Spiced Carrot Muffins

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Spiced Carrot Muffins are a deliciously cake-y, dessert-y vegan and gluten-free muffin recipe! Flavored with coconut milk, maple syrup, cinnamon, and ginger, these comfort food muffins are  so subtly sweet, your tastebuds won’t know there’s a vegetable involved! Tips and tricks included! {Vegan + Gluten-Free}

Move over, pumpkin and apple. Because in the pumpkin/apple debate, there’s a new kid in town, and it’s named carrot. Yes, sure, I know we know about carrot cake and cream cheese frosting. So delicious. But I’m not here to talk about that. Oh no, I’m here to talk about Spiced Carrot Muffins. And they are also so delicious, thanks to warming spices + coconut milk + 100% pure maple syrup. I had no idea coconut and maple, plus cinnamon and ginger could taste so freaking good.

In fact, Spiced Carrot Muffins are so good, we even loved the rejects when we recipe tested this concept. They are my new favorite way to eat vegetables. And once you sink your teeth into one, Spiriteds, we think you’ll agree. These muffins are perfect for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus also snack one and snack two. And snack o’clock and snack-thirty. And all the snacks in between.

I can’t lie, though. To define them is tough to do. Spiced Carrot Muffins are best described via tastebuds. But let me just say, these muffins are soft and a little doughy, warming but not heavy. They are sweet but only just. And they feel like fall but can be made during winter and spring. You could also bake a batch in summer. I’m not gonna judge you. I’ll probably be doing the same thing.

Maybe that’s what’s so nice about these muffins. They fit in wherever we need them. So grab your mixing bowl and let’s bake a batch!

These Spiced Carrot Muffins are

• Soft and slightly chewy
• Fluffy
• Moist
• Lightly sweet and earthy
• Cozy and comforting
• Vegan and gluten-free

Side note: I make a batch of these in one bowl using nothing more than a fork to blend everything together. No electric mixer or fancy equipment needed.  

Spiced Carrot Muffins ingredients

• Wet ingredients: Canned full-fat coconut milk, 100% pure maple syrup, and apple cider vinegar.
• Dry ingredients: Gluten-free 1-to-1 baking flour, baking powder, and baking soda, sea salt, and coconut sugar.
• Spices: Cinnamon and ground ginger.
• Vegetable: Shredded carrots. 

Side note: Whether you shred your own carrots or buy them pre-shredded, look for larger chunks of carrot and remove them (or save them for another recipe). For these muffins, we want the smaller shredded pieces for more even baking, texture, and consistency. 

How to make Spiced Carrot Muffins

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a muffin tin with liners. For best results, add the liners to every other slot and fill the empty muffin tin wells with water. Set aside.
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk the coconut milk, maple syrup, and apple cider vinegar together. Next, sift the gluten-free flour directly into the same mixing bowl as the wet ingredients, followed by the baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt. Stir until just combined. Then add the coconut sugar and spices, again stirring until just combined. Do not over-mix the batter. Lastly, fold in the shredded carrots.
3. Using an ice cream scoop, fill each muffin cup about 2/3 – 3/4 full of batter. Bake for about 18-20 minutes, rotating the muffin pan once halfway through the bake time. The muffins are done when a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and store leftovers in an airtight container for about 2-3 days. 

Recipe FAQs

• Do I have to sift the flour? I highly suggest you do. Doing so keeps the flour light and airy, makes it easier to stir into the wet ingredients, and reduces lumps in the batter. Since we don’t want to overwork the batter, any step that lightens the load (literally and figuratively) is a step worth taking.
• What should I do if my batter is tough and hard to stir? This is a sign there is likely too much flour in the recipe. To fix it, try adding 1-2 tablespoons of coconut milk. If the batter is still too thick, then add 1-2 tablespoons maple syrup. Your muffins may end up tougher and denser than planned, but the flavor will still be lovely.
• Do I need to fill the empty muffin tin slots with water? Unbeknownst to me, there is an entire debate about whether you need to fill empty muffin tin slots with water. I like to do it because I don’t know why. Probably I learned not doing so would scorch my pan. But I did forget once, and my pan didn’t scorch and the oven didn’t catch on fire. Yet old habits die hard, and I still continue to fill empty slots with water. Check your pans first to see if there are any instructions.
• What type of baking cup should I use? I typically use aluminum foil cups because the muffins are less likely to stick to the sides. But in this Spiced Carrot Muffins recipe, I find it’s more of a toss-up. The muffins may stick a little more to the paper cups, but overall these muffins tend to rise UP rather than OUT and after cooling don’t stick as much as other recipes do.

