Healthy Wholemeal Carrot Muffins naturally sweetened with maple syrup, packed with delicious carrots and perfectly spiced – your kids will love these muffins in their lunch box! This one bowl, freezer-friendly muffin recipe is so easy, healthy, and delicious!
It’s no secret Miss G. loves to cook and now that she fully understands her little brother enjoys her culinary creations too, she adores her time in the kitchen that little bit more.
Today, with Mr H. happily playing away on his play mat my budding little chef and I decided to stir together a super simple batch of wholemeal carrot muffins.
These muffins are not only delicious (and full of nutritional goodness) but couldn’t be simpler to bake. Simply whisk together the wet ingredients, stir through the dry ingredients then gently fold through a couple of cups of gorgeously bright shredded carrot. Once nestled in the oven these orange hued little darlings take just over 10 minutes to bake to golden gorgeousness and smell amazing thanks to our spice mix of cinnamon, nutmeg and ground ginger.
I also love the fact that we managed to make these muffins using no sugar. Instead, the grated carrot adds most of the needed sweetness along with a little maple syrup. Our gorgeous spice mix also did a lot to flavour the wholesome muffins.
Once baked and cooled, Mr H. was more than happy to tuck in. Along with a few fresh strawberries the wholemeal carrot muffin quickly disappeared thanks to his very unique eating style. I don’t quite remember Grace eating like this at his age but Mr H. loves to crumble the muffin and lick the crumbs off of his little hands. It’s so cute to watch, the intense look on his face just melts my heart.
These muffins are also freezer friendly. Simply allow the muffins to cool to room temperature, wrap individual portions, pop into a freezer safe container and stash in the deep freeze for up to 3 months. I often pop frozen muffins straight into our lunch box and by lunch time they are perfectly thawed and ready to enjoy.
To create your own batch of wholemeal carrot muffins follow these simple steps…
Begin by preheating your oven to 180 degrees celsius (350F). Line a 12 hole muffin tin with muffin papers.
Place the eggs, yoghurt, oil, vanilla and maple syrup into a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine.
Add the wholemeal flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger and gently mix until just incorporated. Do not overmix the batter.
Gently fold through the grated carrot.
Use a 1/4 measuring cup to ladle the batter into the prepared tin. Pop into the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until cooked (test by pressing gently on the top of the muffin, if the muffin bounces back they are done).
Allow to cool slightly before removing the muffins from the tin and placing on a wire rack to cool completely.
Serve alongside some fresh strawberries for a lovely baby led weaning morning or afternoon tea. Enjoy x
MORE KID-FRIENDLY MUFFIN RECIPES
raspberry and banana breakfast muffins
blueberry lemon and spelt muffins
strawberry banana and cacao nib muffins
one bowl banana and carrot mini loaves (or muffins)
blueberry lemon and poppy seed muffins
wholemeal lemon ricotta and chia muffins
★ DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE? PLEASE GIVE IT A STAR RATING BELOW!
Print
wholemeal carrot muffins
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 12 muffins 1x
Description
Healthy Wholemeal Carrot Muffins naturally sweetened with maple syrup, packed with delicious carrots and perfectly spiced – your kids will love these muffins in their lunch box! This one bowl, freezer-friendly muffin recipe is so easy, healthy, and delicious!
Ingredients
- 1 cup (250 ml) yoghurt
- 3/4 cup (180 ml) lightly flavoured olive oil (or cold pressed macadamia nut oil)
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups (250 grams) plain wholemeal flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon, ground
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg, ground
- 1 teaspoon ginger, ground
- 3 medium carrots (approx. 2 cups), grated
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius (350F) and line a 12 hole muffin tin with muffin papers.
- Place the yoghurt, oil, eggs, maple syrup and vanilla extract into a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine.
- Add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger and mix until just combined. Do not over mix.
- Gently fold through the carrot.
- Use a 1/4 measuring cup to ladle the batter into the prepared tin.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden and when a skewer inserted removes cleanly. Allow to cool slightly before removing the muffins from the tin and placing on a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy x
Notes
Muffins best kept in an air tight container in the fridge. Will keep for 2-3 days.
