Whole wheat orange muffins with little pops of tart cranberries throughout. The batter comes together quickly in one bowl, and can be made the night before. They are the perfect sweet/tart combo. Eat these wholesome delicious muffins for breakfast, snack or dessert.
Muffins are a popular breakfast food around here and, we have been making these cranberry orange muffins for years. We like to serve them with scrambled eggs, a bowl of cracked wheat cereal or cream of wheat. You can also try our Chocolate Chip Muffins if you want something extra special!
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If you are new to baking with whole wheat flour and want to learn more, we have a guide with mistakes to avoid that will help you on your journey to baking healthier with whole grains.
Muffins are a very versatile baked good. They can pass as a breakfast food but also double as dessert, especially if you top them with cream cheese frosting 😋.
Traditional muffins are packed with sugar and empty calories. These healthy cranberry orange muffins are made extra wholesome thanks to whole wheat flour. They are lower in sugar than traditional muffins but still sweet enough to taste good. The same can be said about these low sugar pumpkin muffins.
What's Cool About These Muffins
- 100% whole grain: These easy cranberry orange muffins are made with 100% whole wheat flour.
- One bowl: This muffin recipe only requires one bowl.
- Batter can be made the night before. Letting the muffin batter set overnight in the fridge can help soften the bran in the whole wheat flour and make the muffins softer. Wait until you’re ready to bake to add the cranberries.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Whole white wheat flour: We usually use fresh-milled hard white wheat. We have also had success with store-bought white whole wheat flour. We don't recommend using regular whole wheat flour.
- Organic cane sugar: Our favorite is a fine granulated raw cane sugar.
- Baking powder: Make sure it is double-acting if you are using the overnight method.
- Fine salt: Fine sea salt or any fine textured salt.
- Fresh orange juice: Fresh has a better orange flavor but, regular oj from a bottle will do.
- Orange zest: When we make these with bottled orange juice we just skip the zest. Chances are if you're not using fresh juice then you don't have an orange to zest.
- Egg: Just a good ol' chicken egg.
- Light olive oil or Avocado oil: Any neutral flavored oil should work here.
- Frozen or fresh cranberries: We use frozen most of the time because fresh aren't available very often. If using frozen, only let them thaw enough that you can chop them. If they thaw too much, they will make your batter turn red.
See recipe card for quantities.
Step by Step Photos
Grease a standard size 6 cup muffin tin or use paper liners.
Zest and juice 1 medium/large orange or enough to get ⅓ cup juice and 2 teaspoons zest.
Roughly chop the cranberries using a knife and cutting board or, a small food processor.
Chopping the cranberries helps evenly disperse the cranberry flavor throughout the muffins. When left whole they can be a bit overpowering.
Whisk the dry ingredients together in a medium mixing bowl.
Add the wet ingredients and whisk until combined.
Fold the chopped cranberries into the batter with a rubber spatula.
Divide batter evenly between the muffin cups.
Bake at 400 degrees fahrenheit for about 17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
Serving Suggestions
- Warm with butter or honey butter.
- You could top them with a simple glaze of powdered sugar and milk, orange juice or cranberry juice or this easy sour cream icing.
- Serve for a healthy snack along with a serving of fruit or vegetables.
Variations
- Mini Muffins - Bake for 10-12 minutes. Makes approx 24 mini muffins.
- Blueberry Orange Muffins - If you don't have cranberries than blueberries will work (leave them whole).
Storage
Store the cooled muffins in an airtight container for 2-3 day at room temperature.
Tip Place a paper towel in the container with the muffins to soak up excess moisture and keep the muffins from going sticky.
How to Freeze
Wrap individually in a few layers of plastic wrap and place in a resealable bag or container. Freeze for up to 3 months. Or, until they are nasty and freezer burned (LOL, kidding!).
Tips From Our Kitchen
- During the holiday season when cranberries are available, buy a few extra bags and freeze them so you can have cranberries all year long.
- Use a cookie or ice cream scoop to get even amounts of batter in each muffin cup.
- Don’t be too afraid of over stirring the batter, you don’t have to be as careful stirring whole wheat flour as all purpose flour.
- If you’re baking in convection mode, reduce baking time by 1-2 minutes.
FAQ
Dry and dense muffins are usually caused by using too much flour and over baking. Using weight measurements will give you the most accurate results. Check the muffins at the lesser bake time indicated, if they are close to being done then check every 1-2 minutes until they are done.
Bitter whole wheat baked goods are usually caused from using flour that is too old. Whole wheat flour contains germ which is oily, so it will go rancid and bitter after a few weeks on the shelf. Make sure to use fresh, high quality whole wheat flour.
Related
📖 Recipe
Whole Wheat Cranberry Orange Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup (128 g) Whole white wheat flour hard white wheat
- 1 teaspoon (4 g) Baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon Fine salt
- ⅓ cup (70 g) Organic cane sugar
- ¼ cup (60 g) Light Olive oil or Avocado oil
- ⅓ cup (80 g) Fresh orange juice
- 1 large large Egg
- 2 teaspoons Orange zest optional
- ½ cup (60 g) Fresh or Frozen cranberries chopped
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl whisk the dry ingredients together.1 cup (128 g) Whole white wheat flour, 1 teaspoon (4 g) Baking powder, ⅛ teaspoon Fine salt, ⅓ cup (70 g) Organic cane sugar
- Add the wet ingredients and whisk until combined.¼ cup (60 g) Light Olive oil, ⅓ cup (80 g) Fresh orange juice, 1 large large Egg, 2 teaspoons Orange zest
- Fold in the cranberries.½ cup (60 g) Fresh or Frozen cranberries
- Generously grease or line with paper liners a standard size 6 cup muffin pan. Divide the batter evenly between the cups, they will be quite full. A 2 oz ice cream scoop works great for this.
- Bake at 400° for 16-19 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out with a few crumbs. Remove the muffins from the pan and eat warm or let cool before storing.
To Make Overnight
- Mix the batter as usual but leave out the cranberries. Cover and refrigerate overnight. When ready to bake, fold in the cranberries and bake as usual. They might need a minute or two longer in the oven to account for the cold batter.
Notes
Nutrition
We calculate these nutritional facts using an estimate and they can vary drastically between ingredients used and measuring technique. So, they are not intended for medical use.
Tami
I love referring to wholewheat experts for success in wholewheat recipes. Thank you Jessica and Merissa for sharing quality recipes for wholewheat success.
WholeWheatKitchen
Thank you Tami!
Janice
Could I replace the oil and the egg with the banana paste? If so, how many grams? Could I replace the orange juice with the water and thank you?
WholeWheatKitchen
Hi, I think you could get away with changing the orange juice for water, it would just change the flavor. I have never tried making muffins without eggs so I don’t know how they would turn out. You could always try it and see how they turn out:)