Super healthy Carrot Muffins full of wholesome ingredients like bran, oats, whole grain flour, carrots & sultanas. Perfect for breakfast, snacks, or lunch boxes, and only about 137 calories each!
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Healthy muffins. No, I'm not kidding. These Healthy Carrot Muffins really are healthy. Not that you would ever know because they are so moist and delicious. Such a great way to get your vegetables in!
Inspired by my very popular Vegan Blueberry Bran Muffins these carrot muffins are hearty, full of texture, packed with nutritious ingredients like whole grain flour, oats, bran, carrots, and sultanas, and they are also high in fibre, oil-free, and really low in fat. Just perfect to enjoy as part of a healthy breakfast, in packed lunches, or for snacks.
Love these? Be sure to check out my Morning Glory Muffins too. They are also packed full of healthy, wholesome ingredients including carrot!
Mel x
Recipe Tips
- For any baked recipe involving flour, I highly recommend using a digital kitchen scale to measure your ingredients. Cups are not accurate enough to get the best and consistent results. You can pick them up really cheaply these days. I promise you won't regret it!
- Grating the carrots with the grater attachment on your food processor makes it super quick and easy! It's done in seconds and way easier than grating by hand with a box grater. I don't recommend using store bought ready shredded carrots because they tend to be dry. We need the moistness of fresh carrots for the muffins to be at their best.
- Because this recipe is low fat, silicone muffin liners are a better choice than paper liners. Or none at all if you use a great muffin pan. I love my USA Pan one.
Substitutions & Dietary Considerations
I haven't tried it but I'm pretty sure this carrot muffin recipe would work well with a good quality 1 to 1 gluten-free flour instead of the spelt flour. And you can use oat bran instead of the wheat bran.
Yes, really easily. Omit the nuts or add roughly the same amount of seeds like pumpkin or sunflower seeds instead and be sure to use a nut-free milk such as soy or oat milk.
Mashed banana, canned pumpkin, or even mashed sweet potato will work instead.
Serving Suggestions
These Healthy Carrot Muffins are great eaten as they are but are even better spread with vegan butter. And a bit like my vegan zucchini muffins, they are also really good spread with nut butter, especially almond butter.
Recipe
Healthy Carrot Muffins
Author:Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1½ cups (175 grams) spelt flour , or whole wheat flour
- 1 cup (58 grams) wheat bran , or oat bran
- ½ cup (50 grams) rolled or old fashioned oats , (porridge oats in the UK)
- ½ cup (100 grams coconut sugar , or brown sugar
- 1 cup (145 grams) sultanas , or raisins
- ½ cup (60 grams) chopped walnuts or pecans , omit or use pumpkin/sunflower seeds for nut-free
- 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda , (bicarb in the UK)
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon ground nutmeg
Wet Ingredients
- 1¼ cups (300 mls) milk of choice
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar , or lemon juice
- 1 cup (110 grams) grated carrot
- ½ cup (125 grams) unsweetened applesauce , or canned pumpkin, mashed banana/sweet potato
RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C) and prepare a 12 hole muffin pan by greasing or lining with muffin liners.
- Add all of the dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl and stir together to combine well.
- Add all of the wet ingredients to another bowl and stir together.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Don't over-mix or beat it. Stop as soon as you can't see any dry flour.
- Spoon the batter evenly between the holes of the muffin pan.
- Bake for around 18 to 20 minutes or until slightly crusty on the outside and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. They might be ready a minute or 2 earlier if you use a dark/black metal pan.
- Leave in the pan for 10 minutes then remove and finish cooling on a wire rack.
NOTES
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Claire Green says
This has become my go to bran muffin recipe. I use sweet potato and only 1/4 cup of sugar and I think they are plenty sweet. I also have substituted chia seeds for flax and it works just as well.
M Rene Coates says
These muffins are absolutely amazing! They're moist and just sweet enough without being too
sweet. The modifications that I made were that I made my own brown sugar with molasses, I substituted whole wheat flour for spelt, and I added ground carrot top greens & a bit of EVOO.
