healthy carrot pumpkin muffins (gluten free) (2024)

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by Taesha Butler on Oct 2, 2019 (updated Oct 25, 2023)

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4.76 from 25 votes

These Healthy Carrot Pumpkin Muffins are silly easy to make and full of wonderful flavor. Loaded with a cup of pumpkin puree and a cup of grated carrot, these muffins are made from blended oats and are naturally sweetened with a little maple syrup or honey! The perfect healthy breakfast, snack or lunch box addition.

healthy carrot pumpkin muffins (gluten free) (1)

Veggie-loaded muffins have kind of become what I am known for. Who would have guessed? Certainly not me when I was 18 years old, filling out college applications and trying to figure out how I was going to make my impact on the world. And while my education and years as a teacher have certainly helped me in understanding why my veggie-loaded approach is so successful with some many families, I still can’t help but giggle when I think about the interesting twists and turns life takes you on. Like putting veggies into muffins and changing how so many people feel about the vegetable food group!

These healthy carrot pumpkin muffins are my latest veggie-loaded muffin offering. They are incredibly easy to make (either in your blender or in one single bowl) and are full of great flavors. Made from blended oats, naturally sweetened with a little maple syrup or honey, and rocking 1 cup of pumpkin puree and a cup of grated carrots EACH! This recipe is easily made gluten free when you use certified gluten free oats and makes a batch of 10. These muffins are the perfect healthy breakfast option, but definitely will make for a wonderful snack or lunch box filler, too!

healthy carrot pumpkin muffins (gluten free) (2)

Suggested Adaptations

Sub the pumpkin with butternut squash puree or sweet potato puree. Either will work beautifully!
Blend in the carrots! If bits of carrot just won’t fly with your crew, go ahead and blend them in versus folding in!
Add raisins or chocolate chips! These add a little extra kick of sweetness and fun!
Make them dairy-free by using your favorite plant milk.
Make them egg-free! Sup the 2 eggs in this recipe with 2 “flax eggs”.
Sub oat flour with whole wheat flour. If gluten free is not important, you can use whole wheat flour instead.

Tips

Let them cool completely.If you want to dive right in and enjoy a healthy carrot pumpkin muffin warm, go for it. But don’t worry if they stick to the papers a little or are slightly soft in the middle. Both are normal and as the muffins cool, both issues should resolve.
Do not over mix. If you are using your blender to make this batter, it can be easy to over mix if you are not using a high-speed blender. Over mixing will leave you with a dense muffin. If you don’t have a blender that can easily handle this recipe, mix this recipe in a bowl by hand so that you can enjoy a soft muffin!

Wondering how to store your carrots so they stay fresh as long as possible? Check out my post on How to Keep Cut Carrots Fresh and get the most out of your produce buck!

healthy carrot pumpkin muffins (gluten free) (3)

Other veggie-loaded muffin recipes you are going to love:

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins
Oatmeal Green Smoothie Muffins
Sweet Potato Peanut Butter Muffins
Nut-Free Paleo Chocolate Butternut Squash Muffins
Almond Butter Blueberry Zucchini Muffins

Did you try this veggie-loaded muffin recipe and now you’re hungry for more?

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4.76 from 25 votes

Healthy Carrot Pumpkin Muffins

Yield: 10 muffins

Prep Time: 10 minutes mins

Cook Time: 20 minutes mins

Cuisine: American

Course: Breakfast

Author: Taesha Butler

These Healthy Carrot Pumpkin Muffins are silly easy to make and full of wonderful flavor. Loaded with good-for-you orange veggies, they are wonderful for breakfast, a snack or a lunch box addition. Naturally gluten free, dairy-free and can be easily made nut-free.

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Ingredients

▢ 1 ¾ cups rolled oats, be sure oats are certified gluten free if gluten free is needed. Can sub whole wheat flour if gluten free is not important
▢ 2 teaspoon pumpkin spice
▢ ¼ teaspoon sea salt
▢ 1 teaspoon baking powder
▢ ½ teaspoon baking soda
▢ ¼ cup avocado oil , or melted coconut oil
▢ 2 large eggs, of sub 2 "flax eggs" for an egg free option
▢ ⅓ cup maple syrup, or honey
▢ 1 cup pumpkin purée , (not pumpkin filling)
▢ ½ Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
▢ ¼ cup milk of choice
▢ 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
▢ 1 cup grated carrot

Equipment

▢
Blender
▢
Muffin tin

Instructions

Preheat you oven to 375℉ and line a muffin tin with 10 liners. Set aside.
In your blender, combine uncooked oats, pumpkin spice, salt, baking powder, and baking soda, Blend on high-speed until the oats break down into a fine flour. Pour oat flour mixture into a medium mixing bowl and set aside.
In your now empty blender, add oil, eggs, maple syrup, pumpkin puree, vanilla, milk, and vinegar. Blend on high-speed until the mixture is smooth a and there are no leafy pieces remaining.
NOTE:If you have a high-speed blender prefer to blend everything together all at once, you absolutely can. Just combine everything (starting with the wet ingredients first) in your blender and puree until you have a smooth batter. However, I found in testing that is can be easy to over mix the batter when doing this and that can lead to dense muffins.
Pour contents of the blender into the bowl with the oat mixture. Stir until combined, being sure not to over mix (this can lead to dense, flat muffins).
Add carrots to the bowl with the batter and fold in them in.
Portion out between the 12 prepared muffin cups.
Bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean
TIP: If you have a kitchen thermometer, cook until the muffins have an internal temperature of 200℉.This will ensure they are cooked through, but not overcooked.
Cool in a pan for 10 minutes before transferring the muffins to a cooling rack.
Allow muffins to cool completely before storing in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 5 days or in a freezer for up to a month.

Notes

Note to my readers: This recipe was one of my first and I have played around with it quite a bit as I have become a better recipe developer. In October 2023, I updated this recipe so that readers would have more consistent success with this recipe and did make a few minor ingredient and method tweaks. However, as a beloved recipe by many of you, I have posted the original recipe & method below so that you can have the muffins you know and love….just as you have always made them.

1 cup grated carrot
1/4 cup avocado oil
2 eggs
1/3 cup honey or maple syrup
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 teaspoons pumpkin spice
1 3/4
1/2 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup milk of choice
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

Preheat you oven to 350℉ and line a muffin tin with 10 liners. Set aside.
Wrap grated carrots in a paper towel and squeeze out as much moisture as possible. Set aside.
In your high-speed blender or in a bowl (whichever you prefer) combine all ingredientsexcept the grated carrots.
Mix until everything is just combined and you have a smooth batter. Do not over mix! Over mixing can result in a dense muffin.
Fold in grated carrots.
Portion out between the 10 prepared muffin cups.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean
Cool in a pan for 10 minutes before transferring the muffins to a cooling rack.
Allow muffins to cool completely before storing in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 5 days or in a freezer for up to a month.

Serving: 1muffin, Calories: 165kcal, Carbohydrates: 21g, Protein: 4g, Fat: 8g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 5g, Trans Fat: 0.01g, Cholesterol: 38mg, Sodium: 184mg, Potassium: 193mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 8g, Vitamin A: 6012IU, Vitamin C: 2mg, Calcium: 69mg, Iron: 1mg

Nutritional information provided here is only an estimate shared for convenience and as a courtesy. Information will vary based on ingredients + brands used to create the recipe.

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