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
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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.
My family loves these muffins! I always end up having enough for 15 muffins so no complaints there.
Hi Kate, will you please do a healthy cranberry/orange bread recipe please? I keep coming back here looking for it. Thank you!!
I can’t make any promises, but I will add it to my list. You could try this in a loaf pan. If you try it, let me know!
I made these vegan, and they turned out great. In place of the honey, I used 100g of date paste and 1/2 cup of maple syrup. For the eggs, I used 3T of Just Egg and 1 flax egg (2T flax with 3T water). I used 240g of a lower protein (9.7%) whole wheat flour so they are tender but still have a good structure. I increased the baking power to 1 teaspoon for lift without the eggs. I also used vegan sour cream as that was in the refrigerator versus the yogurt. It was the same consistency so it worked well. They rose well so I was happy. I did need to bake them for approximately 20 minutes at 350 degrees to get them to an internal temp of 195. The cranberries have a nice tartness but not overwhelming just enough to announce they are there. Thank you for the great recipe.
I’m happy you enjoyed it, Chris! I appreciate your review.
My family loves these. I substitute applesauce for most of the oil and some of the honey. I use flax eggs or 1 flax & 1 real. I add lots of walnuts. The processing of the cranberries is the secret that gets my son to eat them!
I followed your recipe exactly. I like them; not very sweet, but that’s okay. I baked them in silicone baking cups, just slid out so easily.
Found this wonderful recipe today, and ❤️ it! I didn’t have plain Greek yoghurt, so sub’d low-fat sour cream. Also used frozen cranberries that I’ve had in freezer for a while. Took 3 minutes longer to bake but AMAZING results. I will definitely be making these for visiting family over the holidays.
Love ALL your recipes, Kate!
Great to hear, Terri! I appreciate your review.
Another winning recipe Kate! Loved the idea of putting the cranberries in the processor. Thanks so much for keeping it healthy but still delicious. Froze and individually wrapped so I can bring one to work and every afternoon have a little treat. Love your recipes, cookbook and blog. Thanks again!
You’re welcome, Jill! I appreciate your review.
My food processor is currently broken. Can these be made with whole cranberries or is there a different method to chop them?
Hi Jannelle, Do you have a blender? Or you can try to chop them small enough.
I cut mine in half and they came out perfect!
Super yummy, fruity, moist, tender. I used spelt flour and they came out great, still quite light. These made 48 mini muffins.
I’m glad you enjoyed them, Dara! I appreciate your review.
I am not a baker. I live at high elevation. I usually think muffins are too sweet. Why I even tried this recipe is a bit of a mystery – maybe because my college daughter is bringing some friends home and I wanted to seem domestic or something.
These are awesomely perfect!! My 16-year-old son even gave me a high five. Thank you!
Delish! I mixed in a cup of walnuts and these turned out great. The walnuts added some nice texture. Not too sweet, which I appreciate.
Just made these for my 3 year old. I skipped the baking powder, used plain yogurt (not Greek), and only used 1/3c of honey. Such a hit! thank you!
I don’t have a food processor. Do you think I can pulse the cranberries in a blender?
Hi Jen! Sure, you could try it. Let me know what you think!
I made these for the first time yesterday. I did make a couple of changes. To add a little fiber, I put in 3 tbl. of ground flax seed. Orange infused EVOO, 1 extra egg white (large eggs are now very small and 2 tbl. Orange juice because the batter thickened from the flax. These are FABULOUS! Definitely will make again. Thank you
Made the cranberry orange muffins, they turned out perfect! Love that they’re healthier. I used whole wheat flour and maple syrup. Looking forward to trying more recipes.
Great to hear, Carol!
I’ve made your fantastic banana nut muffins and now that fresh cranberries are available, I’m hoping to make these soon! Question, in most boxed mixes, I can substitute apple sauce for oil. If I cut back the coconut oil for half oil half applesauce, would these muffins still turn out okay?
Hi! I recommend this recipe best as written. Sorry!
I was pleasantly surprised with how fluffy these turned out. And the tart to sweet ratio was perfect.
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Whitney! I appreciate your review.
