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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These are the best tasting muffins! We made them last year for Christmas. This year we’re going to try mini size.
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
I just made these today and love them! Cardamon is just nestled in the background of the orange. Will definitely make again.
The muffins baked @350 for 21min and came out of oven with a little brown around the muffin top. Not dry. I used 1/2 milk and 1/2 sour cream. Also, added 5oz Hershey’s special dark less sugar choco chips. I love orange and chocolate together. The muffins are not real sweet. I would prefer more orange flavor. Next time I will add more zest and perhaps some orange flavoring! All in all, the muffins were tasty TY
Thank you for the recipe! Is there a substitute for the sugar? Like honey, maybe?!
It would be best if you had a granulated substitute, like maple sugar, maybe.
I made these a little differently from the recipe. I used yoghurt instead of milk, blood orange instead of regular orange, added 1 cup of 70% cocoa chocolate chips and omitted the cardamom (my husband isn’t a fan). They are so delicious! Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Chocolate and orange is such a winning combo!
I’ve made these muffins several times…a big hit..Just curious have you or can we use Olive Oil as an alternative to Vegetable oil.
Definitely, I think that would be great. Remember the type of olive oil you use will potentially affect the flavor, so you might go for a mild one for the first time.
Just made this recipe! I love it! Muffins are light and fluffy inside. Will make again
Thanks Dottie!
These muffins are absolutely amazing! I made them with less sugar and more orange juice and they turned out perfect. They are not too wet and not too dry- the perfect amount of moistness. Super easy to make, i will definitely use this recipe again!
So warm and delicious … these are wonderful! I added some extra warmth via cinnamon, ground cloves and ginger .. also, had extra fresh OJ, so I made a simple glaze. Wonderful!