Coconut Cranberry Muffins

February 11, 2020 by Denise Bustard 50 Comments

Home / Meal Prep / Freezer / Coconut Cranberry Muffins

These delicious, fluffy cranberry muffins have flaky coconut and a hint of lime zest! Prepare them in one bowl and enjoy for a healthy snack.

There is just something so good about a muffin fresh from the oven, am I right? We love a fresh Healthy Blueberry Muffin, a Cinnamon Rhubarb Muffin, or one of these coconut cranberry muffins!

Typically cranberry muffins contain lemon or orange zest, and guess what? Lime zest is dang good, too.

And to give these muffins a little tropical twist, we’ve added flaked coconut in and on the muffins.

They are fluffy, tart, citrussy and slightly sweet…just perfect with a cup of hot coffee or tea.

Reasons you’ll ♡ these coconut cranberry muffins

the coconut + lime + cranberry is unique and delicious
they are mixed up in one bowl
they can be kept for easy portable snacks or frozen for later

Recipe video

Wondering how this coconut cranberry muffin recipe comes together? Watch the 1 minute video below to see how it happens! You can find more recipe videos on my YouTube channel.

Don’t forget to pin this post to save it for later!

Let’s talk ingredients

For this delish cranberry muffin recipe, you’ll need:

flour- you can use all purpose, a mix of whole wheat and all purpose, or white whole wheat flour. Gluten-free and other alternative flours have not been tested.
coconut oil– or you can swap for vegetable oil
baking powder, soda + salt
eggs– these have not been tested with egg alternatives, but it may be possible.
greek yogurt– to make these nice and moist
maple syrup– to sweeten. Honey works as well, and while I haven’t tested coconut or brown sugar, I think they would work.
cranberries– fresh or frozen, and in a pinch, you can use dried cranberries
lime zest– which brings that citrussy zing without any of the sourness the juice adds
coconut– I used sweetened shredded coconut but I think unsweetened would also be fine.

Meal prep tips

Muffins work so well for meal prep and are fridge and freezer-friendly. Here are some tips for this cranberry muffin recipe:

One bowl– melt your coconut oil in a large microwave-safe bowl, then add in all wet ingredients followed by the dry ingredients. I love saving myself from washing extra dishes!
Liners– I recommend parchment or silicone muffin liners (not paper as they can potentially stick). Greasing the muffin pan well should also work.
Batter– this muffin batter is quite thick, thanks to the greek yogurt. I found it easiest to use a cookie scoop to spoon it into the muffin liners.
Storage– these muffins store in the fridge for 4-5 days and freeze/thaw well! Heat them up and serve with a smear of butter.

Find my favorite muffin tins, microwave-safe bowl and muffin liners in my shop!

Can I use dried cranberries?

While I love using fresh or frozen cranberries (they add a little juicy pop to the muffins), you could swap for dried cranberries instead.

Can I swap the coconut oil?

Yes, if you don’t have coconut oil, you can use vegetable oil in place.

Can I make these cranberry muffins with gluten-free flour? Almond flour? Coconut flour?

Unfortunately I have not tested and can’t say for sure if these will work. If you give them a try, please let us know in the comments how they turned out.

More muffin recipes!

This post was originally published in 2015. It has been tweaked, rephotographed and republished in 2020.

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About Denise Bustard

Denise Bustard is the creator of Sweet Peas and Saffron, a meal prep-focussed food blog. With a PhD in biochemistry, Denise takes a scientific approach to perfecting her recipes. You can find Denise's work featured on Huffington Post, MSN, Self and more. read more