Packed with carrots, whole grains, and protein, these Carrot Cake Muffins are a delicious way to start the day. They mix up in one bowl, can be made ahead, and are delicious for a snack or breakfast. Plus: You can be eating them in about 25 minutes from when you start!
Carrot Cake Muffins
Whenever I’m looking for a fun way to serve up vegetables to kids, I tend to think of muffins. And these carrot muffins are a delicious—and SO easy—snack, side dish, or breakfast option to share with the kids. My toddler calls them “cupcakes” regardless of whether they have frosting on them, which is a nice endorsement I think!
Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins
These muffins are low in added sugars and contain whole grains from rolled oats and whole wheat flour. They also have a nice amount of carrots for fiber, vitamin A, and flavor. And unlike many traditional muffin recipes, these don’t overly rely on oil for moisture—but use applesauce which adds nutrients too.
TIP: Each muffin has just over 1 gram of added sugar—the majority of the sugars you see in the nutrition info is naturally occurring in the carrots and raisins, but the muffins still manage to taste pleasantly very sweet!
Ingredients in Carrot Cake Muffins
You don’t need anything fancy to make these muffins and here’s a look at the ingredients.
- whole wheat flour or gluten free flour blend
- rolled oats
- baking powder
- baking soda
- eggs
- unsweetened applesauce
- brown sugar
- canola or melted coconut oil
- grated carrots
- raisins, optional but recommended!
TIP: If you want to make these without refined sugar, you can omit it and use 2 tablespoons maple syrup.
How to Make Carrot Cake Muffins Step-by-Step
Here’s a look at the process involved in making these carrot muffins. This is one of those recipes that’s straight forward enough to do with the kids–should you want to!
- Grate the carrot. (photo 1)
- Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix gently. (photo 2)
- Divide among the prepared muffin tin. (photo 3)
- Bake! Remove from oven and tilt muffins slightly or let cool on a wire rack. (photo 4)
TIP: You can use store-bought grated carrots, but you’ll need ones that are finely grates and not in super long pieces. If the pieces of your carrots are longer than an inch, cut them up smaller with kitchen shears.
Can I turn these muffins into cupcakes?
Yes! My toddler actually calls them cupcakes, whether or not they have frosting. You can do a lightly sweetened cream cheese frosting—about 6 ounces softened cream cheese, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 2-3 tablespoons honey. Use a hand held mixer to beat all ingredients together and top the cooled muffins.
What should I serve with these Healthy Carrot Muffins?
We like them with milk and a side of fruit for breakfast or a snack, or you can serve them with a favorite soup a
s dinner or as part of a toddler lunch. I personally love them with coffee or tea as an afternoon snack for myself!
Vegan Carrot Muffins
To make these without eggs or dairy, omit the eggs and add ground flaxseed meal. You may need to bake them for about 2 minutes longer, but use a cake tester to be sure. See the note at the bottom of the recipe for specifics.
Sugar-Free Carrot Muffins
You can make these without any added sugar by simply omitting the brown sugar. The muffins will be ever so slightly smaller. The applesauce and carrots will lend enough natural sweetness to make them still taste great for a baby and the texture is good for babies who are on finger foods. I recommend dicing them up.
How to Make the Best Carrot Cake Muffins
- I like to use golden raisins because the flavor and color is nice here, but regular ones work just fine.
- For best results with the texture, grate the carrots yourself. OR use kitchen shears to roughly chop store bought grated carrots into slightly smaller pieces. (Right out of the bag, the grated carrots are often in long pieces that will be hard to fit on mini muffin cups.)
- Some babies have to learn to move the texture of bread or a muffin around in their mouths, so offer smaller pieces if needed for a baby just learning this texture.
- Be sure to grease the pan well and use a paring knife around the edges as needed to prevent the muffins from sticking to the pan.
- These work best as mini muffins. (They take forever to bake through as full size.)
- When checking for doneness, look for the edges to be golden brown, the tops of the muffins to be firm to the touch, and a cake tester inserted into the center of a muffin should come out cleanly—not with wet batter stuck to it.
- You can store them for 3-5 days at room temperature or in the fridge, or up to 3 months in the freezer. See more details about storage at the bottom of the recipe.
I’d love to hear what your family thinks of this recipe so please chime in below with feedback in the comments!
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These are delicious served warm soon after baking, at room temperature or even chilled, so see what your family prefers. They are naturally dairy-free and can be made gluten-free and egg-free as well. See the Notes section for details.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup whole wheat flour or gluten free cup for cup flour blend
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons canola or melted coconut oil
- 1 cup grated carrots
- 1/4 cup raisins, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and coat a 24 cup mini muffin tin with nonstick spray.
- Add all ingredients to a medium bowl and stir together to combine thoroughly, but gently.
- Add a heaping 1 tablespoon of the batter to each prepared muffin cup and bake for 18-22 minutes or until lightly golden brown around the edges and a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out cleanly.
- Remove from oven, cool in the pan for 2 minutes, and use a paring knife to loosen the edges as needed. Tilt in the pan to allow air to circulate underneath or transfer to a wire rack to cool.
- Serve warm, at room temp, or chilled.
Notes
To store, place in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-5 days. Reheat slightly to serve if desired. Or, place cooled muffins into a zip top freezer bag, remove as much air as possible and seal. Store in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge or in the microwave in 10-15 second increments.
