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Cranberry Orange Overnight Oatmeal Muffins

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Cranberry Orange Overnight Oatmeal Muffins are bursting with fresh cranberries, orange zest, chocolate chunks and cinnamon. And with overnight oats as their base, these muffins are an easy addition to your holiday brunch!

This recipe was originally published in November 2017 and has been updated with new text and photos.

Cranberry Orange Overnight Oatmeal Muffins cooling on a wire rack.

If you’re a long-time reader of Crumb Top Baking, you’re no stranger to overnight oatmeal muffins. Using oats soaked in milk has been my go-to muffin base for years, and this cranberry orange version is my all-time favourite. 

I originally shared this recipe last year, but I thought I would give it a little face lift, and remind you that these wholesome holiday muffins are here to fuel your Christmas festivities! 

Orange slices, cranberries, chocolate chunks and cinnamon sticks arranged on a dark surface.

Ingredients for Cranberry Orange Overnight Oatmeal Muffins arranged in individual dishes.

What are Overnight Oatmeal Muffins?

You’ve probably heard of overnight oats. They’re just oats soaked in milk (usually overnight, or at least for a few hours), and topped with fruit, nuts and/or seeds for a quick and easy oatmeal breakfast.

Overnight oatmeal muffins are just overnight oats with a few extra steps. And if you like oats in your muffins, soaking them in milk (or nut milk) softens them up and is a great way to keep muffins moist.

Just start with some quick cooking rolled oats or steel-cut oats, and soak them overnight with equal parts milk. If you prep a few additional ingredients, in the morning, all you need to do is assemble the muffins and bake. In about 20 minutes, you can have warm oatmeal muffins for breakfast or brunch.

Batter for Cranberry Orange Overnight Oatmeal Muffins being scooped into a muffin pan.Cranberry Orange Overnight Oatmeal Muffins cooling in a muffin pan.

Some tips for making Cranberry Orange Overnight Oatmeal Muffins:

  • You can use rolled oats or steel-cut oats, just make sure they’re quick cooking. The steel-cut oats will take longer to absorb the milk, so you will definitely need to soak them overnight.
  • For muffins with a nuttier texture, steel-cut oats are a must.
  • If you’re short on time, you’ll want to use quick cooking rolled oats, and soak them for 30-60 minutes.
  • When fresh cranberries are out of season, you can make these muffins with dried cranberries.
  • I usually make these muffins with almond milk, but any nut milk or dairy milk will work fine.
  • This recipe calls for whole wheat flour and coconut sugar, but you can easily substitute in white flour and brown sugar.

Cranberry Orange Overnight Oatmeal Muffins cooling on a wire rack.

If you make these Cranberry Orange Overnight Oatmeal Muffins, I would love to hear about it in the comments below. Or take a pic and post to Instagram by tagging @crumbtopbaking.

And if you’re looking for other recipes for overnight oatmeal muffins, you can always check out the following on Crumb Top Baking:

Print

Cranberry Orange Overnight Oatmeal Muffins

Cranberry Orange Overnight Oatmeal Muffins cooling on a wire rack.

★★★★★

5 from 14 reviews

Cranberry Orange Overnight Oatmeal Muffins are bursting with fresh cranberries, orange zest, chocolate chunks and cinnamon. And with overnight oats as their base, these muffins are an easy addition to your holiday brunch!

  • Author: Leanne
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes (plus time for the oats to soak)
  • Cook Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 25 minutes
  • Yield: 12 muffins 1x
  • Category: Breakfast; Snack
Scale

Ingredients

  • 1 cup steel-cut oats, quick cooking
  • 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • Juice and zest from half an orange
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/4 cup coconut sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 cup fresh cranberries
  • 1/2 cup dark chocolate chunks

Instructions

  1. In a small bowl, add the oats and almond milk. Stir until combined. Cover and refrigerate overnight to allow the oats to absorb the milk.
  2. Once the oats are soaked, pre-heat the oven to 425F and grease a 12-cup muffin pan. (You can also use cupcake liners).
  3. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the egg and oil. Add in the orange juice and zest, along with the oat mixture, and stir until combined.
  4. In another medium-sized bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir until combined. Do not over mix. Fold in the cranberries and chocolate chunks.
  5. Using a cookie scoop, add the muffin batter to the prepared muffin pan. Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted into the muffins comes out clean. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
  6. Store in an airtight container on the counter and enjoy within 2-3 days, or freeze for later enjoyment.

Notes

If you want to prep these muffins the night before, in addition to soaking the oats, you can also prepare the orange juice and zest and store in a container in the fridge. You can also stir together the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt), and leave covered on the counter.

Keywords: muffins, oatmeal, overnight oats, cranberries, breakfast

Pinterest image for Cranberry Orange Overnight Oatmeal Muffins.

If you’re craving more cranberries, check out some of the amazing recipes below being shared as part of an Instagram collaboration hosted by What Annie’s Eating and Square Meal Round Table. You can also check out #YESYOUCRANBERRY on Instagram to see all the delicious creations!!

