Cranberry Sauce Muffins
by These Cranberry Sauce Muffins turn 3/4 cup of leftover whole berry cranberry sauce into six tender muffins with orange zest and sour cream. Make them with homemade or canned sauce for a smart day-after-Thanksgiving breakfast.
“Delicious! Nice high muffins. A great way to use leftover cranberry sauce. I doubled the recipe. Glad I did because these are so yummy.”
Kathy
“This is an amazing recipe! I made five batches and froze them! They freeze very well!”
Carrie
Turn Leftover Cranberry Sauce Into Breakfast
Use It Up! [Cranberry Sauce]
This recipe is part of our Use It Up! series, all about finishing half-used ingredients and reducing food waste.
If you have some Homemade Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce left after Thanksgiving, these muffins use 3/4 cup of it in one small batch. Leftover canned whole berry sauce works, too. The cranberry sauce goes right into the batter, so those last few spoonfuls become breakfast instead of sitting in the back of the refrigerator.
The day after Thanksgiving, the cranberry sauce can be easy to overlook next to all the other leftovers. When I made these muffins with homemade whole berry cranberry sauce, I loved how the tart fruit tasted with fresh orange zest and the tender sour cream batter.
This recipe makes just six muffins in about 35 minutes, which is a reasonable amount of baking when the refrigerator is already full. The cranberry sauce is folded in last, leaving pockets of berry throughout the muffins rather than turning the entire batter pink.
Why You Will Love Cranberry Sauce Muffins
- They use a good bit of leftover sauce. One small batch turns 3/4 cup of cranberry sauce into six muffins.
- The flavor is cranberry-orange, not just sweet. Orange zest brightens the fruit, while sour cream gives the muffins a tender crumb.
- Homemade and canned whole berry sauce both work. You do not have to make cranberry sauce from scratch to bake these.
Cranberry Sauce Muffins Ingredients
A full recipe card, including exact ingredient amounts, appears at the bottom of this post.
- all-purpose flour – gives the muffins enough structure to hold the cranberry sauce without becoming heavy.
- baking powder and baking soda – help the muffins rise.
- kosher salt – balances the sugar and brings out the orange and cranberry flavors.
- granulated sugar – sweetens the batter and helps the tops brown.
- unsalted butter – cream it at room temperature with the sugar for a soft, tender crumb.
- orange zest – provides the citrus flavor without adding extra liquid to the batter.
- egg – binds the batter and helps the muffins hold their shape.
- full-fat sour cream – adds moisture, richness and a little tang.
- vanilla extract – rounds out the tart cranberry and bright citrus flavors.
- prepared cranberry sauce – use a chunky homemade sauce made with whole cranberries, or the whole berry kind from a can. Jellied cranberry sauce is not a good substitute for the pieces of fruit these muffins need.
How To Make Leftover Cranberry Sauce Muffins
- WHISK. Heat the oven to 375 degrees F. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- MIX. Beat the sugar, room temperature butter and orange zest in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for 2 minutes, until light and fluffy. Then, beat in the egg and vanilla, then mix in the sour cream. The mixture may look slightly curdled at this point, which is fine.
- ADD. Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed just until combined. Then, gently fold in the cranberry sauce so some berry pieces and streaks remain in the batter.
- BAKE. Line six muffin cups with paper liners and divide the batter evenly. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the cake portion of a muffin comes out without wet batter.
- COOL. Let the muffins rest in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove them to the rack to cool completely.
Cranberry Sauce Muffins Home Chef Tips
- Use thick cranberry sauce. Homemade cranberry sauces vary in consistency. If yours is especially runny, it may blend into the batter instead of forming distinct pockets of fruit. A thick, chilled whole berry sauce works best.
- Use room temperature butter and full fat sour cream. The softened butter creams with the sugar as written, and the sour cream contributes moisture and richness.
- Stop mixing as soon as the flour disappears. Overmixing can make muffins tough, and vigorous folding will smear the cranberry sauce through the batter rather than leaving fruit-filled swirls.
- Check the cake portion, not a cranberry pocket. A toothpick might pick up some cranberry sauce. What matters is that there is no uncooked muffin batter clinging to it.
Make Ahead, Storage And Reheating
- Make Ahead: Bake the muffins a day before serving, cool completely and store in an airtight container.
- Store: Keep cooled muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Let them cool fully before sealing so trapped steam does not make the tops damp.
- Reheat: Warm an individual muffin briefly in the microwave until it is just warm, or enjoy at room temperature.
- Freeze: Wrap the cooled muffins tightly and place them in a freezer bag for up to 2 months. Thaw in the refrigerator and warm briefly before serving.
