Sunrise Orange Banana Muffins

These orange banana muffins are a terrific bite-sized way to start your morning. With just 122 calories each, they offer both filling protein and fiber.

If you have a few free minutes today or tomorrow, consider heading to the kitchen to bake these banana orange muffins. They are so delicious!

I grew up in Florida, where my mom whipped up muffins from scratch for pretty much every occasion. Her specialty was (and is!) cinnamon spice muffins, and while I sometimes make a variation of these I also love to try new muffin recipes.

Muffins are such a huge hit in my family that my future in-laws often request my muffins for Mother’s Day and other celebratory get togethers!

Ingredients

To make orange banana muffins, you need a few ingredients:

Flour: You’ll use both all-purpose and whole-wheat flour for this recipe. To add even more benefits to these muffins, I’ve used whole-grain flour so that you get additional digestion-helping fiber.

If you’re gluten free, you can substitute all the flour for all-purpose gluten free flour.

Orange juice: The really cool thing about 100 percent orange juice is that it’s created with all parts of the fruit—the peel, the pulp, and the juice.

This ensures you get all the nutrients in the fruit, versus if you were to squeeze juice at home and discard the peel.

In fact, one nutrient that’s present in all parts of the fruit is a powerful flavonoid called hesperidin.

This flavonoid contains antioxidant properties that may help with several aspects of your health—including brain health, which hesperidin assists by decreasing inflammation and helping to maintain blood flow to the inner parts of your ticker.

And it just so happens that 100 percent orange juice is one of the few significant sources of hesperidin. So you’ll see that OJ offers lots of health benefits!

The benefits don’t stop there! OJ also provides the immune-helping antioxidant vitamin C, the blood-pressure-assisting mineral potassium, and the muscle-recovery-helping mineral magnesium.

Greek yogurt: The Greek yogurt adds protein to the banana orange muffins. You can substitute oat milk yogurt to make these gluten free.

Eggs: These help bind everything together and add protein to the recipe.

Banana and cranberries: These additional fruit add fiber, vitamins, and minerals.

Step-by-step instructions

I love that these orange banana muffins make breakfast so easy to grab and go.

To get started, you’ll just need a small bowl and muffin pans. Preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

In another bowl, whisk together orange juice, yogurt, eggs, vanilla, and banana.

Add liquid mixture to dry mixture, and stir until just combined. Fold in orange zest and cranberries.

Coat muffin trays with nonstick spray, and fill three-fourths of the way full with batter. Bake 14 to 16 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes away clean.

When you whip up the muffins, you’ll want to cool them to room temperature on a wire rack for a bit once they come out of the oven.

And if you have any soccer games or dance recitals this weekend, bring some sunrise banana orange muffins for the team! 

Ready to whip up this delicious breakfast? Here’s the recipe! Make them even sweeter by topping them with powdered sugar, drizzle icing, or a blueberry reduction.

Recipe FAQ

More muffin recipes

If you love these orange banana muffins, you’ll also enjoy:

• Healthy Coffee Muffins
• Matcha Green Muffins
• Cinnamon Spice Muffins

This blog post was updated in July 2022. It was originally part of a partnership with the Florida Department of Citrus.

I’d love to hear from you! Let me know how you’re celebrating National Orange Juice Day and how you’re enjoying this recipe with orange juice. What are your other favorite orange juice recipes?