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Square side shot of cranberry orange muffins on a cooling rack.
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5 from 5 votes

Easy Orange Cranberry Muffins

You only need one bowl, a whisk, and about 15 minutes to make the best bakery-style cranberry orange muffins!
Course Breakfast, Side Dish
Cuisine American
Keyword cranberry orange muffins, easy orange cranberry muffins, orange cranberry muffin recipe, orange cranberry muffins
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings 9 muffins
Calories 228kcal
Author Blair Lonergan

Ingredients

  • 5 tablespoons salted butter, melted
  • ½ cup sugar
  • Zest from 1 orange
  • ¾ cup (6 ounces) sour cream
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 ¼ cups fresh or frozen cranberries (very large cranberries halved)
  • Optional: ½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans
  • Coarse sugar, for topping

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a muffin tin with 9 paper liners. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter, sugar, orange zest, sour cream, egg, and vanilla extract. Sprinkle the baking powder, baking soda, and salt over top. Whisk to combine. Add the flour and gently stir with a wooden spoon or spatula, just until combined and no dry streaks of flour remain. The batter will be nice and thick!
    Stirring together muffin batter
  • Fold in the cranberries and nuts (is using).
    Adding fresh cranberries to a bowl
  • Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Sprinkle the top of each muffin with coarse sugar. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into each muffin comes out clean and the tops are golden.
    Horizontal overhead shot of a muffin tin with baked orange cranberry muffins.
  • Cool muffins in the pan for about 5 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
    Horizontal shot of a batch of easy orange cranberry muffins cooling on a wire rack.

Notes

This recipe yields 9 standard-size muffins. You can bake the batter in jumbo muffin tins for giant bakery-size treats. You'll need to increase the total baking time to 30-35 minutes for the jumbo muffins. Similarly, you can bake the batter in mini muffin tins. The mini muffins will bake much faster, so they will only need a total of about 12-15 minutes in a 350°F oven.

Nutrition

Serving: 1muffin | Calories: 228kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 46mg | Sodium: 159mg | Potassium: 134mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 349IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 57mg | Iron: 1mg