Fresh cranberry muffins are packed with tart, juicy cranberries and topped with sparkling sugar for a little crunch. This easy one-bowl recipe is one of my favorite ways to bake with fresh cranberries when they hit the stores each fall.
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Baking with fresh cranberries is one of the best parts of fall and winter for me. I adore them for their super tart, bright flavor ~ and that color! I use them in everything from smoothies to pork roast.
➡ One bowl, easy batter, and a light, fluffy texture every time.
➡ Fresh or frozen cranberries both work ~ add frozen berries straight from the freezer.
➡ Bright red cranberries and sparkling sugar make them especially good for Christmas morning or a holiday brunch.
How to bake with fresh cranberries
Rinse + dry
Give fresh cranberries a quick rinse, pick out any soft berries or stems, and dry them well before adding them to the batter.
Use them whole or chopped
Leave them whole for bigger tart, juicy bursts, or roughly chop them for cranberry in every bite.
- Reader note: “I was skeptical about leaving the cranberries whole, but they were delicious.” ~ Linda
Fresh or frozen both work
Add frozen cranberries straight from the freezer ~ no thawing.
Cranberries need enough sugar
They’re much tarter than most berries, so recipes built around them need enough sugar to balance that sharp flavor.
Freeze them right in the bag
Fresh cranberries keep surprisingly well in the fridge, and you can freeze the whole bag for up to a year.
Got an extra bag?
I have plenty more fresh cranberry recipes to help you put it to work.
Almond extract gives my cranberry muffins their distinctive flavor
I love almond with tart cranberries ~ it rounds out their sharpness and gives these muffins a flavor that’s a little unexpected. I use 1 teaspoon here, which is enough to come through without taking over. You can also add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract for a nice variation.
- Reader note: “The almond extract added a complexity that vanilla wouldn’t have.” ~Kevin-Louis
Sparkling sugar is the finishing touch
The big crystals add crunch and a little extra sweetness, which is especially good against the tart cranberries. I sprinkle it on before baking so the tops come out crisp and sparkly. Sometimes I’ll even add a bit extra after they come out. I have used several different brands with success ~ this one is particularly good.
- Reader note: “They had a nice texture and the tartness was balanced by the sparkling sugar on top.” ~ Lisa
Reader tips + takeaways
For a sweeter muffin add more sugar
This is the biggest divide in the comments. Plenty of readers love the tart, not-too-sweet balance exactly as written, while others add another 2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup sugar. Chopping the cranberries also spreads that tartness out into smaller bites.
Jumbo muffins work beautifully
Several readers make these as jumbo muffins, usually getting about 6–8 depending on the pan. Because jumbo tins vary, I’d start checking them at about 25 minutes and go from there.
Chop the cranberries for mini muffins
Roughly chop the cranberries first so you don’t wind up with a whole tart cranberry taking over a tiny muffin. That’s also a good way to get cranberry into every bite.
Gluten-free works
This came up again and again. Readers have had especially good results swapping the all-purpose flour 1:1 with Bob’s Red Mill or King Arthur cup-for-cup gluten-free flour.
Orange is the runaway favorite variation
Orange zest shows up all through the comments, along with orange juice in place of some of the milk and even an orange glaze. White chocolate, sliced almonds, walnuts, cinnamon and cardamom also have plenty of fans.
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Fresh Cranberry Muffins
Video
Equipment
- 12 cup muffin pan
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 3/4 cup milk, or half and half
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp almond extract (or substitute vanilla extract)
- 2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
- 3 Tbsp sparkling sugar, for topping (optional), Find sparkling sugar online here
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 and butter a 12-cup muffin tin, or line with paper muffin liners.
- Whisk together the 2 cups all purpose flour, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, and 1/2 tsp salt in a large mixing bowl.
- Add the 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 3/4 cup milk, or half and half, 2 large eggs, and 1 tsp almond extract (or substitute vanilla extract), and whisk everything together until well blended.
- Add the 2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries and fold to combine.
- Divide the batter into the muffin tins, and top with the 3 Tbsp sparkling sugar, for topping (optional). Bake for about 25 minutes until risen and just starting to turn golden on top.
- Allow to cool in the muffin tins before removing.
Notes
Nutrition
More fresh cranberry recipes
Cranberry Cake
This easy cranberry cake recipe is a holiday favorite ~ the tartness of fresh cranberries adds a burst of flavor to every bite.
Mulled Wine Cranberry Sauce
Red wine and mulling spices balance out the tartness of the cranberries and give the sauce a whole new warmth and depth of flavor. This is the cranberry sauce I’ll be making for the rest of my life!
Cranberry Smoothie
My simple Cranberry Cleanse Smoothie is packed with health benefits and has a fabulous sweet tart flavor!
Vanilla Cranberry Bundt Cake
A soft vanilla Bundt with bursts of tart cranberry and a silky glaze that catches the light ~ simple to make, beautiful to serve, and unmistakably festive.
Cranberry Orange Curd
Cranberry orange curd is like lemon curd, but with blended cranberries standing in for the citrus ~ so good with toast, biscuits and scones!
This is a wonderful recipe and about as easy as you can get. It took me about five minutes to pull it together. I made a 9″ square snack cake instead of muffins, so I needed to cook it longer – more like 45 minutes. I also adjusted it slightly since we’re trying to be cautious about carbs. Instead of 2 cups of all-purpose flour, I used 1 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup of almond flour. It seems that the almond flour enhanced the almond flavor of this. I also used frozen cranberries and they were perfect. Bravo, Great Island! I love your recipes!
So glad you loved it Kate, it’s a pretty versatile recipe!
What did I do wrong? I just put these in the oven, but my batter was heavy and thick like a dough. Hopefully they’ll turn out but my mixture did not look anything like the photos….
Sounds like something went awry in the measuring of the ingredients, maybe? If you used frozen cranberries that can cause the dough to seize up a bit. Email me if you want to troubleshoot further!
Incredible! Made them for a friend’s visit and she raved about them.
I tried this recipe- the addition of almond extract and orange zest were great but the muffins are quite dry and barely sweet. I used the recommended amount of oil but will use more or add applesauce if I make these again
Sorry these didn’t work for you. Feel free to add a bit more sugar next time. The dryness could be over-baking, or a bit too much flour.
The recipe was super easy to follow, yielded the most photogenic muffins I have ever made, and they tasted absolutely fantastic!
Wow thanks Neda!
Thanks for this great recipe, just sweet enough with less sugar than most muffin recipes call for. I’d love to see any recipes using whole wheat white flour.
Thanks Ann. You can generally substitute white whole wheat for all purpose flour in most recipes, without any issues or changes.
I tried half your recipe for 6 muffins as I wanted to share with my neighbor and for us to have too. They came out very well and just the right amount of sweetness. I added some orange zest and chopped my frozen fresh cranberries. Perfect recipe for muffins to keep. Thank you for doing all the homework so we can just try them easily. Do you make anything with almond flour ?
This is a really wonderful recipe with just a quarter of a cup of extra sugar; otherwise, they probably wouldn’t be sweet enough! Found larger crystal sugar in the baking aisle near the cookie sprinkles. Will definitely make them again, but I’ll have to use frozen cranberries this time!
I thought this muffin was amazing! I’ll use it often, and probably use different fruit or chocolate chips. Great!
My favourite Cranberry Muffin recipe and I make it often even as muffin tops. Sometimes I add two teaspoons of cinnamon and chopped walnuts, but it is perfect as is. Thank you
I thought this was the recipe I used the other day to make cranberry muffins, which were super delicious, however this recipe turned out dry and mushy at the same time. I followed everything exactly, so I’m not sure what happened.