Orange Muffins are the recipe that Lucia makes every time she wants to create the most completely extraordinary and the most genuinely impressive bakery-style individual muffin that delivers the most vibrantly bold and the most purely natural fresh orange flavor through the most generously measured fresh orange zest of three full oranges and a quarter cup of freshly squeezed orange juice — because no bottled juice and no artificial orange extract can replicate the most intensely bright and the most deeply aromatic fresh citrus character that three full oranges worth of the most fragrant zest provides in every single bakery-worthy individual muffin bite.
The most brilliant and the most completely extraordinary result of this recipe is the most dramatically domed and the most beautifully golden bakery-style muffin top achieved through the four-technique approach of resting the batter, filling every other muffin cup, filling to the very top, and baking at high heat initially before reducing — and finally crowned with the most gorgeous fresh orange juice glaze. She measures the most carefully aerated flour, combines the most vibrant wet ingredients, rests the batter for the most essential 15 minutes, and bakes with the most precise two-temperature method.
Orange Muffins are the most easy and deeply vibrant bakery-style 12 muffins made with flour sugar baking powder baking soda salt eggs buttermilk vegetable oil fresh orange zest of 3 oranges and fresh orange juice batter rested 15 minutes baked in alternating cups at 425°F for 7 minutes reducing to 350°F for 13 to 16 more minutes and glazed with powdered sugar and orange juice. Come follow us on Pinterest where we share beautiful muffin recipes and easy breakfast favorites from our kitchen every single week.
Table of Contents
Why You Will Love This Orange Muffins Recipe

This Orange Muffins recipe is the most completely extraordinary and the most genuinely impressive bakery-style individual muffin that produces the most dramatically domed and the most beautifully tall individual muffin top from the most brilliantly clever combination of four distinct and the most precisely applied dome-maximizing baking techniques that together produce the most genuinely professional and the most completely bakery-worthy individual muffin result from nothing more than a most simple hand-mixed batter.
The use of three full oranges worth of fresh zest — approximately three to five tablespoons — combined with a full quarter cup of freshly squeezed orange juice produces the most intensely vibrant and the most genuinely bold orange flavor that bottled orange juice and orange extract combinations can never replicate. Fresh orange zest contains the most concentrated aromatic essential oils that live in the colored skin cells and that provide the most deeply fragrant and the most naturally bright orange character. Our Dole Whip Cupcakes make a beautifully equally citrus-bright and equally individually extraordinary companion for a complete and wonderful citrus baking collection.
Ingredients Needed for This Orange Muffins Recipe
For the Orange Muffin Batter:
- 3 cups (360g) All-Purpose Flour
- 1½ cups (297g) Granulated Sugar
- 3 tsp Baking Powder
- ½ tsp Baking Soda
- ½ tsp Salt
- 2 large Eggs
- ¾ cup (177ml) Buttermilk
- ½ cup (118ml) Vegetable Oil
- Zest of 3 Oranges (approximately 3 to 5 tbsp)
- ¼ cup (59ml) Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice
For the Orange Glaze:
- 1⅓ cup (151g) Powdered Sugar
- 3 tbsp Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice
How to Make This Orange Muffins Recipe
In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir with a spoon to combine and set aside.
In a larger mixing bowl, combine the eggs, buttermilk, vegetable oil, all the fresh orange zest, and the fresh orange juice. Stir with a spatula for approximately 30 seconds.
Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, mixing by hand just until combined. The batter will be the most beautifully thick. This is completely correct and expected, cara mia.
Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and allow the batter to rest for 15 full minutes at room temperature. During this time, preheat the oven to 425°F. The resting period allows the starch molecules in the flour to absorb the liquid and thicken the batter, which contributes most significantly to the most dramatically domed and the most beautifully tall individual muffin top.
For the most beautifully bakery-style domed muffin tops, line a 12-count muffin pan with only 6 muffin liners placed in every other well. Filling every other cup allows each muffin to spread and dome most dramatically without running into neighboring muffins.
