My dog Cookie always comes running when I pull out the vegetable peeler. I swear, she can hear it slice through the air before it even touches a carrot. Then she starts jumping up and down for carrot scraps. She can be very demanding. I’ve created an entitled little carrot beast, and I’m not sorry in the slightest.
Cookie loved the development process for this carrot muffin recipe. It took me five tries to get them just right, so she got a lot of carrot scraps in the process. They’re based on one of my cookbook recipes (so good!!!).
These hearty muffins are packed with grated carrots, walnuts and raisins. They have lots of texture, yet they’re still light and fluffy.
Thanks to the nuts and whole grains, these muffins make a good grab-and-go breakfast! They also freeze and defrost well. I just microwave individual muffins for 30 to 60 seconds, until they’re gently warmed throughout.
Watch How to Make Carrot Muffins
What makes these carrot muffins healthy?
Granted, “healthy” is a subjective term, but here are a few reasons why I consider these muffins to be more nutritionally redeeming than most:
- Unlike standard carrot muffins made with refined all-purpose flour, these are made with white whole wheat flour. That means they’re made entirely with whole grains, but you can’t taste them because white whole wheat flour has such a mild flavor.
- Protein-rich Greek yogurt replaces sour cream.
- Coconut oil or olive oil replace butter (olive oil is composed of more monounsaturated fat, and is considered to be more heart-healthy)
- Real maple syrup replaces refined sugar, so these muffins are naturally sweetened.
- Combined, you end up with hearty muffins that taste like carrot cake. You can eat carrot cake for breakfast with these babies!
These muffins are easily adapted to vegan and gluten-free diets, too! See my recipe notes for details.
Please let me know how these muffins turn out for you in the comments! I’m always so eager for your feedback.
Craving more wholesome muffins? Here are a few more favorite muffin recipes on Cookie and Kate:
- Healthy Apple Muffins
- Healthy Banana Muffins
- Healthy Blueberry Muffins
- Healthy Raspberry Muffins
- Healthy Pumpkin Muffins
- Healthy Zucchini Muffins
If you’re baking for a special occasion, you’ll love my carrot cake with cream cheese frosting (it’s also naturally sweetened and made with whole wheat flour).
Healthy Carrot Muffins
- Author:
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 13 mins
- Total Time: 28 minutes
- Yield: 12 muffins 1x
- Category: Baked goods
- Method: By hand
- Cuisine: American
Healthy carrot muffins made with whole wheat flour, coconut oil and maple syrup! They taste fantastic, too, of course. These muffins make a great, quick breakfast! Recipe yields 12 muffins.
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups white whole wheat flour or regular whole wheat flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 cups peeled and grated carrots* (from ¾ pound carrots—about 3 large or up to 6 small/medium)
- ½ cup roughly chopped walnuts
- ½ cup raisins (I like golden raisins), tossed in 1 teaspoon flour
- ⅓ cup melted coconut oil or extra-virgin olive oil**
- ½ cup maple syrup or honey
- 2 eggs, preferably at room temperature
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt***
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar (also called raw sugar), for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. If necessary, grease all 12 cups on your muffin tin with butter or non-stick cooking spray (my pan is non-stick and doesn’t require any grease).
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, ginger and nutmeg. Blend well with a whisk. In a separate, small bowl, toss the raisins with 1 teaspoon flour so they don’t stick together. Add the grated carrots, chopped walnuts and floured raisins to the other ingredients and stir to combine.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the oil and maple syrup and beat together with a whisk. Add the eggs and beat well, then add the yogurt and vanilla and mix well. (If the coconut oil solidifies in contact with cold ingredients, gently warm the mixture in the microwave in 30 second bursts.)
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix with a big spoon, just until combined (a few lumps are ok). Divide the batter evenly between the 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with turbinado sugar. Bake muffins for 13 to 16 minutes, or until the muffins are golden on top and a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.
- Place the muffin tin on a cooling rack to cool. If you have leftover muffins, store them, covered, at room temperature for two days, or in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Freeze leftover muffins for up to 3 months.
Notes
*Carrot grating tips: You can grate the carrots by hand, or for an easier option, use the grating attachment on your food processor.
**A note on oils: I love coconut oil here. I used unrefined coconut oil and can hardly taste it in the final product. Olive oil will lend an herbal note to the muffins, if you’re into that. Vegetable oil has a neutral flavor, but the average vegetable/canola oil is highly processed, so I recommend using cold-pressed sunflower oil or grapeseed oil if possible.
***Note on Greek yogurt: I’ve used a variety of fat percentages and the muffins have always turned out well. Higher fat yogurt will yield a somewhat more rich muffin. You can also substitute plain (not Greek) yogurt, but your muffins might not rise quite as high.
Make it vegan: You can replace the eggs with flax “eggs.” Replace the yogurt with a smaller amount of vegan buttermilk—just mix ⅔ cup non-dairy milk with 2 teaspoons vinegar. Let it rest for 5 minutes before adding it to the other liquid ingredients. Or, use 1 cup vegan yogurt.
