Vegan Cranberry Orange Muffins With Orange Streusel

I've been making a lot of muffins lately, but these vegan cranberry orange muffins are definitely a new favorite! The tangy fruits balance the sweet and tender muffin perfectly, and the crunchy streusel takes them to the next level.

The colorful cranberries make them perfect for the holiday season, but you can also use frozen cranberries and enjoy them any time of year. They're great for an on-the-go breakfast, afternoon snack, or after-dinner treat.

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

If you're wondering whether it's best to use store-bought or fresh-squeezed orange juice or what "vegan sugar" is, this section is for you. If you can't find the answer to your question here, feel free to leave a comment and I'll try to answer as soon as I can!

all-purpose flour: This provides the base for our muffins and streusel topping. I recommend sticking to all-purpose flour for the best texture. Cake flour will make your muffins too light, and whole wheat flour would make them too dense.

granulated sugar: Adds sweetness and moisture to the muffins and the streusel topping. If you're in the US, some sugar brands may process their sugar with animal bone char. Sugar that's marked "organic" or "vegan" is safe to use. Coconut sugar or brown sugar should also work, but brown sugar will affect the color and flavor of your muffins.

baking powder: This helps your muffins rise to develop tall bakery-style tops. Make sure your baking powder is fresh and still active.

salt: To balance the sweetness of these muffins and enhance their flavors. I used sea salt, but pink Himalayan salt or table salt will work also.

almond milk: Any unsweetened, plain plant milk will work as long as it's not too thick.

orange juice: I recommend store-bought juice for this recipe, unless you can get juice oranges. Most oranges (including navel oranges) are great for eating, but not so much for juicing. However, juice oranges will have a thinner peel, which may not be ideal for zesting. If you do want to squeeze your own oranges, juice oranges or Valencia oranges would make the best juice. You can also sometimes find fresh-squeezed juice from the juicing machines at natural grocery stores like Whole Foods.

sunflower oil: Most neutral oils would work in this recipe, although for the best texture, I wouldn't use coconut oil.

orange zest: This provides extra orange flavor in the muffins and streusel topping. See the next section for instructions and tips on zesting an orange.

vanilla extract: I always recommend real vanilla extract, because it has a much more complex flavor profile than imitation vanilla. If you bake frequently, Costco has a large bottle that's reasonably priced.

cranberries: You can use fresh or frozen in this recipe, and you don't need to defrost them before using them. However, if you use frozen, you may need to bake the muffins for an extra minute or two, so be sure to use the toothpick test to check for doneness. Although dried cranberries will technically work in this recipe, I much prefer the taste and texture that you get with fresh or frozen berries. If you still want to use dried cranberries, I recommend using sweetened cranberries and using 1 cup or 150 grams.

vegan butter: This adds the fat to your streusel topping that holds everything together. Coconut oil would also work, but I prefer vegan butter for the best flavor.

How to Zest an Orange

To zest an orange, you're going to need a microplane or a box grater. Wash your orange, then press its peel across the surface of the smallest grater on the box grater or the microplane. Be careful not to zest too deep into the peel. The zest is the brightly colored part of the peel. Underneath is the pith, which is white or light orange, and it's bitter, so you want to avoid it.

Tips & Tricks for the Best Vegan Cranberry Orange Muffins

These vegan cranberry muffins are super easy to make, but there are still a few things you'll want to pay attention to in order to ensure they're a success every time.

Don't over-mix the batter: As with any muffin recipe, it's absolutely critical that you stop mixing as soon as the last bits of dry flour get incorporated into the wet ingredients. Your batter should be lumpy (see the photo in the recipe). If you keep mixing, you'll end up with dense muffins instead of light and fluffy muffins!

Massaging the zest: You might notice that I recommend massaging the orange zest into the sugar for the streusel topping, but not when adding it into the batter. Massaging the zest into the sugar will distribute the orange zest's oils and flavors, and it will also make your crumble topping a lovely orange color.

For the muffin batter, however, I found that massaging the zest didn't make much difference in the final product. When I tested it with and without the zest massage, no one could identify any difference between the two muffins.

Start off at a higher temperature on a high rack: Starting your muffins at a higher baking temperature then reducing the temperature helps them rise rapidly, giving you a lovely bakery-style muffin top. No flat muffin tops here!

How to Store Leftovers

If you want to store these vegan cranberry muffins at room temperature, store them in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Refrigerating them will extend their life to 5 to 7 days. For storage up to 3 months, place them in a freezer-safe storage bag or container before freezing.

If your crumble topping isn't as crunchy as you'd like after a few days, you can add a little bit of crunch by reheating the muffins in an air fryer or oven.

More Vegan Muffin Recipes and Brunch Ideas

Vegan muffin recipes:

• Vegan blueberry muffins

• Vegan apple cinnamon muffins

• Vegan pumpkin spice muffins

• Vegan banana nut muffins

• Vegan cornbread muffins

Sweet vegan brunch recipes:

• Vegan cinnamon rolls

• Vegan French toast

• Vegan pancakes

• Vegan glazed donuts