This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins made with less sugar than most muffin recipes! These are also loaded with tons of shredded carrots, coconut, and juicy raisins. So easy, healthy, and delicious!
HEALTHY carrot cake muffins!
The perfect sweet treat when you need breakfast dessert or a afternoon snack.
I absolutely love the smell of something warm and cinnamon-y wafting from the kitchen in the morning. The sweet scent of bread, muffins, or pancakes just puts a spring in my step. The way the heat radiates out of the muffin liners from a warm banana nut or carrot muffin just makes my whole day better.
The grated carrots are the star of the show but we also have a ton of supporting actors – enter raisins, crunchy walnuts, and shredded coconut to add lots of flavor and texture.
One thing I love doing is sprinkling a handful of rolled oats on the bottom of my muffin cups before pouring in the batter and then topping them with another pinch of oats. This provides a nice added crunch to the muffin tops plus it makes them look so much prettier.
And let’s face it, this is practically carrot cake in muffin form, minus the cream cheese frosting.
I absolutely love this recipe. I have made it three times in the past six weeks and shared the muffins with friends. They love them also. This will be a staple at our house. The oatmeal on top adds to the taste and the look. Super good!!!
Ingredients for homemade carrot cake muffins
- Flour: I use all-purpose flour for this recipe. You can replace some with whole wheat flour as well. I haven’t tested the recipe with all whole wheat but I do think the muffins may be too dense
- Baking Soda: I don’t use baking powder, just baking soda
- Spices: You’ll need kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger to add warmth. You’ll also need two heaping teaspoons of cinnamon.
- Oil: I love using coconut oil for these muffins because it enhances the coconut flavor and makes the muffins much lighter than if you were to use butter. You can also use canola oil or vegetable oil
- Brown Sugar: is partially responsible for adding sweetness to the recipe as well as moisture
- Unsweetened Applesauce: Apple sauce provides a deeper flavor and cuts down on the refined sugars
- Greek yogurt: adds protein and reacts with the baking soda to help the muffins rise a bit. To make these dairy-free I suggest using coconut yogurt or something similar.
- Large Eggs: Adds structure and stability to baked goods
- Vanilla: 2 teaspoons vanilla extract is the perfect amount of vanilla. It shines beautifully in the recipe.
- Shredded carrots: You’ll need two cups of shredded carrots. Carrots and moisture and fiber to the muffins. Simply shred them on a box grater once peeled
- Mix-ins: I use shredded sweetened coconut, raisins, and walnuts. These add, color, and texture to the muffins. They pair beautifully with the cinnamon and ginger in the recipe. The other ingredient that you won’t find in other carrot cake muffin recipes – oats! The rolled oats – not oat flour. I sprinkle them in the muffin tin and on top of the muffins to add a nutty taste and some texture.
FAQs about this recipe
I know a lot of recipes call for honey or maple syrup. The truth is, I’ve never tested this recipe with a liquid sweetener to I’m unsure if that will work.
Some people like using ground cloves or a little grating of nutmeg, feel free to spruce these as you’d like!
I keep them in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature. If it’s particularly warm where you live, I’d store them in the refrigerator and then reheat a muffin for a few seconds in the microwave or just bring it to room temperature on the counter before enjoying! For longer storage, placed cooled muffins into a freezer-safe bag and keep in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Other muffin recipes to try:
- Outrageous Blueberry Muffins (Gluten-Free or Not!)
- Warm Lemon Zucchini Muffins
- Spiced Chai Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins
- Lighter Double Chocolate Banana Muffins
- French Toast Cups with Coconut Almond Streusel
Super Moist and Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour I use 50:50 whole wheat and all purpose
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ⅔ cup melted coconut oil see notes
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup unsweetened apple sauce
- ¼ cup greek yogurt
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups carrots finely shredded
- ½ cup shredded coconut sweetened
- ½ cup raisins
- ½ cup walnuts chopped
- ¼ cup rolled oats divided
Instructions
- PREP: Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350ºF. If you want, you can line your cupcake pan with paper liners. Or spray the insides with cooking spray. Sprinkle half the oats on the liners, set aside.