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Cranberry Sauce Muffins
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Ingredients
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons room temperature unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup full-fat sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup prepared whole berry cranberry sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream sugar, butter and orange zest 2 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add egg, sour cream and vanilla and beat until well combined. The mixture may look slightly curdled at this point, which is fine.
- Add flour mixture and mix on low until just combined. Gently fold in cranberry sauce.
- Line 6 muffin cups with paper liners. Divide batter evenly between muffin cups. Bake 20 to 22 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of muffins comes out clean. Cool muffins in pan on wire rack 10 minutes. Remove muffins from pan and transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
I was so happy to find this recipe! I make Paula Deen’s cranberry sauce every Thanksgiving (she calls it Wayne’s Cranberry Sauce after one of her two sons). I usually have some left over and your recipe was perfect! They rose beautifully, were the perfect density, and everyone thought they were delicious. Thanks for such a good recipe!
I’m so glad to hear there were a hit for you, Janie!
I doubled the recipe and used 2%plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. I also made a strusel topping for them I got so many compliments for these! I’m going to save this recipe so I can try it with other fruit. Highly recommend this recipe
LOVE that you added streusel, Antoinette. So glad they turned out well!
These were delicious and rose very high. I read some of the other comments about sugar being considered a ” wet” ingredient. I would like to reduce the sugar next time because I found them to be too sweet. Do I need to add an equal amount of liquid to compensate for reducing the sugar?
Hi Olive – I’m so glad these turned out delicious for you. I haven’t tested them with less sugar, so I can’t say for sure whether they’d turn out the same by substituting liquid in place of sugar. If you do try it, please let me know how it turns out.
Delicious! The right level of sweetness and tart. Moist crumb and great texture.
I’m so glad to hear they turned out great!
This is an amazing recipe! I made five batches and froze them! They freeze very well! I also added a tablespoon of orange. juice and I made it orange cranberry!
I’m so glad you love this recipe, Carrie. Thank you for stopping by!
Best recipe I’ve ever pulled from the internet! Well, except perhaps for Molly Yeah’s tater tot hotdish. Worked Really nicely with my grandma’s recipe for blended cranberry/orange sauce. Thanks for sharing! This will become a post-Thanksgiving classic for us.
That makes me so happy to hear, Sunny! If i’m up there with Molly Yeh, I’m feeling good about myself 🙂
Delicious! Nice high muffins. A great way to use leftover cranberry sauce. I doubled the recipe. Glad I did because these are so yummy.
I’m so glad you liked these, Kathy!
Hi, can I use plain/vanilla yoghurt in place of sour cream?
Totally!
I’ve made these for years now every year after Thanksgiving. Delicious every time!
I’m so glad you like them, Keri!
Excellent! I doubled the recipe and made 6 mini loaves rather than muffins. Great way to use up the cranberry sauce. Thank you.
Love the loaf idea! Thanks for stopping by, Marilyn!
I made the muffins and was very pleased with them. I was happy to be able to use up leftover cranberry sauce.
Can the recipe be doubled? They disappeared too quickly.
Hi Margaret – so happy you liked this recipe! You can definitely double it – just a straightforward doubling of each ingredient.
I just mixed these up and got a hard ball I could not mix the cranberries into.Is there some form of liquid missed in the recipe?I followed the recipe exactly and got a chunk of batter.
Hi Tanya – tell me more. Did you use a large egg and full fat sour cream?
Same here, but all I had was reduced fat sour cream, so added a couple tablespoons of milk to get the desired consistency. I just finished eating my second muffin. Great idea for leftover cranberry sauce.
I just made these, following the recipe except that I reduced the sugar by more than half (because the cranberry sauce was sweetened). I also found that the wet ingredients were insufficient to combine with the dry to achieve a decent batter. I added a little milk, and then finished the batter by adding the cranberry sauce alternately with the flour mixture. That seemed to work and they turned out fine.
Hi Kathleen – It’s a thick batter because sugar is considered a wet ingredient for baking, so when the batter is baked, the sugar turns to liquid. But I’m glad these turned out for you!
i just made these and they turned out great! I added some walnuts but that’s the only change I made. They look like perfect bakery muffins too!
I’m so glad these turned out great for you, Kathryn!
Ser out my ingredients last night and made this recipe this morning with a home-canned jar of leftover cranberry sauce from January 2020 that really needed to get used before this Thanksgiving. My husband loved them, I liked the flavor and texture but was a little bit disappointed in the look and the process because I could not get the butter&sugar to beat up fluffy (maybe b/c it was such a small amount of butter?) in my mixer and the muffins did not rise. I did sub some of the AP flour for einkorn b/c I was low but I’m not sure if that would have affected the rise.
Hi Alison. Yes, with a small amount of butter, sometimes you have to scrape the mixing bowl quite a bit to get it to whip up fluffy. I suspect that the einkorn also impacted the end result.