Serve up veggies in a kid-friendly form with these SO good Veggie Muffins. They have broccoli, carrots, protein, and little kid-approved flavor!
Veggie Muffins
With broccoli, carrots, and cheese, these savory muffins are like a corn muffin with a load of extra flavor. They’re a fun way to change up the usual muffins you make for the kids and have a nicely balanced mix of nutrients too—with protein, fiber, calcium, and Vitamin C. We love to have these for simple lunches and breakfasts, with sides like fruit and hard-cooked eggs, or to pair them with soup.
TIP: These are a great baby muffin since they’re made without added sugar. Omit the salt if making for a baby since they won’t need the extra flavor.
Ingredients in Veggie Muffins
To make this recipe you’ll need:
- grated carrot
- finely chopped broccoli
- shredded cheese
- egg
- butter
- milk
- cornmeal
- whole wheat flour
- baking soda and powder
TIP: You’ll want to use just the top parts of each broccoli floret so you avoid using any of the harder stems. This will help ensure a fluffy overall texture to the muffins. You can chop the tops of the broccoli florets or cut that part off with a pair of kitchen shears.
How to Make Veggie Muffins Step by Step
These muffins are so easy to make once you have the veggies prepped. Here’s a look at what to expect. Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.
- Stir the ingredients together.
- Divide among 12 muffin cups.
- Bake!
- Let cool slightly on a wire rack.
TIP: These are a great make-ahead meal. To store, place cooled muffins into an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to 5 days. Reheat for 15-30 seconds and serve warm. You can also freeze them.
Can I make these Veggie Muffins vegan?
I don’t have a dairy and egg-free option for this recipe, but check out some of my other veggie muffins: Carrot Cake Muffins, Flourless Chocolate Protein Muffins (with Hidden Veggies), Corn Muffins with Squash and Butternut Squash Muffins.
Tips for Making the Best Veggie Muffins
- Use just the top parts of each broccoli floret so you avoid using any of the harder stems. This will help ensure a fluffy overall texture to the muffins. You can chop the tops of the broccoli florets or cut that part off with a pair of kitchen shears.
- Use gluten-free cup for cup flour blend in place of the whole wheat flour to make these gluten-free.
- To store, place cooled muffins into an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to 5 days. Reheat for 15-30 seconds and serve warm. Or freeze for up 3 months in the freezer in a zip top storage bag with a much air removed as possible. Thaw in the fridge or at room temperature and warm to serve.
- These pair nicely with soup and salad, or are a nice lunch or breakfast main dish with simple sides such as fruit, eggs, or additional veggies.
Watch me make these easy muffins below!
I’d love to hear your feedback on these muffins if you try them—comments are helpful! Please comment below to share and thank you!
Easy Veggie Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup grated carrot
- 1 cup finely chopped broccoli (top parts of the florets only, no stems)
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 1/4 cup melted butter (or neutral oil like canola)
- 2 eggs (lightly beaten)
- 1 cup cornmeal
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and grease a standard muffin tin with nonstick spray.
- Place all ingredients into a medium bowl and stir together gently to combine. Divide the batter among the prepared muffin tin, filling each about ¾ full.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the edges are lightly golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out cleanly. Remove from oven, let cool in the pan for a minute or two, then transfer to a wire rack to cool at least slightly.
- Serve warm or store.
Notes
- Use just the top parts of each broccoli floret so you avoid using any of the harder stems. This will help ensure a fluffy overall texture to the muffins. You can chop the tops of the broccoli florets or cut that part off with a pair of kitchen shears.
- Use a box grater to grate the carrot. You'll need about 1-2 medium or large carrots depending on the size.
- Use gluten-free cup for cup flour blend in place of the whole wheat flour to make these gluten-free.
- To store, place cooled muffins into an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to 5 days. Reheat for 15-30 seconds and serve warm. Or freeze for up 3 months in the freezer in a zip top storage bag with a much air removed as possible. Thaw in the fridge or at room temperature and warm to serve.
