Orange and Cardamom Muffins ~ delicately fragrant muffins flavored with bright orange zest and warm, spicy cardamom, this easy muffin recipe is unique and delicious!

For a quick, easy, comforting breakfast, nothing beats my homemade orange and cardamom muffin recipe!
Is anybody making muffins anymore? It seems like they’ve totally gone out of fashion, right? But every time I make a batch I’m reminded of why I love them. These orange and cardamom muffins bake up so nice and tall, with a sugary crust on top, how could you resist? I don’t know why I thought of combining citrus with cardamom, I don’t think I’ve done it on the blog before, but boy, it’s so perfect. Neither taste is overpowering but they blend beautifully. The aroma is especially great when they’re just out of the oven, Definitely going to use this combo again!
You know I love my one bowl no-mixer recipes
They make baking from scratch so much more do-able. There’s less mess, and less lag time between the inspiration to bake and your first bite. Just grab your bowl and a whisk and you’re off to the races.
A plain muffin needs a little something something on the top, right?
I used my favorite Sparkling Sugar to add a little glitz and a sweet crunch. Less homey, more coffee shop. You could use regular sugar if that’s all you’ve got, but sparkling sugar has a bigger crystal and a great texture. I recommend picking some up from Amazon.
Muffins are nice to have around because they’re already pre-portioned and they keep well. Pop day old muffins in the micro for 20 seconds to revive that amazing aroma. They’re special enough for office potluck parties, especially in winter when a cozy muffin is everything.
One of the saving graces of deep winter is all the juicy citrus that comes into season.
It’s surprising how many different ways you can incorporate citrus into baking. In this recipe I use the juice and zest of the orange, but it’s the zest that really brings the orange flavor home. The outer orange colored part of the peel, or the zest, contains the flavor and aroma oils, which provide the true essence of the fruit flavor. The more you use, the more flavor payoff you’ll get.
How to zest an orange
- The zest of citrus fruit is the very outer part of the peel…the part that is colored.
- When you zest citrus fruit you are looking to remove just that outer colored part, with as little as possible of the white part underneath, which is bitter.
- I highly recommend using a citrus zester, which is a tool specifically created to do the job.
- Be sure to zest your fruit before cutting or juicing!
- Zest your fruit as close to adding it to your recipe as possible, because the oils start to dissipate quickly.
More wintery breakfast ideas ~
- Warm Maple Oat Nut Smoothie
- Fresh Tangerine Scones
- Homemade Chicken Apple Sausage
- Fresh Ginger and Pear Cake
Orange and Cardamom Muffins
Video
Equipment
- standard muffin pan
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- zest of 1 large orange, grated
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
Dry Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
Topping
- 3 tbsp sparkling sugar (or regular sugar), Find sparkling sugar on Amazon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and butter a muffin tin, or line with muffin tin liners.
- Whisk together all the wet ingredients well.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients, then add to the wet ingredients and fold everything together until there are no dry bits of flour left.
- Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tins, and top with a sprinkling of the sparkling sugar.
- Bake for 20-22 minutes until risen and starting to turn golden brown around the edges. A toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin should come out without wet batter clinging to it.
I love your recipes, however I would love them more if you would give the size of pans etc.. Example would this recipe did you use mini muffin tin or a regular cupcake tin?
Oh, ok Valerie, yes. I used a standard muffin or cupcake tin here.
Can you share the sparkling sugar you buy from Amazon? Looking forward to trying this out! Sounds delicious. Thanks
Hey Tamela, I have King Arthur Flour’s sparkling sugar and love it.
I’m a cardamom lover (have it in my tea almost every day) and found these to be very bland. I added more orange juice than recommended and put 1.5x the recommended cardamom and still almost imperceptible flavour. I would double all the flavourings, at minimum, if I was going to try this again.
This sounds delicious and I’m so excited to make them! But what if I can’t find cardamom, can I use allspice or something else instead to get a similar flavor?
It’s hard to say since cardamom is such a unique flavor…suggestions might be Cloves, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Ginger, or Allspice.
I’ve made these twice and they are scrumptious. Be sure to use the crystal sugar on top. I also added a drop or two of some orange extract not too much of you think it needs more orange kick, oh and I got a large muffin tin, six, 1 cup. Thank you for a great muffin and I love your site.
I donโt know what I did wrong, but I found it bland without much flavor at all. Maybe it needed the zest of two oranges.
I make muffins and you had me at cardamom – just the thing for a foggy rainy day. These muffin are wonderful and perfect with a steaming cup of Earl Gray!
Makes you almost wish for rain!
These are delicious! Theyโre fresh tasting with just the right amount of orange. The cardamom is the perfect compliment. The recipe made exactly one dozen. I followed the suggestion to sprinkle the tops with sparkly sugar. The texture is delicate and moist. Loved them, will make these on repeat!
I made these muffins for breakfast this morning and they were delicious! I love anything with citrus in it and these muffins were perfect. They are easy to make, beautiful and kid approved!
Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Wow! Never thought of this combination for muffins. I made them with coconut oil, sucanat (instead of granulated sugar) and whole wheat Einkorn flour. These were delicious! I tested one after baking – and now I want another! Will summon all my willpower to save them for family later!
I just discovered your site when looking for something new and different to do with excess oranges. So glad I found you!
Thank you very much!
Welcome in Kathleen, I love that you made these with Einkorn flour, that sounds delicious ๐