Sourdough Cranberry Yogurt Muffins

These bakery-style Sourdough Cranberry Muffins are made with tangy sourdough discard, creamy yogurt, bright orange zest, and studded with fresh cranberries.

The moist sourdough muffins use a full bag of cranberries and make for an easy Thanksgiving or holiday breakfast treat since you can mix and rest the batter overnight. The fresh cranberries burst slightly in the oven, and raw sugar on top gives them a sparkly finish with a bit of caramelized crunch contrasting the tender interior.

The recipe guide below contains plenty of baking tips, accompanied by photos and detailed instructions, ensuring you ace these delicious sourdough discard cranberry muffins. Plus, I’ve included suggestions for gluten-free and vegan substitutions and other muffin variations.

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👍 Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Uses a full bag of fresh cranberries.
• Can mix the muffin batter the night before and bake in the morning.
• No stand mixer required.
• Bright orange zest makes the tart cranberry flavor pop.
• Have domed muffin tops like bakery-style muffins.
• They stay moist for days and store well.

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🔍 Tips for Making Sourdough Cranberry Muffins

• Can use fresh or frozen cranberries
  • Cranberries have a hard, shiny skin. This makes them easy to mix into your batter without bursting like other berries, such as blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries. Both frozen or fresh cranberries work!
  • Cranberries are tart when raw, but have a beautiful sour cherry-like flavor when baked and the juices flow like in this Sourdough Gingerbread Cake with Cranberries.
• Don’t overmix the muffin batter
  • For the most tender muffins, mix the batter just until the flour is hydrated and no more. Like making quick breads like Sourdough Banana Bread, Sourdough Pumpkin Pecan Pancakes, or Sourdough Snickerdoodle Cookies, overmixing leads to more gluten development, making tougher and chewier baked goods.
• For domed tops, rest the batter for at least an hour in the refrigerator and up to overnight. The baking powder will help them rise and only activates with heat in the oven.
• Bake at a high temperature for taller, fluffier muffins.
  • Bake the muffins at 400ºF (204ºC) so they rise tall in the oven.
• Dot the tops with cranberries and a sprinkle of raw sugar
  • Reserve about ¾ cup of cranberries to dot the tops before baking. They burst slightly, making the muffins appear extra juicy and the raw sugar adds a bit of crunch and shine.

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🛠 Tools Needed:

See below for my tool recommendations and substitutions.

• Baking scale
  • Ingredients like flour and sourdough starter weigh differently from person to person when measured by volume. For the best results, I recommend using a baking scale.
• Muffin Pan
  • I use a standard muffin pan to make 12 muffins. My favorite pan is this USA Muffin Pan because it’s non-stick, easy to clean, and bakes evenly.
  • If you want to make jumbo muffins, you can use a jumbo muffin pan to make about eight jumbo muffins!
• Whisk
  • For mixing the wet and dry ingredients.
• Spatula
  • To mix the muffin batter and fold in the cranberries.
• Large cookie or ice cream scoop (optional)
  • Helps portion the muffin batter easily in the muffin tins or muffin liners.

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🛒 Ingredients Needed:

See below for my ingredient recommendations, substitutions, and other cranberry muffin variations.

• All-purpose flour
  • AP flour has enough protein and gluten to help the muffins rise tall, but still remain light and tender.
• Whole wheat flour
  • Add a small amount of whole wheat flour for a bit more nutrition and nutty flavor to these breakfast muffins.
  • Can substitute the whole wheat flour with all-purpose flour or buckwheat, spelt, or einkorn flour.
• Baking powder
  • I don’t use baking soda in this recipe as it reacts immediately when mixed with acid (the yogurt and starter in this recipe).
  • Double-acting baking powder reacts when heated. That way, you can have the overnight option for the muffins and they’ll still rise tall the next morning.
• Salt
• Nutmeg (optional)
  • I really like the earthy background note of nutmeg paired with these cranberry muffins. It doesn’t scream Thanksgiving or Christmas, but does add a slight nutty essence.
  • Use freshly grated nutmeg for the best flavor.
  • You can leave out or substitute the nutmeg with another warming spice such as cinnamon, cardamom, or allspice.
• Orange zest
  • You’ll often find orange juice or orange zest to pair with cranberries in cranberry orange muffins. That’s because orange enhances the tart flavor of cranberries and adds a slightly floral, aromatic quality like in my Sourdough Bran Muffins.
  • Substitute with lemon zest or leave out if you don’t have any fresh citrus.
• Granulated sugar
• Light brown sugar
  • The small amount adds even more moisture and slight molasses flavor.
• Vanilla extract
  • Almond extract would be an excellent substitute that pairs well with cranberries.
• Greek yogurt, plain whole-milk
  • Yogurt is key for the most tender and moist muffins. It’s why I love it in my very popular Sourdough Blueberry Yogurt Muffins! Whole milk yogurt has a higher fat content, which contributes more flavor and richness than low-fat yogurt (which is fine to use too if you don’t have whole milk yogurt).
  • Substitute with an equal amount of sour cream.
• Sourdough discard (or active starter)
  • Sourdough discard is unfed sourdough starter that you can use in sourdough discard recipes. When I feed my starter, I store the discard in the refrigerator so there’s no waste. Learn how to make sourdough starter from scratch and my top sourdough starter tips.
• Unsalted butter, melted and cooled
  • For the best and richest flavor, I prefer using butter over vegetable oils, just like in my sourdough pumpkin bread recipe.
• Fresh cranberries
  • Like my sourdough strawberry scones and sourdough blueberry scones, I prefer using fresh cranberries over frozen or dried cranberries.
  • Fresh cranberries are in season in late fall, especially near Thanksgiving and the holidays. There are many cranberry bogs in Massachusetts, where I live, so I always love baking with them as a New England fruit, like making Concord Grape Jam.
  • Dried cranberries are often sweetened with added preservatives, and fresh add more moisture and juiciness. If you do have to use dried cranberries, I’d actually opt for dried cherries instead for the most similar flavor in this recipe!
  • To use frozen cranberries, quickly fold the frozen berries (no need to thaw) into the batter.

