Healthy Applesauce Carrot Muffins {a.k.a. Carrot Cake Muffins}
These healthy applesauce carrot muffins are like a better-for-you bite of carrot cake in muffin form. So delicious and easy!
Sorry to be one-dimensional with the healthy muffin recipes lately but I couldn’t wait. I had to share these with you immediately.
Maybe because I just shoved three of these in my mouth, but I have to say, they are my favorites of the latest muffin bunch.

They smell fantastic, they look pretty (those orange flecks are beauty), and they taste amazing.
It’s like a healthy bite of carrot cake. In muffin form.
They are low in fat, low in refined sugar and packed with applesauce and carrots.
But the real high point of these applesauce carrot muffins are they don’t taste healthy. Like, they don’t scream: HEALTH FOOD ALERT!
Yes, they are far healthier than many muffin recipes on the market, but they are subtly so, which means you can eat them and bask in the deliciousness without having to choke it down with a glass of, I don’t know, chocolate milk or something.
Get your little self into the kitchen and make these.
Another whole grain, healthy muffin to add to your life.
And it can be yours in 30 minutes or less (however, like all good muffins, these actually taste better once they are cooled, so dig deep for some self-control; you’ll be happier for it).
I hope these rock your world like they rocked mine.
One Year Ago: Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake Pie
Two Years Ago: Brazilian Feijoada {Slow Cooked Pork and Black Bean Stew}
Three Years Ago: Roasted Fruit with Streusel Topping
Healthy Applesauce Carrot Muffins {a.k.a. Carrot Cake Muffins}
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups (213 g) whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons (28 g) butter, melted
- ½ cup honey
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- ¾ cup finely shredded carrots, about 2-3 medium carrots
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
- In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt.
- Make a small well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the butter, honey, egg, vanilla, and applesauce.
- Stir ingredients together until just combined and there are still some spots of flour remaining.
- Fold in the shredded carrots just until combined (don’t overmix or the muffins will be dense).
- Distribute the batter evenly among the muffin liners. Bake for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
- Remove to a wire rack to cool completely. These muffins freeze wonderfully and keep well if covered at room temperature for 2-3 days.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: adapted from 100 Days of Real Food after being referred to the recipe by a long-time reader, Laura G. (decreased ginger, added nutmeg, decreased butter from 8 tablespoons to 2 tablespoons, etc.) – thank you, Miss Laura!
Hi Mel, love your muffin recipes. We love so many of them!
I have a question for you about doubling. I’m assuming your family probably eats through muffins and baked goods as fast as mine does, and I’m wondering if you have a rule of thumb you follow for doubling ingredients in baked goods. Do you double everything or make adjustments in the baking soda and powder? I’ve read somewhere that you are supposed to adjust those ingredient amounts. Do you?
Since we’re talking about doubling–if you’ve got a minute: when you are thickening something with flour (like a creamy sauce or a soup) do you find that you have to more than double the flour in order to thicken the final product? I’ve found that my dishes don’t thicken appropriately unless I add more flour than just the doubled amount. Have you found that to be true? If so, do you have a rule of thumb you follow on that?
Thank you for every. single. recipe you post. Love to try them all…and have now since you started out. So grateful!
Yum! These are really moist and tasty. Delicious with Earl Grey tea! I didn’t have a full 1/2 cup of honey, so I used 1/4 C honey and subbed in 1/4C brown sugar. I also added a handful of raisins and a few spoonfuls of crystalized ginger left over from holiday baking 🙂
These are amazing!! I used coconut oil + 1t water instead of butter and added golden raisins and finely chopped pecans, stunning results. Toddler approved as well!
I made these today using the homemade applesauce I made in the slow cooker yesterday. I would say “Healthy Applesauce Carrot Muffins” is accurate but “Carrot Cake Muffins” is a stretch!
I just made these muffins and they are delicious! They are very moist and flavorful (although I did decrease the ginger to 1/8 a tsp). Also, I used white whole wheat flour. This recipe is a keeper!
BEST CARROT MUFFINS EVER! Super moist, and bursting with flavor! The second time I made them I added pecans for a bit of a crunch, so good. Thanks for sharing this recipe. ❤️
I added some chopped walnuts and golden raisins.
Ymmm.should of added raisins or nuts.
so good. light, fluffy.my family loves it and I was able to make it at the age of 9.
Can you sub egg by making a flax egg and make it vegan?
I haven’t tried that but you could experiment!
I just tried it! This recipe is perfection! I substituted butter with coconut oil but still great!
So far this is the best muffin I’ve tried!
Will it be possible to use the same muffin batter for a different flavour? Like double chocolate or blueberry?
I haven’t tried that but you could experiment! Good luck!
I’ve made this recipe before and they are delicious!! I am out of whole wheat flour though, can I sub with white flour 1:1??
Yes you can sub white flour for the wheat flour (same amount).
Best thing about these besides being delicious is the fact that they stay fresh tasting for days, yum!
Came out really good! I subbed bobs red mill gluten free flour, coconut oil, and flax egg 🙂 Easy, healthy, and yummy <3. Will definitely make again! good base recipe to get creative with subs and add ins! Oh and baked for 16 minutes 🙂
Thanks for letting us know it worked out with those changes!
Just made these and they taste amazing!! Had to modify a few things since I didn’t have them on hand. I replaced the applesauce with homemade pear sauce and added a bit of chocolate chips. So good!! I’m totally going to make more for the kids when they go to camp!
These were wonderful!! I love cinnamon, so I doubled it and added walnuts and raisins. Thank you for another great recipe!
Can I make this into a cake instead of muffins? What would I need to do differently?
I’m not sure – I haven’t tried it. I don’t know how the quantity of batter translates into cake pan size. Good luck if you experiment!
