Healthy Carrot Muffins
Healthy carrot muffins made with whole wheat flour, coconut oil and maple syrup! They taste amazing, too. These muffins make a great, quick breakfast!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 30, 2024
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
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
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
425 is is particularly high, my go to temp for muffins is 390 for 5 mins and 350 for 13-15mins, but never cook longer than 20mins. Made these exactly per the ingredients with substitution of honey/maple syrup with brown sugar at half the quantity- prefer significantly less sweetness (I’m Australian & we tend to use less sweetness in muffins). They worked out great! I’ve made a lot of your recipes and haven’t had a flop ever… just a thought, because grated ingredients create so much variability, when there isn’t explicit instructions to squeeze out moisture, or nil video for the final consistency, suggest it means there will be various rates of success
I adhered to the recipe but ended up with too soft middles and burnt bottoms. I wouldn’t usually comment but I’m pretty disappointed and hope that I can save someone else from running into this problem by sharing my experience.
Hi Kate, I’m sorry to hear that. Where did you place your racks in your oven? Sounds like they were close to a heat source to burn on the bottom.
Had the same result
These are fantastic. Almost taste like a donut!
Everything was great except my kids mentioned that they were not sweet enough (I made it omitting the walnuts and raisins). Is there a way to substitute some of the maple syrup with yellow or turbinado sugar? Would just like them a tad sweeter, otherwise perfect!
Great recipe overall but definitely needed more baking time.
I used spelt flour and substituted walnuts for hemp hearts to boost the protein even more. I also replaced the raisins with 1/2 cup oats.
Worked really well! Made 12 large muffins and total bake time was 19 mins
The recipe is great, but the cook time didn’t work for me. I added another 7 minutes but it really needed 10. Make sure to test with a toothpick.
Wow these were amazing! Perfect amount of sweet without the white/brown sugar ❤️
These will be a repeat and have been added to my recipe list!
Wow! I could not believe how moist and delicious these muffins were for containing whole wheat flour and coconut oil. These muffins happily turned out flawless for me. The spice mixture was spot on and very well-balanced. The smell of the tangy yogurt while blending the ingredients was inspiring and reminded me of a cream cheese frosting. It would make for an interesting frosting if you made extra!
The only thing that I would do differently is I would prefer to toast the nuts for extra texture in the muffin. Also, I found the timing to be a bit more involved, but I admit I often am a very slow cook/baker. This recipe took me well over an hour for someone trying a new recipe, hand-grating, and getting all the ingredients ready.
All that to say, this is an incredible recipe. I am so grateful for such a healthy source of yummy recipes with a very talented cook behind it!
I’m excited you loved these muffins, Jen. Thank you for your review!
I followed the recipe and these muffins turned out delicious. My husband could not stop eating them. I did cook them a little longer but I always just test my muffins with a toothpick and when it comes out clean they are done. Will be making them again as they are so flavourful.
I’m always looking for healthy treats for my grandchildren. These muffins are excellent! I used 1/4 cup coconut sugar and 1/4 cup maple syrup. Will definitely be making again and again.
Great to hear, Sylvia! I appreciate your comment and review.
Hello! I would like to try the recipe but I don’t usually have coconut/canola oil in my pantry. Is it possible to substitute it to equal part of melted unsalted butter?
Hi Kate. I’m in the UK so could we have the ingredients in metric grams please?
I made these with fresh carrots from the garden, wow what a delicious muffin. Everyone raved about them so much I’m making another batch today.
Your’s is my favorite website for baking, by far! And, I will be candid and tell you that these muffins were a disappointment. While the ingredients were relatively healthy, they would have been more healthy (and more tasty) if there were a mix of grained flours (thinking whole wheat flour, corn meal and oats). I would also have liked some hemp hearts to add to the nuttiness.
While they were wonderfully moist and the muffin tops were crispy and nice, the texture of the inside of the muffin was closer to a store bought than to what I consider a healthy muffin.
My takeaway is to look for mixed grains as ingredients and not depend on white whole wheat flour, as I just don’t find that texture enjoyable.
I’m sorry to hear you didn’t love this recipe.
Hi Kate. In this day where there are so many allergies and people with different ways of life, it’s nice to see a recipe that’s easily adaptable. Bravo!! Excellent recipe and delicious. Thanks for sharing
You’re welcome!
I love love love these muffins. Thank you for the recipe! I have made them probably ten times already. Followed the recipe exactly except left them in the oven about 5 mins longer.
Love the muffins. Trying to cut out sugars. What would be your suggestion for me to make them with less maple syrup? Thanks!
Try mashing all or part of a banana to lend sweetness so you can cut down on the maple syrup. I don’t sweeten anything, aside from the occasional squirt of local honey. Hope that helps.
Just delightful! Not too sweet (no sugar). I used agave nectar instead of maple syrup.
Pecans instead of walnuts, crasins instead of raisins. Moist and tasty. I was glad to use the whole grain flour (Wheat Montana) White Whole Grain Wheat. Grated carrots were not soggy like grated zucchini would be. I don’t have turbigo sugar yet but maybee a little oatmeal on top would be nice.
I made the healthy carrot muffins last night, they turned out fantastic! Even my husband loved it, and he is extremely health conscious, thank you so much, this will definitely be one of my favourite muffin recipes
I have made this recipe 4 times now, using all of the vegan substitutions you recommended. Once with vegan yogurt and flax egg, once with the buttermilk substitution, then with an apple sauce substitution for the egg as well. I also leave out the maple syrup entirely every time. No matter what I do, the middles are goooooooey!! Same temp you state but leave them in for an extremely long time, to the point where the tops get burnt but the middles are way too undercooked. I’m a fairly experienced home-baker and alter recipes to be vegan all the time, but I have no idea why the centres of these muffins absolutely won’t cool for me. Any help? (Oh! They still taste amazing and my toddler adores them!)
