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).
PrintHealthy Carrot Muffins
- Author: Cookie and Kate
- 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
InsatiablyMegan
I made these the other day and they are great! I left out the nuts and raisins because my family doesn’t much care for them. The muffins are tender, moist and slightly sweet from the honey! They have a bit more of a dense texture than traditional muffins. Even my husband who isn’t a fan of healthy baked goods has been enjoying them!
MER NOW FITZ
Hi Kelly! Thank you for posting this comment! I scrolled through the comments section yesterday while baking this recipe, and although it was familiar when I read it, I had baked anything in so long, I would have likely overmixed if I hadn’t seen your comment. Thank you thank you! Mine turned out moist and delicious :)
Pari
It is seriously good. I have done this twice in the last month. Delicious! Great job Kate and Cookie
Vita
I made the carrot muffins and they turned out delicious
Kate
I’m glad you loved them, Vita! Thank you for sharing.
Gunjan Bhargava
Am allergic to honey, can you please suggest the right substitute for it? Also, what temp should we bake the muffins at?
Kate
Hi, you can use maple syrup instead if you like.
James
I’ve made these muffins twice in the last week and they’ve been a hit! Perfect recipe and perfect muffins. Thanks a lot :-)
Jenny
My daughter and I just made these and they are fab! Neither of us are a fan of raisins and nuts in baked goods so I left them out; and I used tahini in place of the oil. They are light, moist, and not too sweet. The kind of muffin you can feel good about eating for breakfast!
Melissa Olvera
Can I use oat flour in this or coconut flour?
Kate
Hi Melissa! See my oat flour post, and that should help guide you! Coconut flour isn’t a great flour substitute.
Idana
I’m notorious for not following recipes exactly, so apologies in advance to the recipe purists :-)
I made the following changes:
Used 3/4 cup regular oats in place of 3/4 cup of the flour.
Left out the nuts.
I had about 1/2 cup of carrots left over from processing them so I just added them into the mix.
It came out really well. I will try it next time with applesauce instead of oil…trying to reduce both sugar and fat in our diet.
Thanks!
Violet
Hi. You’ve probably already made it with the apple sauce; but, if you haven’t try only replacing half of the oil with the applesauce. If you remove the oil all together it will make the muffin stick to the paper because of the reduced fat. If you aren’t putting paper then just forget I commented this.
Stephanie
I made these with the pulp leftover from juicing carrots! Yummy!
Rowena
Great idea. I am going to do this. I also use my pulp to make carrot pecan burgers! Im always looking for a way to use the pulp.
Anjali
How would one add bananas to this recipe? Or should I add carrots to your banana muffin recipe to get the combo of banana with carrots?
Kate
Hi! Unfortunately, I can’t say for sure without testing it myself. Add/changing ingredients can impact the entire recipe.
Abbi
I always use banana instead of the sugar/maple syrup in muffin recipes. I just use the exact same amount of mashed banana.
Rebekah Baylus
I made these this morning, and they were such a hit! I’m the nanny to children aged 3, 4, and 6, and they each gobbled up two for morning snack. I had some blueberries that needed to be used, so I threw those in; otherwise, I followed the recipe exactly and they were delicious! (We got 15 muffins) Filing this recipe under “Make again soon”.
Jamie Jones
Kate- if we have some family members with big sweet tooths, and want to make it a little sweeter, what would be the best way to accomplish this? Thanks!
Kate
Hi Jamie! You could sprinkle a little turbinado sugar on the top. Let me know what you think!
LL
Delicious! I didn’t have walnuts and don’t like raisins so I added 1/2 cup of sunflower seeds and they are so moist and savoury.
Kate
Thanks for sharing how you made these fit your taste, LL.
Sarah
These and your apple muffins are the best I have ever made. Sooooo hard to make healthy muffins for kids and adults that actually taste good. Can’t wait to try your zucchini ones too. I used buckwheat flour and flax eggs and they turned out so well!
Kate
Thank you for your feedback, Sarah! I hope you love my zucchini ones too.