What Annie’s Eating’s Cranberry Gin Fizz

Square Meal Round Table’s Cranberry Orange Streusel Pie

Easy and Delish’s Avocado Cranberry Hummus Dip

The Cooking of Joy’s Cranberry Curd Tart

Jessie Sheehan Bakes’ Cranberry Buckle

Ciao Chow Bambina’s Cranberry Pecan Cracker Spread

Baking The Goods’ Cranberry Apple Brown Butter Crumble Pie

Katiebird Bakes’ Cranberry Sauce Breakfast Rolls

You Can Live Rich On Less’ Cranberry Cherry Tarts

Sift & Simmer’s White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

Susannah Chen’s Cranberry Pico de Gallo

Pie Girl Bakes’s Dark Chocolate Chunk Cranberry Cookies

Clean Plate Club’s Glazed Cream Puffs with Cranberry Buttercream

Tiny Kitchen Capers’ White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies 

Le Petit Eats’ Dark Chocolate Tart with Cinnamon Sugared Cranberry

Prickly Fresh’s Cranberry Crostini with Prosciutto & Port Salut

Zestful Kitchen’s Naturally Sweetened Cranberry Curd

Simple and Sweet Food’s Fresh Ricotta and Spiced Cranberry Crostini

 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Dawn - Girl Heart Food says

    High five for cranberries!! Love the colour of them and, you’re right, so festive! Weekend shopping trips away are so fun and it’s neat how you guys have that tradition of celebration two Thanksgivings. Any excuse to have a nice meal, right? No complaints here for the addition of dark chocolate – totally chocked full of antioxidants 😉 Wish I had one of these yummy muffins right now for my breakfast!

    Reply

  2. Katherine | Love In My Oven says

    Leanne! I have all of the ingredients for this recipe and I am 100% making them!! I LOVE fresh cranberries too, and am trying very hard not to just go all in on the cranberries on the blog 😉 I’m with you on celebrating the American Thanksgiving in our own way too – it’s hard not to when we’re surrounded by it all! Cheers to one delicious looking breakfast muffin!!

    Reply

    • Leanne says

      Thanks Katherine! I’m so happy to hear that! I hope you like them! As for the cranberries, I can totally relate. I have another cranberry recipe ready to post on the blog tomorrow. But they are just so perfect to cook and bake with, especially this time of year! Enjoy celebrating the US Thanksgiving!

      Reply

  3. Ashika | Gardening Foodie says

    What a beautiful treat this makes for breakfast Leanne. My son has oats with cranberries almost every morning…I cannot wait to surprise him with this delicious variation for his breakfast…he is going to absolutely love it. I am going to have to sneak in a few for the rest of us first though or we might not get any. 😉
    Thank you for the great recipe 🙂

    Reply

    • Leanne says

      Thank you Ashika! That’s such a nice comment! These muffins are definitely a new favourite of mine. I hope your son likes them too! Let me know what he thinks ;). Take care.

      Reply

  4. Cathleen @ A Taste of Madness says

    Ha! Same here. Canadian Thanksgiving was so long ago, I need another go! Found you via Instagram, and came over because I NEED THIS RECIPE!
    Cranberry and orange is my favourite combo! There is a cranberry orange muffin that I always get at McDonalds with my coffee just because the combo is bomb. LOVE your addition of the chocolate chunks. What kind do you use?

    ★★★★★

    Reply

    • Leanne says

      Hi Cathleen! Thanks for coming over from Instagram for a visit! Cranberry and orange is also one of my favourite combos, especially this time of year. And these muffins would be perfect with a morning coffee! Hope you like them! The dark chocolate chunks are a most, and truth be told, I add them to a lot of my baking. I use Hershey’s Chipits Inspirations 70% Cacao. If you make these muffins, let me know what you think. Take care!

      Reply

    • Leanne says

      Thanks Agness! These muffins definitely strike a nice balance between being healthy and a treat! I haven’t tried making these with frozen cranberries, but I use this muffin base all the time, and have used frozen blueberries and mangoes, which worked out well. I just defrosted the fruit before adding it to the muffin mixture. With that said, I can’t see why frozen cranberries wouldn’t work well too!

      Reply

  15. Ben|Havocinthekitchen says

    While I’m certainly familiar with overnight oats, I’d never have thought of this trick with muffins. This makes sense indeed as the muffins must be so moist and soft. And this combination of cranberries and chocolate? Yes, please!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  20. Denise from Urbnspice says

    This overnight soaking is a technique that I have not tried in making muffins and it sounds wonderful, Leanne. There are so many great ingredients in your recipe that I really enjoy using – I will definitely be trying them. Thanks so much for sharing.

    Reply

    • Leanne says

      Thanks Lizzy! So glad you like the video! A blogging friend of mine did it, and she did an awesome job! And yes, the trio of cranberries, chocolate and orange are great together!

      Reply

  24. Terri says

    I love how festive and delicious looking these are! I’ve bought too many cranberries for a recipe and this is exactly what I’m going to do with the rest of them!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

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