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Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins- a SUPER simple vegan breakfast that you’ll find yourself making over and over again because they’re SO GOOD!
Oh hey, hi! Yes, I’m sharing another muffin recipe. Are you sick of muffins yet because I’ve been sharing a lot of them lately but I’m not really at all sorry about it.
I know that I say this pretty much every single time that I post a new muffin recipe BUT these muffins are my new favorite muffins on the blog. I kept testing these under the premise of getting them “just right” but really, I just wanted an excuse to make and eat another batch of them. Once again, not sorry about it.
I mean: LOOK how fluffy are these muffins!?
And I know this picture makes it look like there are raisins in there but there are in fact no raisins. That’s just the skin of the walnuts that you see.
Here’s the one bad thing about these muffins: they’re at their peak right out of the oven while they’re still warm and soft. You can totally eat them after this, they just aren’t *quite* as good. And if you are going to eat them later, I HIGHLY recommend popping them in the microwave briefly (~30 seconds) to lightly warm them up.
Warm muffins are the only way to eat muffins anyways, right?
To keep these a little healthier, we’re ditching white sugar and using maple syrup instead. And to keep these muffins vegan, we’re using nut butter and mashed banana to bind these together instead of an egg. Simple and easy!
Can you make these muffins gluten free?
While it’s on my to-do list to test a gluten free version of this recipe, I have not been able to get around to it yet. However, I’m confident that you can use any gluten free 1-1 flour. I’ve had great luck with THIS Bobs Red Mill gluten free flour and THIS Cup4Cup gluten free flour.
How to make these vegan muffins:
These muffins are ridiculously easy to make and I worked it so that you only have to dirty ONE bowl (instead of mixing the wet and dry ingredients in 2 different bowls). The banana is mashed and then the other wet ingredients are mixed in. Once that is fully combined, we add in the dry ingredients and mix. Then bake and BAM amazing muffins!
That’s it! The ease of this recipe is why I eat muffins FAR to often :)
DO YOU NEED MUFFIN LINERS?
I find muffin liners completely unnecessary and even a waste. The only time that I find them useful, I guess, is if you’re making muffins/ cupcakes to take to a party. Then it can be nice to have some sort of barrier between the muffins and lots of hands that might be touching them. Otherwise, I just spray the pan well and never have any issues with the muffins sticking at all.
Alternatively, you can use THESE silicon liners that are easy and reusable. I have some and they can be run through the dishwasher which I love! There is also THIS silicone muffin tin which looks rather handy!
MORE VEGAN MUFFINS THAT YOU’LL LOVE:
See how to make these Vegan Carrot Cake Muffins here:
Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour, I use all purpose but you can also use whole wheat, pastry flour, or a gluten free 1-1 substitute
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- pinch salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ½ cup almond milk
- 3 tablespoons nut butter, I used peanut butter this time but have also made these with almond butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 medium banana, mashed
- ½ cup grated carrot, I use a medium grate but you can also finely grate them
- ¼ cup chopped walnuts, or pecans plus more for topping if desired. You can also omit the nuts completely.
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 6 cup muffin tin.
- Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
- Stir in the milk, nut butter, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and mashed banana. Stir until well combined.
- Gently stir in the grated carrot and nuts.
- Evenly spoon the mixture into the 6 muffin cups.
- Top with a few more chopped nuts if desired and bake in oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
- Let cool slightly and ENJOY!!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This cooked very well and taste really healthy, the only thing was mine came out quite flat so maybe I could add some self raising flour instead?
Hi thanks for the recipe! They turned out great! Just wondering how long you would these muffins keep for? Do you store in the fridge?
I usually store them on the counter in an air tight container for a few days but they would last a couple days longer in the fridge. Since they’re very moist, they’re probably best kept in the fridge (but if you think you’ll eat them within 48 hours, it’s not really necessary).
Hey, what is a good substitute for the nut butter? I don’t really like peanut butter and I don’t want the taste of almond butter in the muffins. Thanks
The best that I can recommend is trying sunflower seed butter that has a pretty neutral taste
I used equal parts mashed avocado and they turned out really well!
Can I use almond flour or oat flour or combination of both?
Could we use regular milk?
you can!
How many calories per serving are these please?
These were amazing! I doubled the cinnamon (because I absolutely love it!) and maple syrup (for added sweetness) and they turned out amazing, as usual! They came out light and fluffy, but were devoured within 5 minutes!
Hi, I have some advice for you – after you’ve baked them, leave them in the half-opened oven. Taking them out right away could be shocking for them.
Otherwise, thank you for the recipe, it turned out really fluffy and smooth on the inside^^ Greetings from the Czech Republic!
Could I substitute the maple syrup for stevia or similar dry ingredient? Would I need to add a bit more liquid if doing so? Recipe looks so good aside from the walnuts which I would omit, I really dislike walnuts.
Unfortunately I do not have a lot of experience baking with stevia. I’m thinking that if you used stevia, you might want to add in a little extra almond milk. Let me know how it turns out!
These were amazing! I made them for my 10 month old son and just didn’t add the maple syrup! Still really good! Thank you for an easy recipe
Are there any substitutes for the banana? I don’t like bananas at all unfortunately.
Can i use oatmeal flour?
Can you use coconut flour?
I do not recommend it as coconut flour is vastly more absorbent thatn regular flour. I want to work on a coconut flour version of this but I have not done so. The only thing I have actually tried out is a gluten free 1-1 flour from cup-4-cup.