These healthy Grapefruit Ginger Muffins are light, fluffy, wonderfully bright, and absolutely delicious. They are super easy to make, whip up in just one bowl, and made with only 9 simple, real ingredients! These muffins are perfect for winter or spring when grapefruits are at their best! This is a surprising muffin flavor you don’t want to miss!

What Do These Grapefruit Ginger Muffins Taste Like?

These Grapefruit Ginger Muffins are a super light and fluffy, but moist, muffin. The crumb is springy and airy and just perfectly sweet. It is flavored with fresh grapefruit juice and grapefruit zest which adds brightness and a hint of tangy sweetness to the muffins. The grapefruit is complemented by freshly grated (or powdered) ginger to give more depth and boldness to the delicate grapefruit flavor. These muffins taste like a light cake that has been kissed by grapefruit and ginger. The muffins are topped with a grapefruit zest spiked sparkly sugar mixture which creates a deliciously addicting crunchy and flakey muffin top.

This muffin is such a great way to celebrate the grapefruit, which are best from mid-winter to late spring. I always go for pink grapefruit, such as Rio Red, as I find it to be the sweetest and juiciest, but feel free to use any type of grapefruit that you like!

What Ingredients Are Used to Make These Grapefruit Ginger Muffins?

These muffins are so delicious and secretly made better-for-you! The recipe contains no refined sugars, flours, or oils. They are refined sugar free and also nut free! These muffins are paleo-friendly meaning they contain no gluten, grain, or dairy. Plus they are made with only 9 total ingredients! Here’s a look at the ingredients you’ll need and some substitutions/variations.

Coconut Sugar – The best granulated sweetener for refined sugar free baking. I use and love Nutiva’s Coconut Sugar for the reasonable pricing and excellent quality.
Avocado Oil – Gives the muffins moisture without feeling heavy! It’s neutral in flavor which lets the delicate grapefruit and ginger shine. Plus, it’s heart healthy! Melted and cooled coconut oil or olive oil are great subs.
Eggs – To make the muffins fluffy
Grapefruit – You’ll need about 1 medium, ripe grapefruit to get 1/4 cup of juice and lots of zest. Don’t skip on the zest! I know it’s tempting, but it really adds so much flavor. This microplane makes zesting super easy and it’s dishwasher safe!
Ginger – Such a great flavor to pair with the grapefruit. It enhances the delicate citrus flavor and adds a great warming quality which is so perfect for wintertime or chilly spring days. Use freshly grated or powdered ginger.
Cassava – An unprocessed flour that is gluten, grain, and nut free and gives the muffins a wonderfully fluffy texture. I use and love Otto’s.
Tapioca Flour – To help thicken the dough without making it too floury.
Baking Powder – Leavens the muffins making them light but still moist!
Salt – To add balance to the muffin flavors.

How To Make Grapefruit Ginger Muffins

These muffins are a breeze to make! The batter is made in just one bowl and bakes up in under 20 minutes! You can go from empty mixing bowl to muffin filled cooling rack in just about 30 minutes. Here’s a look at the steps:

Zest, then juice the grapefruit. I always mention this step because zesting an already halved and juiced citrus is never fun. And if using fresh ginger, go ahead and grate that as well with the zester. This is the one I use.
Make the zesty sugar topping. Just mix a coarse sugar such as turbinado, demerara, or organic cane sugar (what I used) and mix together with 1 packed teaspoon of grapefruit zest with the tips of your fingers until the zest is evenly distributed. (See photo below.)
Make the batter.
1. Mix the coconut sugar, avocado oil, and eggs together.
2. Then add grapefruit juice and zest.
3. Stir in dry ingredients.
Distribute batter into muffin liners. I like my muffins tall, so I make 8 muffins with this batter. You can easily make this into 9 muffins if you prefer a shorter muffin.
Top muffins with zesty sugar.
Bake! I start off baking muffins in a hotter oven, 375 degrees, to help fluff them up and give them some height. Then after 10 minutes, reduce the oven temp to the standard 350 to keep a soft and moist interior.
Cool & enjoy!