Mb
I tried these today.. swapped about 2tb flour for corn starch, walnuts for an equal amount of ground pumpkin seeds (my family can’t eat walnuts) and about 2.5 C carrots. I skipped the raisins. They came out delicious!! Definitely making them again! Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
Meadow
These were so good, a little bit addictive even. I love carrot cake, and the muffins were like a healthier version of that. I used the vegan options for the eggs and buttermilk. I made it gluten free by using an equal amount of oat flour (I did not use the oat flour conversion method as mentioned on this blog). I was a little short on carrots; I only had 1 3/4 cups of carrots. I added 1/4 cup of shredded coconut to make up the difference; that worked great. Also, I used zante currants instead of raisins. My muffins took 17 minutes to cook, but they were very moist. If I make these again, I will reduce the amount of sweetner by half and use coconut sugar instead. The maple syrup was a little too sweet for me to want to eat this for breakfast. Five stars for a recipe that works well even when not made as written.
Carlyn Estanislao
Just made it today. Muffins came out so moist and delicious. I didn’t have raisins so I added some dates (pitted and chopped) as substitute.
Thank you!
Carolyn
Hi, if you used dates, did you reduce the sugar at all?
Holly Love
I’m not exactly sure what’s going to stop me from making these every single time we get lots of carrots from our CSA farm, because they’re FANTASTIC! I could hardly believe you could put so much grated carrots in a 12-muffin batter fand still have them come out so beautifully. I used Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 gluten-free flour, so consider this an official 100% “yes” to any questions as to whether that works well. Such a healthy recipe that I’ll never have to look for another carrot muffin recipe again. THANK YOU!
Kate
I’m glad you loved them! Thank you for sharing it works well with the Bob Red Mill substitute.
Evangelina Jimenez
I made this and replaced the maple syrup with date paste since I’ve been avoiding refined sugar, maple syrup and honey this year, and this is by far the sweetest muffin I’ve made in my sugar-free journey. These are delicious.
Laura
Absolutely amazing!! Most carrot muffins and very greasy, but this one was great. I could barely taste that I used whole wheat flour and others didn’t even notice. One note: if you use only walnuts (or raisins) I’d recommend using 3/4 cup. These are my new favourite carrot muffins ever!
Wendy
Made them 2x so far. They freeze, thaw really well
Mary Caldwell
These were great! I didn’t have quite enough Greek yougurt, so added low cal sour cream to make enough. Used pecans, as we don’t eat walnuts. Nice and crunchy on outside and moist and tender inside.
Cindy
Love the muffins! They are hearty and very tasty. I like that they are not too sweet. This is definitely a keeper! Thank you.
Bryan
I tried them as per recipe and them came out really good.
I used vanilla 5% greek yogurt as I did not have regular and did not add vanilla essence.
Only concern was they turned out very dense and did not rise much.
Any suggestions would help
Thank you for a great recipe
Kelly
Hi Bryan, we always have vanilla greek yoghurt on hand and that is the only kind I’ve ever used in this recipe, and I do not leave out the vanilla. I don’t know if that matters at all with the “denseness” of the muffins, but the only thing I can suggest that might address that is to ensure you don’t mix the dry and wet ingredients together too much. Overmixing is the biggest “no no” when making muffins!
MER NOW FITZ
Hi Kelly! Thank you for posting this comment! I scrolled through the comments section yesterday while baking this recipe, and although it was familiar when I read it, I had baked anything in so long, I would have likely overmixed if I hadn’t seen your comment. Thank you thank you! Mine turned out moist and delicious :)
Kelly
Hi Kate,
I’ve just purchased a silicone mini-muffin pan; do you have any suggestions on how I should modify the recipe accordingly? Time-wise and/or temperature-wise?
By the way, I’ve made your healthy apple, zucchini and banana muffins too, and I would rate them all with five stars! I’ve baked them all many times and I will continue to do so, and therefore, I will apply your response to this question about the carrot muffin recipe modification to all the other muffin recipes as well…
Thanks in advance,
Kelly
Kate
Hi Kelly! You should be able to decrease the time by half, keeping the same temperature. Let me know how it works for you! The silicone may change it some. I’m glad you have loved the recipes you have tried so far! That’s great.