I made this recipe earlier today. Fabulous! I had been looking for a healthier recipe for cranberries. This certainly ticked the box. Thank you.
You’re welcome, Debra! I appreciate your review.
Can I bake as mini muffins?
Sure! It should work. Just make sure you cut the baking time in half.
These are amazing! I would normally not be drawn to the cranberry orange combo (chocolate girl, here ♀️), but I had some cranberries I needed to use. These are moist, tangy, sweet and large. I think I’ll cut back on the honey a bit next time. But these are so good, and pretty, too. You’ve changed my thoughts on cranberry orange.
I’m excited you enjoyed this recipe, Kristy! I appreciate your review.
Could I possibly bake this in a bread pan instead of muffin tins? I’m sure it would need to bake a bit longer but would I need to adjust the temperature?
Hi! I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure. Likely the same temp, just longer time.
Hi Kate
I think this recipe sounds wonderful and I’m dying to try it. It’s March and the only cranberries I have are frozen. Do you think I can substitute them for the fresh? Any suggestions? Maybe process and then drain?
Thanks much.
I haven’t tried it, but I know others have and didn’t mind the results. Some did say you may have to cook them longer.
Good morning
My goodness- how long has this recipe been out? Been making for many years and it never fails. The fluffiness is always commented on. Save several bags of fresh cranberries in January to enjoy all year long. Thanks.
I’m so glad you have been making it for so long! Thank you for sharing, Ruthie.
These came out excellent – light and fluffy. Followed the recipe but used sour cream instead of Greek yogurt as that was all I had on hand. Will make again. Thanks.
I have made this recipe many times during the fall & winter, when fresh cranberries are in the stores. I mill oat flour from the oats I have in the pantry, & the muffins always come out perfectly sweet, & with such amazing pops of cranberry & orange! The texture is moist & it makes me feel good to know that they are as healthy as they are yummy. A winner!!
That’s great to hear, Lulu!
I used the Vegan Option and absolutely loved the final product, fluffy and delicious Cranberry Orange Muffins.
I opted to add 1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon, 1/2 tsp Ground Ginger, 1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg and 1/4 tsp Ground Cardamom.
Muffins took 30 minutes to bake.
Very good! I was worried I wouldn’t like them since I’m not often a fan of “healthier” baking. But they’re delicious! I would use extra orange zest. I added the zest of 3 oranges to a double recipe and it was perfect.
Delish! Made it completely vegan with your recommendations. A great breakfast, on the go, or brunch item! Added a few chopped peacans too.
Just today we bought some fresh Cranberries and I wanted to use some of them to bake something. Found your recipe and made them. I used 1/4 c. Maple Syrup and 1/2 c. Honey and hard white wheat. Followed the recipe.
They turned out beautifully and taste great. Just the right amount of sweetness and fluffy inside. I will definitely make them again. I want to try all of your whole wheat muffins! I love that your recipes are healthier than others. Thank you! :)
You’re welcome, Ingrid!
Just finished making a batch. I didn’t have enough honey so made it with half honey half maple syrup and added 1/2 tsp cinnamon otherwise followed the recipe as is.. and it was so delicious!!! It was so good that I made a second batch right after!! Baked at 400f for 19min. Thank you so much for the recipe, can’t wait for my toddler to try it!
These taste and smell so good! I added 1 tbsp of white sugar and used canola oil, everything else I kept the same!
These were fantastic! Made them with my two year old and they were forgiving of our approximate measures and sloppy stirring. We ran out of honey after 2/3 cup and they were perfect for folks looking for a less sweet muffin. We also added cinnamon for fun. Looking forward to making them again soon.
Great to hear, Mary! Thank you for your review.
These turned out light and fluffy. A big success! I added walnuts, because I add nuts to everything! I also went without orange zest, just because I didn’t have any. It was fine without.
This is a great recipe! I used half oat flour half GF blend. Also, all I had was flavored Greek yogurt so I decreased the honey by 1/3. Additionally, because I’m cooking for a crowd, I made this in a sheet pan and cut into squares. A doubled recipe took 20 minutes to bake that way.
These made the whole house smell wonderful! The taste did not disappoint. I will be making these again! Thank you!