- DRY INGREDIENTS: In a medium bowl, sift together the flour(s), baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt, set aside.
- WET INGREDIENTS: In a large bowl with a whisk, hand mixer, or stand mixer, on medium speed, combine the brown sugar and oil. Beat in the yogurt and apple sauce until fully combined – about 1 minute. Mixture will be gritty and thin. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla.
- BATTER: With a spatula, manually stir the flour mixture into the wet ingredients until just combined and all flour pockets are gone – do not overmix. Fold in the finely shredded carrots, shredded coconut, raisins, and walnuts. The muffin mixture will be thick. Pour into prepared cupcake pans. Sprinkle the remaining oats on top and shaved coconut too if you'd like.
- BAKE: for 20-23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs. Let cool for several minutes before devouring!
Notes
- After making these muffins more than a dozen times after originally posting the recipe back in 2014, i've found that I prefer them with ⅔ cup of oil rather than the originally stated amount of '¾ cup'. However either amount will work.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like This? Leave a comment & rating below!
These muffins were amazing! All 5 of my kids devoured them during after-school snack.
Yay! So glad they’re kids approved! Thanks Maria!
The best carrot muffins ever, thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
Yay! That just makes me so happy!
I don’t have Greek yogurt only strawberry what could I replace the yogurt with?
Hi Kirstyn,
I usually suggest regular yogurt in place of greek but since it’s strawberry flavored that you’ve got on hand, i’m not too sure how that would taste.
You can use sour cream if you’ve got that on hand. You could also use 1/4 cup ripe mashed up avocado – I haven’t tried this myself but the yogurt is there to cut the oil back and the avocado serves the same purpose. I think it should work out just right.
Let me know how it goes! =)
Hi, I made these and they are delicious!!!! Can I please have the nutritional information please 😀 Thankyou x
Hi Amiee,
The nutritional information is as follows:
225 calories per muffin
34 grams of carbs
9 grams of fiber
5 grams of protein
7.5 grams of fat
HI,
Seriously love this recipe. all time fav.
whats the amount of sugar per muffin?
thnks
Hi Danielle. Glad you enjoyed the muffins. You can plug the recipe into myfitnesspal.com to get the sugar content per muffin. 🙂
They are so good! I am glad I found this recipe. I substituted 1cup of flour with milled oats, yummy!
I brought my dear friend and neighbor, Jacy, Macadamia nuts from my recent trip to Hawaii. The next morning, she brought me these amazing muffins, straight from the oven…..using Macadamia nuts instead of walnuts. She also substituted garbanzo flour (yes, she has a grinder), which increased the protein, as well as made it a little less “gluten-ey” for those that have to watch such things. The two muffins I had were all I needed to eat for the rest of the afternoon! Absolutely fantastic! Thank you so much! Did I miss where you share the nutrition information (I saw that one muffin is the serving size, but I’m looking for calorie count)?
Thank you for this wonderful recipe! (It brought me to your website and now I’m eager to try those chicken rolls!)
Hi Cheryl,
Wow, macadamia nuts sound like they would be absolutely amazing in these muffins!
I hadn’t mentioned the nutritional fact for these muffins in the blog post, but i’ll list them for you below!
I’m soo glad you enjoyed the muffins and that it brought you by the blog! 🙂
225 calories per muffin
34 grams of carbs
9 grams of fiber
5 grams of protein
7.5 grams of fat
Made these today and used 2/3 c red palm oil and 1/3 coconut oil. I added banana and nuts with some extra oatmeal in the mix. Sooooooo yummy! I will be posting this on my blog tomorrow. 🙂 I’ll give a shout out to ya!
Thanks Natalia!