Patsy
Thank you for this recipe. It’s delicious! My 21 month old loves it. Looking forward to trying out more recipes from your site.
Sonal Patel
Love these as muffins. Any luck turning these into a loaf?
Kate
Hi Sonal! I haven’t tried it, but it may work. Let me know if you try it!
Sonal Patel
I tried these as a loaf—and I’m still in awe at how deliciously yummy and sliceable and moist it is. Standard loaf pan, baked 350F for 40 to 45 mins. Cool before slicing!
Diana Smith
Can I substitute the white whole wheat flour for blanched almond flour?
And for sweetener, what would be the amount of monk fruit sugar?
Kate
Hi Diana! Unfortunately, almond flour doesn’t work great as a 1:1 substitute. You could try oat flour if you need it to be gluten free. Check out my post on oat flour for my tips!
bakingfan
I made these today, they were soooo airy and delicious! I didn’t have nutmeg or vanilla and they still turned out great. I can’t wait to gather all the ingredients and make them again. They were a little bit too oily for my taste, I will only use a tablespoon of coconut oil next time.
Jess
Is the mixture supposed to be really thick? Not sure if or where I went wrong but the mixture was like dough
Kate
Hi Jess, How did it turn out?
Anjana Ganesh
Can I use this batter for a loaf pan? If so, what temperature should I bake at?
Kate
Hi! I haven’t tried it, but it may work. I would keep the temperature the same, and increase the time. Although, I’m not sure how much.
Jecky
Would you write the recipe in grams, please?
Because I live in Europe and here we do not use your measurement system. I will be thankful!.
Kate
Hi Jecky, I’m sorry for the frustration, but since the U.S. uses different measurements that is my standard.
Tricia
Hi Jecky
I live in Australia and simply measure a cup as our standard cup (which is the same as Europe I believe) and it works out absolutely fine. I use a lot of online recipes and never worry about adjusting to account for US cup measurements, although use grams if available.
Go forth and conquer – the muffins are delicious!
Kate, thank you :)
Tricia
Jecky
I understand! But no, in Europe we do not use cups as a standard measurement. I’ll try the method that you have use. Thank you!
Pascale
You can convert measurements online. Here is one example. There are many resources online – just use google.
https://www.allrecipes.com/article/cup-to-gram-conversions/
Catherine
Hi Jecky, I also live in Europe and I recommend you buy a small set of cups with the standard measurements. (1 cup, 1/2 cup etc) . It makes it so much easier to follow American recipes.
Stefanie
Love these muffins! Thanks! One question, I want to make these sugar/honey etc free. If I leave out the honey, do I need to replace the honey with another wet ingredient, like yogurt or oil so the dough is not getting to dry?
Kate
Hi Stefanie! Leaving out the sugar would impact your overall result as it helps with flavor and to rise.
Rachael Nead
I thought they were great and better than that, my 11 year old son did as well. He wanted something kind of plain for breakfast he could grab on the go and loves carrot cake so this was perfect. I left out the raisins and walnut and nutmeg ( couldn’t find it) and I used regular whole wheat flour. It was definitely dense and I used 3 HUGE carrots not even bothering to measure how much graded carrot it made. At the last minute I decided to make a glaze of powdered sugar, butter and water so the son would not deem them ” too healthy.” Still better than a regular muffin nutrition wise. I used a full fat 5% greek Fage yogurt to keep him full till lunch. LOVE IT
Robyn
You mentioned’ you can replace the oil with applesauce’. Is it a 1:1 ratio? So, 1/3 cup apple sauce?
Kate
Hi Robyn! That is correct. :)
Kirstin
Our family’s favorite muffin recipe! I’ve made this so many times since I’ve found this recipe. Every single time I make them I get complimented and asked for the recipe. These are gold! Bonus because my toddlers love them! I’ve even made them with strawberry almond milk yogurt in a pinch because I was out of regular Greek yogurt and they were fantastic. Thanks for such an amazing recipe!
