Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins

Name: Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 27 min
Ingredients: 1 cup apple sauce; 2 eggs; ½ cup packed brown sugar; ¼ cup vegetable oil; 2 tsp vanilla extract; 1 ½ cups finely grated carrots; 2 cups all purpose flour; 2 tsp baking powder; 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon; 1 tsp ground ginger; ½ tsp kosher salt; ¼ tsp ground nutmeg; ⅛ tsp ground cloves; ½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)

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By:

Madeline

Updated: February 24, 2025

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This Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins recipe is the perfect afternoon sweet treat or brunch addition. Add some frosting for a carrot cake for Easter!

a three quarter view photo of carrot cake muffins on a parchment lined wooden cutting board

Make-ahead

Beginner-friendly

You’ll Learn: How to batch-bake so you can enjoy these all week long

Worth It: It builds a freezer stash for stress-free treats later

Bonus: Mix and match add-ins for personalization

Why you’ll Love this recipe

Spring sweet treat – Whenever I think of early spring recipes I think of carrot cake. I love to have carrot cake or carrot cake cupcakes for a delicious Spring dessert.
Sweetened with apple sauce – A lot of the sweetness in this recipe comes from apple sauce rather than granulated sugar. You just need a bit of brown sugar to finish sweetening these delicious muffins!
Great for meal prep – I love including some kind of sweet in my meal prep. These carrot cake muffins are the perfect option because you can have them for breakfast, an afternoon snack, or dessert!

a photo of a muffin with a bite taken out of it on parchment paper with other muffins and brown sugar next to it

Serving suggestions

I would serve these healthy carrot cake muffins with a simple cream cheese frosting for Easter dessert. If you need to plan an Easter meal, here are some of the other recipes recipes I like to serve.

I like to have a roasted turkey breast and serve it with green beans almondine or this strawberry quinoa salad. If you want to make a SUPER easy entree, try this air fryer pork tenderloin.

Ingredients

Eggs – the large eggs will bind everything together in your muffins. Room temperature are best
Unsweetened apple sauce – this will provide both sweetness and keep your muffins moist
Brown Sugar – the brown sugar continues sweetening the muffins and adds a great texture
Vegetable oil – I used vegetable oil, but you could also use avocado oil or coconut oil
Vanilla extract – two teaspoons vanilla extract enhances all of the great flavors in your muffin
Finely grated carrots – you want really finely shredded carrots for the best results. I do this on my box grater
All purpose flour – the flour builds the structure of your muffin
Baking powder – baking powder provides the rise on your muffins. Because there is no acid in this recipe to activate baking soda, you definitely want to use baking powder
Ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves – this spice combination adds all of those classic carrot cake flavors
Kosher salt – salt deepens the amazing taste of your muffin
Walnuts – these are an optional addition, but I love incorporating some nuts

Ingredient Substitutions

To make these muffins gluten free, use an all purpose gluten-free flour in place of the all purpose. You could also make this with whole wheat flour instead. To make these vegan, you could try making it with flax egg.

I love the classic spices for this carrot cake. If you have fresh instead of ground, grate them yourself and add a bit extra since it won’t be as concentrated as the ground.

If you substitute melted butter in place of the oil, I recommend adding a bit extra to make up for the lower fat content. You could also use greek yogurt or sour cream in place of the oil.

Add extra mix ins to these muffins for an even heartier carrot cake taste. You can add dried cranberries or raisins for a fruity taste. I like to use chopped walnuts in this recipe, but you could also do chopped pecans or sliced almonds!

You can also make this recipe as a bread instead of muffins. Just use a loaf pan instead of a muffin tin.

a photo of the wet ingredients next to a photo of the carrots added into the mixed wet ingredients

How to make

Step 1: Whisk together wet ingredients

Preheat oven to 350F and line 12 muffin slots with liners.

Whisk apple sauce, eggs, brown sugar, vegetable oil and vanilla extract together in a mixing bowl (Image 1). Fold in the finely grated carrots (Image 2).

a photo of the dry ingredients dumped into the bowl of wet ingredients next to a photo of all ingredients mixed together with walnuts on top

Step 2: Fold in dry ingredients

In a separate bowl stir together all purpose flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, ginger, salt, nutmeg and cloves.

Fold dry ingredients into wet with a flat spatula (Image 3). Mix until just combined and then fold in the chopped walnuts (Image 4).

Then, scoop a 1/4 cup of batter into each of 12 muffin cups. Place the muffin tin in the oven and bake at 350F for estimate of 27 minutes. You can check if they are done by seeing if a toothpick comes out clean.

Remove the muffins from the oven. Transfer from the muffin pan to a wire rack and allow to cool fully before enjoying. Feel free to sprinkle more brown sugar on top, or even make a streusel topping. I love adding a buttermilk frosting or glaze on top.

a photo of the baked carrot cake muffins in a muffin pan

Storage, freezing and reheating

Allow these healthy carrot cake muffins to cool completely. Then, transfer to an air tight container. Place in the refrigerator for up to one week.

You can also freeze these muffins. Store them in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Defrost the muffins in the fridge or on the counter and enjoy. If you want to enjoy a warm carrot cake muffin, you can reheat the muffins in a toaster oven.

Check out these other muffin recipes

You can find the full recipe below. If you make this recipe, please rate and review it in the comments, or share it with me on Instagram!

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