Leftover Cranberry Sauce Muffins
Cranberry sauce is arguably one of the best parts of Thanksgiving – especially the homemade stuff. Which is probably why I tend to go overboard and whip up way more than is needed. If a little is terrific, a lot is even better! Right?
So inevitably, we end up with leftovers. While there are a gazillion things you can do with the delicious stuff, this is one of my favorites – Leftover Cranberry Sauce Muffins. They’re hearty and tangy and perfect for that lazy morning after.
So enjoy yourself on Thanksgiving, and enjoy a batch of these the day after. Happy Holidays to you!
Leftover Cranberry Sauce Muffins
Hearty, tangy muffins using leftover cranberry sauce. They’re ridiculously easy to whip up, just perfect for that lazy morning after a big holiday.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup + 3 tablespoons rolled oats (reserve the 3 tablespoons for the tops)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 1/2 cups leftover cranberry sauce
- 1/2 cup milk (can substitute almond milk)
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 egg
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Grease a 12-cup standard-size muffin tin (or add liners).
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, 1 cup oats, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the cranberry sauce, milk, vegetable oil and egg.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just until blended.
- Divide the batter between the 12 muffin cups – about 3/4 to all the way full.
- Sprinkle with the three tablespoons oats.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until tops spring back when you touch them and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out dry.
- Let cool for about five minutes. Serve.
Dairy-Free Option
Use almond milk for the milk.
Adapted from Serious Eats
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What I can’t figure out about cranberry sauce is that if it’s so good, why is there any leftover? I love cranberries but not cranberry sauce. Actually that’s not true, I don’t think I’ve ever tried it. I can’t give up the gravy.
I just made these with leftover homemade cranberry ‘relish’ I’ll call it. Muffins came out great! The only thing I’ll do differently next time is to leave them in the oven another minute or two. The muffins came out cooked all the way through, but *just*, probably because I stuck the muffin tray on a cookie sheet just in case there was any overspill. (There wasn’t; you can truly fill the muffin tins all the way up.) Thanks for the recipe!
Leftovers or not, this looks yummy!
Just put a batch in the oven. I was wondering what to do with cranberry sauce left-overs. Perfect for a cold Alaskan morning.
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Where do you get the cute cupcake liners?
An grocerie store sells the liners, I get mine at Walmart for about a dollar for fifty of them.
Good muffins, but I thought they were a little too sweet. Does anyone know how to determine the number of calories per muffin for this recipe?
If I wanted to add bananas to these muffins how do you think I would do that? Substitute them for 1/2 of the cranberry relish?
Just made these today with some leftover cranberry relish + added some craisins. Total hit at the office!!
Hi Lora, great idea to add dried cranberries! I’ll have to try that next time. Never too many cranberries!
I was searching for something to do with that can of whole berry cranberry sauce that seemed doomed to a long wait in the back of the pantry for next Thanksgiving when I found this recipe. Wow! They are freaking delicious. Even my picky 16-year-old liked them and my 5-year-old ate three. Yum!
Love it! I know the value of getting a picky kid to eat something … it feels like such a victory. 🙂
These are great! The recipe definitely makes about 18 muffins though. Would have been even better if my cranberry sauce was made with nuts.
Very good. Not too sweet..Made two batches to share with co-workers!
These are terrible! So bland
Bummer you didn’t like them! I think they’re great.
Delicious and will make again. I was looking for something to do with my homemade sauce and I’m glad I stumbled across this recipe. I swapped some of the AP flour with whole wheat and some of the oil for unsweetened apple sauce. I also got 15 muffins.
I was looking for something to do with my leftover cranberry chutney, and this was a great way to use it up! I was craving a bran muffin, so I substituted the oats for 1 1/2 cups bran soaked in 1 c milk, then left out the milk further down the recipe. I also subbed the oil for applesauce and cut down the sugar. Sooo good! Yum. Thanks for the recipe!
Your directions don’t mention the salt!!! I just put mine in the oven when I realized one of the ingredients in the list wasn’t added. Hope they turn out okay…
Thank you for letting me know my error; I’ve added it into the directions! I think they should still taste just fine.
I loved this recipe as I was looking for a way to use Cranberry Jelly, dried cranberries and oatmeal that I get free as a part of “meals for low income families”. I don’t want to waste anything that is given to me. Hubby loved this recipe that we made into bread. We doubled the recipe to share with friends and used whole wheat flour, one 14 oz can of cranberry jelly with 1 cup of dried Cranberries. He doesn’t like desserts much as sweets are not his thing but he loved this one! Thanks!
