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These zesty orange blueberry muffins are easy to make, quick to bake, and absolutely scrumptious! A great addition to any breakfast get together, or as a quick snack on the go.
In my opinion, the combination of oranges and blueberries is hugely underrated. Usually, those mixing blueberries with a citrus go straight for a bunch of lemons. Nothing wrong there! I myself love a good lemon blueberry combo. However, swap the lemons with oranges and you've got yourself a whole new flavor profile! Let's start with this zesty orange blueberry muffin recipe 🍊.
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Why You'll Love These Orange Blueberry Muffins
Anyone else always end up with leftover oranges at the end of the week?? Maybe it's because I have a toddler running around but we always seems to have a bunch of them hanging around in the fruit bowl on Sunday (we grab groceries on Monday). This recipe is an easy, delicious way to use up almost every part of your leftover oranges. Oh and any leftover blueberries? Chuck 'em into the batter! Or rather, gently fold them in 👍🏻.
Also, these orange blueberry muffins freeze wonderfully! They're a great recipe to make, freeze, and then have on hand whenever you need a quick bite for breakfast or for when that constantly hungry toddler has the munchies. Scroll down to the freezing and storage section for more info!
Tips And Tricks For This Recipe
- Gently, gently, gently fold in the blueberries. In step 5, I do say gently fold in the blueberries. Seriously. Gently. Also fold. If you stir them in they'll break/burst and you'll wind up with brownish green muffins. They'll still taste good but they won't look very appetizing.
- Check the expiration date on your baking soda and baking powder. If it's expired, toss it and buy a new one. Old baking soda and baking powder will result in much flatter muffins. Do yourself a favor and make sure yours are on the fresher side! That way you'll get that sky high muffin top result.
- In step 5 where it states to mix until just combined, don't overmix! A just combined batter gives you a fluffier, lighter muffin crumb. An overmixed batter will be flat and dense.
Commonly Asked Questions
Actually, no they don't! As long as they're in an air tight, sealed container, you can leave them at room temperature for 4 to 5 days. Scroll down to the freezing and storage section for more info.
I get this question a lot. Almost, but no. Since lemons are a lot more tart than oranges, you don't add quite as much of the squeezed juice. Consquently, less juice requires less flour. So, you can follow the recipe but with these changes:
- Use only 2 cups flour
- Instead of ¼ cup orange juice, use 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- Substitute the orange extract with 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or ½ teaspoon lemon extract if you have it + 1 teaspoon vanilla extract).
I'll do a straight up lemon blueberry muffin recipe at some point! In the meantime, feel free to check out my lemon blueberry poppy seed bread.
For sugar substitutions that avoid the texture of a baked good recipe, I like to use Swerve Sugar Replacements. Not an ad, I just love their products! For these orange blueberry muffins, swap the sugars with their Swerve counterpart: Swerve Brown Sugar Substitute, and Swerve Granular Sugar Substitute. I do this all the time. Guilt free muffins? Yes please!
This one I'm not sure. As I haven't made this recipe without eggs for binding and without yogurt/milk for moisture/fat content, I can't answer this yet. If you tried dairy and/or egg substitutes for these muffins, please let me know in the comments!
Freezing and Storage
One of my favorite things about muffin recipes is how easy they are to save for later! Place them in an airtight container and keep them at room temperature up to 5 days, and in the fridge up to 1 week. My preferred method for these is freezing: they'll last up to three months in the freezer! Simply place your baked orange blueberry muffin batch in a ziploc bag, seal, and freeze. Thaw them in the fridge or throw them in the microwave straight from the freezer for 30 seconds to a minute, or until warmed through. These muffins are best served warm!
Orange Blueberry Muffins
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 12 to 16 Muffins 1x
Description
These zesty orange blueberry muffins are easy to make, quick to bake, and absolutely scrumptious! A great addition to any breakfast get together, or as a quick snack on the go.
Ingredients
- 2 cups + 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 cups blueberries
- 2 eggs, beaten
- ¾ cup white sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons orange zest
- 1 teaspoon orange extract
- ¼ cup orange juice
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- ¼ cup plain yogurt
- ¼ cup milk (I used 2%)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375˚F. Grease or line a standard 12 cup muffin tin with baking cups.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and ginger until combined.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, brown sugar, white sugar, yogurt, milk, orange extract, orange zest, orange juice and vegetable oil until thoroughly combined.
- Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Gently fold in blueberries.
- Divide the batter evenly between each muffin cup (about 2-3 heaping large spoonfuls). You may have some leftover or you can add the extra batter to the cups for jumbo muffins.
- Bake on a center rack for 20-25 minutes, until tops are golden and bounce back when touched.
- Let cool in pan for 5 minutes and then transfer the muffins to a wire rack.
Notes
For a low-sugar version: swap the sugars with their Swerve counter: Swerve brown sugar substitute and Swerve brown sugar subtitute
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Muffins
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Dena says
The kids loved them!