Super Moist and Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins
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Healthy Carrot cake muffins made with less sugar than your average and more tender than any muffin you’ve ever had before! These are also loaded with tons of shredded carrots, coconut, and plump raisins. So easy, healthy, and delicious!
ORIGINAL RECIPE POSTED JAN. 20TH, 2014. UPDATED ON APR. 5TH, 2017 WITH NEW PICTURES AND MINOR RECIPE ADJUSTMENTS.
HEALTHY carrot cake muffins! ?
If I was ever forced to choose between a bagel or a muffin, first of all, that would be a major life decision, and secondly, i’d jump for the muffin. Can you tell i’ve given this a lot of thought? Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against bagels. In fact, I heart them to the maxxx. Especially the sesame ones with a swirl of veggie schmear on it when it’s all toasty. Ohh yeahhhh, baby. Wait, weren’t we suppose to be talking about muffins? Just give me all the carbs, will ya?
But muffins like these healthy carrot cake muffins have a special place in my heart. Especially for breakfast. Am I the only one that rolls out of bed and wants something sweet to wake up my tastebuds? My husband is completely the opposite. He won’t even think about anything sweet until he’s had his ‘real’ also known as savory breakfast + coffee. And then he’ll proceed to ‘breakfast dessert’ as he calls it. He’s so kooky and I absolutely adore him.
There’s just something about a warm muffin. The sweet scent of bread. The way the heat radiates out of the paper lining. I’m easy to please; I’d take one that came in almost any flavor. Be it chocolate, lemon, blueberry, or banana.
Thank goodness I’ve never been forced to make such absurd decisions.
It’s been 3 years since I originally posted this recipe and it was time we updated the pictures. It worked out quite well as I always make these muffins in springtime around Easter.
I’m calling them ‘healthy carrot cake muffins’ because they’re made with half whole wheat flour and less sugar than traditional muffins. And friends, when I say these muffins are SUPER MOIST I mean it. I know, I know that word. But really, wait until you crack one open and take your first bite. They’re soft, fluffy and not a dry crumb in sight.
These carrot cake muffins are absolutely perfect. Straight forward and super simple too. A whole heck of a lot better than the stale coffee shop version, perfect! And I don’t say things are perfect that often. <— toooootally not true. Ahem, needless to say I devoured a muffin while typing this (no really, I did). I wouldn’t be surprised if I found a few crumbs around the keyboard later.
What I love most about these muffins is that you don’t have to use mixing equipment to make them. Sometimes you just want to grab a whisk and do it the old fashioned way while you’re standing there lost in thought or in my case binge listening to podcasts. Is that a thing, binge listening?
Here’s a given, the carrots are the star of the show but then we use plump raisins, crunchy walnuts, and shredded coconut to add lots more flavor. One thing I love doing is sprinkling a handful of rolled oats on the bottom of my muffin pan before pouring in the muffin batter and then topping the batter with another pinch of oats. This provides a nice added crunch to the muffins plus it makes the tops look so much prettier, dontcha think?
As with most of my muffin recipes, I like to use coconut oil for these carrot cake muffins. Vegetable or canola oil will work as well but I find that the natural sweetness of coconut oil lends so much flavor to muffins. Have you tried coconut oil in baked goods? I swear by it.
You can feel good about serving your family and friends these because we’re using ingredients like unsweetened apple sauce and greek yogurt. Greek yogurt can be replaced with sour cream or even mayo if you want them to have that nice buttery richness, but I always just stick with my 0% fat greek yogurt to make these healthier. The apple sauce helps reduce the amount of sugar we add in these muffins and that’s ALWAYS a good thing.
You’re packin’ these muffins with 2 cups of shredded carrots + tons of crunchy goodness and i’m telling you, they pair beautifully with a cup of coffee in the morning. These also freeze well so if it’s just you and the cat (or in my case, just me on the weekdays) pop them in the freezer in zip top bags and just zap them in the microwave when that 3 o’clock hunger strikes. Or when you roll of out bed 2 minutes before you need to be on your way to work. They work well in all sorts of sticky situations.