Kate
I’m excited these have been such a hit for you, Kirstin! Thank you for taking the time to review.
Brittany
Hey! I have made this recipe a 3-4 times now – the first few days the muffins are great. However, they end up turning very gummy and sticky with a strong odour and they are uneditable after that. Do you know why that would be ? Thanks !
Kate
Hi Brittany! 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.
Marie Greenwell
I keep ours in the fridge as there’s only the two of us at home now. They keep for 5 days easily. So nice to have healthy muffins on hand! I make these regularly as I’m training for a half marathon. One muffin with a protein shake is great post training
Eva
2nd time I made these! I use thin sliced almonds, I add a few dashes of cardamom and I replace the maple syrup with date paste.
Natalie Hachey
Hi Kate, we really like this recipe! I found it by searching for “carrot muffins”. I made a few substitutions because of what is in my pantry. Here they are: skyr diluted with kefir (3/4 to 1/4 ratio respectively),
avocado/canola oil. Also, I fine grated the carrots to get a good distribution throughout the muffins. I made sure that the carrots were well coated with the dry ingredients by using my hands. I will put a reference to you when I write my food blog!
Ambika
I tired this recipe today. The flavour and taste is amazing. But my cupcakes sank and became dense. Don’t know why. I used flax eggs.
Vanessa
These were very easy to make and the author spells out EVERYTHING so there’s no surprises or questions while baking these. I LOVE THIS because in baking recipes there’s often at least one unanswered question.
They taste delicious and are healthy! Superb addition to my boyfriends lunches! Thank you!
Kate
I’m glad you loved them, Vanessa! Thank you for taking the time to review.
Natalie
Absolutely loved these muffins. Made exzactly as per recipe.
So moist and loved the texture of walnuts, and natural healthy sweetness of maple syrup. Thankyou Kate:)
Megan
Have you ever considered making a “confetti muffin” …. maybe adding a little of all or a lot of the additional fruit/veggie options together into one muffin? I was really enjoying your individual healthy muffins… but was wondering if we could combine them a bit m ofe to make a super food muffin?
Kate
Hi Megan, I don’t have any plans currently to make that kind of muffin. But, I will take down your request! I can’t make any promises, but I do love to hear what readers want to see.
Doreen
Delicious! Very satisfying – and thank you for adding the variation section.
Kate
You’re welcome, Doreen! I appreciate your review.
Terry
You could use half a banana to replace an egg.
Ellen
Oh my! These are delightful! I needed something to do with all the carrot pulp after juicing them and this was perfect! I am going to make more and freeze them. That is if they make it to the freezer.
Melissa
My family loves these muffins! I always make a double batch of mini muffins and regular ones for the week.
Has anyone used atta whole wheat flour? My husband bought a large bag of atta flour by accident and I am trying to use it up. I used it to make these carrot muffins today and they turned out ok but I definitely prefer the texture when using regular whole wheat flour.
Kate
Hi Melissa, I’m not too familiar with atta flour. I know it’s used to make flat breads so I’m not sure it will rise as you intend. Sorry to not be of more help!
Ravensrun
Just made these after a morning trail run and we loved them!! Thanks Cookie and Kate
Kate Russell
Can you make this as a loaf instead of muffins? I love your zucchini one!
Cheers,
Kate.
Kate
Hi Kate! I haven’t tried it, but I believe you could. You would need to increase the cooking time, but I’m not sure on how much. Let me know if you try it!
Alex
I made these gluten-free with Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Baking Flour and they are delish. I didn’t put nuts or raisins either, just wanted a soft, squishy treat. Also my yogurt was vanilla (not plain) so that probably added some sweetness :)
I love that I can just swap wheat for GF flour in pretty much all of your recipes that I’ve tried, and they are just as good as I’d imagine they’d be with wheat.
THANKS :)
Noaya
These look amazing! Do you think I can safely replace the flour with whole spelt flour? I live in a country where white whole wheat flour isn’t a thing…
Kate
Hi Noya! I haven’t tried it with these muffins, but I do know that it works in my banana bread. If you try it, let me know!
