Cranberry Orange Muffin Recipe (with Yogurt)
This cranberry orange muffin recipe with yogurt results in muffins so moist and delectable, you won’t even care that they’re actually quite healthy, too! No butter, a whole cup of yogurt and very little sugar make them a perfect breakfast treat. or afternoon snack. Just read the reviews!
If you haven’t tried my perfect plum muffins, then maybe this cranberry orange muffin recipe will convince you to try them. No matter which fruit I use, they always turn out–well, perfectly!
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I found some frozen cranberries in my freezer, and decided I’d make some orange cranberry muffins. They are my favorite bakery item to order whenever I go to Homegirl Cafe in downtown Los Angeles, one of my favorite charities.
As you can see from the photos, using the perfect plum muffin recipe, but adding cranberries and orange rind instead of plums was a good call.
Healthy Cranberry Orange Muffin Recipe?
Yes, these muffins are truly full of nutrients and health benefits from cranberries, orange rind, yogurt and eggs. They’re also low in sugar, and contain no butter.
These cranberry orange muffins tasted awesome, and this will not be the the last time I make them! (Updated 4/2026: I cannot count how many times I’ve made these!)
Baking Options
I made six really huge muffins, lined with squares of parchment paper. and one mini-loaf pan. However, you can also make 12 regular cupcake sized muffins from this orange cranberry muffin recipe. I’ve also baked the entire batter in a regular sized loaf tin.
Again, I highly recommend using a scale for best results.
Cranberry Orange Muffin Recipe (with Yogurt)
Adapted from my plum muffin recipe Makes 6 jumbo or 12 regular sized muffins
FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE BELOW
Ingredients
- all purpose flour
- baking powder
- baking soda
- sugar
- eggs
- olive oil
- Greek yogurt or labne
- buttermilk (or milk with a squeeze of lemon)
- fresh or frozen cranberries (I’ve also used 1 cup dried cranberries)
- grated rind of one orange (preferably organic)
- Swedish pearl sugar or Demerara sugar (Sugar in the Raw) for topping
Directions for Cranberry Orange Muffin Recipe
Sift first 3 dry ingredients into a large bowl, then stir in sugar. (<– DO NOT FORGET THE SUGAR)
Place the cranberries (toss with a tiny bit of flour, which will stop them from falling to the bottom) with the grated orange peel in a small bowl, and set aside. (You can use a fine grater for the peel, I just did larger peel this time.)
In a large measuring jug, combine the eggs, oil, yogurt and buttermilk and whisk to combine.
Stir the yogurt mixture into the dry ingredients, just until barely combined (do not mix until the flour is completely cleared).
Add the cranberries and orange peel, and continue to fold the mixture until just combined.
Do not over stir muffins or they will not be light in texture.
Bake the Cranberry Orange Muffins
Put the tray into the preheated oven for about 20 minutes, or until muffins and golden brown (if making one loaf, bake for about 50 to 55 minutes) and a skewer comes out clean when inserted in the center.
Try to let the cranberry and orange muffins cool slightly before digging in with a hot cup of tea
You simply won’t believe the texture of these muffins! Best I’ve ever tasted!
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LA Living…
a winter sunrise.
Homemade Cranberry and Orange Yogurt Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour good quality
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ⅓ cup sugar
- ½ cup light olive oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup greek yogurt or labne (if using regular yogurt, omit the buttermilk/milk)
- 2 Tbsp buttermilk
- 2 cups cranberries fresh or frozen (I've also used 1 cup of dried cranberries)
- 2 tsp grated rind of one orange preferably organic
- 2 Tbsp Swedish pearl sugar or Demerara sugar (sugar in the raw) for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C)
- Sift first 3 ingredients into a large bowl, then stir in sugar.
- Place the cranberries (toss with a tiny bit of flour, which will stop them from falling to the bottom of the pan) with the grated orange peel in a small bowl, and set aside.
- In a large measuring jug, combine the eggs, oil, yogurt and buttermilk and whisk to combine. Stir the yogurt mixture into the dry ingredients, just until barely combined (do not mix until the flour is completely cleared).
- Add the cranberries and orange peel, and continue to fold the mixture until just combined. Do not over stir muffins or they will not be light in texture.
