For years, I searched for a baked good that was as bright and citrusy as I thought an orange cake or muffin should be. And then, I finally found it in these Vegan Orange Muffins.
They're springy and super moist. It's cool that they're dairy- and egg-free, but what really makes them special is that they're loaded with both orange juice and pureed whole clementines, making them burst with orange flavor.
This coolness actually results from my laziness. The original recipe from King Arthur Baking took peeled and diced clementines, but I hate peeling and dicing just about anything. I decided to blend the seedless fruit, peels and all.
Best. Idea. Ever.
The peel of the fresh clementines adds so much flavor and moisture. The muffins are flavorful and sweet enough from the orange puree and orange juice that you don't need frosting, icing, or glaze, which King Arthur called for.
The inclusion of whole fruit makes the muffins feel wholesome to me, a great thing to bake to go along with my slightly less wholesome Strawberry Bellinis at a spring brunch.
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When I first made these orange muffins in 2015, when my friend Kate visited me for her birthday, right after my daughter was born. April is nominally spring, but the weather that weekend objected. The weather was cool and breezy; we visited the Ocean City boardwalk, but were well-bundled, and otherwise skipped leisurely walks I'd looked forward to. These citrusy vegan muffins were the perfect antidote.
Ingredients
These orange muffins take just 9 ingredients - none of which are dairy or eggs!
- Flour
- Sugar
- Vegetable oil
- Baking powder, baking soda, and salt
- Oranges, clementines, or mandarins
- Orange juice
- Vanilla extract
I use all-purpose flour in these. I've also had success with gluten-free flour! Regular granulated sugar provides sweetness.
Vegetable oil keeps these muffins very moist.
Baking powder, baking soda, and table salt provide the leavening or lift in this recipe. The baking soda in particular is important as it reacts with the acid in the oranges and orange juice.
Vanilla extract rounds out the flavor.
I hate juicing oranges, so I buy orange juice instead. You'll want actual orange juice (not an orange-flavored drink) with normal acidity and less or no pulp. You need the acid in orange juice to react with the baking soda. I avoid ones with added calcium or Vitamin D (and certainly omega-3s) because I don't know how they would interact with the baking soda.
Clementines vs. mandarins vs. oranges
I tend to use the words clementines and mandarins interchangeably. They're the only oranges I buy, because they're easy peel and thus easy to eat.
Simply, a mandarin is a type of orange. Clementines are a type of mandarin.
There are similarities and small differences between clementines and mandarins that Angela at Eat Your Beets goes into - and it makes sense that they'd be so similar, because clementines are mandarin hybrids.
I hate segmenting citrus, so I blend my clementines, peel and all. Clementines have thin skin and membranes, and no seeds, which makes this possible.
I've said before that this recipe will work with any thin-skinned, seedless orange. That is true, with caveats.
Clementines and mandarins work most consistently, due to their thin skins and thin membranes. This means that when you blend them, the puree is more liquidy than it is pithy.
I have also tested this recipe with naval oranges. Despite having relatively thin skins, they have thicker membranes than their smaller cousins. Thus, naval orange puree was substantially thicker and less liquid. The naval orange muffins were still delicious and the recipe still worked, but it did bake slightly differently.
Whatever you choose, be sure your citrus is sweet and not bitter. If your oranges are getting old, you'll taste it. Sometimes cooking is the best way to use up past-prime fruit, but don't do it here!
Hint: whatever mandarin/clementine/orange you go with, be sure to check it for seeds, and remove them if it does. I bought mandarins once that had seeds, which surprised me!
Instructions
After you've cleaned and dried your clementines, it's time to bake!
- Cut off rough ends and any discolored peel from your oranges, and puree until smooth. (I can usually fit 2-3 quartered or halved mandarins in my blender cup.) Puree thickens in the fridge, so I don't recommend doing this in advance.
- Measure out 1 cup of puree. You can add some juice if you don't have enough. I'll add a little juice to this cup.
- Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Add the puree, orange juice, vegetable oil, and vanilla to the dry ingredients, and mix just to combine. Don't overmix. The mixture may foam as the baking powder reacts with the acidity of the orange juice.
- Scoop the batter into greased or paper-lined muffin tins, filling them only ¾ full. Don't overfill.
- Bake at 400F. They're done when the top of the muffin springs back when you press it. Also, a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffin will come out completely clean. They may or may not brown along the top or edges. Be sure to bake them completely.
Let the muffins cool for 5 minutes before removing them from the pan to a wire rack. It's important to take them out of the pan so that the bottoms don't become soggy.
Cool completely before drizzling with any kind of glaze (which I don't).
Hint: Don't overfill the muffin cups. If you do, the batter will overflow into muffin tops, which while still tasty, won't be as pretty and may stick to your pan. Depending on the cup size, you may get up to 15 muffins.
Make it gluten-free!
You can substitute a mild-tasting, cup-for-cup gluten-free flour blend that has xanthan gum included. Xanthan gum is especially important to act as a binder, since this recipe has no eggs.
Most recently I tested the recipe using the Trader Joe brand, which worked fine; the muffins were a bit sandy, which isn't unusual for gluten-free baked goods.
Equipment
I use a bullet blender (affiliate link) to puree my oranges. I expect that a food chopper would work okay as well, and perhaps a full-sized food processor or blender if you add a splash of juice to assist with the processing.
If you don't have any appliance that will blend or puree for you, I recommend you zest the oranges finely and thoroughly; the white part is fine here. Then, remove the membranes from the oranges if possible and chop the fruit as finely as you can. However, I can't guarantee they'll turn out nearly so delicious. (You can also refer to King Arthur Baking's original recipe for Vegan Clementine Cupcakes, which I adapted this recipe from, as they segment the clementines instead of blending them.)
I recommend using paper muffin liners over greasing your tins, just for ease. While reusable silicone muffin liners are neat, they don't let the muffins cool or breathe as well, so your muffins may become soggy.
Muffin tins vary in capacity and shape. Some have steeper sides than others; some cups can hold more batter. That's why you only want to fill the cups ¾ full, instead of forcing yourself to get 12 muffins. If you have extra batter, just hold it and bake a couple of bonus muffins after you empty your muffin pans. Shiny muffin tins work better than dark ones. With a dark pan, the edges will heat more quickly and brown.
You can use 2 spoons to portion the muffins, but a large (3-tablespoon or #20) cookie scoop (affiliate link) will make it go much more quickly.
Storage
Once they're cool, store the muffins in an airtight container at room temperature. They'll stay moist for several days.
Top Tip
Be sure to bake your muffins thoroughly. Due to the fruit content in the muffins, they can be a little gummy if underbaked. (Even then, though, they'd still be delicious!)
FAQ
I prefer mandarins or clementines (a mandarin hybrid) to make my orange muffins. I like that they're seedless and have thin membranes and thin skins, so they work well when I blend them, and I can include the whole fruit in my muffins.
Any orange with thin membranes and thin skins will work. I've successfully used seedless naval oranges as well. However, their skins and membranes are thicker, and so the muffins bake slightly differently.
Older citrus works but won't be quite as tasty; use fresher citrus for best results.
The rule of thumb is that if you peel the fruit and discard the peel, you're getting rid of most pesticides that may have been sprayed on it. Citrus farmers do use pesticides, but it's assumed that you won't be eating the peel - you'll just be eating the fruit underneath.
Since I blend the whole oranges and incorporate the peel into these muffins, I recommend getting organic fruit if possible. That said, according to the Oregon State University's National Pesticide Information Center, organic produce isn't necessarily pesticide free, so you'll still want to wash and dry your oranges, to rinse off some of the residue from organic pesticides.
I've successfully made these orange muffins with gluten-free flour. Most recently, I used Trader Joe's cup-for-cup gluten-free flour blend.
You will want a neutral-tasting, cup-for-cup flour (likely made with millet, sorghum, or rice flour), with xanthan gum for thickening since his recipe has no eggs. I do not recommend using a gluten-free blend that includes any kind of bean flour, for I've found those add unwanted flavors.