These are delicious warm out of the oven. They will keep in an airtight container, at room temperature for 1-2 days. Afterwards, move to freezer for longer storage, letting defrost to room temperature or warming slightly in a toaster/microwave when ready to enjoy!

These Grapefruit Ginger Muffins are such a unique but incredibly delicious flavor combination for a baked good! They are moist but fluffy and light, and kissed with tangy sweet grapefruit and bold ginger flavors. They are the perfect way to brighten up your winter days and enjoy straight through spring while grapefruit are still at their best. These muffins are a seasonal delight and as they are made healthier, they are the perfect anytime treat! But I will say, they are exceptional alongside a warm frothy beverage.

I can’t wait to hear how you like them!

paleo friendly (gluten/grain/dairy free), naturally sweetened, nut free

Looking for More Muffins? Check these out.

Peanut Butter Swirl Chocolate Muffins (paleo-ish, nut free option)
Carrot Cake Muffins (paleo)
Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins (paleo)

SHARE THE LOVE!

If you made this recipe, please spread the love by leaving a review or rating down below. And I’d LOVE to see and share your creation! Take a picture and tag me on Instagram @freshlydafna in your feed or stories and I will share on my account!

Grapefruit Ginger Muffins

These healthy muffins are a great way to enjoy the tangy sweet winter-to-spring citrus, the grapefruit! These Grapefruit Ginger Muffins are super easy to make, incredibly delicious, and the perfect anytime snack! They are light and fluffy, but moist and kissed with grapefruit and ginger. Made in just one bowl with 9 real, simple ingredients!

Paleo (gluten/grain/dairy free), nut free, refined sugar free

Ingredients

Zesty Sugar Topping

2 tbsp coarse sugar such as organic cane sugar, turbinado, or demerara
1 packed tsp grapefruit zest

Wet Ingredients

3/4 cup (114 grams) coconut sugar
1/3 cup (74 grams) avocado or olive oil (or sub coconut oil, melted and cooled)
2 eggs ideally room temp
1/3 cup (94 grams) freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
1 packed tbsp grapefruit zest

Dry Ingredients

1 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp (169 grams) cassava flour spooned and leveled
1/4 cup (30 grams) tapioca flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp powdered ginger or 1 tsp freshly grated ginger
1/2 tsp salt

Instructions

Heat oven to 375 degrees and prepare a muffin tin by greasing with additional oil/cooking spray or lining with muffin liners.
Zest, then juice the grapefruit. Only zest the colorful upper layer of the grapefruit peel without getting down into the white pith layer.
Make the zesty sugar topping by mixing the coarse sugar of choice with 1 packed teaspoon of grapefruit zest in a small bowl with the tips of your fingers, set aside. (See photo in post.)
In the bowl of a stand mixer, or a large bowl if mixing by hand, mix the coconut sugar, avocado oil, and eggs together until well mixed and frothy.
Add the grapefruit juice and zest and mix until everything is well incorporated.
Add in all the dry ingredients and mix until just fully incorporated. Scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl once or twice during mixing to ensure ingredients are evenly distributed and avoid overmixing.
Using a large cookie scoop (or spoon) distribute the batter evenly into 8-9 muffin cups. (Makes 8 tall or 9 short muffins.)
Sprinkle the zesty sugar mixture on top of the muffins.
Bake the muffins in the center of the oven at 375 for 10 minutes, then reduce to 350, baking for an additional 7-9 minutes. Testing for doneness with a toothpick. Toothpick should come out clean except for a few moist crumbs.
Remove from oven and let cool in muffin tin for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to let cool completely.

Recipe Notes

Helpful Kitchen Tools (affiliate links): muffin pan, microplane (zester/grater), silicone spatula, kitchen scale, eco-friendly muffin liners

Ingredient Subs/Variations:

Avocado Oil - Sub olive olive or melted/cooled coconut oil for avocado oil in equal amounts. For a no-coconut flavor, used refined coconut oil instead of virgin.

Freshly Dafna is on Pinterest! Save this recipe by pinning this image!

This post may contain affiliate links. Any product I include in a post is one that I’m currently using and loving. If you do choose to purchase these products, I may earn a commission, which helps support my site and the free content I provide.