These carrot cake muffins have all the goodness of a carrot cake in bite-size pieces. Perfect for breakfast, brunch, or quick snacks. These are light and airy, but not overly sweet. Made with grated carrots, nuts, and dates.
Table of Content
These are the breakfast muffins that mom used to make on weekends. The truth is, we never knew that there were carrots inside. Since they were finely grated. And, the chopped pecans and sweetness of the dates made these so delicious we didn't care about anything else. Also, don't you just love those wonderful domes on the top?
About these muffins
These are going to be your new favorite muffins for breakfast. And, if you have guests over, make these and they will be raving over how delicious they are.
The secret to keeping these muffins moist is to grate the carrots fine. So, I use not the finest or the largest, but somewhere in between. Can you see how light and airy these muffins are? See those big airy holes?
Also, I am using chopped dates. And yet, other fruits such as dried cranberries, raisins, figs, and apricots work great too. We love pecans, but walnuts also make a great addition to carrot muffins. In addition, the process and timeline for these muffins are also fairly simple, easy and quick.
- Grate the carrots and combine dry ingredients - 5 minutes
- Prepare batter - 5 minutes
- Bake the muffin - 20 mins
Ingredients and substitutes
- All-purpose flour - All-purpose flour works best with this recipe. So, you do not need any cake flour or self-rising flour.
- Sugar - I'm using white sugar. And yet, brown sugar works just as well.
- Sour cream - Gives the muffin a soft crumb. I am using homemade sour cream today. And, if you don't have sour cream, yogurt is a good substitute for sour cream in baking.
- Carrots - Use medium carrots, not too large not too small. And, grate them fine using the smaller not large side of the grater.
- Egg - I am using one large egg. But, you can also use ¼ cup yogurt to make these eggless carrot cake muffins.
- Spices - I'm using warm ground ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg. In winter, you can also use pumpkin spice, gingerbread spice. I also love a dash of garam masala in my carrot muffins.
Step by step instructions
Dry ingredients
- Preheat the oven at 190 C / 375 F.
- Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl.
- Set aside.
Batter
- Whip the egg with sugar until light and fluffy.
- Then, gradually add the oil, and vanilla.
- Followed by the sour cream.
- Add almost all the flour mixture leaving a few tablespoons for the dates.
- Next, add the chopped dates to the remaining flour and separate the pieces well so they don't clump together.
- Then, add the carrots, nuts, and date mixture to the batter.
- Combine well.
- Next, divide the batter between 12 muffins cups.
- Then, bake for 18 to 20 minutes until a skewer inserted in the center comes clean.
- Lastly, cool on the wire rack for 5 minutes before serving.
Frequently asked questions
These will stay at room temperature for 2 to 3 days.
And, if you need to store them for longer, I highly recommend freezing them rather then placing them in the fridge.
Then, thaw them in the microwave from frozen as the condensation helps to keep them moist.
Absolutely. You can also add 4 tablespoon more sugar as these are less sweet than cupcakes. Then, bake these in cupcake liners. Cool completely, and then frost them with your favorite frosting, such as cream cheese frosting. In addition, see my 30 plus buttercream frosting recipes.
You can certainly use white sugar instead of brown sugar. Although, I love the caramel-like flavor the brown sugar adds to the carrot cake.
Yes, these muffins freeze beautifully. I bake and cool them completely. Then, I place them in my silicon storage bags and into the freezer. They will last for 2 to 3 months.
Yes. You can pour the batter in an 8-inch loaf pan, and bake at 160 C / 320 F for 20 to 25 minutes.
How to shred carrots for carrot cake?
It is important that you do not use pre-shredded carrots from the supermarket. These tend to dry out like little sticks in the finished cake, cupcakes, or muffins. Instead, grate the carrots fresh and your muffins will be sweet moist, and delicious. Use the fine not the larger size of the grater. This will give your moist and tender carrot flavor.
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Printable Recipe
Easiest Carrot Cake Muffins
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Conversions Used
1 lb = 453 grams, 1 cup = 240 ml, 1 stick = 113g, 1 tbsp= 15 ml, 1 tsp= 5 ml,
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 1 ½ cup (190 g) All-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking powder
- ½ teaspoon Baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Cinnamon powder
- ¼ teaspoon Ginger (ground)
- ¼ teaspoon Nutmeg Fresh grated
Wet ingredients
- 1 Egg (large)
- ¼ cup (55 g) Brown sugar
- ¼ cup (4 tablespoon) Cooking oil
- ¼ cup (4 tablespoon) Sour cream or yogurt
- 2 cups Carrots (finely grated)
- ¼ cup (4 tablespoon) Milk
- ½ cup Pecans (chopped)
- ½ cup Dates (chopped)
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract (optional)
Instructions
Dry ingredients
- Preheat the oven at 190 C / 375 F.
- Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl.
- Set aside.
Batter
- Whip the egg with sugar until light and fluffy.
- Gradually add the oil, and vanilla.
- Followed by the sour cream.
- Add almost all the flour mixture leaving a few tablespoons for the dates.
- Add the chopped dates to the remaining flour and separate the pieces well so they don't clump together.
- Then, add the carrots, nuts, and date mixture to the batter.
- Combine well.
- Divide the batter between 12 muffins cups.
- Bake for 18 to 20 minutes until a skewer inserted in the center comes clean.
- Cool on the wire rack for 5 minutes before serving.
Recipe Notes & Tips
Carrots for carrot cakes and muffins
This is important so I want to make a special note.- Look for tender juicy carrots.
- Don't use carrots that have been lying around in the fridge for days (the fridge tends to dry things out)
- Use medium size not large carrots, not too small.
- Never use pre-grated carrots that come in the supermarket. These tend to dry out like little sticks in the finished cake, cupcakes, or muffins.
- Instead, grate the carrots fresh and your muffins will be sweet moist, and delicious.
- Use the fine not the larger size of the grater. This will give your moist and tender carrot flavor.
This is my basic muffin recipe for all my oil-based muffins.
- You can replace ½ cup grated carrots with chopped pineapple for a carrot pineapple muffins
- You can replace 1 cup grated carrots with grated squeezed zucchini
- Add ½ cup white chocolate chips for a carrot cake muffins with white chocolate chips
- To create a bakery-style carrot cake muffins with a cracked dome on top add ½ teaspoon more baking powder, bake the muffins at 200 C / 392 F for 5 minutes then reduce the temperature to 190 C/ 374 F for the remaining time. The initial high heat gives these cupcakes a nice burst.
Nutrition Information
The nutrition information and metric conversion are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If this data is important to you please verify with your trusted nutrition calculator. Thank you
Teresa Scuderi
Veena, made these muffins this morning...really lovely, thanks for sharing...love all your recipes
Veena Azmanov
Thank you so much, Teresa. So happy you are enjoying my recipes