Oranges themselves are a source of Vitamin C, but unfortunately, Vitamin C is very heat-sensitive and light-sensitive. (That's one thing I remember from a nutrition class I took!) Those pretty, clear bottles for orange juice actually let light degrade the Vitamin C, according to the Linus Pauling Institute. Vitamin C also degrades with exposure to oxygen.
So although the batter starts off with Vitamin C, the heat of the oven means there's less Vitamin C left by the time the muffins are baked. There may still be some left, but I wouldn't eat orange baked goods just to get vitamins.
Other Springtime Recipes
Want more springtime brunch sweets? Try these:
Other Vegan Treats
Want more vegan sweets? Try these sweets, that are naturally vegan or that I've successfully veganized:
Interested in other recipes? I save and share recipes I like or want to try on my Pinterest page - follow me there! You can also check out my Facebook page for more recipes and helpful tips. I'm also happy to try to help troubleshoot my recipes there.
Have you tried this recipe? Or have a question about it? Rate it or leave a comment below! (PS: rating my recipes helps other people find them, too!)
📖 Recipe
Vegan Orange Cupcakes
Equipment
- bullet blender (affiliate link)
- muffin tins
- muffin liners
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups flour (270-280 grams) (see notes for gluten-free flour!)
- 1 cup sugar (200 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon table salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup pureed clementines (227 grams, usually from 2-3 clementines) (see notes)
- ⅔ cup orange juice (150 grams) (bottled juice is fine)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (5 grams)
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil (75 grams)
- sparkling sugar, for topping (optional)
Instructions
- Combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a large mixing bowl.
- Slice off the ends and any rough or discolored peel from the clementines. Puree until about smooth; you don't want big pieces of peel. Measure out 1 cup.
- Measure out your ⅔ cup orange juice. If you didn't have enough puree, add extra orange juice to the puree to make up the difference.
- Add the orange puree, orange juice, vanilla, and vegetable oil to the dry ingredients. Mix just to combine. Do not overmix. The mixture will foam up some.
- Scoop the batter into greased or paper-lined muffin tins. Fill them ¾ full, almost but not all the way to the top. If you have extra batter (you might if your muffin tins are small), grease or line a few extra muffin cups and bake immediately. Sprinkle batter with sparkling sugar before baking, if desired.
- Bake at 400F for 15-18 minutes. They may or may not brown on top. The top will spring back if pressed lightly, and a toothpick inserted into the center will come out clean when the muffins are done. Do not underbake.
- Cool for 5 minutes, then carefully turn muffins out to a cooling rack.
- Serve warm or at room temperature. Store in a sealed container at room temperature. Muffins are good for several days. As with all muffins, the tops will soften after being stored.
Notes
[Originally posted 4/27/2015 and revised 4/19/2019. Completely redone 4/8/2025.]
Tanya says
what can you substitute for the orange juice? Water?
Leona Konkel says
If you just substitute water, you will lose flavor. You can try adding a mixture of extra orange puree and water, or you can try water with some lemon juice. The acidity in the orange juice also interacts with the baking soda to make the cupcakes rise, so they may be more dense if you substitute other liquids for the orange juice.
myranda says
I am looking for something like this, but i want to mix Raspberries in. Any chance you have suggestions on how to add about 3/4 of a tray of raspberries? i dont want my fruit to go bad so im trying to use what i have on hand. cannot go to a grocery store. i have a bunch of the clementines and i have some oranges i can juice
Leona Konkel says
A late response on my part, but if I had the clementines and orange juice, I would make the muffins exactly written. After scooping the batter into muffin cups, place your raspberries on top of the batter, not too close to the edge. Depending on how many berries you have, you may want to fill the cups a little less to give yourself batter for an extra muffin or two to top.
myranda says
thank you! i ended up making a raspberry drizzle topping and just tossed some shaved almonds on top. omg amazing! hubby loved them too!
Leona Konkel says
Thank you for the update! That sounds delicious. I'm glad you both liked them!