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These cranberry sauce muffins are soft, fluffy and filled with sweet and tart cranberry sauce, then topped with a buttery cinnamon streusel! They’re the perfect way to use up leftover cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving and turn it into an irresistible breakfast or brunch!
Table of Contents
- QUICK LOOK
- Ingredients You’ll Need
- How to Make Cranberry Sauce Muffins
- Tips for the Best Cranberry Sauce Muffins
- Cranberry Sauce Muffins Troubleshooting
- Can I Make Jumbo Cranberry Sauce Muffins?
- Can I Use Store-Bought Cranberry Sauce?
- Cranberry Sauce Muffin Variations
- How to Store and Freeze Cranberry Sauce Muffins
- More Recipes for Using Thanksgiving Leftovers
- Watch How These Muffins are Made in This Video…
- Leftover Cranberry Sauce Muffins Recipe
You guys, one year I got so tired of staring at leftover cranberry sauce in the fridge that I started putting it on EVERYTHING! Don’t get me wrong, I love a good leftover Thanksgiving turkey slider, but eventually I wanted something completely different.
And that’s how these muffins were born! The sweet and tart cranberry sauce layered through a tender muffin with that buttery, crumbly streusel on top?! You might actually find yourself making extra cranberry sauce just so you can make these!
QUICK LOOK
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Bake Time: 15 minutes for regular muffins; 25–27 minutes for jumbo muffins
- Difficulty: Easy
- Best For: Using leftover Thanksgiving cranberry sauce
- Cranberry Sauce: Homemade or store-bought
- Muffin Size: Regular or jumbo
- Make Ahead: Freeze baked muffins for up to 3 months
Why You’ll Love These Cranberry Sauce Muffins
- The BEST use for leftover cranberry sauce: Give those Thanksgiving leftovers a completely delicious second life!
- Buttery streusel topping: Sweet, crumbly and packed with cinnamon and a hint of cardamom.
- Soft and tender: Buttermilk keeps these muffins moist and fluffy.
- Sweet and tart: Layers of cranberry sauce add little bursts of fruity flavor in every bite.
- Freezer friendly: Make a batch now and save some for easy breakfasts throughout the holiday season.
Ingredients You’ll Need
These muffins have two delicious parts: a buttery streusel topping and a soft muffin batter layered with cranberry sauce!
For the Streusel Topping
- All-Purpose Flour: Gives the topping its crumbly texture.
- Light Brown Sugar: Adds sweetness and a little caramel flavor.
- Kosher Salt: Balances the sweetness.
- Cinnamon: Adds warm, sweet flavor.
- Ground Cardamom: A little goes a long way and pairs beautifully with cranberries!
- Butter: Holds everything together and creates those irresistible buttery crumbles.
For the Muffin Batter
- Sugar: Balances the tart cranberry sauce.
- Vegetable Oil: Keeps the muffins soft and moist.
- Eggs: Add structure and help the muffins rise.
- Vanilla Extract: Adds sweet flavor.
- All-Purpose Flour: Forms the base of the batter.
- Baking Powder: Helps the muffins rise and become fluffy.
- Salt: Enhances all the flavors.
- Buttermilk: Creates a tender, moist crumb.
- Cranberry Sauce: The star of the show! Homemade or store-bought works.
How to Make Cranberry Sauce Muffins
These muffins are easy to make, and the layers of cranberry sauce make them extra special!
- Make the streusel: Combine the flour, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, cardamom and butter. Use your hands to squeeze the mixture into little clumps. Set aside.
- Mix the wet ingredients: Beat the oil and sugar together, then add the eggs and vanilla.
- Add the dry ingredients: Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl. Add to the wet ingredients and mix until almost combined.
- Add the buttermilk: Stir just until everything comes together. Don’t overmix!
- Let the batter rest: Preheat the oven while the batter rests. Line the muffin tin, filling every other cup if possible.
- Layer the muffins: Add a little batter, a layer of cranberry sauce, more batter and a final layer of cranberry sauce.
- Add the streusel: Sprinkle the buttery crumb topping generously over each muffin.
