A light, fluffy muffin is the perfect way to use up your cranberry sauce and transform it into a delicious snack. My Cranberry Sauce Muffins are a perfect blend of sweet and tart. A mouthwatering muffin that everyone will love.
The best part is that with leftovers, you can make this delicious muffin as a bonus way of enjoying the sweet/tart balance all over again.
What are Leftover Cranberry Sauce Muffins?
Muffins are such a universal recipe. They can act like a breakfast item, paired with another food group, or a grab and go snack. Adding in leftover cranberry sauce brings the dish to a new level. The final muffin will vary based on your own sauce but that’s part of the fun of it. Whether it be a smooth or chunky sauce, flavoured with a lot or a moderate amount of flavors and seasonings, will give you sweetly balanced tartness that is unexpected but adds a great punch.
Jump to:
- What are Leftover Cranberry Sauce Muffins?
- Why You Will Love These Cranberry Muffins with Cranberry Sauce
- Ingredients
- Substitutions and Variations
- How to Make Cranberry Sauce Muffins
- More Recipes You Will Love
- How to Store Cranberry Muffins with Cranberry Sauce
- What to Serve with Cranberry Sauce Muffins
- Top Tip
- Frequently Asked Questions About Leftover Cranberry Sauce Muffins
- More Recipes You Will Love
- Cranberry Sauce Muffins Recipe
These muffins with leftover cranberry sauce were inspired by our Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce recipe, as a way to use up leftovers. Pair one in the morning with a cup of our Caramel Mocha Coffee.
Why You Will Love These Cranberry Muffins with Cranberry Sauce
- Quick and Easy: In only 25 minutes you'll have them cooling on your countertop, ready to enjoy.
- Leftovers: Use up any leftover holiday cranberry sauce. Truthfully, I make my homemade cranberry sauce just to use for these muffins.
- Flavorful: Typically cranberry sauce is a balance of sweet and tart flavors with a slight emphasis on the tartness. These flavors, blended together with a fluffy muffin base, provide surprising punch in every bite.
Ingredients
Here is a quick glance at the ingredients you will need to whip up a batch of Cranberry Sauce Muffins.
See the recipe card below for the exact quantities of each ingredient.
- All-Purpose Flour: The base of your batter, use what you know and prefer.
- Baking Powder: This is a leavener. It creates bubbles and makes your muffins fluffy and soft.
- Sea Salt: Enhances all the other flavors.
- Buttermilk: A secret way to make your muffins extra soft and fluffy. The slight tang will balance the sweetness as well.
- Granulated Sugar: Sweetens the dish to contrast the tartness.
- Vegetable Oil: Contributes to the moisture of your muffins so they don’t dry out
- Egg: Binds the batter to give your muffin structure and texture.
- Lemon Zest: Concentrated lemon flavor without the acidity adds brightness to the recipes profile. Optional, but highly recommended.
- Pure Vanilla Extract: Enhances all the flavors while adding a subtle vanilla taste.
- Leftover Cranberry Sauce: The surprising bursts of flavor throughout the muffin.
For this recipe, you'll want to have on hand some measuring cups and spoons, mixing bowls, spatula, muffin tray with liners, and a cooling rack.
Substitutions and Variations
Love this recipe but want to make it your own? We have a few helpful hints to get you started.
- Gluten Free: We love doing a direct substitution using Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All-Purpose Baking Flour.
- Dairy Free: You can make your own version of buttermilk with your preferred dairy free milk and lemon juice; or try using vegan sour cream
- Orange Zest: If you have oranges laying around from making your homemade cranberry sauce, use the orange zest instead of lemon.
How to Make Cranberry Sauce Muffins
It is so simple to bring these leftover Cranberry Sauce Muffins. Check below for the full steps below.
Preheat your oven to 400F and line a 12-tin muffins tray with liners and spray with non-stick spray and set aside.
In a medium bowl whisk all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt and set aside.
Whisk buttermilk, granulated sugar, vegetable oil, egg, lemon zest and pure vanilla extra in a large bowl. Add in dry ingredients and mix until combined, it can be a little thick.
Mix in the cranberry sauce and divide batter into prepared muffin tray.
Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with lightly moist crumbs from the center.
Cool in the tray for 5-10 minutes, then on a cooling rack until cool enough to eat or for store.
Hint: Be sure not to overwork your batter. Mix your wet ingredients just until combined. Then when you add the dry ingredients in, fold until you do not see any dry streaks. A thicker, almost chunky batter is great!