Jenn
Made these tonight, sub’d 1/4 whey protein powder in place of flour, used chopped dates for raisins, and sweetened shredded coconut for walnuts. They came out great! I will definitely make these again. I also like the healthy blueberry muffins.
MER NOW FITZ
I made this recipe yesterday and they turned out absolutely DELICIOUS!! I haven’t baked anything in over a year (& have never been very into baking before), but I’m a new mom and it’s more tempting now! I mention this, because this recipe took me 3.5 hours start to finish. The carrot peeling took longer than expected (will use the food processor setting next time!), the coconut oil needed to melt, and same with my raw honey (which had mostly crystallized). I think I would start those steps in motion at the start of recipe next time. I found another reviewer’s recommendation of not over-mixing batter at the end to be very helpful. In addition to using coconut oil and honey, I also used 5% Fage Greek Yogurt, white whole wheat flour, and I realized only when writing this that I forgot to add the Turbinado Sugar I bought. I have a giant bag of craisins, so I used those instead of raisins. I made 1.5x the recipe and loaded in mini silicone muffin pans to make 65 mini muffins (425° cooked 13-15 minutes at low elevation). I think I’ll be able to trim the prep time down in the future, but either way, I will certainly make this recipe again! I’m glad I found this delicious, healthier alternative to the standard carrot cake!!
Priya Khoral
I made these today and because I used real maple syrup and the texture is so moist and soft, they totally taste like pancakes – so yummy =)
Katie
Kate, I really enjoy your blog. I’m always trying to incorporate more vegetarian meals into my routine, and healthier ones too. Your tasty recipes make that easy! I love this one, but I added a couple of tweaks. We keep honey around, (although, I would like to try out the maple syrup) so I used that, added a 1/4 tsp of cloves and substituted crushed pineapple for some of the carrot. Around 1 1/4 cup carrot and 3/4 cup pineapple. My daughter loves them!
Audrey Rust
Just about to make these muffins, but do I fine or coarse grate the carrots?
Kate
Hi! Use the small side of your grater. Look at the process shots for reference. I hope you love them!
Robin
I am making this recipe now. Your ingredients list does not mention eggs but the instructions do. I assume 2 eggs are needed?
Kate
Hi Robin! The eggs are right below the maple syrup/honey. I hope this helps!
Michael Sensenstein
Made these muffins and they turned out great!
My modifications: Replaced Coconut oil with Canola oil…. less fat.
Cranberries instead of raisins.. not a raisin fan
1 tsp grated ginger root instead of ground.
Greek vanilla Yogourt instead of plain… omitted the Vanilla extract.
Definitely make them again
Paul
We’ve been making these faithfully for a few months now. A complete hit! We often mix honey and maple syrup together and they taste great with seeds on top too. Thanks for this recipe
Sarah Scott
I made these for my 8 month old and he LOVES them. He ate almost an entire muffin after supper last night. To make it baby friendly I swapped the maple syrup for a mashed banana, added some freshly squeezed orange juice to thin it out a little (my batter was unbelievably thick) and did not add the salt nor the add-ins.
Erin Lerner
Help!! What am I doing wrong? I have made this recipe twice and both times it has been a soggy flop! I double and triple checked the recipe this time around and still they are so wet in the centre and over cooked on the outside. I did all of the proportions right. I do have to sub a gluten free flour, lactose free greek yogurt and chia eggs, but all were porpotional to the reg ingredients. And I regularly use these in recipes w great success. I find w my oven many recipes do need 5 extra minutes but with this one I ended up having them in for 30minutes total just to try and see if i could get the centres to bake. I love your recipes and recommend them to friends all the time and I see this one has great reviews at well so I’m just at a lose for what I’m doing wrong. Twice! TIA
Kate
Hi Erin, I’m so sorry to hear that. With those various substitutions, that may be your issue. What gluten free flour are you using?
Erin Lerner
Thanks for getting back to me. First flop was a mix of buckwheat and oat flour and this time was red mills gluten free all purpose baking flour. I’ve used both in other recipes no problem, but no luck this time.