- Bake: Bake according to the recipe card until the muffins are golden and a toothpick inserted into the muffin portion comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
PRO TIP: Filling every other muffin cup gives the muffins more room for air circulation and can help them rise beautifully!
Tips for the Best Cranberry Sauce Muffins
- Don’t overbake: Check the muffin portion with a toothpick. A few moist crumbs are fine, but wet batter means they need more time.
- Don’t overmix the batter: Stir just until the flour disappears. Overmixing can make muffins dense and tough.
- Make big streusel crumbles: Squeeze the streusel mixture in your hands to create clumps, then gently break them over the muffins. That’s the secret to those beautiful, buttery crumbs!
- Give the batter time to rest: Letting the batter sit while the oven preheats allows the flour to hydrate.
- Muffin liners are optional: If you skip them, generously grease the muffin tin with cooking spray.
Cranberry Sauce Muffins Troubleshooting
The batter was probably overmixed. Once you add the flour, stir gently and stop as soon as everything is combined.
Too much cranberry sauce in one layer can weigh down the batter. Spread it in thin, even layers with muffin batter between them.
The butter may have been too warm. Make sure the streusel forms distinct clumps before sprinkling it over the muffins.
They may need a few more minutes in the oven. Test the muffin portion rather than a pocket of cranberry sauce, which will naturally stay moist.
Can I Make Jumbo Cranberry Sauce Muffins?
Absolutely! In fact, the muffins in these photos were made in a jumbo muffin tin!
Follow the same layering process, using more batter, cranberry sauce and streusel in each muffin cup.
Bake for approximately 25–27 minutes at the same oven temperature as the regular muffins. Check for doneness with a toothpick inserted into the muffin portion.
You’ll get those beautiful, bakery-style muffins with plenty of cranberry sauce and buttery streusel in every bite!
Can I Use Store-Bought Cranberry Sauce?
Yes! You can make these cranberry sauce muffins with homemade or store-bought cranberry sauce. Our homemade cranberry sauce is delicious in these muffins, but you don’t have to make a separate batch just to enjoy them!
Cranberry Sauce Muffin Variations
Want to change things up? Try one of these easy additions!
Cranberry Lemon Muffins: Add lemon zest and a touch of lemon extract for a bright, citrusy twist.
Cranberry Orange Muffins: Add fresh orange zest and a little orange extract to the batter. Cranberry and orange are AMAZING together, just like in our cranberry orange cake!
How to Store and Freeze Cranberry Sauce Muffins
- Room Temperature: Store cooled muffins in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
- Refrigerator: Keep in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
- Freezer: Let the muffins cool completely, then place them in a freezer-safe bag with as much air removed as possible. Freeze for up to 3 months.
- Thawing: Let frozen muffins thaw at room temperature or overnight in the refrigerator.
- Reheating: Warm briefly in the microwave or a low oven until heated through.
PRO TIP: The streusel topping will soften during storage and freezing. A few minutes in the oven can help bring back some of that crumbly texture!
Don’t let that leftover cranberry sauce go to waste! These cranberry sauce muffins are such a delicious way to turn Thanksgiving leftovers into something completely new. And with that buttery streusel topping, you might just find yourself making extra cranberry sauce so you can enjoy them all the way through Christmas!
