Healthy Cranberry Orange Muffins
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Healthy Cranberry Orange Muffins are naturally gluten free and refined sugar free. The perfect fall treat for breakfast or a snack!
These Cranberry Orange Muffins are wholesome, absolutely delicious, and packed with a cozy flavor combination that everyone loves.
They are soft, tender, full of sweet orange flavor and tangy fresh cranberries, and sweetened with maple syrup for a perfectly balanced muffin.
I love these muffins because not only do they taste delicious, they’re super easy to make. They’re made with pantry/fridge staples and don’t require much prep time!
Liz’s Tips for the Best Muffins:
- Let the muffins cool to prevent them from sticking to the paper liners. These muffins work great in regular paper muffin liners. Silicone muffin liners can be used, but will take a little longer to bake.
- Using a level 2-ounce ice cream scoop to divide the batter between the muffin wells makes measuring out the batter evenly a breeze. A level 2-ounce scoop will fill the muffin liners ¾ of the way full, which is perfect for this recipe. These muffins will bake over the sides if overfilled.
- Be careful not to overprocess your cranberries; a few pulses in the food processor are enough to yield medium to small cranberry pieces.
Ingredients:
Substitutions
Oat Flour – Oat flour is available at most grocery stores, online, or you can make your own in just a few minutes using old fashioned rolled oats. Read my post How to Make Your Own Oat Flour for a full tutorial.
I have really been liking using Oatsome Oat Flour Blend in my oat flour recipes. It is made from oats and buckwheat, rises better than just oat flour alone, and can be used as a 1:1 replacement for oat flour in most recipes. Regular oat flour is more accessible and works great.
Leavener – Because of the acidity in the orange juice, these muffins require both baking soda and baking powder to rise.
Eggs – I did not test an egg replacement in this recipe.
Maple Syrup – Honey or granulated sugar will work in this recipe.
Avocado Oil – Any neutral-flavored cooking oil will work in this recipe. Melted and slightly cooled butter or coconut oil can be used as well.
Orange Juice – Fresh squeezed or store-bought orange juice will work in this recipe. It is a little more affordable to just use the juice from the orange that you zest.
Orange Zest – This is a great way to add orange flavor to the muffins without adding too much moisture. I usually zest a whole orange which ends up being about 3 tablespoons of zest.
Cranberries – I recommend using fresh, not frozen or dried cranberries in this recipe for best taste and texture. For blueberries, we recommend our Blueberry Muffins.
Gluten Free- Use certified gluten-free oats or oat flour to make this recipe gluten-free.
How to make Healthy Cranberry Orange Muffins:
- Pulse the cranberries for a couple seconds in a food processor. Set cranberries aside.
- Whisk together dry ingredients. Add in the wet ingredients (except cranberries).
- Stir with a spatula until there are no lumps or streaks of dry ingredients. Don’t overmix!
- Fold the cranberries into the batter to evenly distribute.
- Divide the batter into the prepared muffin wells and bake at 350° for 16-20 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow them to cool fully to ensure they can be removed cleanly from the paper liners.
storage
Storing: Allow the muffins to fully cool before storing. Store loosely covered in tinfoil on the counter. Be sure that they do not accumulate excess moisture when stored. These muffins should be good for 4 days on the counter, or 5-6 days in the fridge in an air tight container.
Freezing: Place the cooled muffins in a resealable freezer bag and remove excess air, seal, and store in the freezer for 1-2 months. Thaw at room temperature or microwave from frozen before enjoying.
Other healthy muffin recipes
Check out these 30+ Healthy Muffins, or these:
Healthy Cranberry Orange Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups oat flour 220 g
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 eggs
- ⅔ cup maple syrup
- ¼ cup orange juice
- ¼ cup avocado oil
- 3 tablespoons orange zest zest from about 1 large orange
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup fresh cranberries halved (100 g)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-count muffin tin with paper liners and set aside.
- Pulse the cranberries for a couple seconds in a food processor. You want medium to small pieces, but do not over process. Alternatively, you can halve them with a knife – it’s just a little more work. Set cranberries aside.
- Add the oat flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and ginger to a large mixing bowl and whisk together until the leavening agents are distributed.
- Add the eggs, maple syrup, orange juice, avocado oil, orange zest and vanilla extract. Stir together using a rubber spatula until there are no lumps or streaks of dry ingredients. Avoid overmixing.
- Fold the cranberries into the batter to evenly distribute.
- Divide the batter evenly between the muffin wells. Do not overfill, aim for ¾ of the way full. Place muffins in the oven and bake for 16-20 minutes (18 minutes was perfect for my oven), or until the tops are golden.
- Remove from the oven and allow them to cool fully to ensure they can be removed cleanly from the paper liners.
I was recently horrified to discover I am allergic to oats. Instant bad migraine. And yes I use the best quality organic and made several tries to overcome this. It is actiually a thing. Before I wreck ingredients and waste time, can I just substitute wheat flour? Something else? Buckwheat is great but often needs to be mixed with something, as indicated here. Please give me an alternative.
Hi! I’m so sorry, but I haven’t tested this recipe with any other flour, so I can’t be sure how it will come out. I think wheat flour might work as a subsitute, but I really don’t know. Baking is finicky and I would hate for you to waste your ingredients!
Is there a reason that my muffins turned out too crumbly? The flavor is great but the muffins are too crumbly
Did you make any changes to the recipe ? We haven’t had this happen! I’m so sorry to hear this!
Can you replace oat flour with all purpose flour?
I’m sorry but I haven’t tried this! Without trying it, I can’t be sure.
Looking forward to making these! I’m curious if almond flour or coconut flour is a good substitute for oat flour? I’m on a program at the moment that doesn’t allow oats yet.
No it’s not a good substitute. Almond flour or coconut flour can never be substituted 1:1 for oat flour unfortunately! They interact completely different in baking. You can try searching for a paleo cranberry orange muffin or almond flour specific recipe, but I’d hate for you to try this and wind up with mushy muffins – please don’t make that substitute 🙂
I haven’t tried the recipe…yet! I was wondering if you have tried adding protein powder to the recipe. Thx
I wouldn’t recommend adding protein to these. Check out our Protein Apple Muffins, Blueberry Protein Muffins or Pumpkin Protein Muffins
These muffins are delicious. Nice and moist and lots of flavour. Love them.
what can I sub for coconut oil?
You can substitute coconut oil for any type of oil. Olive oil, canola oil, avocado oil or melted butter will all work.
Loved this healthy & flavorful recipe! Perfect for the holiday season!
Thanks, Erica! So happy you liked them!
Had some cranberries in the freezer from the holidays and made these yesterday. They are so good! Put peanut butter on them like you recommended – YUM!
So glad you liked them, Lisa!! Everything is better with PB on it!