Love carrot cake? Then you HAVE to try these carrot muffins! Moist, fluffy, and warmly spiced, they're a delicious breakfast or grab-and-go snack.
These carrot muffins combine two of my favorite things: carrot cake and muffins! They’re moist, fluffy, and warmly spiced, with plenty of grated carrots, chewy raisins, and crunchy walnuts mixed in for texture.
Unlike my carrot cake cupcakes, which are firmly in dessert territory, these healthy carrot muffins are a great grab-and-go breakfast or snack. I love that they taste like carrot cake while packing in some more nutrition.
They freeze perfectly too. When you have time on a weekend, make a big batch and stash it in your freezer. If you’re anything like me, you’ll love having these carrot muffins on hand for busy mornings! I just pop one in the microwave for 30 seconds to reheat. 🙂
Carrot Muffin Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this carrot muffin recipe:
- Carrots, of course! They make the muffins super moist and add sweet, earthy carrot cake flavor. Shred them on the large holes of a box grater.
- All-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, and almond flour – Whole wheat flour gives the muffins a whole grain punch, while the all-purpose and almond flours make them moist and tender.
- Baking powder and eggs – They help the muffins puff up as they bake. You can replace the eggs with flax eggs to make these muffins vegan. Find instructions in the recipe notes below!
- Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and vanilla – The spices and vanilla add warm depth of flavor.
- Almond milk – Or any milk you like! My homemade oat milk would work well here too. Feel free to use regular milk if you don’t need these muffins to be dairy-free.
- Avocado oil – For moisture and richness. If you don’t keep it on hand, substitute another neutral oil like vegetable oil or canola oil.
- Cane sugar – It makes the muffins lightly sweet. Brown sugar works too!
- Walnuts – For crunch. Toasted pecans would also be delicious.
- Raisins – They add chewy texture and sweet flavor to these healthy carrot muffins.
- Whole rolled oats – I love topping my carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, but these carrot muffins? Not so much. Instead, I sprinkle them with oats for a wholesome finishing touch.
- And sea salt – To make all the flavors pop!
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Carrot Muffins
This carrot muffin recipe is SO simple to make! Here’s how it goes:
First, make the batter. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl and the wet ingredients in a large one. Stir the shredded carrots into the wet ingredients.
Then, add the dry ingredients to the carrot mixture, and stir until just combined.
Be careful not to overmix! If you do, the muffins will be dense. Fold in the walnuts and raisins.
Next, divide the batter into the muffin cups. Use a 1/3-cup measuring cup to portion the batter into a greased muffin tin. Sprinkle the oats on top of the muffins…
And bake! Transfer the muffins to a 400°F oven, and bake until the tops spring back to the touch, or until a toothpick inserted into the centers of the muffins comes out clean. Let them cool in the pan for 10 minutes, and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
That’s it! Enjoy these carrot cake muffins on their own for breakfast or a snack, or serve them as part of a larger brunch. They pair nicely with savory breakfast fare like a frittata, a breakfast casserole, or scrambled eggs and a bowl of fresh fruit.
Storage
If you have any carrot muffins leftover, store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.
After that, pop them in the freezer. They freeze well for up to 3 months, and they thaw perfectly for a quick breakfast or healthy snack! Let them sit at room temperature for about an hour to defrost, or zap them in the microwave for about 30 seconds.
More Favorite Muffin Recipes
If you love these carrot muffins, try one of these easy muffin recipes next:
- Zucchini Muffins
- Healthy Banana Muffins
- Blueberry Muffins
- Healthy Pumpkin Muffins
- Chocolate Chip Muffins
Carrot Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- ¾ cup whole wheat flour, spooned and leveled
- ½ cup almond flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- â…” cup unsweetened almond milk
- ½ cup avocado oil or vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs, see note*
- ½ cup cane sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups grated carrots
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
- ½ cup raisins
- ¼ cup whole rolled oats, for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F and grease a 12-cup muffin tin.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the almond milk, oil, eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Stir in the carrots.
- Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl of wet ingredients and stir to combine. Fold in the walnuts and raisins. Use a â…“-cup measuring cup to scoop the batter into the muffin cups. Bake for 16 to 20 minutes, or until the muffin tops spring back to the touch. Let cool for 10 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Can you use just all purpose flour for the carrot muffins?
Hi Bonnie, yep, you can.
I’m allergic to nut milk what can I use instead
Hi Agness, oat milk or a pea protein milk would work (or regular milk).
How would you make these grain free?
Could you do 1-3/4 of all-purpose flour instead of adding 3/4 of wheat flour?
Hi Jennifer, I think this would work fine!
Finally, a carrot muffin recipe that isn’t super sweet and oily carrot cake shaped like a muffin, but is something that I feel okay about eating for breakfast! Thanks so much for this recipe. I’ve made it twice and love it. It modifies pretty well, too – nuts and raisins can be there or not, a dash of cloves and/or allspice can be added or not, etc. I only had one egg so just used one with a little extra milk and the muffins were fine – I appreciate a recipe that can handle changing with each occasion’s situation. I have no doubt that they are best as written, but they are good enough to adjust as necessary.
I’m so glad you loved the muffins!
Can maple syrup be used in place of cane sugar?
Hi Jeanne, we haven’t tested this, so I’m not sure how it would turn out.
Hi!
Can you take out the cane sugar all together?
Hi Lynsey, we haven’t tried this, so I can’t guarantee the results. If you’re looking for a naturally sweetened muffin recipe, I recommend these pumpkin muffins or these banana muffins.
Can the raisins be omitted from this recipe or are they crucial for the moisture?
Hi Sandi, You can skip them!
Wow these were fantastic! I will be making these again.
I’m so glad you loved them!
Can I use coconut flour instead of almond flour? As I don’t hv almond flour and if I grind at home I can’t get the right flour texture
No, coconut flour is totally different and requires more moisture in a recipe. I blend my own almond flour all the time and it works great.
Would love to know calories per serving of your recipes.
I’m sorry, we don’t post nutrition facts, but you can plug the ingredients into a site like my fitness pal.
Can you use coconut sugar instead of cane sugar?
Hi Keli, I think that would work fine.
Could you use all Almond Flour or would they be too dry?
Hi Melissa, no, they won’t have the same structure with all almond flour. If you’re trying to make them gluten free they might work with an AP gluten free flour in place of the regular flour.
I would love to try some of your recipes, if only you had weights on the ingredients.
OMG, these muffins are amazingly good. I didn’t have walnuts, so I used pecans. No oats so I put chopped pecans on top. Other than that, I followed the recipe exactly. Carrot cake is my husband’s favorite, so these were a hit!
I’m so glad you both loved them!
Could I use melted coconut oil? I know you use it in your carrot cake, I wondered if it would be an easy sub here.
Yep, that would be great!
I loved this recipe so much . It’s really awesome
I’m so happy to hear!
Can you use an egg replacement to make these vegan? Would love to make them for my vegan daughter.
Hi Kelli, I haven’t tried that, but here’s a vegan carrot cake recipe, it’s not exactly the same, but it’s delicious: https://www.loveandlemons.com/vegan-carrot-cake/
Can you pour in loaf pan instead of muffin tin?
Hi Jill, we haven’t tested it as a loaf, but I think it might work with some adjustments. This batter amount would probably be too much for 1 loaf pan, so I might try 2. And I would increase the bake time to closer to 40-48 minutes, checking with a toothpick for doneness. But without trying it myself, I can’t say for sure.
Can you use one type of flour here?
Hi Michaela, you could use all AP flour (all wheat flour would be pretty dense)