Carrot Muffin Recipe
We doubled the carrots in these healthy Carrot Muffin Recipe! Not only do we have carrots in the muffin, but also on top! These fun chicks make them look just like cupcakes, and the kids totally ate them up!
Cleaning out the fridge I found some baby carrots that were turning bad. They had that white look to them, and some were absolutely shriveled. I wanted to make some carrot muffins, but I pictured myself shredding baby carrots and shredding my knuckles in the process because they were just too small.
Instead, I cooked the carrots till they were soft. You can place the carrots in a microwave safe bowl and water, or with some water on the stove top. Cook them until they are soft and easy to mash. This took a good 8 or 9 minutes, with me checking every few minutes.
I decided, instead of carrot muffins with grated carrots (often the kids see the grated carrots and don’t want to eat them), we used pureed carrots! Poured out most of the water from your cooking, but not all! You’ll want some of the water to blend the carrots until they are smooth. Pureed them in a food processor. You could also use a blender.
With the pureed carrots, follow the recipe for our carrot muffins below. They were so good. They have everything I like in a muffin (or any food). Healthy, low fat, full of vitamins and minerals, and delicious! Perfect for a healthy breakfast for kids. My kids thought they tasted like pumpkin muffins.
Then, to jazz these babies up for spring, we decided to buy some rainbow carrots and make them look like cupcake chicks!
Using one of your yellow carrots, simply grate into shreds, and blot the grated yellow carrot dry.
Sprinkle the carrot onto the top of the muffin frosting (we also sprinkled some shredded coconut on ours)
Then, use two blueberries for eyes (if these are from frozen, also blot them dry. You can use anything for eyes really, I just happened to have some blueberries.
Then, finally, with one of the rainbow carrots (or orange carrot), cut into a triangle for a beak.
That’s how we did it!! Double the carrots in these muffins! Both inside and on top.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup chopped carrot
- 2 cup flour, all-purpose
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 large egg
- 1/2 cup grapeseed oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Toppings
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 3 tablespoon honey
- 1 medium carrots, yellow
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Start by cooking the carrots. Once soft, blend in a food processor until the consistency of baby food (or even use baby food!) Add carrots, and water where necessary to get it to blend and be smooth. You want 1 cup of carrot puree.
- Combine dry ingredients. Flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
- In a separate bowl, combine carrot puree, eggs, oil, and vanilla. Fold wet ingredients into dry and stir till just moistened.
- Scoop into muffin tin, with muffin liners or by spraying a muffin tin.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes at 350 degrees.
- Chill a can of full fat coconut milk in the fridge (at least a day)
- Scoop coconut milk out of the can into a mixing bowl. Whisk until fluffy. Add 3 tablespoons honey and whisk until incorporated.
- When muffins are cooled, spread with coconut frosting.
- Grate yellow carrots, and sprinkle on top. Add blueberries for eyes, and a red carrot for the beak.
Nutrition
Natalie Monson
I'm a registered dietitian, mom of 4, avid lover of food and strong promoter of healthy habits. Here you will find lots of delicious recipes full of fruits and veggies, tips for getting your kids to eat better and become intuitive eaters and lots of resources for feeding your family.
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We’re on a muffin kick around here, so I’ll give these a try! I think that I might call them cupcakes and serve them as dessert since they have a bit of frosting on them. I don’t want to mess with the pumpkin muffin vibe we’ve got going on around here!
i think those look and sound wonderful. i’m excited to try them sometime soon.
That’s a great idea! It must be something in the water because we have been on a muffin kick too, lately. Thanks for the tip!
You are brilliant! My idea would have been to trash the darn things! I SO need to be more like you… you’re my inspiration! 🙂
Is it silly to ask what the measurements would be using a master muffin mix?
Cathy, we actually did call them cupcakes too.
Christy, wait till your carrots are shriveled and your about to toss them. 🙂
Michelle, its because muffins are like cake!
Liz, I’m inspired every time I visit your blog.
Vanessa, I thought about trying it with the master muffin, but didn’t. I promise if I do, I’ll let you know.
what can i substitute the eggs with to make it vegan?
Jo- we have an egg free muffin here: https://www.superhealthykids.com/100-whole-wheat-orange-blueberry-muffins/
I have actually been wanting to make the recipe I have from Ellie Krieger on the Foodnetwork, http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/carrot-cupcakes-with-cream-cheese-frosting-recipe/index.html, it seems very similar. Yum yum! And a good Easter treat.