These turned out fantastic! My daughter has an egg allergy so we substituted the gg for 1/4 cup of yogurt which worked perfectly. I will definitely be making these again.
Was looking for a healthy mini muffin for backstage at 5 dance shows – had to be no peanut and no berries or chocolate to stain costumes -THESE ARE AMAZING! We will be making these again before the end of the show run for sure and they worked perfectly as mini muffins! THANKS MEL!
These turned out great. Not for the sweet tooth though. I happe. To like my sweets ‘not to sweet’
Without exaggeration, these are the best muffins I’ve ever made!
I made them exactly as posted except I did half brown sugar and half honey because I doubled it and I’m too cheap
Absolutely LOVE these! I use a microplane for the carrots (it’s an arm workout, but worth it), and I always end up doubling the recipe so I can’t eat them all in 24hrs. I’d like to make a gluten free version for a get together, but have never baked anything gluten free. Do you have any gluten-free flour suggestions? Thanks!
I’m not super familiar with gluten free flour…but usually the cup for cup blends work decently well in recipes like this.
These muffins are so delicious!! My daughter who can’t have refined sugar looooooves them!!! Thank you!!
This recipe is easy and delicious. I thoroughly enjoyed it and so did everyone else. I’m making these for the second time and look forward to eating them again.
ok. I am terrible at making muffins. They are dry/ dense/ too soggy/ just plain gross. But I didn’t want to give up! I came across this recipe after a google search for carrot muffins, as I had some to use up. They are AWESOME! I am SO PROUD of myself! I finally made a delicious, moist and fluffy muffin! Thank you for sharing this recipe, it is a keeper 🙂
Turned out delicious! Would make again.
Excellent muffins! Just made them and tasted one already! I did 1/4 c honey 1/4 pure organic maple syrup.
Thank you!
These are so great!I love that they are made with no granulated sugar, just honey. (I may try maple syrup next time just for variety) I used 1/2 cup sprouted whole wheat flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour. I made 18 mini muffins and baked them for 13 minutes.
Thanks for the recipe!
Hey, Mel!
My 11 month old, husband and I loved these muffins! Second time I made them, I replaced applesauce (had no more) with two bananas and carrots with raisins and cranberries. Both times, they were terrific.
Thanks’ for sharing!
Doesn’t specify how much egg to use.
Use the whole egg.
They are so good even my kids went nuts for them
These are great! I’m always trying creative ways to get veggies into my picky 2-year-old. I added a cup of ground walnuts, but otherwise followed the recipe exactly. My little guy (and my husband and I) loved them. It’s nice to have muffins I know are sweetened with just some honey and apple sauce.
Do you use self raising flour or plain flour? (I know its wholemeal) How do the muffins rise up if not SR flour?
I do not use self-rising flour – there is leavening in the recipe ingredients so you can use all-purpose or whole wheat flour.
Just made these.. delicious!!!
Do you know what the nutritional value is – if I am watching my calorie intake, I know all kind of healthy food. I liked them.
You should be able to input the recipe into a site like myfitness pal and it will calculate how many calories are in each muffin for you. 🙂
Good easy recipe and it works!
I steamed whole carrots, then mashed them, instead of using shredded carrots. I also didn’t have nutmeg or ginger, but these still turned out great!
How many did this recipe make? Looking to make them for preschool snacks.
12 large or about 16 smaller.
The yield is right above the recipe title. It makes about 12 muffins. 🙂
Had carrots that needed to be used! This recipe was quick and easy. I used these items: almond flour and coconut butter instead of what the recipe called for. Turned out good anyways!
Just to clarify: you used almond flour instead of the wheat flour?
Can you substitute maple syrup for the honey? I want to make these for my 10 month old but honey is a no-go until they are 1 year old.
I doubled this recipe and used 2 cups whole wheat flour, 1 cup white flour. I used my own homemade applesauce and added raisins.
I glazed these with and orange glaze and orange rind.
Perhaps not as healthy. But delicious!!!
Delicious muffins! I used baking spray instead of liners. I also added 1/4 cup chopped walnuts and 1/4 cup raisins.
So far out of the oven they’re perfect. Probably the second recipe I’ve followed nearly exactly in my life of 58 years
These were very delicious. Not too sweet but still flavorful. Moist. I will make these again.
I love this recipe and so does my one-year old daughter! Thank you!!
Just made these muffins and they are very tasty! I don’t normally like carrots in cakes/muffins but thought I would give these a try as I had some carrots that needed using up. Will leave a couple out for tomorrow and will freeze the rest for a quick workday breakfast. I’m currently not eating Gluten or dairy so I replaced the whole wheat flour with GF All Purpose and used Vegan butter in place of the regular butter.
Wow great muffins, My daughter downed 5 of them saying mommy they were just so good!
At first I was worried that there was too much honey and they would be too sweet but they are not.
Awesome and so easy! My 13 month old loves them as well! I also did 1/4c of raw honey and a 1/4c of pure maple syrup instead of the 1/2c of raw honey and they are amazing! Thanks for sharing the recipe! Def making them again.
Could you use coconut flour instead of whole wheat flour?
I’ve never tried – I don’t know how coconut flour “behaves” in baked goods, like it how it absorbs moisture, etc.
Just made them…..I think for the second time. Love this recipe. My 3 and 5 year old are begging me for more. Both have requested them in their lunch for tomorrow. Thanks for a great recipe!
These muffins were delicious. I added some raisins. I will definitely make these again. Thank you!!
Delicious muffins. I actually used 1/2 maple syrup and 1/2 molasses (as baby is under 1 year old and didn’t want to use honey) and they turned out great. Slightly different taste but baby loves them and so do I! Good for baby with extra calcium and iron that the molasses provides.