Air Fryer Cranberry Orange Muffins
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Read the full disclosure here.
Looking for an easy and healthy way to make muffins? Try making these tasty Cranberry Orange Muffins in the Air Fryer!
I love my air fryer.ย It is one of those things that I thought was dumb when it first came out but now that I have a child it is my favorite appliance and we use it daily!
What is an air fryer?
An air fryer is a counter top kitchen appliance designed to cook food by circulating hot air around it. It mimics the results of deep-frying but uses significantly less oil or, in some cases, no oil at all.ย It also cooks faster than a traditional oven.ย
My favorite things to cook in the air fryer are french fries, egg rolls, chicken nuggets, and crab cakes.ย It’s also great for reheating leftovers.
We really enjoy making Air Fryer Meatballs that can be used as appetizers, in spaghetti, or in a sub.ย For a quick meal you can’t be air fryer Grilled Cheese Sandwiches. Wings in the air fryer are amazing.ย I can’t get enough of these Salt and Vinegar Wings.
I just recently started baking in the air fryer.ย That’s right, you can actually bake in the air fryer and it turns out pretty good.
I made air fryer donuts a few weeks ago and once I put a glaze on them they were pretty tasty.ย I’ve also made air fryer Orange Pecan Sticky Buns and those were really good.
I wanted to bake something but I was looking for a recipe that wasn’t heavy on the calories.ย ย I looked in my new air fryer cookbook, The “I Love my Air Fryer” Easy Recipes book and found a recipe for Cranberry Orange muffins which were only 110 calories a piece.
I happen to have a bag of fresh cranberries in the refrigerator so I was excited to make these.ย In fact, the recipe was really simple and I had all of the ingredients on hand.ย My one issue is that I did not have an air fryer muffin tin.
Can I use something other than cranberries?
While cranberries are best to use because that was what was tested in these muffins, raspberries or blueberries would work in place of the cranberries.ย If using raspberries or blueberries I would go with lemon zest instead of orange zest as well.
I decided to just use sturdy cupcakes liners on a baking sheet and put them in the air fryer that way.ย ย It ended up working fine though they weren’t the best shaped muffins I’ve ever made.
Ingredients:
- all purpose flour
- granulated sugar
- baking powder
- salted butter (you can also use unsalted butter if desired)
- egg
- whole milk (while you can use plant based or low fat milk, whole milk works best)
- fresh cranberries, halved
- orange (I used the zest and the juice)
To make the muffins combine the flour, sugar, and baking powder in a large bowl.ย Add in the butter, egg, and milk and mix until combined.ย Fold in the cranberries and orange zest.
Divide the batter between 12 muffin cups (using an air fryer safe muffin tin is best but you can put sturdy cupcake liners on an air fryer baking sheet) and bake at 300 degrees for 15 minutes.ย If you want the tops to be browned turn the heat to broil for 1 minute before removing.
I was really excited to try these muffins.ย They didn’t rise as much as my regular muffins do but I could smell the orange and cranberries in the muffins.
The muffins are soft and have a nice crumb.ย ย They smell more like orange than they taste of it.ย ย The cranberries are tart and work nicely with the sweet muffins.ย ย We really enjoyed them.ย
How do you store these muffins?
Store the muffins in an air tight container for up to five days.ย ย You can also wrap each one individually and freeze for up to 3 months.
Air Fryer Cranberry Orange Muffins
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon powder
- 4 Tablespoons salted butter melted
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup cranberries halved
- 1 orange zested and juiced
Instructions
- Preheat the air fryer to 300 degrees.
- In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, and baking powder.
- Add in the butter, egg, and milk and mix well to combine.
- Fold in the cranberries, orange zest, and 1 Tablespoon of orange juice.
- Fill muffin cups or cupcake liners half full (you will have enough batter for 12 muffins). You may need to work in batches depending on the size of your air fryer.
- Cook for 15 minutes. The muffins will just start to brown. If you want a brown top broil for the last minute of cooking.