Bauyen
Tried this recipe with honey instead of maple syrup, they are just perrrrfect! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Kate
You’re welcome, Bauyen!
Laurisa
Just another five star review to add to the pile! These were amaaaaaazing. I skipped the sugar on top and made a little cream cheese frosting to drizzle over them; reading the recipe I thinking these weren’t going to be sweet enough for my sweet-toothed love-bugs but the frosting wasn’t necessary to make these delicious and I won’t bother with it next time. Yum! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!
Kate
Thank you, Laurisa! I appreciate your review.
Anne
I’ve been making a variety of muffins over the years, but these are the best! They are incredibly light and moist and are full of the kind of ingredients I love. I used rich extra virgin olive oil both times. The only variation I made from the recipe is timing. I find I need quite a bit more than 16 minutes – that’s probably my oven…
Kate
Hooray! I’m excited you think these ones are the best, Anne. Thank you for your review.
Holly
Mine are taking far longer than 16 minutes
to bake through and I don’t have big muffin tins. Did anyone else find this? Maybe I need a new oven.
Leslie Knapp
Thanks for the recipe! These came out great! I didn’t have any vanilla extract so used some anise extract instead. I was afraid the licorice taste would be overwhelming, but it’s subtle and goes well with the spices.
Gretta
So yummy! i substituted the Greek yogurt for 1 cup of mashed ripe bananas and it was delicious! It also made more like 16 muffins for me.
Lauren
Loved these muffins they taste wholesome and were so light and fluffy! I just replaced half the maple syrup with agave syrup as I’m on a low GI diet. They took much longer to cook than anticipated for some reason, but came out perfectly. Thank you!
Kate
I’m sorry they took so long, Lauren! I’m happy you enjoyed them.
Reem
just like every single one of your other recipes, these were perfect. used evoo, honey and oat milk “buttermilk”, omitted the raisins and they were delicious. thanks kate!!
Kate
Thank you for sharing, Reem! I’m delighted you are enjoying so many recipes.
Sandy Barra
Kate – once again, amazing recipe! Everything I make from your site is outstanding. I made these muffins pretty much following the recipe except I didn’t have any yogurt so substituted sour cream. I also used a little less maple syrup because its so sweet. Very delicious!
Kate
Thank you, Sandy! I’m happy you think so.
Anika B
These were incredible! SO moist and just sweet enough :) I made a double recipe and turned one batch into “cupcakes” with cream cheese frosting. I live with several others and, needless to say, they were gone in a snap.
Thanks for another fantastic recipe, Kate!
Helix Nebula
I was looking for a recipe to use with a lot of extra grated butternut squash, so I subbed that for the carrots, used plain traditional yogurt instead of greek and canola oil for coconut/olive oil. Even with regular whole wheat flour, the muffins came out very light and not at all dense. Great recipe! I will definitely make this again.
Crystal
Amazing recipe! I used a cup of all purpose flour and the rest whole wheat and instead of grated carrot I used carrot, ginger, pear, apple pulp from my juicer. My husband couldn’t even tell they were healthy.
Ilene Kessler
I just made these healthy carrot muffins and they are fantastic! Very easy to make. They got so big during baking that I definitely could have made 14-16 muffins. After letting them cool for 30 min, they came out of the muffin tin perfectly. I used Pam, as the recipe states. I ate one and it was really delicious. I have one almost 2 year old granddaughter who won’t eat fruits and veggies. This is my attempt at getting carrots and raisins in her. This is such a healthy recipe, tomorrow I will make the healthy apple muffins and then zucchini bread. Thanks for this great recipe!!!!
Mel
I made these this morning and just had two warm muffins for breakfast with coffee, yum. I have a major sweet tooth so am aiming to reduce sugar this year without fully cutting out sweets. Healthy muffins are a fair compromise especially when they are so yummy.
Substitutions:
-spelt flour for whole wheat
-pepitas for raisins
-added a few tablespoons of ground flax
Thank you!
