muffins ever! Leftover eggs wen into your Banana Muffins and they were delicious too!
I’m happy it worked for you, Aline!
Soooo good! I just made a half batch using a mini muffin tin (makse about 20 minis) and they turned out perfect!
I’m glad you loved them, Missy!
I used dried cranberries (about 1.5 cups for a double batch). I also used a mixture of freshly squeezed orange juice and unsweetened apple sauce instead of yoghurt. The muffins turned out amazing :)
Awesome muffins! The perfect texture. Not too cake like, not too dense. I was out of Greek yogurt so I used sour cream. I only had all purpose flour, but it worked great. Because of living in the high altitude, I needed to add a couple extra tablespoons of flour and a couple tablespoons of liquid. I used juice from the orange for the liquid. My eggs definitely should have been at room temperature, but I was impatient. For those asking about using frozen cranberries, I almost always use frozen. I stock up when they are on sale at Thanksgiving and Christmas. They chop well in the food processor without thawing. I find no difference between fresh and frozen in the final product. This recipe is a definite keeper. It replaces my regular recipe. Thanks for sharing.
If you ever need room temperature eggs fast, put them in a bowl with hot tap water. The eggs will be warm in 10 minutes. I learned this from Martha Stewart.
True. I usually do this, bout was in a hurry. AKA impatient. :o)
These muffins are the absolute best!!!! Your recipe is on point and they came out perfect! Thank you so much!
You’re welcome, Tara!
These were super duper tart! Texture was good. I followed the recipe exactly and am so dissapointed I wasted the ingredients. Yuck!
I’m sorry you didn’t like this one! Thanks for sharing, Meredith.
Please disregard this review. Elete it if possible. When I served them, my co workers loved them!! It was just too tart for me.
Hi Kate! They look delicious. Can I use dry cramberries?
Unfortunately, this recipe was a bit tricky and worked best with fresh for me.
I used leftover cranberry orange relish and forgot to put in the eggs and these came out great!!
Just made these as written and fantastic! I sprinted a little cinnamon sugar on top for crunch. Go make these.
Hi Kate!
I made half batch this morning. They turned out delicious. I used dry cranberries (didn’t have fresh ones), because of this they were a little bit in the sweet side, but the texture was perfect. The best muffins I have tried to make. I love orange flavor, so next time I’ll double the zest. Thanks for your recipes.
Cookie and Kate is my Go To for breakfast!
Even my picky eater who does not like cranberries liked these muffins. I made the GF, dairy free version and substituted coconut sugar for honey.
I just made these after a freezer inventory during day 22 of staying home! Had A LOT of cranberries and yogurt to use, and this recipe is what google suggested when I searched. for loafs/muffins with those ingredients! Subbed limes because that’s what I had on hand. Amazing flavor, easy to make, love that they are whole wheat! Can’t wait to make them again.
Hi! Would this work in a loaf pan rather than a muffin pan?
I haven’t tried it, but you could try!
These came out great! I’m running low on white flour and wanted to find a muffin recipe using whole wheat flour and fruit I have in the freezer. I only had frozen cranberries but they worked fine, I just had to bake them for a couple extra minutes. I was about to choose a recipe that called for a whole stick of butter but then I saw this one, it was a much better choice!
Thanks, I had a problem with my experimental cranberry orange muffins not rising and when I found your site through Google, I found the answer…not enough flour (too thin of batter). The second batch came out great! And I love that you use the same healthy ingredients that I use regularly in my recipes!
These were the best Cranberry Muffins I’ve made. Wonderfully moist, perfect texture and taste. Since I was short of cranberries I compensated with frozen wild blueberries, which were a great complement to the cranberries in taste and color.
Thanks for sharing, Ellen!
I am always looking for healthier way to still enjoy baked goods. My husband loves a good breakfast bread or muffin so this was a great recipe to try. They were great! I was not able to get fresh cranberries so had to substitute dried. I used the “50% less sugar” and I soaked them in hot water for a few minutes to plump them up and make them soft (Drains them well). I used 1 1/2 cups and added a 1/2 cup of orange pieces (cut very small) from the orange I zested. The muffins came out delicious! I will certainly try with fresh cranberries once available. Thanks for a great recipe.
Cranberries are not in season. Do you use frozen or dried cranberries? Have you baked with either. I would appreciate some tips.
You could try it, although I find frozen fruit tend to have a lot of moisture when thawed. Fresh works best here. Let me know!
I made with frozen, but I defrosted them first and after chopping them in the food processor drained them well in a sieve by pushing out all the liquid. The muffins came out great. Make sure to measure the cranberries while frozen rather than after defrosting and let come to room temperature before using.
This is one of my favorite flavor combinations of all times, so I had to try them. OMG, so good! My friend’s 6-year-old daughter thought they were the cat’s pajamas, and if that’s not a ringing endorsement then I don’t know what is! I’m making my way through all of your muffin recipes and am going to try another one next weekend. :-)
Thanks for sharing so many wonderful recipes. I love your book, by the way!
Hi! I’m dairy free and was wondering what subsitutions I could use for the yogurt- I live near a small supermarket where I can’t find any vegan options for cream or yogurt.
Hi there! Do you have access to any non-dairy milk option? You could then follow the vegan recipe note and make “buttermilk” with it. My favorite options are homemade cashew milk or oat milk.
The vegan buttermilk option with oat milk worked well for me.
Do you think I could do lemon zest instead of orange? And maybe use lemon juice to make the buttermilk alternative for the yogurt? I can’t wait to try these!
Sure!
Loved them…and my family did as well. This is the 2nd or 3rd muffin recipe of yours I’ve tried and they’re all wonderful. Thank you so much!! It’s so great to have a recipe that both tastes great and isn’t full of refined sugar. I want to try everything…i just need more hours in the day.
Thanks again❤
I love it Sarah! Thank you for sharing.
The fluffiest! Thank you for this recipe.
You’re welcome, Amanda! Thank you for taking the time to review.
Hi! Can you replace the olive or coconut oil with canola oil? Or even unsweetened apple sauce?
Hi! I don’t use canola oil, but it could work. I know other readers have replaced oil with applesauce in some of my other recipes. I haven’t tried it though, sorry!
Would I be able to use oat flour in replacement of the whole wheat flour?
Hi Camille! Follow my oat flour guide and that should help. Did you try it already and not like it as to your rating?
I just made these for the first time and they have already been called “the best muffins yet” by my family! I used frozen cranberries and was worried that they might be too smooth after blending them, but it worked just fine.
These muffins are delicious and I love that they are made with healthier ingredients. I can’t wait to try the other healthy muffin recipes.
Great muffins! Love that it uses honey instead of sugar and they aren’t overly sweet.
Hi Katherine, the recipe looks simple and amazing. The only issue for me is procuring Fresh Cranberries. I am from India and only dried cranberries are available in my country. Please advice how to go about it.
Many thanks