Cranberry Muffin Variations

• For a more pronounced Cranberry Orange Muffin:
  • Add ¼ cup (60g) of orange juice to the batter.
• Cranberry Walnut or Almond Muffins:
  • Add ¼ teaspoon of almond extract and fold in some toasted slivered almonds or chopped walnuts to the batter.
• Vegan Sourdough Cranberry Muffins:
  • Substitute the yogurt with a plant-based yogurt, the eggs with about ½ cup of applesauce or mashed banana, and the melted butter with the same amount of melted plant-based butter or an equal amount of melted coconut oil.
• Gluten-free Sourdough Cranberry Muffins:
  • To make gluten-free muffins, use a gluten-free sourdough starter and substitute the AP flour with cup for cup/measure for measure. You could add about ½ cup of almond flour or ½ cup of buckwheat flour (60 grams) as well.
• Add a streusel or crumb topping:
  • Make an easy streusel or crumb topping by mixing ½ cup (60 grams) of all-purpose flour, ½ tsp of cinnamon, ¼ cup of granulated sugar and ¼ cup of light brown sugar, and 4 TBS of melted butter. Sprinkle on top of the muffins and bake.

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👨‍🍳 How to Make Sourdough Cranberry Muffins

Follow this visual recipe guide as you make these easy sourdough discard cranberry muffins.

1. Mix the Dry Ingredients

In a large mixing bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, salt, baking powder, granulated sugar, light brown sugar, freshly grated nutmeg, and orange zest.

Break apart any clumps of brown sugar and rub the orange zest into the mixture with your hands until it’s aromatic.

2. Mix the Wet Ingredients

Whisk the eggs, yogurt, sourdough discard, and vanilla extract in another mixing bowl until thick and pale yellow.

Pour in the cooled melted butter and whisk to combine.

3. Mix the Muffin Batter and Fold in the Cranberries

Reserve ¾ cup of fresh cranberries for the topping (about 3-4 cranberries per muffin) and set aside.

Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients and use a spatula to fold the batter until the batter is thick and only a few floury spots remain.

Dump in the rest of the fresh cranberries and gently fold them in until evenly distributed throughout the muffin batter. Don’t overmix so you get tender muffins.

4. Chill the Batter and Overnight Option

For taller bakery-style muffins with domed tops, cover the bowl of muffin batter and chill it for at least an hour and up to overnight.

As the batter rests, the flour will continue to hydrate and the flavors will meld even more.

Chilling muffin batter helps create taller, fluffier muffins with domed tops as it will release more steam when they bake in the hot oven.

However, if you don’t chill, the batter, you’ll still get great results. Just reduce the baking time by a few minutes.

5. Bake

Preheat the oven to 400ºF (204ºC).

Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with muffin liners. To prevent sticking, spray the insides of the muffin liners with non-stick baking spray or grease them slightly with oil or butter.

Fill the muffin cups to the brim with batter. Then, dot the tops of the muffins with 3-4 cranberries and sprinkle raw sugar on top for a crunchy, sparkly topping.

Bake for 23-25 minutes until the tops of the muffins are golden brown, the cranberries burst, and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. If using frozen berries, they may need an extra minute or two and if you didn’t chill the batter, they may need to come out sooner.

Finally, cool completely on a wire rack.

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How to Store

Sourdough yogurt muffins always last longer than other muffins with the inclusion of fermented sourdough starter and yogurt. Both help keep them fresh and moist for many days.

To store, keep them in an airtight container or ziplock bag for 4-5 days. You can reheat some quickly in a toaster oven or microwave if they stale some.

One of my favorite ways to serve slightly stale muffins is to slice them in half and toast the cut sides down with a pat of butter in a skillet until toasty!

Finally, to freeze, store the cooled muffins in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw them overnight in the refrigerator and reheat them in the oven or microwave.

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❓ FAQs:

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Other Sourdough Breakfast Recipes You May Enjoy:

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