The next day for breakfast with a few slices of Gruyere is perfect!
Abigail says
My son is turning one this week, so I used this recipe as his cake! It made 6 muffins and (2) 4-inch cake pans (used for his little layer cake.) The cake pans took about 22 minutes until a toothpick came out clean. Perfect and delicious!! Thank you, Mel!
Fatima says
When I first saw this recipe, I knew I had to make them and what a great bran muffin recipe this is! I used mashed bananas, they were very tasty and moist despite not having any oil. Will definitely make again. Thanks for another great muffin recipe Mel!
jacquie says
I love bran muffins so i'm excited to try this. Can the sugar be cut down? a 1/2 is more than i typically use in a muffin receipe.
thanks.
Melanie McDonald says
Sugar is important for structure as well as sweetness so if you reduce the amount the texture and rise might change. You can usually get away with reducing it by about a third before it makes a really noticeable difference though. Hope that helps and that you enjoy them!
Mandy says
Absolutely loved these muffins and so did my family. Thanks Mel for yet another delicious recipe!
Melanie McDonald says
So pleased you enjoyed them Mandy. Thanks for giving them a try and for your feedback!
Karen says
Absolute perfection. And healthy and virtually fat free. The directions worked perfectly for me. Thanks Mel!
Lisa Scott says
Very Impressed. I made per recipe except I chose to use 1/2 the amount of raisins and a little less cinnamon and nutmeg. I cooked them @ 375, which is a little more typical for muffins for 15 minutes. They were moist and delicious which was surprising for not having any oil/fat in them. Very Good :)
JULIA says
Thank you for these wonderful muffins. I make healthy muffins for breakfast every week and these have been on my regular rotation for several months (I've made them about 4-6 times), so it's about time I left a review. I haven't managed to get spelt flour so I just make them with whole wheat and they're great. I use 1/4 cup of olive oil and an extra 1/4 cup of carrot (or a banana) to sub for applesauce which I never seem to have around. I also use date sugar for sweetener which makes them even more moist. Both time we've had houseguests who have tried the muffins, they've asked for the recipe. I also love your blueberry bran ones. Thanks so much!!!
Melanie McDonald says
I'm really pleased you are enjoying them Julia and thanks so much for the review!
Tara says
I think these are maybe baked at too high of a temp. most muffins are usually 375 degrees? I don't know. the outside was hard compared to the inside. Overall a bit bland but since there's no oil, mine were only 80 calories each so not bad. I would make them again and probably lower the oven temp.
Dani says
delicious muffins. I used regular all purpose flour and substituted pumpkin seeds for flaxseeds (only because that's all I had in the cupboard) and they turned out moist and delicious.
I used muffin liners and it was a mistake. The liners completely stuck to the muffins. My bad. Otherwise delicious recipe. I would make them again.
Dave W. says
Delicious! I made them without the nuts and because my wife is diabetic, I used 3 oz of sucralose for the sugar. Using an ice cream scoop + 1/2 tbsp of the batter, the recipe made exactly 14 muffins. Will make them again. Thanks!
A Virtual Vegan says
You're welcome Dave. I'm glad you were able to adapt them to meet your wife's needs!
Kate Whorton says
Delicious! Perfect for on the go breakfast
Laurie B. says
Thank you so much for this great recipe! FAT FREE! That is terrific, and the muffins are very moist without it. My omnivore husband (who likes sweets) gave them a thumbs up, and both of my sisters asked for the recipe. That means it is a big hit. :) I made a few substitutions based on what I had (or didn't have) on hand: craisins replaced raisins, pecans instead of walnuts, and Chinese 5-Spice instead of cinnamon. I was out of cinnamon (!!!), but have an almost full jar of 5-Spice, which made an excellent substitution. I am sure we will enjoy this recipe on a regular basis.
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you so much Laurie, for making them and for the lovely review. So happy they were such a hit!
Parth Rathod says
These muffins are so delicious
thank you
Edward says
Thanks for the Carrot Muffin recipe. they are fabulous.