More Recipes for Using Thanksgiving Leftovers
- Leftover Thanksgiving Sliders
- Turkey Tetrazinni
- Turkey Pot Pie
- Leftover Turkey Soup
- Triple Decker Turkey Club Sandwich
- Honey Avocado Turkey Bacon Sandwiches
Watch How These Muffins are Made in This Video…
Leftover Cranberry Sauce Muffins
Ingredients
For the Streusel
- 1/2 Cup All-Purpose Flour
- 1/3 Cup Light Brown Sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon Ground Cardamom
- 1/3 Cup Butter, unsalted, melted
For the Batter
- 2 Cups Sugar, minus 2 tablespoons
- 1 Cup Vegetable Oil
- 2 Large Eggs, whisked
- 1 ½ teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- 4 Cups Flour
- 4 teaspoons Baking Powder
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1 Cup Buttermilk
- 1 ¼ Cup Cranberry Sauce
Instructions
For the Streusel
- Add the all-purpose flour, light brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, cardamom, and butter into a bowl. Stir together to combine all the dry ingredients.1/2 Cup All-Purpose Flour, 1/3 Cup Light Brown Sugar, 1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt, 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon Ground Cardamom, 1/3 Cup Butter
For the Muffins
- In a standing mixer, beat the oil and sugar until combined.2 Cups Sugar, 1 Cup Vegetable Oil
- Crack in your eggs and add the vanilla and then give the mixer a final turn before dumping in all dry ingredients.2 Large Eggs, 1 ½ teaspoons Vanilla Extract, 4 Cups Flour, 4 teaspoons Baking Powder, 1 teaspoon Salt
- Mix until almost incorporated and then add in the buttermilk and stir until barely combined.1 Cup Buttermilk
- Fill every other muffin cup with papers. Heat oven to 350℉ and let the muffin batter rest on the counter for 15 min.
- Spoon 1 tablespoon into the cups, pressing out flat and spread 1 teaspoon of cranberry sauce over. Add more batter then another 1 teaspoon of sauce, spread.1 ¼ Cup Cranberry Sauce
- Now sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of crumb mixture. Bake for 12-15 minutes.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
You stated bake but you never stated at what temp
Hi Harry! In step 4, it mentions to heat the oven to 350 degrees F. I hope this helps!
Great recipe—everyone loved these!
Thank you so much Lisa!
18 muffins took 1/2 hour to bake. Needs to be noted that the butter is to be melted for the struesel topping. I cut it in like a pastry with cold butter, because it didn’t say & that is how you normally make a struesel topping. The photo shows it melted. The photo also shows 3 eggs, but recipe calls for 2. Just very confusing.
Hey there! Yes, the butter for the streusel should be melted, and you can use either 2 or 3 eggs. I usually use 2 but using 3 won’t hurt anything.
These are fantastic! The only thing I have to add is I had to bake them a bit longer, like 22 minutes. Next time I think I’ll add a bit more cardamom too because I love cardamom! I used Trader Joe’s Cranberry Orange relish and it was amazing.
That sounds amazing Jaimie! I’m so glad you enjoyed these muffins! Now I need to go to Trader Joe’s immediately!
I love these muffins but I had to bake them about 10 extra minutes. I used my leftover cranberry relish and that was especially good this year.
Thank you so much for the feedback Randi! I’m glad you enjoyed them!
Hi there! Just a quick question. The recipe calls for 2 eggs, but in the video 3 are used. Could you please clarify which is the correct amount?
Thank you so much & Happy Thanksgiving!!
Hi there! Just a quick question. The recipe calls for 2 eggs, but in the video you use 3. Which is the correct amount? Don’t want to find out the hard way 😉
Thanks, and Happy Thanksgiving!
Hi Sasha! You can honestly use 2 or 3. I’ve always used 2 eggs, but it looks like when we shot and filmed the recipe, 3 were used. I’m so sorry for the confusion!
These muffins are AMAZING!!! I made them yesterday with butter instead of oil…I was worried that I had messed them up bc the batter was super thick, but they turned out great. FYI I ended up with 24 muffins – just needed to use a little more cranberry sauce than the 1 1/4 cups – maybe 1 1/2 for the 24 muffins? Thank you for such a delicious use of our leftover cranberry sauce!
Yay!! Thank you so much Kelly!! And thank you for the feedback!
dry ingredients of a normal cakey type batter recipe. It ends up like a cookie dough, but I followed it to a tee as a major pet peeve of mine is people who change recipes around then leave reviews based on how they changed it. You’re not reviewing the recipe atp you’re reviewing your own. Anyway, I plowed through and what you end up with is exactly what you’d imagine. It’s good but only as good as the ingredients could be. The end product is way too dense and crumbly. It’s like the texture of a brownie but way more crumbly. It breaks apart and turns into a container of broken up crumbly bread easily.
Overally it’s not terrible but the dry to wet ingredient ratio is far from optimal. Adjust at your discretion.
Thanks for the feedback Luis!