I love sneaking veggies into baked goods. It’s such a delicious way to get some nutrients without feeling like you’re eating a salad. (Although I also enjoy eating a good salad. By “good” I don’t mean one with wilted romaine lettuce and a few cherry tomatoes tossed on.) These carrot oatmeal muffins are healthy, moist and flavorful, perfect for Easter brunch!
You’ll notice right away that these muffins have carrots in them because of the orange color. But I actually love that about them!
The muffins are sweetened by honey and vanilla extract, but the carrots also provide some sweetness. Add in oats for texture and plain Greek yogurt for protein. They can also be made gluten free or gluten-full. This is my favorite gluten free flour, and these are the gluten free quick cooking oats that I use.
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The chocolate chips are the least healthy ingredient. If you want an even healthier muffin, substitute raisins or chopped nuts. My husband and I don’t like raisins, so that’s not an option I’ll ever choose!
One of my favorite things about this recipe is that you can mix everything by hand. It’s fast and easy, and there’s no need to bring ingredients to room temperature. The step that takes the longest (for me, at least) is grating the carrots. I tried using pre-shredded carrots, but grating your own is much better. There’s more flavor and more moisture.
Adding the carrots will turn the batter orange, but that’s half the fun! If the color bothers you, fold in the flour mixture before mixing in the carrots, which will help. But there will still be some orangeness.
Even though there are muffin wrappers in most of my pictures, I actually recommend greasing the pan with cooking spray. I tried it both ways, and greased without wrappers is definitely the way to go.
Carrot oatmeal muffins are perfect for Easter brunch, but they can also be enjoyed any day of the year! Tag me @rosesandwhiskers on Instagram if you try them and use the hashtag #rosesandwhiskers.
Happy baking! 🙂
Carrot Oatmeal Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup gluten free 1 to 1 baking flour or substitute all-purpose flour for gluten-full muffins
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cup grated carrots
- 1 1/4 cup quick cooking oats
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, raisins or chopped nuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (176°C) and lightly grease two muffin pans with cooking spray. This recipe yields 14-16 muffins, so you'll need two pans. You can also use muffin liners, but depending on the quality of wrapper your muffins might stick.
- Grate the carrots and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon.
- In a large bowl, lightly whisk the eggs. Then whisk together the eggs, yogurt, honey and vanilla until smooth. Stir in the carrots, and then fold in the flour mixture and oats until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips or your add-in of choice.
- Fill each muffin cup 3/4 full. For a more even baking, fill any empty cups 3/4 full of water. Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Let the muffins rest in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack.
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Enjoy!