Betcha can’t eat just one, it’s a good thing they’re good for you.
Super moist and healthy carrot cake muffins are my jam!
ORIGINAL RECIPE POSTED JAN. 20TH, 2014. UPDATED ON APR. 5TH, 2017 WITH NEW PICTURES AND MINOR RECIPE ADJUSTMENTS.
Super Moist and Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins
Healthy Carrot cake muffins made with less sugar than your average and more tender than any muffin you've ever had before! These are also loaded with tons of shredded carrots, coconut, and plump raisins. So easy, healthy, and delicious!
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour (I use 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 AP)
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon EACH salt and ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon*
- ⅔ cup melted coconut oil (see notes)
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
- 1/4 cup greek yogurt
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups carrots, finely shredded
- 1/2 cup EACH shredded sweetened coconut, raisins, AND walnuts
- 1/4 cup oats, divided
Instructions
- 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.
- In a medium bowl, sift together the flour(s), baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt, set aside.
- 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.
- With a spatula, manually stir the dry ingredients 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 tooth pick 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.
- The original recipe also called for '½ tablespoon of cinnamon' instead of the 2 teaspoons that i've updated it with.
IS THIS A GOOD CHOICE FOR YOU?
Nutritional facts are for 1/16th of the recipe using ⅔ cup coconut oil.
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137 Comments on “Super Moist and Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins”
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.
Super Moist is exactly the right name. These muffins aren’t in the least bit dry, plus it is made with healthy fats that are good for you. Omg I love this recipe, the base recipe you can use to make any other kind of muffins. I can say however, that I can cut back on the sugar next time, personal preference. Quick on the go breakfast or a afternoon snack with my coffee! Thank you so much! Would you mind coming up with a gluten free muffin too?
Glad to hear you enjoyed them Anu! I’ve been meaning to dabble with GF flour for some time now but just haven’t gotten around to it. I’ll definitely see what I can do about that! 🙂
These are very good muffins. I used apple/blueberry unsweetened applesauce as I did not have any regular applesauce. I also used canola oil in place of coconut oil as suggested. Thank you!
Excellent recipe Marzia! My muffins turned out great. Thank you so much.
I love this recipe, but it seems to have disappeared from the page. Where did it go?
Hi Karen, it’s back! We’re just moving recipes over into a new format!
Thank you for a GREAT recipe! Made them again today. People LOVED them. Amazing! Used 1 cup whole wheat flour and 1 cup oatmeal flour. Did not have enough carrots, so used also a banana and an apple. Used only honey (less then 1 cup) and no sugar. Also, some maple syrup on top when they were ready, because I saw they needed a bit more “sweetness” and were a bit dry on the outside.
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I’ve been searching for a healthy carrot cake-like muffin recipe. I came across this recipe and noticed it was 225 calories for a muffin. That was way too high for me so printed off the recipe, made some changes, plugged the info in to a calorie calculator and came up with a muffin for 110 calories !!! I am very much looking forward to making the muffin with the base of your recipe and my changes 🙂
What changes did you make?
Would love to see the changes! The original is great but way too high in calories for a little muffin.
These are just so so good! I cut flour back to 1.5 c and used 1/2 c rolled oats in batter. Also added chopped dates and cut sugar back to 2/3 c. I’ll be making these again and again! Thank you!
I just made these with sunflower oil, cranberries instead of raisins and chic chips instead of the nuts as they are for my daughter’s classmates for her birthday tomorrow. They are delicious! Thanks for the recipe, I’ll be making it again.
One thing, the mixture made a lot more muffins than I was expecting, I’d doubled the mix and in fact I made small loaf cake from it as well as 24 cup-cake muffins and 6 mini muffins. Maybe English tins are smaller than in the US…
I’m eating one right now
Still warm
I stubled upon thin recipe while searching for a healthier version of carrot cake
I looooved it
Tastes great
just made these and they are too delicious and full of goodness !!!! love this recipe