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How to Store Cranberry Muffins with Cranberry Sauce
Storage is pretty easy with these delicious muffins.
- Refrigerator: Once cooled, place in an airtight container in a single layer that is lined with paper towel and store for 3 to 4 days. The paper towel helps retain the moisture in your muffins.
- Freezer: Allow muffins to cool completely then place in a freezer safe bag and then place them into a shallow plastic container. This ensures they do not get squished. Alternatively, you can flash freeze them by placing on a baking sheet in a single layer. Place the baking sheet in the freezer for about 30 minutes to freeze muffins. Remove the baking sheet and place muffins in freezer safe plastic bags to store for up to 3 months. Consider labeling the bake with the date they were made and stored to ensure their freshness.
- Reheating: Bring to room temperature. If you like to warm your muffins, reheat in the microwave on low. For added moisture, consider adding a dab of butter on top of the muffin to melt.
What to Serve with Cranberry Sauce Muffins
Serve with warm butter and a hot cup of tea or coffee. We love having one with a cup of our Caramel Mocha Coffee recipe. Additionally, they pair well with other breakfast items, like eggs and sausage. Send them off to school with the kids for a sweet treat, or grab one to go if you're in a pinch for time.
- Quiche: We also like serving our Cranberry Sauce Muffins as part of a savory brunch spread of dishes like our Spinach Ham Quiche Lorraine, and Spinach and Bacon Quiche.
- Hot Chocolate: If you have a sweet tooth, you will love pairing our muffins with our Hot Chocolate Crock Pot Recipe!
Top Tip
When making most muffin recipes it is important not to overfill your muffin cavities. Three quarters full is usually best. Overfilling can cause the batter to seep into the other muffins as they bake making a huge mess.
Frequently Asked Questions About Leftover Cranberry Sauce Muffins
Do you have questions about making Cranberry Sauce Muffins? Here are some answer to the questions we see most often.
While most pans are non-stick, we suggest using liners and non-stick spray. Otherwise, most silicone trays will work well in releasing your muffins straight from the pan.
We often do a direct 1:1 sub of all-purpose flour for Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All-Purpose Baking Flour and have had great luck.
Absolutely. Using your homemade is always great because you can adjust the flavors to your liking.
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Cranberry Sauce Muffins Recipe
Equipment
- Muffin Trays with Liners
- Measuring Cups and Spoons
- Mixing Bowls
- Whisk
- Spatula
- Cooling Rack
Ingredients
- 250 grams all-purpose flour about 2 cups
- ½ tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup buttermilk see notes
- 100 grams granulated sugar about ½ cup
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- 1 large egg
- ½ - 1 tablespoon lemon zest optional
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¾ cup leftover cranberry sauce
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400F and line a 12-tin muffins tray with liners and spray with non-stick spray and set aside.
- In a medium bowl whisk all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt and set aside.
- Whisk buttermilk, granulated sugar, vegetable oil, egg, lemon zest and pure vanilla extra in a large bowl. Add in dry ingredients and mix until combined, it will a bit thick.
- Mix in the cranberry sauce and divide batter into prepared muffin tray.
- Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with lightly moist crumbs from the center.
- Cool in the tray for 5-10 minutes, then on a cooling rack.
Notes
- To make a substitute for buttermilk, place 1 cup of milk and 1 tablespoon white vinegar in a small bowl and allow it to sit for 10-15 minutes, you should see some small thick particles forming when stirring. Then add as needed.
- Overmixing can impact the tenderness of your batter – mix only until just combined.
- Feel free to top muffins with a sprinkle of coarse sugar or streusel topping before baking for extra sweetness if you wish.
- Muffins freeze well, and can be stored for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
We would be so grateful for you to leave us a rating and review on any recipes you try. If you make any alterations, let us know how they turned out.
Tina says
These are so delicious! Such a burst of flavor with the cranberry orange combo! Thanks for the recipe!
Eva Filer says
I am so glad you enjoyed them. Thanks for letting us know 🙂
Eva Filer says
This recipe is a hit with the cranberry lovers in our family. And a perfect way to use up any leftover cranberry sauce - but truthfully, I sometimes make a fresh batch just to make these muffins! So light and fluffy.
Seija says
These were sooo tasty! I had leftovers from your cranberry sauce recipe, and this was the perfect way to use them up. The muffins turned out so moist and were perfectly sweet with just a hint of tartness.
Eva Filer says
These are definitely a fav over here too. So glad you like them, and our Cranberry sauce recipe too!