Fill each liner to the most generous and the most literally full top with batter. Use a butter knife to smooth any lumpy top surfaces.
Bake for 7 minutes at 425°F, then — keeping the muffins in the oven — reduce the temperature to 350°F and bake for 13 to 16 more minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan. Repeat with the remaining batter, returning the oven to 425°F before the second batch.
For the orange glaze, mix the powdered sugar and fresh orange juice together until the most smooth drizzle forms. Dip the muffin tops or drizzle with a spoon.
How to Serve This Orange Muffins Recipe
Serve glazed and cooled for the most completely extraordinary and the most genuinely bakery-worthy individual orange muffin experience when the most vibrant fresh orange glaze has set to the most perfectly glossy and the most properly crystallized finish on each most dramatically domed individual muffin top.
Present on a beautiful white plate with fresh orange slices arranged alongside for the most completely beautiful and the most naturally vibrant individual muffin presentation. Our Lemon Blueberry Muffins make a beautifully equally vibrant citrus and equally bakery-style companion for a complete and wonderful citrus muffin collection.
How to Store This Orange Muffins Recipe
Leave uncovered on the counter for up to 24 hours for the most beautifully maintained sugary and the most crunchy muffin top texture. For 2 to 4 days of storage, line an airtight container with paper towels on the bottom and top to absorb excess moisture and maintain the most properly textured crumb. Individually wrap in plastic and freeze for up to 3 months.
Tips to Make This Orange Muffins Recipe

Measure flour using the spoon and level method — spoon flour lightly into the measuring cup and level with a straight edge — rather than scooping directly from the bag. Scooped flour produces compacted measurements with significantly more flour than the recipe requires, resulting in dense rather than the most beautifully light and the most properly moist individual orange muffin.
The 15-minute batter rest is the most non-negotiable step for the most dramatically domed and the most beautifully tall individual orange muffin. Skipping the rest produces a less risen and the most significantly less dramatically domed individual muffin top. Set a timer and use the 15 minutes to preheat the oven and prepare the muffin pans.
Helpful Notes for This Orange Muffins Recipe
The two-temperature baking method — 7 minutes at 425°F then reduced to 350°F for the remainder — is the most specifically designed technique for the most dramatically domed and the most beautifully golden muffin top. The initial high heat produces the most rapid dramatic rise and sets the outer muffin surface into the most beautifully domed shape before the lower temperature finishes cooking the interior through most gently.
If buttermilk is unavailable, make a quick substitute by adding one tablespoon of white vinegar or fresh lemon juice to three-quarters cup of whole milk and letting it sit for 5 minutes until the most properly curdled consistency forms.
Variation of This Orange Muffins Recipe
Maria made a version adding two tablespoons of poppy seeds to the batter for the most completely extraordinary and the most beautifully textured orange poppy seed bakery muffin. Teresa tried adding two cups of fresh blueberries folded gently through the batter for the most completely extraordinary and the most vibrantly colorful orange blueberry bakery muffin.
For a chocolate orange version, fold half a cup of dark chocolate chips through the batter alongside the orange zest for the most completely extraordinary and the most deeply indulgent orange chocolate chip individual muffin. Our Dole Whip Cupcakes make a beautifully equally citrus-bright and equally gloriously glazed companion for a complete and wonderful citrus baking collection.
FAQs About This Orange Muffins Recipe
Why fill only every other muffin cup?
Filling every other muffin cup in a 12-cup pan with batter allows each individual muffin the most unrestricted space to spread and dome most dramatically during the initial high-heat baking phase without the neighboring filled cups acting as barriers to the natural outward expansion. Muffins baked in every cup share limited space and produce the most flattened rather than the most dramatically domed and the most beautifully rounded bakery-style individual top.
Can I use store-bought orange juice instead of fresh?
