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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.
They turned out great and I will definitely be making them again! <3 I made a few substitutions that I was happy with.
I doubled the recipe. Instead of using 2 bananas (for double), I used 1 cup of apple sauce. I also just used matchstick carrots because I didn't feel like grating my own. I ended up with 17 small yummy muffins.
I made these for my family yesterday morning and everyone loved it! My family had eaten all of them by the time I went for seconds! I’m going to make them again today or tomorrow, and was wondering if I made a double batch if I could freeze some of the batter? These are definitely a new family favorite. Thank you!
Loved these.
My boys wanted muffins for breakfast so I tried these out. I like that the ingredients are all pretty healthy. They are super easy to make.
I did not have walnuts on hand so I used pecans, and just to be fancy I poked a few blueberries on the tops before baking.
Definitely going into my rotation.
I really like this recipie! I doubled it and added about 5 min cooking time. They turned out great with big fluffy muffin tops. So often I find vegan muffins are more dense with very little top! I love the use of nut butter in the recipe ( I used almond) and I subbed raisons for walnuts. Thank you!
Hi, these look great! Wondering if I can use aquafaba instead of banana? If so, how much and would it be whisked? Thanks!
hi! I actually haven’t done much cooking with aquafaba unfortunately and can’t say for sure how well it would work. You could however use pumpkin or applesauce instead of the banana
These were yummy but tasted more like banana muffins than carrot cake.
I substituted equal parts mashed avocado for the nut butter, regular milk for almond milk, and honey for the syrup. Next time I’ll try to add more cinnamon.
Once the time has passed, do you have to remove it immediately or do you have to wait for it to cool in the oven? I also wanted to ask if they can be frozen? Thank you!
you remove them from the oven immediately and let them cool at room temperature :)
Any idea how much fiber is in each muffin. I follow old school WW.
Made it. Love it,
Muffins are moist and soft. Delicious :-) .
These were great! Mine weren’t so pretty but I made them a little smaller. It’s the first sugar free muffin I’ve made where you really can’t tell it’s refined sugar free!