Wonderful, delicious healthy muffins, thanks so much for posting! I am eating more cocount oil, whole grains and veggies, so this is perfect! I substituted 1/2 cup 0-calorie sweetner and a few tablespoons of mollasses for the brown sugar and added more grated carrots instead of coconut. The oats are a nice touch, I like the crunch. Glad to hear they freeze well.
Thanks Kathleen!
Very good! I made them even healthier!. Replaced the all purpose flour with grounded oats and almond meal 70/30. Used olive oil instead of coconut (didnt have any). Sugar: 1/2 a cup and 1/4 of honey and took away 1 yolk. Sooooo good! I´ll be making these again today because my daughter has to bring bake good to school. Kids loved them! You are the best.
when you make this again get the coconut oil!! I promise you wont be disappointed! it makes the whole recipe taste that much better 🙂
DELICIOUS!!
Thank you!
If I dont have a mixer can I still make these?
Hi Katie,
Of course you can! You can use a whisk where ever an electric mixer is called for. You will have to beat the ingredients for longer than the directions say but the results should be just the same! Happy baking!
When you are blending the coconut oil with the sugar, is the coconut oil at room temperature and therefore hard? From Canada where room temperature is definitely solid coconut oil!
Hi Anne,
The coconut oil should be in a liquid state. If it’s solid just measure out the 3/4 cup and zap it in the microwave for a few seconds until it becomes liquid. Remeasure the liquid oil and make sure to only use 3/4 cup before mixing with sugar!
Hope that helps!
To Anne: I keep a smaller jar of coconut oil available which I can drop into a bowl of hot water to make it liquid. That’s what I did for these muffins. I live in Michigan so I know what you mean!
That’s a great idea! I didn’t even think of that.
Thanks Lisa!
This looks so good. I am so making this. Thank you.
if I was to make these using a mini muffin pan, what would be the cooking time?
Hi Debra,
The cooking time should be between 11-15 minutes. Start checking at 9 minutes. Insert a toothpick to see if it comes out clean. There should be a few crumbs on the toothpick but it shouldn’t have any wet batter on it. Hope this helps!
These are awesome! I used pecans because it was what I had and separated my eggs, using only the whites but, other than that, I stayed true to the recipe. I love that they are lightly sweet and so very moist. I’ve shared on my Pinterest account and with several friends. Bravo!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them Lisa! The pecans sound delicious! I am definitely going to try that out. And the egg whites are a great idea as well. That makes it so much healthier! Thanks for sharing and all your kind words!
These are so delicious! I just made them and they are so light and sweet! 10 out of 10!
Thank you! I’m so glad you love them! Thanks for taking the time to comment and letting me know about your success!
Just made these, awesome recipe…live how light they are. thanks.
So glad you loved them! =)
mmm, I made these yesterday to check if i wanted to have them for my birthday party on sunday! They are delicious and my family liked them a lot 🙂 I did change it up a bit though, i changed the sugar with natural raw honey and i changed half the coconut oil for apple sauce and for the the rest of the oil i used normal vegetable oil since i didn’t have coconut. Thanks for this recipe, it is delicious 😀 I am definitely making this for my birthday!
Helene I’m so glad that you liked the muffins and that you’ll be making them again! These are great ideas for others to try too. Let me know if you experiment with other ingredients. Hope they turn out even more scrumptious for your birthday!! Oh and of course, Happy early birthday!! =)
These look perfect for this time of year, and for my non New Years Resolution (I’ll never keep actual resolutions!) to eat more creative breakfasts, because I’m usually terrible at feeding myself something real!
Rachel, these muffins keep well in the freezer too! You can make a batch and store it. Simply defrost overnight on a plate or pop in the micro for about 20 -30 seconds!That way you’ve got them whenever you’d like! Happy baking!
This looks awesome Mar. Love the oats on the bottom…. Never thought of that. Also, love the use of coconut oil. I’m obsessed. Will def make these 🙂
Thanks Adrianne! Yeah the oats add a great crunch. I do the same for banana bread muffins! Wouldn’t make another muffin without it! I love coconut oil too! I add a teaspoon – tablespoon to smoothies as well =)