Muffins are freezer friendly. Store in an air tight container or zip lock bag. Will keep for 3 months.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Category: Muffins
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
What yoghurt do you use for your carrot muffins???
they didn’t come out right. they didn’t rise much while the top was well done, the middle was still uncooked and I kept them in the oven for nearly 30 min. don’t know why…..
Same for me … they’ve gone back in four or five times, had about half an hour, over-cooked on the outside and not quite cooked on the inside, what have I done wrong!? They taste yummy though!
Did you let the oven come back up to temperature before putting the muffins back in? Sometimes when we open/close the oven the temperature drops significantly and there is not enough heat left to cook them properly. So happy you thought they tasted great though. May I ask what kind of muffin tin you used? Thanks so much Katharine! X
This recipe looks delicious and I can’t wait to try it:) my little boy is dairy free so can I substitute the yoghurt for soy yoghurt?
Kate
So lovely, soft and delicious – for mums and bubs!
Thank you for all your lovely recipes. Is it possible to make these using unsalted butter instead of oil? Maybe it’s the type of oil I use but whenever I make muffins with oil they always come out too oily.
Absolutely, give the butter a go. What type of oil to you usually use? I have great success with olive oil and cold pressed macadamia nut oil. I hope this helps. Happy cooking and please report back, I’d love to know how you go! X
Would love try this recipe today, but I don’t have the wholemeal flour… Do you think it would work with white whole wheat flour instead? Also I have lots of greek yogurt at home, is it ok or it must be the regular? Thanks
Yes, regular flour will work perfectly. And I use Greek yoghurt too. Happy cooking and please report back, I’d love to know how you go xxx
Hi. I made these today, it has a lovely flavour but seems way too oily..I used coconut oil seen as I don’t have macadamia or olive oil. Should I reduce the quantity next time?
I have just made these and used coconut oil, used a bit less than the recipe stated and still way too oily- in fact I had to pour the oil off and return to the oven and that was after 20 mins! They’re still in the oven as not cooked yet so fingers crossed that nownive poured the excess oil off they’ll turn out ok…
Hi – coconut oil acts differently in baked goods. You need less, and it comes out of the baked goodies. Weird! How did they go? Apologies for my delayed reply. Kayla xx
My 7 month old son loves bread, so figured something healthier with a similar texture would work. These muffins have gone down incredibly well! We used mixed spice and self raising flour as substitutions (as it’s what we had in) and they are delicious. And they freeze & defrost beautifully. Thankyou! xx
These came out well, not overly sweet. I’d probably do less nutmeg (if any) next time as they have a very slight bitterness that I think is due to the nutmeg.
Just wondering if you have tried these with coconut oil?
Absolutely love these – made them for my toddler but most of the batch ended up being eaten by the adults in the house instead! 🙂
These are seriously delicious! Mr 1 scoffed one down in seconds and they go perfectly with my morning coffee 😀 Thank you for creating such wonderful recipes that our whole family can enjoy!
My batch (which is on white plain flour sadly) seems to want more time in the oven. Have you done these with selfraising – I never am sure baking powder is a winner for me.. we’ll see. putting back in for another 5mins
Hi would like to try this recipe for my kids.. But we dont have maple syrup can we substitute with others?
A little sugar (or honey would work too). Happy baking xxx
I did 50:50 whole wheat flour and all purpose flour, added some golden raisins, and used mostly vegetable oil but ran out so topped off with a little olive oil. The muffins came out very moist, but I agree there is a slight bitterness to them. Nothing that a little jam and butter couldn’t fix.
Hi. Are you using fresh ginger?
ground ginger spice lovely! From the dried spices section of the supermarket. X
Could you use gluten-free plain flour instead?
Yes absolutely Nina! The texture is slightly different but still amazing. I hope that helps. Happy baking X
These are amazing! So easy to make and freeze beautifully! I always have some stashed in the freezer and have made them for many of my friends and their bubs love them.
YAY! So happy to know you enjoy the wholemeal carrot muffins xx
Would using almond meal work instead of the whole meal flour?
Hi Ash! If you’d like to use almond meal in this recipe, it’s best to replace 1 cup of flour with 1 cup of almond meal (you will still require the remaining cup of flour to give the muffins structure). I hope that makes sense. Happy baking. Kayla xo
Di these have to be refrigerated? I want to make these for my daughter to take in her backpack for a snack at preschool. I was planning on making ahead and freezing and putting it in her bag in the morning.
Thank you!