- Place the mixture into the muffin cups or mini-loaf pans, or one large loaf tin, then sprinkle with sugar.
- Bake for about 20 minutes or until muffins and golden brown (or 50 to 55 mins if making one loaf) and a skewer comes out clean when inserted in the center.
- Try to let them cool slightly before digging in, with a hot cup of tea!
Notes
- These muffins are not very sweet at all. If you omit the sugar topping, I advise adding a little more sugar to the batter.
Nutrition
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Love the look of these Christina, I always over buy cranberries because they have such a short season here. But I found some in the freezer from last year :o so I think I should use them up! I may make the muffins then freeze them, as we have far too much to eat in the house at the moment.
Same here, that’s why I had the bag of cranberries in the freezer! I will warn you though, they really taste best fresh, so maybe you should wait to make them when you can eat them straight away. Mine also took twice as long to bake today because I didn’t defrost the cranberries and they were huge! Still came out fantastic though!
I just made these this morning and they are wonderful! I made a few adjustments: I used 1/4 cup coconut sugar and 2 T. honey for sweetener, 1/4 cup coconut oil, omitted the buttermilk and used turbinado sugar on top because that’s what I had on hand. Yum! Will make these again. Thanks for the recipe!
Awesome! Thanks for letting me know, Casey! :) Happy New Year!
This recipe looks great and I will definitely try it this weekend. Just wondering whether I can reduce the amount of sugar by half which is around 50g when making the muffin.
Hi Joschan, actually, these muffins are really not very sweet at all, so I truly wouldn’t recommend it. Why don’t you make it as is once, then decide according to how they taste?
Well, I made them yesterday and they are all gone today ? they were crazy delicious. Will make some more this coming week. I was wondering what else we can use instead of buttermilk? Only because I don’t usually have that on hand. Try them girls!
Wonderful! So happy you liked them, Esther! You can always put a big squeeze of lemon juice into regular milk as a substitute for buttermilk, or you can buy powdered buttermilk. However, I would encourage you to buy a quart of buttermilk once, and see the difference it will make in the outcome. Let me know! :)
Christina, I did buy a quart of buttermilk and used it. I don’t use buttermilk ever threw away the rest. I was thinking since we only need 2 tbsp of it we could substitute with something else? Man, it was also expensive, hate to waste food! You know what I mean. But I will make them again, regardless. Thank You for the recipe.
Oh my mistake, Esther! I was thinking this was a recipe which had more buttermilk in it, getting it mixed up with my pancakes, I think! I wish I could have shown you this before you threw it away-it’s such a great ingredient for so many recipes: http://communitytable.parade.com/421156/christinaconte/a-dozen-delicious-ways-to-use-buttermilk/
That’s terrible that it’s so expensive! It’s very inexpensive here in LA. Yes, I’d just add a little lemon juice to regular milk in future. Enjoy!
Oh my these look amazing! I would like to make today. Question: is the Greek yogurt plain or vanilla? Thanks
You’ll LOVE them Esther! I use plain Greek yogurt as it has no sugar, however, if you only have vanilla on hand I would try it and see how you like the outcome. They’ll still have the fabulous texture but will be a little sweeter. Enjoy!
thank you so much!
You’re very welcome, Esther! :)
Hi Christina, does it need orange juice for this? Saw a glass of it in ur pic but not in the recipe. I m planning to make this. Let me know pls. Thx
Good eye, Rita! No, no orange juice in the recipe. I think I probably juiced the orange after grating the rind and was drinking it while I was making these! You’ll love these muffins, they’re sooo light and wonderful! Enjoy!
Thank you for the yummy and most importantly.. EASY recipe :))
Made with fresh cranberries and no sugar pearls (mainly was too lazy to go find’em!!)
But still were SUPER yummy!! My 1 year old is DEVOURING’em!
Yay! Everyone loves these muffins, Harshita! But I think your 1 year old is the youngest fan yet! :) Thanks for letting me know! CC
Great Recipe! Tried it out yesterday with my left over frozen cranberries from Christmas. I love that they are not too sweet and have the added protein from the greek yogurt. Will definitely make again soon!
Thank you for letting me know, Christina! I totally agree! :) CC