NP
Hi Kate! I have made you muffin recipes so many times now, but this time I made these carrot muffins with some variations. For anyone who needs to make changes here is what I used: 1 cup shredded apples (1 apple), 1/2 cup shredded carrots (2 small carrots), added in a 1/4 cup blueberries, and decreased the maple syrup to 1/3 cup. Also, I didn’t have yogurt so I used 1/3 cup sour cream + 1/3 cup milk. I like large muffins, so I made 10. I love how adaptable this recipe is. Thanks!
Kate
Thank you for sharing your changes! I’m happy to hear it worked out well for you.
Jo
Hi Kate.. I’ve enjoyed making your banana muffins with and wanted to try something new.. 425f seems high? Your other muffins are much lower? Could it be a typo? I panicked over what temp to do them and started high then lowered… they were not a success… could you please confirm the temp and further explain why it needs to be much higher?
Merci Jo in Switzerland
Kate
Hi Jo! It’s accurate. It took some playing with to get right. The carrots are part of the reason for the temperature increase. I hope that helps some!
Jo
Many thanks Kate for responding
Aubree
Love these!! I’m so happy to have another go-to muffin recipe (along with your healthy banana muffins). Changes I made: left out nuts and raisins (since these are mostly for my 1 year old), subbed 1/2 cup zucchini for some of the carrots, applesauce instead of oil, bob’s red mill egg replacer, almond milk vanilla yogurt. I didn’t find them very sweet but just enough to entice my son to get some veggies! Also, I always make my muffins a little smaller so I end up with 18 so 12-13 minutes cook time is perfect for me.
Kate
Wonderful! Thank you for your review, Aubree.
Laurie
These were a huge hit!!! I used two containers of Chobani low sugar Madagascar vanilla yogurt (which was just over a cup) and I replaced some of the flour with ground up flaxseed (1/4 cup plus 1/8 cup) and 1/8 cup of Cacao powder and finished off the rest with regular flour. I used maple syrup and coconut oil. Everything else was per the recipe. I was told I could market & sell (I won’t) them they were delicious. Thanks.
Kate
Thank you for sharing, Laurie! I’m happy you loved this recipe.
Claire
Wow I never thought muffins this ‘healthy’ could taste this good! I would’ve believed you if you gave me this and said it was just normal carrot cake in a muffin shape.
It’s also very easy and fun to make and great to put in your freezer and enjoy one every morning (after heating it up in an air fryer). Will be making this for sure during the rest of the winter-season and lockdown.
Also, I’m from the Netherlands and every ingredient was very easy accessible which is nice because sometimes these kind of recipes require specific ingredients. I also bought pre-grated carrots which made making the muffins even easier and faster.
Thank you for this amazing recipe!
Monica
I like that these muffins are so healthy, but what am I doing wrong that mine are not tender and moist at all? Rather dry, really. I love the taste so I don’t want to abandon the recipe. What can I add for more moisture??
Thanks so much
Monica
Kate
Hi! You can add butter or something when you serve so they aren’t so dry. Seems like you may have added too much flour/ not enough liquid or over baked.
Jenn
These muffins are INCREDIBLE. So tasty. They’re the perfect carrot muffins. Thank you so much! Taste like a quintessential, classic carrot muffin, but healthier. Love the addition of the Greek yogurt. They’re very moist!!!
Elke
Hi could I use soy milk instead of yogurt?
Kate
Hi! Please see the vegan alternative if needing to substitute.
Torrey
SO delicious! I did make a couple of changes (cranberries instead of raisins, apple sauce instead of greek yogurt, pecans instead of walnuts) just because I didn’t have all of the ingredients and they are still delicious. Thank you!
Claire L.
Hello, I made these muffins today. Although very delicious, after almost 25 mins in the oven, still not thoroughly cooked. Had to take them out as they were burning. Maybe I put too much batter in my tin. And my oven is working just fine. Not sure what I could have done wrong.
Kate
Hi! I’m sorry to hear that. How full did you fill them? Are you sure you didn’t miss an ingredient or put too much in?
Sharon
This recipe is amazing with the perfect amount of sweetness! I have made it three times so far and I’ve loved it every time.