Recipe best practices

• Don’t dip the measuring cups into the bag of flour, pack it in, and level it off. This produces a tougher, denser muffin. Instead, pour or scoop the flour directly into the measuring cups and then gently level off the excess.
• Remove larger carrot pieces. Whether you buy pre-shredded carrots or shred your own, if you end up with larger pieces or chunks, remove them from the 2/3 cup needed for the recipe. While larger pieces won’t ruin your muffins, you may find the muffins don’t bake as evenly, especially if the carrots are watery.
• Avoid over-mixing the batter. The batter will be lumpy as you get started, and that’s OKAY. As you gently add the remaining ingredients, the batter will even out. For each step in the process that requires stirring, only do as much as is needed to combine the ingredients.
• Fill the muffin tin with batter every other slot. This prevents the muffins from competing with each other for room to rise and evenly bake.   
• Because these muffins tend to rise rather than spread, you can decide (based on personal preference) whether you want to fill your muffin cups fairly full (you’ll have some tall muffins) or just a little over halfway full (you’ll have a more standard-sized muffin).

More cozy muffin recipes!

Do you love all things muffin? If YES, then check out these cozy baked goods. They go well with autumn, books, cozy blankets, and fluffy slippers. And coffee, they go really well with coffee.

• Oil-Free Flour-Free Muffins
• Paleo Zucchini Muffins
• Cinnamon Swirl Muffins
• Gluten-Free Honey Muffins

Spiriteds, stay well and stay wild. Jump into the fun when you can, and always know how glad I am you’re here. ❤️

Spiced Carrot Muffins

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Spiced Carrot Muffins are a deliciously cake-y, dessert-y vegan and gluten-free muffin recipe! Flavored with coconut milk, maple syrup, cinnamon, and ginger, these comfort food muffins are  so subtly sweet, your tastebuds won’t know there’s a vegetable involved! Tips and tricks included! {Vegan + Gluten-Free}

• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 20 minutes
• Total Time: 30 minutes
• Yield: 12 muffins 1x
• Category: Baked Goods
• Method: Oven
• Diet: Gluten Free

Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 1/3 cups canned full-fat coconut milk
• 2/3 cup 100% pure maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 2 1/2 cups gluten-free 1-to-1 baking flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of sea salt
• 4 teaspoons coconut sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2/3 cup grated carrot

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a muffin tin with liners. For best results, add the liners to every other slot and fill the empty muffin tin wells with water. Set aside.
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk the coconut milk, maple syrup, and apple cider vinegar together. Next, sift the gluten-free flour directly into the same mixing bowl as the wet ingredients, followed by the baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt. Stir until just combined. Then add the coconut sugar and spices, again stirring until just combined. Do not over-mix the batter. Lastly, fold in the shredded carrots.
3. Using an ice cream scoop, fill each muffin cup about 2/3 – 3/4 full of batter. Bake for about 18-20 minutes, rotating the muffin pan once halfway through the bake time. The muffins are done when a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and store leftovers in an airtight container for about 2-3 days.

Notes

• Don’t dip the measuring cups into the bag of flour, pack it in, and level it off. This produces a tougher, denser muffin. Instead, pour or scoop the flour directly into the measuring cups and then gently level off the excess.
• Remove larger carrot pieces. Whether you buy pre-shredded carrots or shred your own, if you end up with larger pieces or chunks, remove them from the 2/3 cup needed for the recipe. While larger pieces won’t ruin your muffins, you may find the muffins don’t bake as evenly, especially if the carrots are watery.
• Avoid over-mixing the batter. The batter will be lumpy as you get started, and that’s OKAY. As you gently add the remaining ingredients, the batter will even out. For each step in the process that requires stirring, only do as much as is needed to combine the ingredients.
• Fill the muffin tin with batter every other slot. This prevents the muffins from competing with each other for room to rise and evenly bake.
• Because these muffins tend to rise rather than spread, you can decide (based on personal preference) whether you want to fill your muffin cups fairly full (you’ll have some tall muffins) or just a little over halfway full (you’ll have a more standard-sized muffin).
• Please see the blog post for additional troubleshooting ideas and answers to FAQs.