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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!
I have made these muffins a few times now and simply love them and so does everyone who eats them. Freeze well too
Would I be able to use the same recipe, with exact ingredients to make a loaf or cake? Have you tried to do this? I made the muffins, except with raw honey instead of brown sugar, and my husband absolutely loved them. thank you
Unfortunately, I’m not at all sure. I’ve only tried the recipe as muffins and am not certain whether the recipe would adapt well for a loaf. If you decide to give it a try, I’d love to know how it went/ baking times 🙂
Blimey these are delicious. First time. I’ve been able to produce light fluffy m
Leooist muffins. Thanks!
Not sure what I did wrong but these muffins turned out really dense and on the drier side. I used 1 cup all purpose flour and one cup of whole wheat. When I mixed the batter it was really thick and didn’t pour…I had to spoon it into cups. They taste really good though. Any help is appreciated.
It seems like it might just be too much flour (since you mentioned the batter was really thick.) For baking, I suggest using the spoon and level method to measure out the flour as it ensures you don’t end up using too much. Here is a link that shows how if you’d like to check it out. 🙂
I changed the recipe to be GF but WOW soo YUMMY. I used 1 cup Bob’s Red 1 to 1 GF flour and 1 cup almond flour with 1/2 cup of butter instead of oil and sucanat sugar worked perfect. They are a bit darker due to the sucanat but doesn’t matter the flavour and texture is excellent.
these were perfect and super moist and fluffy. I replaced the flour with sprouted wheat flour and raisins with dried cranberries as i didnt have the other ingredients.
Quite possibly the best muffin recipe I’ve used. They took a bit longer than expected to make but delish!!
Hi there again!
I saw the recipe clearly and indicates 3 large eggs.
Thanks!
Hi I’m so excited to try this recipe but for some crazy reason, I cannot see the number of eggs this recipe requires. No one else’s review mentions anything about it. Can you help me, after all these years?
Very gratefully yours,
ShuLei
These are so good. Love the oatmeal on top (didn’t use coconut). Made the look very professional. Will be making these again and again. Thanks for a great recipe.
Love these muffins! And no, I can never eat just one! : ) Super easy to make and still come out moist after defrosting from the freezer when I make a large batch. I substituted canola oil for the coconut oil (cause it saved me a trip to the store) and found that the shredded cocounut gave it enough flavor.
I found your recipe today and made these muffins. Wow, they are seriously fabulous! I didn’t have any coconut oil so I used half butter/half peanut oil to make it up to 2/3 cup. Thank you very much for the recipe, this one’s a keeper! Yum!!
What a great way to serve carrot cake – as a muffin! I love it.
Made these muffins tonight and they are so yummy! Great flavour combination 🙂
Love these muffins! I used 2/3 cup of coconut oil and replaced the apple sauce with 1/2 cup purée fresh pineapple and walnuts with pecans. Big hit with everyone.
While looking for a carrot cake muffin recipe I came across yours. After reading all the amazing reviews I can’t wait to make them. Very excited in anticipation. ?
I’m just about to make these for my breakfast! How long do they usually last? Great recipe!
3 days at room temperature and a bit longer if you store them in the refridgerator. They’ll harden a little if stored that way, but a quick zap in the microwave makes them nice and fresh again!
Hi there. My friend made me these muffins and i loved them only problem is i found after they had dairy in then and we don’t do dairy. What can we replace greek yogurt in the recipe for?
Hi Valerie! Unfortunately, the recipe has only been tested as written so I’m unsure as to what would work. I did a quick google search and I’m seeing that softened or silken tofu often works well. Not sure how it would work out in this recipe, but it’s an option if you’d like to try!
I rarely comment on recipe blog post. I wanted to quickly let you know that these muffins are amazing. My 10-year old daughter, who is the pickiest eater, loves them. She asked me this morning “Mom, do you have more carrots to make these again? ” (she hates carrots!)
I made them with canola oil. Will try coconut oil next time.
Thank you so much!
PS: If you ever make a gluten-free version, i would love to try it.
OMG! So good! They were devoured will definitely made these again.
These are really awesome. Next time I will cut the sugar to half cup.