Prachi Tiwari
Loved this recipe! I skipped walnuts and perfect for school lunch-my kid loved it. Thank you!
Kate
Thank you for your review, Prachi!
Ashley
I want to make this recipe work because so healthy and the taste is great but mushy inside even after 25 minutes. If have any clue what I’m doing wrong please advise. I used Bob’s red mill gf flour, honey, no nuts and silicone muffin tin in my countertop oven. If you think any of those things might be problematic I’ll try again. Determined to get my toddler to eat a vegetable and I love how much carrot you managed to work in here. Thanks!
Melissa Hillsman
This recipe is fantastic! The muffins are flavorful, dense, and moist. Highly recommend this healthy recipe!
Susie
This was pretty darn good. My toddler devoured a whole muffin which makes me so happy! I didn’t have enough golden raisins which is probably why I wish they were a tad sweeter. Next time I won’t skimp on the raisins. I think these would be amazing with some shredded apple and some dates!
Bri
I used sour cream in place of yogurt, canola oil in place of coconut oil, maple syrup instead of honey and 2 flax eggs. The texture was very moist. I like that it isnt too sweet for my children but it is in need of more sweetness. Maybe honey and coconut oil will make it sweeter?
Kate
Hi Bri, changing the ingredients as you did will impact the overall flavor. Adding more sweetener could impact the recipe turning out. If you want it sweeter, you could always top with some honey.
Rasha
Hi there! Recipe looks great I’m going to make without nuts for my sons school snack!
Do u think it would cook well as a loaf?
Also do you have anything with both zucchini and carrot?
Thanks again!
Kate
Hi, I’m not sure about making this as a loaf, sorry!
Maya
Really good! Didn’t have raisins or walnuts, but it was still delicious. I used coconut oil, and in this recipe the flavor is especially good. Weirdly enough, one of my favorite parts was the batter. I took a lick from the bowl after I distributed the batter into a muffin pan, and I couldn’t stop!
KC
Hi, Kate and Cookie!
I made my first batch—about to making my second—and I have to say that my husband and son had no idea about the extra nutrition included! Thanks for a great adapted recipe. Oh, I also added some dried ginger pieces I had in the cupboard. Yum.
Kate
You’re welcome, KC! Thank you for your review.
Debra
These muffins are really good, but they actually get better with age. A couple of days later they were moister and more flavorful!!
Lizzie
I use this recipe as a muffin base of sorts, adding in coconut, shredded apple and various nuts. Always delish!
Ayla Bennett
Just want to let you know that I’ve made these and your ‘healthy banana bread’ (as muffins) and they are AMAZING! Love this recipe, exactly what I was looking for EXCEPT we need gluten free. So I sub 1 cup rice based GF flour blend, 1/2 cup chickpea based GF flour blend and 1/4 c quinoa flour. Delicious, every time. Thanks!
Lety Quiroz
Excellent recipe. They were delicious. More than I expected.
Thanks for sharing.
Mima
Hello Kate, can I substitute Sour Cream for Greek Yogurt in this recipe?
Kate
It can work sometimes, although I haven’t tried it in this recipe.
Celine
These are delicious! I made a few slight changes and to be honest they still turned out amazing! I replaced the regular flour with brown rice flour and you wouldn’t even know! I also omitted the sugar topping at the end but I didn’t notice a difference. I absolutely love the greek yogurt idea and would’ve never thought of it!
Kate
I’m happy you enjoyed them, Celine!
Chris
I have made these several times. I always double the recipe. I use 0% yoghurt and have cut the honey down by 25%. My husband doesn’t like raisins so I put in unsweetened coconut but not as much as raisins quantity. Now I will try your healthy blueberry muffins. Thankyou!
Lisa
My six year old, who refuses to eat vegetables, LOVES these muffins. I’ve had to make three batches in the past two weeks because my kids go through them so quickly. My own change is to add about a tablespoon of sugar to make them a little sweeter. Also, this recipe makes about 15 muffins for me- not 12. Thank you kate for another awesome recipe!!!
Kate
Hooray! I would think that is winning. Thank you for your comment and review, Lisa.