Fresh squeezed orange juice is the most specifically recommended for the most vibrantly fresh and the most bright orange character in both the muffin batter and the orange glaze. Store-bought orange juice — even the most freshly pressed and not-from-concentrate variety — has a noticeably more muted and the most processed flavor compared to juice squeezed directly from the three oranges also being zested for the batter.
Why is the batter so thick?
The most thick batter is entirely correct and the most expected consistency for this recipe. The thick batter is essential for the most dramatically domed muffin top — a thinner batter spreads flat and never achieves the most properly tall and the most beautifully domed bakery-style muffin top. The 15-minute batter rest thickens the batter even further as the flour starches absorb the liquid.
Conclusion
These Orange Muffins are the most completely extraordinary and the most vibrantly beautiful bakery-style individual citrus muffin that makes every morning and every breakfast gathering feel genuinely and completely special through the most intensely fresh orange zest and juice and the most dramatically domed golden top and the most gorgeous fresh orange glaze in every single tall and completely irresistible orange muffin. We hope they bring the same deeply joyful fresh orange morning brightness and the same completely satisfied breakfast table to your kitchen that they have always brought to ours. Make them, share them, and come back to tell us all about it. With all our love, Maria, Lucia, and Teresa
Print
Orange Muffins The Most Easy Bakery Style Domed Buttermilk Fresh Orange Juice Zest Orange Glaze Muffin You Will Bake
- Total Time: 1 hour including cooling
- Yield: 12 muffins 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
The most extraordinary bakery-style Orange Muffins made by combining 3 cups flour 1 1/2 cups sugar 3 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp salt in large bowl whisking 2 eggs 3/4 cup buttermilk 1/2 cup vegetable oil zest of 3 oranges and 1/4 cup fresh orange juice in larger bowl gradually mixing dry into wet just until combined covering and resting batter 15 full minutes while preheating oven to 425°F then lining every other cup of 12-cup muffin pan with 6 liners filling each to very top smoothing tops baking 7 minutes at 425°F reducing to 350°F baking 13 to 16 more minutes until toothpick clean cooling in pan repeating with remaining batter and drizzling with glaze of 1 1/3 cup powdered sugar and 3 tbsp fresh orange juice. A completely perfect bakery-style domed orange muffin recipe.
Ingredients
3 cups 360g All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 cups 297g Granulated Sugar
3 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
2 large Eggs
3/4 cup 177ml Buttermilk
1/2 cup 118ml Vegetable Oil
Zest of 3 Oranges approximately 3 to 5 tbsp
1/4 cup 59ml Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice
1 1/3 cup 151g Powdered Sugar for glaze
3 tbsp Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice for glaze
Instructions
1. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. Stir to combine.
2. Combine eggs, buttermilk, oil, all orange zest, and orange juice in larger bowl. Stir 30 seconds.
3. Gradually mix dry into wet just until combined. Batter will be very thick.
4. Cover bowl with towel. Rest batter 15 full minutes. Preheat oven to 425°F.
5. Line 12-cup muffin pan with 6 liners in every other cup.
6. Fill each liner to very top with batter. Smooth tops with butter knife.
7. Bake 7 minutes at 425°F. Keep muffins in oven. Reduce to 350°F. Bake 13 to 16 more minutes until toothpick clean.
8. Cool in pan. Repeat with remaining batter returning oven to 425°F.
9. Mix powdered sugar and orange juice until smooth glaze.
10. Dip or drizzle muffin tops with glaze.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes including rest
- Cook Time: 23 minutes
- Category: Breakfast, Muffins, Bakery Style
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 muffin
- Calories: 340
- Sugar: 35g
- Sodium: 185mg
- Fat: 10g
- Saturated Fat: 2g
- Unsaturated Fat: 8g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 58g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 5g
- Cholesterol: 32mg
Keywords: orange muffins, easy bakery style orange muffins recipe fresh orange juice zest buttermilk glaze, best domed orange muffins fresh orange bakery style, moist fresh orange muffins orange glaze
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