These vegan carrot muffins are super quick and easy to make, sweet, fluffy, perfectly moist and secretly loaded with carrots. If you’re a fan of carrot cake, you are guaranteed to love these muffins.
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🧡 Why You’ll Love These Muffins
These muffins are perfectly sweet, moist and tender, with not even a hint of carrot flavour. But that doesn’t mean the grated carrots are not the crucial ingredient in the recipe. You might not taste them, but it’s the carrots that add just the right amount of sweetness and moisture to these muffins. Plus, carrots are loaded with vitamin D, fibre and potassium, so adding a healthy twist to classic muffins has never been easier.
Why you’ll love these vegan carrot muffins:
- Ready in under 30 minutes
- One-bowl recipe
- Vegan friendly
- Secretly loaded with carrots
- Perfectly sweet, moist and tender
- Wholesome and satisfying
🥕 Can You Taste the Carrots?
Not really. You can definitely see them and taste the sweetness that they bring to the mix. But if you expect the classic carrot taste when you bite into this muffin, you’ll be disappointed. In a blind test, no one would ever guess these vegan muffins are secretly loaded with veggies.
🥣 Ingredients and Substitutions
- Flax eggs – Flax meal is one of the most complete plant-based substitutes for eggs for recipes that need the specific texture of an added egg, but not the flavour. They give these muffins that perfect cakey texture, but don’t add any flavour. To prepare one flax egg, mix one tablespoon of flax meal (ground flax seeds) with two and a half tablespoons of tepid water.
- Coconut oil – Use melted refined coconut oil. While non-refined coconut oil has a strong coconut taste, which is very much desirable in some recipes, refined oil has a very mild, practically non-existent flavour, which is perfect for this recipe, where you want the carrots to be the star of the show.
- Mashed banana – Naturally sweetens the muffins, and also adds moisture to make them more tender.
- Maple syrup – The flavour of maple syrup goes great with carrots and banana, but if you don’t have any at hand, you can easily substitute it with agave syrup, your favourite liquid sweetener (making the muffins lower in calories and sugar) or even honey (if not strictly vegan).
- Sugar – I used regular, granulated sugar, but if you’re looking to make these muffins refined sugar free, coconut sugar will work as well.
- Salt – Adding salt to sweet recipes helps to bring out all the flavours. Make sure to use finely ground sea salt.
- Baking powder – Acts as a leavening agent in the recipe. Measure it carefully for the right consistency and fluffiness.
- Cinnamon – Optional, but highly recommended. It goes great with the banana and carrot flavour, and makes the whole house know you’re baking something delicious.
- Almond milk – I used unsweetened almond milk for its neutral flavour, but you can use any kind of plant-based milk you like, such as soy, oat or coconut milk.
- Carrots – Grated carrots are the essential ingredient of this recipe, so make sure you don’t skimp on them. Go with a heaping, fully packed one and a half cup of grated carrots. It might seem like a lot, but once they’re baked, the carrots are barely visible.
- Rolled oats – Adding some rolled oats to the mix gives these muffins a slightly chewier, more interesting texture.
- Raisins – Optional, but highly recommended. Raisins add an additional pop of flavour and sweetness to the muffins.
- Almond meal – Made with raw, unpeeled almond. You can use store-bought or make your own by processing blanched almonds in a food processor.
- Flour – All-purpose flour works well in this recipe. I haven’t tried it with a gluten-free flour blend, but it might work.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step One – Prepare the flax eggs.
Start by preparing flax eggs. In a medium sized bowl, mix two tablespoons of flax meal with five tablespoons of tepid water. Whisk until a smooth paste forms and set aside for 5-10 minutes. You can read more about this magic egg replacer here in this short post on flax eggs.
Step Two – Prepare the batter.
To the prepared flax eggs, add coconut oil, mashed banana, maple syrup, sugar and a pinch of salt, whisking until thoroughly combined. Next, add baking powder, cinnamon and almond milk into the mixture, stirring until all ingredients are well integrated.
Fold in the grated carrots, ensuring they are evenly distributed throughout. Then, add the remaining dry ingredients – rolled oats, almond meal, flour and raisins, and stir until the ingredients are fully incorporated.
Step Three – Fill the muffin tins.
Carefully divide the batter equally among 12 muffin tins, filling each to the brim.
Step four – Bake, cool and serve.
Bake the muffins in a preheated oven for 32-36 minutes, or until the muffins achieve a rich, deep golden brown hue and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Once baked, remove the muffins from the oven and allow them to set in the pan for 15 minutes. When they’re cool enough to handle, transfer them to a wire rack to let them cool completely.
FAQs
Once cooled, store the muffins in a covered container or bag at room temp to keep fresh. They will last for 3 to 4 days.
Yes! You can freeze the muffins in a freezer-friendly container for up to 3 months. When ready to eat, you can take them out individually and let them defrost at room temperature or put them in the microwave.
Can’t Get Enough of Muffins? Try These!
- Banana Bread Muffins [vegan + low fat + refined sugar free]
- Zucchini Muffins [vegan + low calorie]
- Apple Pie Muffins [vegan + low calorie]
- Strawberry Mango Oat Muffins [vegan + low calorie + low fat]
Or, click here for a complete list of vegan muffin recipes.
Vegan Carrot Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 flax eggs
- ¼ cup coconut oil, melted
- ⅓ cup mashed ripe banana
- ⅛ cup maple syrup
- ½ cup white sugar
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ cup plant-based milk (I used almond milk)
- 1 ½ cup grated carrot
- ⅔ cup rolled oats
- ½ cup almond meal, or ground almonds
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup raisins
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
- Start by preparing flax eggs. In a medium sized bowl, mix two tablespoons of flax meal with five tablespoons of tepid water. Whisk until a smooth paste forms and set aside for 5-10 minutes.
- Line a muffin tin with paper cups or lightly grease them.
- To the prepared flax eggs, add coconut oil, mashed banana, maple syrup, sugar, salt, and whisk to combine.
- Next add the baking powder, cinnamon, and almond milk. Stir well.
- Add grated carrots and stir.
- Add oats, almond meal, flour, and raisins. Stir well.
- Divide the batter evenly among 12 muffin tins, filling them all the way up to the top.
- Bake for 32-36 minutes, or until deep golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- Once baked, remove the muffins from the oven and allow them to set in the pan for 15 minutes. When they’re cool enough to handle, transfer them to a wire rack to let them cool completely.
- If you try to unwrap them too quickly, they have a tendency to stick to the wrappers.
- Once cooled, store in a covered container or bag at room temp to keep fresh. Freeze after that to keep fresh.
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