One of the most popular posts on my blog is a recipe for Hearty Spiced Carrot Muffins. I love these things, and—yay!—readers do, too. A nice dose of vitamin-rich veggies to kick-start your day? That’s a win right there.
But can I leave well enough alone? Of course not! The original recipe contains milk and eggs, and because I’ve really been enjoying vegan baking lately, I decided to create a vegan version.
“Vegan-izing” a muffin recipe is actually easier—and the results are tastier—than you might imagine. Dry, tasteless hockey pucks these are not. Just a few simple swaps, and you’ve still got a moist, tender, delicious muffin on your hands.
Vegan Baking Swaps
The swaps I make when I adapt a muffin recipe to make it vegan are pretty simple.
- Eggs: Instead of chicken eggs, I use flax “eggs”—flax meal mixed with water and allowed to sit for a few minutes to create a slightly gel-like consistency
- Milk: If a recipe calls for cow’s milk, I generally opt for almond milk.
- Oil/butter: The original recipe called for already-vegan vegetable oil, but I’ve happily jumped on the coconut oil bandwagon, so these muffins have coconut oil instead. (Coconut oil also makes a fine substitute for butter.)
- Banana/applesauce: And although I didn’t include either of these in this particular recipe, I might also add a mashed banana or some applesauce (or both!) for moistness and sweetness without added sugar.
Really, the only significant difference I’ve found between vegan muffins and non-vegan is that the vegan version tends to be more dense. But when we’re talking about a hearty muffin to begin with, I find I like that. One of these Vegan Spiced Carrot Muffins—along with a fresh, hot mug of coffee—makes for a satisfying little breakfast.
So go ahead—go forth and vegan-ize! I’d be willing to bet you (and your taste buds) will be pleasantly surprised.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp ground flaxseed
- 1/3 cup water
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup rolled oats plus 2 tbsp for topping
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- 2 cups grated carrots about 3 medium carrots
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease the cups of a 12-cup, standard-size muffin tin.
- In a small bowl, add the flaxseed meal and water. Stir to combine. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, 1 cup oats, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.
- Place the coconut oil in a microwave-safe, medium-size bowl. Microwave at 50% power in 20-second increments until just melted. Remove from the microwave and stir in the carrots, almond, milk, brown sugar, and vanilla extract. Add the flaxseed mix; stir to combine.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon just until combined.
- Divide the batter between muffin tins; just over 1/3 cup per tin (I use a trigger-handle ice cream scoop). Top with the remaining 2 tablespoons oats.
- Bake the muffins until the tops bounce back when lightly poked and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 15–18 minutes. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then carefully remove them from pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
57 Comments
Louana Holmer
October 21, 2014 at 10:59 amMy daughter makes these using not only carrot pulp from juicing but other fruits and veggies that get mixed in and they are super delicious! Some other pulps that may get mixed in are apples, pears, grapes and greens.
agi goldenberg
February 2, 2016 at 6:51 pmWhere is the nutritional info, please?
Beth
February 7, 2016 at 11:55 amI made these last night.
Modifications:
1 c all purpose flour, 1 cup wheat (I ran out of all purpose)
ground chia seeds instead of flax (ran out of that too)
doubled ginger
2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
Overall, this made a very good muffin, I will definitely make it again. I didn’t find them overly dense.
It needed something else though, so next time I’ll add more cinnamon and walnuts and maybe craisins. I’m also going to try replacing some of the coconut oil with unsweetened applesause to reduce the guilt of eating several of them after they’ve cooled down.
lauren
February 22, 2016 at 12:35 pmI love this recipe!! I use the left over carrots that I have from juicing. Often times there are remnants of other fruit in my mix which I like. I also love to add pumpkin seed as well as chia seed (I try and add chia seed whenever I can, especially since its hard to taste and has so much added benefit) to this recipe. It is such a healthy heart snack for me and my husband loves it too!! I was wondering if its possible to refrigerate some of the dough for a day or two? Wasn’t sure since there is the coconut oil? Thanks so much for this awesome recipe Kare!
Aaron Brodkey
May 9, 2016 at 11:15 amAwesome recipe : ) Made it for my mom this Mother’s Day!
Ingrid
February 15, 2017 at 1:59 amI add oat bran and whole wheat and coconut flour to the cup of flour, also add nuts, dried fruit and chai seeds. If needed I add a little more liquid to make it less dry. I added a banana the other day and it turned out quite moist.
nat
November 11, 2017 at 12:23 pmI made these muffins! very good!
thanks
Katie Trant
November 13, 2017 at 3:13 amYay! Glad you like them as much as we do, Nat!
michelle
February 13, 2018 at 3:20 pmHello, I actually did something so wrong…. I left out the baking powder, is this why it didn’t cook in the middle at all? I will try again and just want to make sure that is why. Also, what can I use instead of coconut oil. Can I use a banana? thanks!
Katie Trant
February 14, 2018 at 4:05 amHi Michelle, we don’t recommend leaving the oil out, as it’ll really change the composition of the muffins.
michelle
February 16, 2018 at 1:45 pmMade them a second time, and they came out great!!
Andreea Burus
February 28, 2018 at 10:13 amhi! are you sure that 2 cups of flour isn’t too much?
Katie Trant
March 1, 2018 at 2:54 amYep! We’ve tested this recipe thoroughly as written.
Kamania D
March 3, 2018 at 5:59 pmThis was absolutely amazing. I had some extra so I made them into cookies and backed them alongside the muffins, and it was so delicious. I didn’t add all the flax egg so it wouldn’t be too gummy, and the texture ended up amazing. I ended up licking the leftover in the bowl with my little brother XD
Alex
March 12, 2019 at 8:31 pmLoved this recipe!! I used a splash more milk since they were a little dense when in batter form and used 1c flour 7/8c almond flour and 1/8c coconut flour just because it’s what I had…OMG this muffin!!! Thank you so much!!! This is exactly the recipe I needed for my leftover carrot pulp!
Kelly Smith
March 24, 2019 at 5:31 pmHi I have made these before and loved them but with my husbands birthday coming up I would like to make it a cake instead. Do you think this would still work if put in a cake tin instead. Thanks
Taylia
August 20, 2019 at 10:08 amHow many calories are in each muffin??
taylia
August 20, 2019 at 10:09 amHow many calories are in each muffin?
Marie
October 2, 2019 at 4:35 pmI just made them for my sister’s birthday party tomorrow and they turned out very well! I used gluten free flour because she’s allergic to gluten and 1,5tbsp apple sauce instead of the mashed banana because I don’t really like the taste in baked goods and thoght apple sauce fits when baking apple muffins. ^^ I didn’t have almond milk so I used rice milk instead. I put the leftover apples on top of each muffin and sprinkled some brown sugar over them to get a sweet, caramelized taste. After ~20mins. in the oven I took them out and after a little bit of cooling time I tried one. Lovely for everyone who likes cinnamon and a fruity extra.
Also it’s one of the first recipes I ever made that didn’t leave too much dough after filling the 12-muffin-pan.
Sometimes it’s difficult when baking vegan to get a good texture & taste but this recipe definitely works out very well!
I definitely recommend it, also because it’s not too unhealthy like cupcakes but still not basic and the apples on top in combination with the brown sugar give the whole thing a nice, uncommon look!
Little work, good taste, cruelty free, I love it!
farrell
May 13, 2020 at 8:48 ami couldn’t find ground flax seed, how crucial of an ingredient is it? what’s it for?
Helen P Vallone
August 26, 2020 at 3:50 pmExcellent recipe. I enjoyed making these. Can the muffins be frozen? Can you add pineapple to the recipe?