You’re welcome, Laura!
Cookie and Kate muffin recipes are THE BEST. I highly recommend any of them!
Thank you so much, Julie!
So yummy and fluffy! Instead of 3/4 cup of maple syrup, I’ve kept 1/4 of maple syrup and substituted 1/4 for date puree and another 1/4 cup for orange juice. Perfect and it’s got added fibre.
They freeze well and even taste better afterwards. Great recipe
Your muffins sound great, Gee! Thanks for reporting back.
This recipe sounds so good and as u say healthy. I follow you from the UK, so if its possible, may I make the suggestion to add metric measurements to your lovely recipes. Cup measurements I find seem to vary according to ingredient and have to rush off to find conversion table. Is that a valid suggestion. Thank you.
Hi Pamela, thank you for your feedback. That’s a totally valid suggestion. I’ve tried to find a good solution for metric and so far, haven’t found a good conversion or presentation option, but I’ll keep looking.
I substituted 1 1/2 low fat buttermilk(1c.) for yogurt.
I use the olive oil.
Didn’t have turbinado sugar so just used granulated sugar.
Definitely not too sweet and a tad bitter. Could have used just a tad more sweetness, but is was good. I’ll add 3 tab. sugar to dry next time. I will make again!
Thanks, Cathy!
May I use avocado oil……….
Thanks!
Love your recipes
Sure, that should work!
i have made so many of your recipes!!! you and Ina are my go to’s. The cranberry orange muffins are a huge hit thanks so much. Michele
That’s a serious compliment to be included with Ina. Thank you so much, Michele!
I love your recipes. Thank you so much…and cranberry orange is one of my favorite flavor combinations. One question: any time I try to print, I do choose to NOT include the photo or the notes, or anything but the basic recipe, but regardless, it prints everything. Is there anything I can do to change this? Anyone else having this problem? At least after I see the print preview I can choose to print just two pages, for example, with this recipe, but would love to print only the parts I need.
Hi Fenna! There is a “print” button directly above the recipe card that will print the recipe only. Have you tried that?
I have tried all the different print options and all of them include the picture, the notes, the nutrition information. I just tried again to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. Like I said, I have a workaround, but am surprised no one else is running into this issue! Thanks again for your wonderful recipes.
These look super yummy, however, I cannot consume any dairy and buttermilk is still a dairy product. Any substitutions–applesauce, bananas???
Thanks
Hi Sherri! Check the vegan note below the recipe. You can make your own “buttermilk” by combining non-dairy milk with vinegar, and it works great.
Difficult to get frozen and impossible to get fresh cranberries here in Australia so substituted a cup of dried cranberries and a cup of white chocolate chips. Healthy, a little bit decadent and very delicious. Thank you, this will be making this again.
Yum! Thanks for providing your variation, Helen!
These are my absolute favorite muffins! I look forward to making them every year, they are perfect for the holidays. Just made my first batch for this season last week and stashed a few away in the freezer!
Love to hear that! Thank you and happy holidays!
Had a big bag of cranberries left over from Thanksgiving..I found this recipe and Tried it today..really good! My kids wanted some more sweetness so I put a little jam on it..love it!
Awesome! So glad you all enjoyed them, Manal.
These muffins are terrific
So tasty I made 2 batches and froze them
That’s great, Mo!
Hi Kate. I made your cranberry orange muffins this morning. They are wonderful! My husband and I love the tartness of the cranberries and the orange zest really adds a bright flavor. Another delicious recipe! Thank you.
You’re welcome, Christa! I appreciate your review.
Chopping the cranberries is genius! This recipe is the perfect mix of sweet and tart with a soft crumb. The best cranberry muffin I’ve ever had! Thanks, Cookie and Kate!
You’re welcome, Amy!
So festive with the cranberry and orange flavors and smells! I went with frozen cranberries and added about a cup and a half of dark chocolate chips (70% cocoa) to mine and LOVE how they came out! Super complimentary flavor profile. Thanks for creating such wonderful and EASY recipes to follow, Kate! Your’s are always my favorite :)
Excited you loved this recipe! Thank you for sharing how yo made it, Emily.