Followed the recipe without any change. Middle was uncooked even after adding 10 more minutes then suggested time. Carrots were not cooked ether. Used a standard cheese grater to grate the carrots. I’m giving it 2 stars because the flavour and ingredients are nice. My oven is not the issue. I’ve followed plenty of other muffin recipes in the past with great success.
I’ve been baking for years, but this recipe gave me some of the best muffins I’ve ever made! They tasted amazing, and I’m planning to make a batch for my friend’s birthday. However, I noticed that my muffins didn’t rise as much as I’d hoped. I used extra-creamy Greek yogurt with 11% fat, thinking the higher fat content might help them rise more, but it seemed to make the batter thicker. Could the thick batter have been the issue? Should the muffin batter be thick or more fluid for better results?
These came out so well and are delicious!! Highly recommend!
New favorites! I like that you can customize it to your dietary needs/preferences. I increased baking soda from 1/2 teaspoon to 1 teaspoon after reading reviews that they didn’t puff as much and that seemed to work great. I also preheated the oven to 425F but turned it down to 375F after a couple minutes and increased the baking time by I think 5-10 minutes. I just kept an eye on it until the tops didn’t look gooey and tested with a toothpick. I love that it’s so full of the shredded carrots and moist even with the whole wheat flour. 4 stars because I think you need some baking experience to get the best result following this recipe, but they are delicious!
How would the temperature and time change if I wanted to bake this in a loaf pan?
These muffins were delicious! I wanted a healthy muffin without added sugar so I made this for my husband and toddler and they both loved it. I added a few more walnuts because I like nuts and omitted the turbinado sugar on top. I used a high fat yogurt (11%) and two tablespoons of milk. The sweetness was perfect and the muffins were moist. I’m going to bake another batch of these muffins soon.
These were delicious! Moist,flavorful. Thank you for sharing recipe
I was forced to tweak this recipe , but even so it came out tasting delicious ! Didn’t have whole wheat flour , used all purpose.. was out of yogurt, but used buttermilk .. and dried cherries in place of raisins .. I made a quick cream cheese glaze for the top , as I didn’t have the turb sugar .. but it was fluffy and moist and very balanced flavors ! thank you , it’s a keeper .
Literally perfect! Soo good. I used coconut oil and honey for the either/or ingredients. I wonder if adding ground flax seed (trying to boost my omega-3s) would mess with the recipe?
Easy and delicious! Thank you
I’ve made these once a week with my kids for years. Years! Thats how great they are.
Absolutely delicious! Great recipe, will definitely be making these again & again!
OOoops! I a made mine with all purpose flour and they didn’t have very good structure. Too gooey despite having a crumb all the way through. Next time I’d like to use chopped dried mango as the dried fruit add in to add more sweetness. I believe brown sugar would honestly be a better bake than maple syrup because of all the moisture from the carrots though I can absolutely appreciate the healthiness being increased with a cane sugar substitute. The muffins are good as written for a hearty mid day snack for the family. These won’t wow the neighbors however.
My toddler loves these! But they are too big for his little hands. How do I adjust the timing for making them in the mini muffin pan?
These turned out really moist, fluffy and tasty, I’m thinking of making another batch already. I love how we didn’t need to squeeze out the good stuff from the carrots and were left as is. I had whole wheat bread flour lying around and it didn’t seem to impact the outcome. And I added other nuts/seeds, and even some chocolate chips lying around. Very versatile. Best of all, they froze really well. For some reason though, the muffins were a tad oily, but it didn’t taste coconut-y. Thank you!
Can I make in mini muffin pans ?
I have made these 4 times now and they are delicious. Now my friends are asking me to bake some for them! Always moist, never dry (which I hate)
I made these muffins without without the raisins or walnuts (I have a very particular 5 yr old :)) and they are divine. DIVINE!
I’ll echo what someone else wrote by noting: they taste like donuts!
Thank you, Kate!
To make them even lower fat without skipping on flavor, I used green pumpkin seems instead of walnuts and used a mix of sugarless honey and sugarless maple syrup. Also put in a tsp of Lakanto Sweetner.
They turned out great.
6 points each in WW
Can I use walnut oil in baking instead of coconut oil
Hi Mary, I haven’t tried it, but if you do let us know how it works out!
Way too much like the density and structure of cake.
The baking temp/time didn’t work at all. Tops were dark brown and middle was mushy.
Hi Alyona, have you tested your oven temperature with a thermometer? You’d be surprised how often the gauge is off.
Mine also burned. I usually do muffins at 425 for 5 minutes and then turn it down to 350. I wish I had done that this time, and would recommend a lower temperature for others attempting this recipe. Usually I have great success with Katie’s recipes!
These are great! I made them today for the first time. I goofed thinking I had whole wheat flour (I usually do) so I used all purpose white, which worked fine. I also forgot to get golden raisins but I had dried cherries, which also worked fine. I used a mix of pure maple syrup and honey. After mixing everything together, it didn’t seem moist enough; the batter was very sticky. I use parchment baking cups so getting the batter into the cups was a bit humorous. The result was wonderful! I will use it again.
I’m thinking about increasing the ingredients by half (except for the spices) for the next batch – only because the muffins were small. Any thoughts on that?
I love your work and have used many recipes. When looking for a specific recipe, I often first go to your site. Thank you!!!
I made these today using gluten free flour with some baking powder. These are amazing.
I’ve made this recipe twice and I love these muffins so much, and so does my family.
I use the pulp from the carrot juice I make and substitute the raisins for 3-5 dates and the turbinado sugar with brown sugar and then bake for 19 mins.
I end up with 15-17 smaller muffins.