- These pair nicely with soup and salad, or are a nice lunch or breakfast main dish with simple sides such as fruit, eggs, or additional veggies.
Can white flour be use instead of whole wheat flour?
Thanks
(Your recipes are awesome!)
It should work fine and thank you!
can you use ap flour in place of the whole wheat flour?
Can you use frozen broccoli instead of fresh?
You can, though still chop it up into small pieces as much as you can
Thanks!
I left these in a ziplock bag on the countertop instead of refrigerating them! Do I need to throw them out? 🙁
Unless it’s been more than 3-4 days or very hot, they should be totally fine!
Hi Amy! I was curious if there is a way to make these sweet muffins instead of savory? My daughter loves sweet so much that it’s been tricky getting her to eat more savory foods. Any suggestions? Thank you so much! We love your recipes!!
Hi- I haven’t tried that and I’m not sure you’d want to do it and leave the cheese in, so if I was going to try it, I’d probably omit the cheese and add 1/4-1/3 cup sugar. I may also add some golden raisins so they’re sort of a harvest muffin. Let me know if you try it!
I omitted the corn meal and just increased the whole wheat flour and the texture was great. However, I feel like the savory flavor wasn’t balanced enough and needed some sweetness. I’ll bake these again but I’ll add either honey or brown sugar and see if that helps. For now, I’ll be drizzling honey butter on them so they don’t go to waste. Toddler didn’t like them unfortunately, probably because they weren’t sweet enough.
Hey Amy!
I took a risk and instead of using cornmeal or whole wheat flour, which I had none of, I just used all almond flour. Now it’s been almost double the cooking time and the insides are still raw… I really want to salvage these, do you have any tips? Maybe I could turn the oven onto a lower setting and just cook for a bit longer?
Thanks for your help!
Hi- You could try that and maybe cover with foil. I am not sure it will work in the end though since almond flour bakes so differently. It’s really hard to just use it in place of the other flours that were in the recipe. I’m sorry that happened!
Hi there, I love your recipes and everything you do to support and lift up parents of littles everywhere!
I was wondering if you can sub most muffin recipes like this one for mini muffins? When I do mini muffins I usually use silicone muffin tray on top of a cookie sheet- does this work? Add more time or less?
Thank you Amy!
Sincerely,
Amy!
Hi- Thank you for the kind words! For minis, just reduce the cooking time by about 4 minutes. Should work similarly. Enjoy!
Have you tried storing the muffin batter? Any success?
I’ve never made the batter and stored it, but the baked muffins store really well. I am sure you could make it and cover it in the fridge overnight and bake in the morning though. Maybe just let it sit at room temp a bit so it’s not freezing cold when it goes into the oven.
Amy, Any replacement for the cornmeal in these?
Thanks!
I’d do whole wheat flour
Making these for my toddler , who is a picky eater. Fingers crossed he’ll eat these haha! My question is do you have to refrigerate these muffins?
Fingers crossed! I do store them in the fridge due to the cheese.
Amy –
What makes the various flours unique? What is the difference between white flour, whole-wheat flour, or gluten free flour other than it’s origins?
I just made them! I like the flavor! I substituted cauliflower for broccoli. I also substituted gluten free flour for wheat flour. The outside is the perfect texture, but the inside is gooey. Any thoughts?
Hi- the differences in how they bake are related to how they absorb moisture and also there are nutritional differences. Did you use a 1:1 style of gluten-free baking mix? I would also check to make sure that your baking soda is fresh as that is key to muffins baking through properly. Hope that helps!
Just made these for the 2nd time and love them! First time we made exactly as in the recipe. The second time, I used a combo of shredded mozzarella and parmesan because I didn’t have cheddar on hand, and those were equally good. As mentioned, they freeze well, and I found that if I set one out at breakfast, it thaws easily by lunch. These will definitely be a go-to for us!