Orange cardamom muffins are delicately flavored with bright orange zest and warm, aromatic cardamom ~ this easy and unique muffin recipe is a family favorite.
For a quick, easy, comforting breakfast, nothing beats my homemade orange cardamom muffin recipe. Here’s why you need these in your life:
- The orange cardamom flavor combo is a-mazing and I bet you’ve never had it before! Neither taste is overpowering but they blend beautifully. The aroma is especially great when they’re just out of the oven, Â Definitely going to use this combo again!
- Muffins are probably the easiest of all breakfast bakes, ready from start to finish in 30 minutes.
- Uses oil not butter for a moister muffin that keeps well.
- These muffins bake up nice and tall with a little crunchy sparkle on top.
what readers say about orange cardamom muffins
DEB: “Wonderful flavor! Cardamom is not on everyone’s radar but should be. One of my favorite spices!”
VALORA: “I love this recipe! The muffins turned out soft and buttery with the perfect balance of orange and spice. They aren’t too sweet and pair well with a hot cup of tea or coffee. 10/10”
HELEN: “What a beautiful delicate combination with the taste of orange and cardamom. Thanks for the brilliant recipe.”
EMILY: “My 8 y/o daughter rates these 1 Million out of 10! We love the flavour and light, fluffy texture. Thank you for the excellent recipe.”
TONI: “The best muffins i have made!”
ELLEN: “Being of Scandinavian heritage I don’t need convincing to use cardamom. With the orange addition this recipe is 5 star. I have even made it in a loaf pan. You will not be disappointed.”
a few baking tips for orange cardamom muffins
Don’t skimp on that zest! 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 in these orange cardamom muffins. The more you use, the more flavor payoff you’ll get.
Adjust cardamom to your taste ~ if you’re a newbie, use one teaspoon, but if you love the flavor like I do, increase to 1 1/2 teaspoons.
Sparkly muffin tops ~ I used my favorite Sparkling Sugar to add a little glitz and a sweet crunch to these muffin tops. 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.
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.
related: How to Make Citrus Sugar
orange cardamom for special diets (and variations)
Several readers have made these gluten free using a 1:1 baking mix.
Replace the dairy milk with your favorite plant based milk such as almond, oat, or coconut milk.
Replace the sparkling sugar with a glaze made with orange juice and powdered sugar.
Add 1/2 cup or more chopped walnuts or dried cranberries to the batter.
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Orange and Cardamom Muffins
Video
Equipment
- standard muffin pan
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- zest of 1 large orange, finely grated
- 1 tsp ground cardamom, use 1 1/2 teaspoons for a more pronounced cardamom flavor.
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.
Notes
Nutrition
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My 8 y/o daughter rates these 1 Million out of 10! We love the flavour and light, fluffy texture. Thank you for the excellent recipe.
These turned out great and satisfied my husband’s need for cardamom at the holidays (his mom always made Swedish coffee bread…well beyond my ability to convert to gluten free). I used Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 gluten free flour with good results. I did need to bake quite a bit longer than written, but I think that is because I have a silicon muffin pan and have to put it on a cookie sheet for rigidity, not because of the flour substitution. Thank you!
We made these yesterday. So good! Next time, we’ll add more zest & more cardamom, though. We thought the flavor as written was subtle & delicious, I’d just like a bit bolder of a flavor.
I made mini-muffins and cooked at 350 for 14 minutes.
Thank you! A new holiday tradition.
Altered recipe to be vegan – substituting Oat milk and 2 flax eggs (also omitted the sugar topping)
Had quite a bit of batter so portioned into 12 muffins.
Turned out so soft, moist, fluffy and absolutely delicious!
Will DEFINITELY be making these again!
Thanks so much for the vegan tips Caleigh.
This recipe is great. I like more spice forward dishes so I added cloves, cinnamon and ginger in. It takes it to a new level.
I’d love to make these as mini muffins.. any recommendations for cooking temp and time?
Mini muffin tins vary in size, but generally bake mini muffins at 350°F for approximately 10-15 minutes.
Absolutely delicious, a total hit at our place. Thanks.
Being of Scandinavian heritage I don’t need convincing to use cardamom. With the orange addition this recipe is 5 star. I have even made it in a loaf pan. You will not be disappointed.
Thanks Ellen ~ I worked on a loaf version, coming out soon!
I’d love to make these as mini muffins.. any recommendations for cooking temp and time?
Fabulous muffins, my favorite flavor combination! So much so that I created an ice cream base with it! I made a vanilla base adding cardamom (1/8 tsp) while on heat, then when cooling I added several drops of the Fleur De Sicilia oil (from King Arthur Baking). Honestly the best ice cream I’ve ever had. Thanks for the inspiration!
I make a bit stronger cardamom ice cream and I agree, it’s an amazing ice cream flavor…I haven’t experimented much with Fleur do Sicilian, I’ll have to get some.
My sister makes cardamom bread as Christmas presents, every year, but I’m too impatient to make yeast bread. I can’t wait to try these. Thank you!
I’m an impatient baker, too. Hope you love these!