Cranberry Lemon Muffins. Incredibly easy recipe, perfect for breakfast or brunch. Great for using up left over cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving or Christmas too!
Cranberry and Lemon Muffins, a perfect recipe for breakfast, brunch, snack time, or even dessert!
This delicious recipe has been generously shared by one of our great cooks, Carina.
She's always coming up with great recipes, and here we have Cari's Cranberry Lemon Muffins.

Cari says this "I had a little over a cup of cranberry sauce left from Thanksgiving dinner and did not want to waste it so made some muffins. Never made muffins using cranberry sauce before, and they turned out amazing!"
These festive muffins are perfect for using up leftover cranberry sauce, and I know when it's Thanksgiving and Christmas time we always have lots of cranberry sauce in my house leftover so what a great way to use it in a recipe!
The flavor combination for these cranberry and lemon muffins is lovely.
Pair these with a lovely morning coffee or tea and there you have a delicious snack!
They're freezer friendly too so when you make a batch, freeze and just get out what you need.

If you don't happen to have any cranberry sauce, then why not try our easy Cranberry and Apple Sauce recipe.
It takes minutes to make and so tasty!
Our sister site, Newbie In The Kitchen has a variety of Oatmeal Muffins, ranging from Blueberry, Rhubarb, Classic and Banana so be sure to check those out too!
So let's see how easy these cranberry and lemon muffins are to make.
Recipe by Carina Duclos
Prep Time
5 minutes
Cook Time
20 - 25 minutes
Yield
12
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
2 Cups All purpose flour
¾ Cup Sugar
1 Tablespoon Baking powder
½ Teaspoon Salt
Wet Ingredients
2 Large eggs
¼ cup Melted butter
1 Cup Milk
1 ¼ Cups Cranberry Sauce
Zest 1 lemon
Juice 1 lemon

Instructions
1. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. (Dry Ingredients)
2. In a different bowl whisk the eggs and add the butter and the milk.
3. Add the milk mix to the dry mix and fold until wet. DO NOT OVERMIX, THAT IS THE SECRET OF A GOOD MUFFIN.
4. Add the lemon juice and the lemon zest and the cranberry sauce. Fold softly.
5. Pour in muffin cups (yield a dozen) and cook for 20 to 25 minutes in oven at 350F. ( mine took 22 minutes)
Top Tips:
The trick for the best muffins is to just combine the wet and dry ingredients. Do not mix! Do not over mix!
I have replaced milk by sour cream in the past and have reduced the butter and the results were incredible.
We'd love to hear from you and what you thought of our cranberry and lemon muffin recipe. Did you make any changes or add some other goodies? Let us know in the comments below. Thanks for reading and happy cooking!
Delicious Recipes for Muffins
Here's a selection of our favorite muffin recipes for you to enjoy!
Blueberry Muffins Easy recipe and great served warm with a blob of butter and a lovely cup of tea!
Delicious, simple, soft and fluffy oatmeal muffins bursting with juicy blueberries. Serve warm for breakfast or have as a nice snack
Delicious, simple, soft and fluffy oatmeal muffins bursting with juicy cherries. Serve warm for breakfast or brunch
Nanny's Easy Breakfast Muffins. Topped with a delicious cinnamon & sugar butter. Perfect with a cup of coffee!
Chocolate Banana Muffins With a Caramel Drizzle Topping. Fluffy, soft and packed with bananas and chocolate. Perfect for breakfast, brunch or snack time.
Caramel Pear filled Cornbread Muffins. These are great served warm for breakfast or a dessert with a blob of ice cream ice cream
Delicious, simple, wholesome muffins, slightly sweet with a nutty flavor from the oats. Best served warm as a side to a meal or breakfast.
Cranberry Lemon Muffins. Incredibly easy recipe, perfect for breakfast or brunch. Great for using up left over cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving or Christmas too!
Apple and Pumpkin Muffins! These muffins are full of the flavors of Fall with pumpkin, apple and cinnamon. A pure delight to eat, these soft and moist muffins will go fast so be sure to make plenty!
White Chocolate and Macadamia cakes. An incredibly easy recipe with fabulous flavors and texture. Yummy!
Nanny's Best Chocolate Brownie Muffins are simply yummy! It's an easy recipe and perfect for chocolate lovers!
Blueberry and White Chocolate Muffins Great flavor combination and very easy recipe.
Pecan and Banana Mini Cakes are wonderful soft, moist and full flavored with a great streusel topping. Also nice as a regular loaf size.
Chocolate Chip & Banana Cakes. A very easy and so delicious recipe. A sure 'keeper'!
A delicious breakfast or snack, these slightly sweet muffins are loaded with juicy tangy rhubarb, soft and fluffy, with added texture from the oats.
Berry Muffins - Quick & Easy and use your favorite berries, fresh or frozen!
Delicious English Muffins Delicious English bread recipe, often eaten for breakfast. Serve warm with butter! You can eat these sweet or savory! Freezer friendly too! Simple recipe
Cinnamon & Raisin English Muffins - Delicious opened and served warm with a nice spread of butter on each half! Easy stove top recipe.
📋 Recipe
Cranberry Lemon Muffins

Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 2 Cups All purpose flour
- ¾ Cup Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Baking powder
- ½ Teaspoon Salt
Wet Ingredients
- 2 Large eggs
- ¼ cup Melted butter
- 1 Cup Milk
- 1 ¼ Cups Cranberry Sauce
- Zest 1 lemon
- Juice 1 lemon
Instructions
- Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. (Dry Ingredients)
- In a different bowl whisk the eggs and add the butter and the milk.
- Add the milk mix to the dry mix and fold until wet. DO NOT OVERMIX, THAT IS THE SECRET OF A GOOD MUFFIN.
- Add the lemon juice and the lemon zest and the cranberry sauce. Fold softly.
- Pour in muffin cups (yield a dozen) and cook for 20 to 25 minutes in oven at 350F.
- ( mine took 22 minutes)
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
12Serving Size:
12 ServingsAmount Per Serving: Calories: 242Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 43mgSodium: 277mgCarbohydrates: 45gFiber: 1gSugar: 24gProtein: 4g
Danielle
Can you just bake these in a muffin tin without using the liners? I’d like to skip the paper cups. I’m making these in a few hours and was just going to use some non stick spray. Thanks!
Lovefoodies
Hi Danielle,
Muffins can be really tricky to get out of the tins, even when greased well.
If you have some parchment paper, I would suggest cutting into squares and popping each piece in each muffin hole. If you don’t have any parchment, a last alternative is to line the bottom of each hole with a cut out disc of foil and grease that and at least you can run a knife around the sides when baked and the bottom should come out clean without you ruining your pan.
Hope that helps and happy baking!
Danielle
I have some paper cups. I’ll use them for sure then. I just didn’t feel like using them. LOL! Thank you so much! Starting them now.
Lovefoodies
Hi Danielle, glad you enjoyed the
Muffins!
Danielle
Thank you so much. I used the paper cups and they turned out perfect. I also now see why not using the cups would have been a mistake. Thanks again! Great recipe for my leftover homemade cranberry relish!
judy
I think whole berry cranberry sauce would be better than the jelled stuff. It would give the muffins texture.
Michelle
Is the cranberry sauce jellied or whole?
Lovefoodies
Hi Michelle, it is cranberry sauce, not juice (as in what you would drink). So you could use jelly. Hope that helps!
Mary Burge
I was also wanting to know if it was whole or sauce. You answered my question from your reply. 🙂
Andrew
Your Email Address Validator Doesn't work, it says valid emails are invalid fyi... And whole cranberrie sauce for sure...