Make it dairy free: See buttermilk option above.
Make it egg free: Substitute flax eggs for the regular eggs.
Make it gluten free: Substitute an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend for the whole wheat flour. Bob’s Red Mill makes a GF blend that works well.
Make it nut free: Skip the walnuts!
Make it lower in fat: I would argue that this bread contains a healthy amount of fat, but you can replace the oil with applesauce if you’re following a low-fat diet.
▸ Nutrition Information
Vegetable enthusiast. Dog lover. I'm probably making a big mess in my Kansas City kitchen right now. 
Katrina
I doubled the recipe, left out the nuts and added 1 cup of protein powder (1/2 cup for the recipe as written). Made about 100 mini muffins and they turned out beautifully. Silicone baking trays for the win.
★★★★★
Kate
I’m glad it still turned out, Katrina! I appreciate your review.
Lissa
I usually make your healthy pumpkin muffins which are a favourite in our household, so I decided to try these carrot muffins. I followed the recipe exactly except I upped the cinnamon and ginger, and I baked them for 16 minutes at 400 degrees (after reading some of the comments about problems with the high temp), then turned on the broiler for about 2 to 3 minutes to get a crispier top with the turbinado sugar. The texture of these turned out perfect! Super light and moist with nice crispy tops. However, I find they don’t have very much taste even with the additional spices. They are just really bland. Not sure why since the pumpkin ones are so tasty and the recipe is similar.
★★★
Kate
Hi Lissa, I’m sorry to hear you found these bland. Were your spices older? That can impact the taste.
Wendy
New favourite! Hubby and grandkids love them We make them weekly
★★★★★
Kate
That’s great to hear, Wendy!
Jess
I almost exclusively use your muffin recipes now. They are just so reliably good, with clean whole food ingredients. Love them. Sometimes, however, i need a muffin in my life and have no honey or maple syrup in the house. Any idea how it would work to use coconut sugar and add a bit extra wet ingredient? I might just try it and report back!
Kate
That’s great to hear, Jess! Thank you for sharing.
Dana
I’m going to make these today, thank you for the recipe!
I’m curious about the use of coconut oil though if these are supposed to be “healthy”. Coconut oil is 90% saturated fat (higher than butter which is about 60%) so not exactly heart healthy if consumed often. I’m all for use of whatever ingredients people enjoy, but the idea that coconut oil is a healthier alternative confuses me.
★★★★
Stella
Breakfast-ified these by halving the honey and adding half a cup of oats. Also used almond pulp leftover from making almond milk instead of walnuts. They are simply wonderful !
Kate
I’m happy you enjoyed it, Stella!
Jennifer Thomson
Sooooo gooood!!!!! I made a couple of slight variations, only because my family isn’t fond of raisins and walnuts, and I am fond of them;-).
I used dried cranberries, the walnuts, flour and finely ground them. I put most in the batter, saving some to sprinkle on top.
I didn’t have coconut oil so used Earth Balance melted. I also added a tablespoon of chia seeds and a wee bit more Yougurt, allowing the chia seeds to hydrate in the liquids before adding to flour mixture.
I use Convection @ 400 degrees for 15 minutes and plan on making these again and again!
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you for sharing how you made these, Jennifer!
Kim
Beautiful!
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you, Kim! I appreciate your review.
Pallavi Bhargava
Hi,
I don’t have maple syrup. Could I replace it with some brown sugar? Would that cause any issues? And how much should I put that ?
★★★★
Kate
Hi, this is best made as written. I hope you try it!
Pallavi Bhargava
Hi,
Actually today I made them exactly as it’s written, no substitution or changes. Turned out to be dark and bland. No one wants to eat them even with frosting. Don’t know what could have gone wrong :(
Kate
Hi, I’m sorry to hear that. Were your spices fresh? It sounds like the oven may have been too warm or a convection.
Bhavani
Do you think it would turn out alright if I prepped the batter the previous night and refrigerated it for early morning baking?
Kate
I wouldn’t recommend it. These muffins keep well left over and freeze welL!
Lindsay
I made these according to the original recipe. No modifications. Definitely not my thing. They are super bland.
Courtney
Newly pregnant with my first baby and wanted something for breakfast that was on the healthier side but easier than scrambling eggs (which sound awful to me right now!). These are everything I wanted and more! Just don’t go in expecting “carrot cake muffins”.. these are not sweet at all – but I love that about them! As someone who was resorting to eggo waffles for breakfast this is a big step up for me and for me to find them delicious even though they aren’t sweet says a lot! The lack of sweetness allows you to be able “dress them up” in a variety of ways. So excited to have these in my freezer!
★★★★★
Kate
Congratulations, Courtney! I’m glad this was just what you needed. I appreciate your comment and review.
Courtney
Can you pop these in the microwave straight out of the freezer or do they need to defrost first?
Kate
Hi Courtney, I prefer to defrost first. If you try it, let me know!