Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins (Egg Free Option)

These Carrot Cake Muffins have all the flavor of the traditional cake you love in the bite-sized convenience of healthy carrot cake muffins! Sweet, moist, and fluffy, they’re refined sugar free and packed with carrots, dates, nuts, and shredded coconut. Easy to make and egg free option included. 

Moving along with our Fast Meals Month, this carrot cake muffins recipe is sponsored by our friends at Further Food and their Premium Gelatin Powder! Thank you for supporting the brands that help me to create delicious gluten free recipes like this one for you! Full disclosure and privacy terms here.

Carrot Cake Craze

Are you a fan of carrot cake? Honestly, it’s been a longtime favorite dessert recipe of mine and was the inspiration for my infamous Blueberry Carrot Cake Bars. (By the way, if you haven’t tried those yet, you should! They’re crowd-pleasers every time.) After all, how can you resist the combination of warm spices, soft cake texture, and sweet cream cheese frosting? I mean, I’m pretty sure recipes don’t get any better than that! Plus we get a serving of veggies. Haha, totally counts! 

Alright, we might not be able to eat carrot cake every day to sneak in veggies, but we can give traditional carrot cake a makeover! Hence why I created these healthy carrot cake muffins with minimal ingredients and all!

Made with all the traditional flavors you love, they’re refined sugar free and made with natural real food ingredients. In fact, I tested these out with a gelatin egg and a real egg option to satisfy all your dietary needs!  Both versions add even more nutrients and protein to an already wholesome muffin! Sweeeet! 😉 

They’re also super portable and easy to pack for breakfast on the go, lunchbox snacks, and more! Now, you really can have your cake, and eat it, too!

Why Natural Gluten Free Ingredients Make the Best Carrot Cake Muffins 

Traditionally, muffin recipes are made with gluten-containing flours, butter, milk, and refined sugars. Of course, all of those ingredients make them taste delicious, but they aren’t the best fuel for our body and definitely aren’t allergy-friendly. So, in order to make a more well-rounded muffin recipe we can all feel good about eating, I decided to make a few changes! 

Check out our Super Star Ingredients below! 

Real Food Ingredients:

• Gluten Free Rolled Oats – Including oats instead of flour is an easy way to add extra texture and boost the fiber content of these muffins. They’re also a great source of manganese, phosphorus, magnesium, and more!
  
• Non-Dairy Milk – Adding non-dairy milk to your muffins boosts the calcium content, helping maintain strong bones!
  
• Refined Melted Coconut (Or Avocado) Oil – Oil is crucial to keep your muffins moist! Coconut oil is also a good source of antioxidants and medium-chain triglycerides. Meanwhile, avocado oil is rich in omega fatty acids, both of which can contribute to your overall well being. 
  
• Honey (Or Maple Syrup) – Honey contains antioxidants and provides a sweet flavor without the need for processed sugars.
  
• Grass Fed Beef Gelatin or Egg – When combined with hot water, gelatin can be used to replace eggs. See how below! It also contains 18 amino acids to help fuel your body, build strong muscles, improve the health of your hair, skin, and nails, reduce joint pain, and more! Similarly, eggs are also a complete source of protein and rich in B vitamins. 

• Shredded Carrots – Feel free to use whole carrots. Or, save some time by buying pre-shredded carrots from the store! They help add texture to these muffins along with vitamin A, calcium, and vitamin K.
  
• Chopped Pitted Dates – While contributing to the carrot cake flavor, dates also help sweeten the recipe and provide loads of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fiber such as potassium, copper, and magnesium.
  
• Unsweetened Shredded Coconut – Coconut helps add flavor, texture, and like coconut oil provides vitamins and nutrients such as manganese, copper, and medium-chain triglycerides.
  
• (Optional) Chopped Walnuts – Including walnuts in your carrot cake muffins helps add a bit of crunchy texture and heart-healthy fats that taste great!  

How to Make Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins 

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and line a muffin pan with paper or silicone liners.

• Combine the dry ingredients (rolled oats, tapioca starch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla collagen if using) in a blender until a fine powder is formed. If you don’t have a blender, replace the rolled oats with 150 grams of oat flour, and combine the ingredients by hand.

• Mix the wet ingredients together (milk, oil, maple syrup, vinegar) in a second smaller bowl. Prepare the gelatin egg in a small saucepan. 

• Add the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients, gently mixing to combine. Then, stir in the gelatin egg (see recipe below) until a smooth batter is formed. 

• Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin using either a cookie or ice cream scoop (or a large spoon), filling each mold ⅔ to ¾ of the way full.

• Bake the carrot cake muffins for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted into the center and comes out clean. 

• Cool the muffins on a baking rack after removing them from the oven. If you use the gelatin egg, place your muffins in the fridge for 5-10 minutes to help the center set and prevent crumbly muffins!
  

How to Make a Gelatin Egg (Egg Substitute)

To make a gelatin egg, add 1⁄4 cup of water to a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Once the water is warm, slowly sprinkle in 1 tablespoon of grass fed beef gelatin, whisking continuously to remove clumps. Once the mixture is smooth, remove it from the heat, and set it aside to thicken.

How to Store Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins

To Store: Place your muffins in an airtight container, and keep them at room temperature for 1 day. Or, pop them in the fridge for up to 4-5 days.

Note: The flavor and texture of these muffins are even better after being stored at room temperature for a day as they sweeten up and get even softer! 

To Freeze: To freeze these carrot cake muffins for later, let them cool completely before storing them in an airtight container or sealable bag. Then, keep them in the freezer for up to 3 months! When you’re ready to eat, let them thaw in the fridge overnight. Or, heat them in the microwave for 34 seconds to 1 minute. 

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I hope you all love these carrot cake muffins as much as I do! If you give them a try, I would love it if you let me know down in the comments below! 

Cheers, 

LC