I also get applesauce so will use that next time instead of eggs? Not sure …plus I didn’t have vegetable oil so i used coconut oil.
Hello
Is (1) Tablespoon of baking powder correct???
I have never seen that much called for in any recipe.
I am baking these now, but only using 1tsp baking powder.
Thank you
Yep! With the cranberry sauce the batter is usually pretty dense so to help counteract that I increased the baking powder.
My precious grandgirlies are coming for breakfast tomorrow! I wanted to make muffins for them. When I checked my pantry, all I had was a can of cranberry sauce whole berry. I looked up a recipe and this one came up. I just made them and they are perfect. I was skeptical to fill all twelve up but they came out lovely. This recipe is a keeper. I plan on making them with them next time. Thank you! Delish!
Hi what I can substitute the oats with? Really want to make these but not a big fan of oats
I didnt have oats so I used about a cup of cornmeal and increased the flour. I also added some grape jelly to increase the sweetness.
Great Recipe! Thank you! I did just as you said, but realized I was 3/4 C short on cranberry sauce. I subbed in orange marmalade to top it off, and oh baby. SO good! Thank you!
Brilliant substitution! Now I want to try them that way. 🙂
Thankful I found this! Didnt have the heart to toss the canned cranberry sauce in the fridge from Thanksgiving. I didnt have oats so I used about a cup of cornmeal and increased the flour. I also added some grape jelly to increase the sweetness. The resulting taste was delicious and I loved the added graininess of the cornmeal. Whenever I would take a bite I looked at the muffin and thought “hm. Maybe I will do this on purpose sometime instead of just using up leftovers…”
This recipe is great! Works especially well as mini muffins. I mistakenly bought quick-cooking steel cut oats this time and was nervous when I realized my mistake. They turned out a little bit nuttier, but just as tasty.
Looks good hope can try i
This made more than 12 muffins for me. Could be a pto or con so I thought I’d mention it just in case. Also, 1.5 cups of cranberry sauce is 1 can so it may not exactly be a “leftover cranberry sauce” recipe if people had in fact eaten some and you just served the one can.
Not everyone uses canned cranberry sauce . IMost cooks I know make sauce with fresh cranberries -so easy & tastier than canned . There is usually enough left over for recipes like this
But a lot of people do also use the can so if someone is using canned and is looking at this recipe, than it’s good information to have that it would need to be the whole can.
This recipe is a keeper. Somehow I ended up with 4 unopened containers of cranberry walnut relish from Boston Market after a family party. I was looking for a way to use it up and this recipe was a success, I added a little grated orange rind and they were really yummy!
Thank you so very much. I bake muffins often, and enjoy baking them. My cupboards are bare, yet I do have to cans of Cranberry, so appreciate the recipe to use them up. Sincerely
Delicious, I used whole wheat flour and I used Flax seed substituted for the egg. Wonderful consistency.
They turned out okay for me. I used a little less sugar as my cranberry sauce was too sweet. I would leave out the oats next time, and maybe add a bit more cinnamon.
I made them and it was a success. My husband and son ate them and they said please make them again.
Choose another recipe, this was not taste
These were terrible, not tasty, choose another recipe
Do you use “Quick” cooking oats or “Large Flake” oats? Or does it matter as I have both kinds.
I’ve used both and they both work fine. The quick-cooking oats tend to disappear a bit but that might be to your preference. 🙂
I went looking for a left-over cranberry sauce recipe and found this one. Great recipe. I did change up and use brown sugar. I put walnuts and raisins in them also. I make them regularly now. Thanks for the recipe.
I would also add some wheat germ or oat bran but also increase the oil since wheat germ and oat bran
can dry out the overall results. Golden raisins would also be a nice addition to this receipe….Making
that muffin even healthier….
My muffins are in the oven and are not rising. I double checked the ingredients and I did followed the recipe as write. Any idea why they gave not rose
These are wonder – easy and perfect way to use extra cranberry sauce! Baked them this morning and am sending them home with my Thanksgiving guests to freeze or eat tomorrow morning. I put the extra batter in a small loaf pan so I had a treat while I cooked! Thank you so very much!
Thanks so much for your review! Glad you liked this one. Happy holidays!