What a great idea! I’m always tossing old carrots it seems. And I’ve also tried shredding them and gotten bloody knuckles. This sounds SO good. I’m definitely trying it! Thanks!
Mary Kathryn. Thanks for the link. You are right, they are very similar. In fact, If I made these again, I would probably leave out the baking powder, she didn’t use any, and I did kind of taste it in the muffin. Thanks again.
Gina, I hated shredding those little guys too. If I had a food processor that shredded them for me though, I might consider it.
Perfect!! I have been searching and contemplating on different recipes for a healthy dessert to serve at my baby girl’s first birthday celebration this weekend. Still undecided, I sat down @ the computer to look again and came across yours. They sound easy and delicious! I cannot wait to make them! Thank you, thank you!
I think I might want to try this with shredded carrots, do you know how many cups it would be?
Hi Krisy-Ann- I bet if you packed it in well, you should be able to also use a cup of shredded carrots.
Thanks for visiting my blog 🙂
These are delicious. Thank you for the recipe. We may not even get around to frosting them before they’re gone!
[…] Snack of the week: Carrot muffins topped with cream cheese […]
[…] decided to make some of our peaches into bread. As I did with the cauliflower pancakes, and our carrot muffins, we pureed the peaches. It’s not that we are “hiding” fruits or vegetables, because my kids […]
[…] Healthy Carrot Muffins […]
Hi! I made these muffins today but made a few substitutions. Looking over the recipe, it didn’t strike me as overly “healthy” but more like a carrot cake posing as a muffin. A half cup of oil and 3 eggs is a lot, add that to 3/4 cup of brown sugar in addition to the icing – oof, seems heavy! Do you know the calorie count on this? I’m just curious.
Anyway, I decided to omit the oil and do a 1:1 sub with applesauce. I didn’t cook my carrots first but I did puree the raw carrots in my food processor with a medium banana (this was to replace 1 egg) which did give me a nice puree. I used 1 cup of white whole wheat flour in place of the regular white flour it calls for (I did also use 1 cup of regular whole wheat flour that is does call for) . I, of course, mixed the dry ingredients and wet separately and then mixed together. I then added a small handful of raisins and a smaller handful of chopped walnuts. I made them in mini muffin tins (yield 30 muffins). They turned out delicious.
For the icing I used regular cream cheese. Honestly, if you compare the ingredients of light or fat free versions of anything to the regular full fat version (especially dairy) you won’t want to use anything but the regular. It is the difference between 5 ingredients and 12 or so (reducing or removing fat always means adding in all sorts of additives to get it to be a palatable consistency, taste, etc. – you are better off with the real stuff). I did a bit less than 1/3 cup of powdered sugar. Tastes yummy.
Please don’t think this comment means I don’t love your site because I do! I just thought this recipe could be made even healthier.
Thanks for the ideas Kristen! I’m sure more of my recipes could use a good “makeover” 🙂
Such a Devine and simple recipe! I added some oats
,grated pear, walnuts, almonds, honey, ground flax and sesame seeds to “health” it up a little more .. Yum
These look delicious! I’m always looking for quick, healthy breakfast ideas. I just stumbled upon a Spinach Muffin that my kids absolutely love! Can’t wait to add these to the mix!
Microwaved veggies are NOT healthy!!!!!When you microwave anything never mind baby carrots all the nutritional value is gone!!!!! Not a good recipe for a SUPER HEALTHY KIDS site! And do some research on those baby carrots in bags….they are soaking in bleach added to the water.
Sorry, but these old wives tales about microwaves & baby carrots have been debunked …… there is a lot of recent research that discredits these myths!
Great recipe am going to try it today. I have an extremely picky 3 year old son and I’m hoping that he’ll eat these. Because he literally refuses everything, it’s a battle of wills here most days and he usually wins….Thanks again for the recipe
Thanks Sharon!
I had a different carrot muffin recipe from your blog pinned on pinterest and now the link does not work. It was a pureed carrot muffin with cream cheese frosting. We loved it so much as a muffin without the frosting. Is this the same basic recipe? I don’t recall coconut sugar and grapeseed oil in the other one I’m trying to find. Thanks!
Was it this one?
https://web.archive.org/web/20100226095424/https://www.superhealthykids.com/carrotmuffins.html
What is the yield for this recipe?
we got 12 muffins
So delicious! Fave muffins so far ???????
my mom made me these and theyre delicious! dont taste like carrot at all