Cranberry Sauce Muffins
These Cranberry Sauce Muffins are the most delicious way to use up leftover cranberry sauce after Thanksgiving. You can whip these up in just a few minutes!
When I told you last week that I had overbought cranberries, I really wasn’t kidding! I used a bunch to make my cranberry curd tart, some to make a cranberry appetizer, and then I ended up using the last of them to make a BIG batch of cranberry sauce.
I have plenty of sauce for Thanksgiving, spreading on turkey leftover sandwiches (also with a smear of homemade gravy), and for my mom to just eat with a spoon, like she likes to do.
But still, we’re going to have some extra cranberry sauce. I’ve already made a batch of these Cranberry Sauce Muffins to use some of it up (enjoyed alongside a salted caramel cream cold brew).
And, with such a small Thanksgiving this year (definitely will need to make a loaded mashed potato casserole with leftover potatoes), I might be making another batch after Thanksgiving, too! Or maybe I’ll want pear muffins instead. Tough decision!
The ingredients for these muffins are easy to find:
- flour
- baking powder
- baking soda
- salt
- sugar
- butter
- orange zest (save the rest of the orange for my citrus vinaigrette recipe)
- egg
- sour cream
- vanilla extract
- cranberry sauce
These cranberry sauce muffins are made with leftover cranberry sauce – either canned or homemade.
I made these muffins with 3/4 cup of my homemade hard cider cranberry sauce. Any variety of homemade cranberry sauce made with whole berries will be great in this muffin recipe.
Save the dried cranberries for Thanksgiving rice. Any extra fresh cranberries can be used in place of cherries in chorizo stuffing.
You just want to be sure you’re using a chunkier sauce, and not a super smooth one.
This recipe is also great when made with canned cranberries (meaning, you can make these muffins all year ’round, even when fresh cranberries aren’t available).
If you’re using canned cranberry sauce, be sure to look for the words “whole berry” on the label. You don’t want the “jellied” kind, because that will be too thin and smooth to make good muffins.
I make these cranberry sauce muffins with sour cream, my secret ingredient!
Just like in my family’s sour cream nutmeg cookies for Christmas, sour cream is the secret ingredient here!
Why is sour cream so good in baked goods? The fat in it contributes to richness and moistness, and the subtle tang of sour cream adds flavor. Make sure to use full fat sour cream for best results.
Psst – buttermilk is another great ingredient for baking. Try it in my buttermilk blueberry muffins or blackberry muffins, too!
Cranberry Sauce Muffins
These Cranberry Sauce Muffins are the most delicious way to use up leftover cranberry sauce after Thanksgiving. You can whip these up in just a few minutes!
Ingredients
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons room temperature unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup full fat sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup prepared cranberry sauce (see Home Chef tip)
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.
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.
Notes
Home Chef Tip: This recipe is best with a chunky homemade cranberry sauce, or "whole berry" canned cranberry sauce (not "jellied").
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 181Total Fat: 7gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 47mgSodium: 239mgCarbohydrates: 29gFiber: 0gSugar: 24gProtein: 2g
MORE YUMMY MUFFIN RECIPES:
- Lemon Earl Gray Streusel Muffins – Why not have a little tea IN your muffin?
- Lemon-Poppyseed Cornbread Mini Muffins – great for brunch.
- Maple-Pecan Bran Muffins – a healthier take on muffins.
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 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.