To make these egg-free, omit the eggs and add 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed meal and use 1/2 teaspoon baking soda (up from 1/4 teaspoon in the recipe). Let mixed batter sit for 5 minutes before adding to the pan. Bake for about 2 additional minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out cleanly.
To make these gluten-free, use gluten free cup for cup flour and certified gluten-free rolled oats.
I like to use golden raisins because the flavor and color is nice here, but regular ones work just fine.
For best results with the texture, grate the carrots yourself. OR use kitchen shears to roughly chop store bought grated carrots into slightly smaller pieces. (Right out of the bag, the grated carrots are often in long pieces that will be hard to fit on mini muffin cups.)
These work best as mini muffins. (They take forever to bake through as full size.)
Some babies have to learn to move the texture of bread or a muffin around in their mouths, so offer smaller pieces if needed for a baby just learning this texture.
Be sure to grease the pan well and use a paring knife around the edges as needed to prevent the muffins from sticking to the pan.
When checking for doneness, look for the edges to be golden brown, the tops of the muffins to be firm to the touch, and a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin should come out cleanly—not with wet batter stuck to it.
Great recipe thanks!
★★★★★
Thank you for this recipe – my little one liked it! (I didn’t have any applesauce but had some leftover pureed apples in a jar, so I used that.) I was running out of meal ideas for my 14 month old, so will look around for more recipes. Thanks again!
★★★★★
I’m so glad!
These are so good. I added vanilla and cinnimon and baked an extra 5 minutes
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These were so tasty, but my 3yo was picking oat and carrot pieces out of his mouth and finally said he didn’t like it. Can I process the oats and carrots for a smoother texture?
★★★★★
Sure, you could put them into the blender with the liquid ingredients to make them less noticeable I’d think.
Is it possible to make these without oats? My son has an allergy.
You can probably do it with all flour though I haven’t tried it that way so I can’t say for sure.
Hi, these look great but we don’t have applesauce. Can we replace it with anything else? Thanks!
Mashed banana should work if you have that
Unfortunately this recipe was a huge miss for us. Muffins came out mushy and did not taste very good. I even baked them almost ten minutes longer and let them cool for several hours and still threw them out. Maybe I missed a step, but I am usually a good baker. Oh well!
Is it possible the leavening you used wasn’t fresh/active? That sounds like the most likely issue. I’m sorry this happened though.
Another winner! I actually scaled these way down, used all oat flour and a little honey instead of brown sugar (what was easier to grab first…), and added a pinch of apple pie spice, and microwaved it in a mug, then scooped it out and cut it into chunks for my 15-month-old. So tasty (I think I snitched more of it than she ate, whoops) and easy! Will need to make a full batch next. Thanks so much for sharing!
★★★★★
I’m so glad to hear that that method worked for you!
Another yummy recipe for my princess of food fuss (18 mths) weekday lunchboxes… dairy free, and so much goodness to make this mama’s heart sing! I just have to hold myself back from eating too many!
★★★★★
I was wondering if you could use maple syrup instead of brown sugar?? How much would you use?
I’ve made some of your other muffin recipes and they have all been a hit with my toddler. Thank you!
I baked these for 20 min and they still came out a little wet and dense, I think because of the applesauce. Would it ever make sense to bake at a higher temperature to prevent that, or should you just bake longer?
You could try baking at 375 and see if that works better for you.
These are delicious. We added a little cinnamon. Perfect snack for toddler and mom!
★★★★★
Love this recipe and have made it many times. Question…did the recipe change recently to remove the baking instructions for full size muffins? I seem to remember you had an option for full size muffins using 1/4 cup to portion and an adjusted baking time. I don’t have a mini muffin tin…
Thanks!
★★★★★
I made these today and they tasted delicious, but the texture was a little too dense for my toddler. Are they supposed to be like that, or did I do something wrong? Did I not let them cook long enough? How do I fix this? Help please!
Dense as in hard?
Dense as in a little heavy – like not fluffy. Not hard though. Still soft, maybe a little gummy?
I halved the recipe. Could that have done it? I didn’t change any other ingredients.
Can you tell I’m not really a baker?! 🙂
★★★★
If they were gummy, I would suspect they needed another few minutes of baking time. They aren’t the lightest muffins since they have oats in them, but it sounds like maybe they just weren’t quite done. That’s my best guess anyway. Sorry for the difficulties!
This is now one of my go-to snack recipes for my kids including a 3yr old who hates veggies. Easy to make, and they disappear too quick to worry about storing them
★★★★★
I’m so glad to hear that!
Can these be made without oats? My daughter is allergic to oats.
I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure but they might be fine with all flour if you want to use additional flour for the oats.
I made these with my 2 year old today and he had so much fun helping peel the carrots, chopping and grinding apples and making applesauce from fresh apples in a mixer/grinder, then helping add and mix all the ingredients. He ate 2 as soon as they came out of the oven and let’s not talk about how many I ate. The only thing I added was a little vanilla. Next time I might add some almond butter but otherwise perfect texture and not too sweet. Will make again.
★★★★★
I’m so glad to hear that!
I made these today with the raisins and added crushed almonds, cinnamon & ground ginger, just for some difference.
★★★★★