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Carrot Cake Muffins

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These carrot cake muffins have the amazing flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger like traditional carrot cake, but with the addition of nutritious ingredients and much less sugar!

carrot cake muffin closeup with greek yogurt frosting and carrot curls moist and healthy carrot cake muffins

Ingredients for Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins

There are a lot of muffin recipes out there that use lots of sugar and fat to make them taste delicious. These are some ways I have made a traditional carrot cake into a healthy muffin version:

  • Greek Yogurt – helps add moisture, protein, and vitamins.
  • Coconut Oil – adds moisture to the muffin with less needed than if using butter
  • Carrots – my recipe packs in this healthy veggie!
  • Less sugar – muffins aren’t intended to be a cupcake and still taste delicious with a lot less added sugar. I tried both honey and brown sugar in this recipe and my kids and I all agree that honey is the winner in the taste department.
carrot cake muffins with sugared carrots on top

How to Make Carrot Cake Muffins

  1. Preheat oven to 400° Fahrenheit. Spray muffin tin with cooking spray or line with muffin baking cups.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg.
  3. Add the grated carrots to the flour mixture and stir to coat well.
  4. In a smaller bowl, add the coconut oil, honey, eggs, yogurt, and vanilla. Whisk together until well combined.
  5. Pour the wet mixture into the dry and stir just until combined. Scoop the mixture evenly into your muffin tin. Should fill about 12 of the muffin cups.
  6. Bake for 14-16 minutes or until the tops spring back when lightly touched.
  7. Remove from oven and place individual muffins on a cooling rack. Top with Greek yogurt frosting if desired. ENJOY!!
healthy carrot cake muffins

Tips for Making Moist Carrot Cake Muffins

Here are some of my best tips for making muffins that are light, fluffy, but definitely moist.

Tip#1: Use room temperature ingredients. When eggs, milk, and yogurt are room temp, they form a better emulsion, which traps air and creates lighter, fluffier baked goods.

Tip #2: Use oil rather than butter. Typically oil produces a more tender and moist muffin.

Tip #3: If you want beautiful tall muffins, don’t be afraid of baking powder. Add a heaping teaspoon instead of a level one.

Tip #4: Don’t overmix your batter. We have all heard this before, but is truly the key to a fluffy, moist muffin. As soon as the flour disappears, step away from the spoon.

carrot cake muffins

How Long Do I Bake Carrot Cake Muffins?

These carrot cake muffins bake tween 14 and 16 minutes. This may seem like less time than other muffins, but they cook at a higher temperature than other muffin recipes.

Different ovens cook at slightly different temperatures, and so I also check my baked goods at the lowest recommended time and then add more time if they need it.

moist and healthy carrot cake muffins

Can I Freeze Carrot Cake Muffins?

Yes! These muffins freeze really well for up to 3 months in an airtight container. Just reheat in the microwave for about 30 seconds when you want to eat one.

carrot cake muffins with cream cheese frosting

More Favorite Muffin Recipes

  • Healthy Apple Muffins – Made with whole wheat flour, coconut oil, applesauce and maple syrup these Healthy Apple Muffins will be your new favorite apple recipe.  
  • Lemon Blueberry Muffins – These muffins are the most moist, cake like muffin on our entire site. Made with fresh blueberries, lemon, creamy yogurt they are also packed with nutrition and less sugar than most other muffins out there!
  • Sweet Spinach Muffins – These kid-favorite spinach muffins are packed with spinach, creamy banana, cinnamon and honey and are so soft, fluffy and moist that they are perfect for babies, toddlers, kids and even adults!
carrot cake muffins
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3.5 from 251 votes

Carrot Cake Muffins

These carrot cake muffins have the amazing flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger like traditional carrot cake with the addition of healthy ingredients and much less sugar!
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time16 minutes
Total Time26 minutes
Course: Snack
Cuisine: American
Servings: 12 muffins
Calories: 263kcal

Ingredients

Muffins

Greek Yogurt Frosting

Instructions

Muffins

  • Preheat oven to 400° Fahrenheit. Spray muffin tin with cooking spray or line with muffin baking cups.
  • In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg.
  • Add the grated carrots to the flour mixture and stir to coat well.
  • In a smaller bowl, add the coconut oil, honey, eggs, yogurt, and vanilla. Whisk together until well combined.
  • Pour the wet mixture into the dry and stir just until combined. Scoop the mixture evenly into your muffin tin. Should fill about 12 of the muffin cups.
  • Bake for 14-16 minutes or until the tops spring back when lightly touched.
  • Remove from oven and place individual muffins on a cooling rack. Top with Greek yogurt frosting if desired. ENJOY!!

Frosting

  • Combine softened cream cheese, greek yogurt, and powdered sugar. Beat until smooth and use to frost muffins if desired.

Nutrition

Serving: 1muffin | Calories: 263kcal | Carbohydrates: 32g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 42mg | Sodium: 340mg | Potassium: 151mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 16g | Vitamin A: 3737IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 69mg | Iron: 1mg
Keyword : carrot cake muffins

www.superhealthykids.com

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.

Learn More about Natalie

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Recipe Rating




13 Comments

I made these and they came out nice and moist but really bland. I dont really think they taste like anything. Could it be because I use ceylon cinnamon instead of regular cinnamon?

5 stars
Made them with/for.my 3 yr old today and they came out really great. Will be making again. I did cut the salt and honey in half. So they are delicious but not too sweet. Everybody loved them.
Ps: you mention brown sugar in step 4 – I think you meant honey.

5 stars
Made these earlier this week, and they came out super moist! The trick is to take them out before they look totally done. I subbed some of the honey out for molasses to give it a deeper flavor. Love your recipes!

5 stars
My son and I loved making these and the frosting is just perfect – not too sweet. We added a 1/4 cup of raisins too.

5 stars
Loved these muffins! The flavor is like carrot cake and they are very moist. I didn’t make the frosting because I freeze all my muffins. I used sour cream instead instead of greek yogurt because that’s all I had. Will add these to my regular rotation!

Just wondering if I can sub something else for coconut oil? I don’t buy it because I barely use it, and it goes bad sitting for a year.

Hello, love your recipe. So tasty and healthy, love that you use coconut oil instead of vegetable oil. Can you please tell me the best way to store these. Do they need to go in the fridge since there’s cream cheese frosting