These delicious applesauce carrot muffins are inspired by my son's favorite treat from our local farmers market. Every Saturday morning he is on the lookout for the vendor who sells these fluffy carrot muffins, ready to hand over my hard earned money. LOL.
A combination of carrots, apple, and coconut plus oat flour, warm spices and a hint of maple, make this the perfect muffin for breakfast or snack time. They taste like carrot cake in muffin form. And they are delicious served with a bit of nut butter or cream cheese. Your entire family will love this carrot muffin recipe!
Any carrot cake lover is going to love the spice flavor in these muffins. If you're looking for more gluten free carrot cake inspired treats, check out my carrot cake coffee cake or my carrot cake whoopie pies.
Ingredient Notes
While this muffin recipe has a few more ingredients than my other gluten free muffin recipes, it is still super easy to make. These moist muffins have the delicious flavor of carrot cake with extra heartiness from the oat flour. Plus they are both gluten free and dairy free as written.
- Gluten Free Oat Flour - It's easy to make homemade oat flour from gluten free oats. All the work is done in a food processor or high speed blender.
- Gluten-Free Flour Blend - I use Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 gluten free flour for my muffin recipes. You can use your favorite brand, but make sure it contains xanthan gum or a similar binder. I have not tested this recipe with any other brands, so your results may vary.
- Non-Dairy Milk - I use unsweetened coconut milk or oat milk in most of my recipes, but any dairy free milk will work fine. Oat flour will absorb a good amount of moisture while it sits. If you're not dairy free, you can replace this with regular milk or even water in the same measure.
- Unsweetened Applesauce - Make sure to use unsweetened apple sauce, otherwise the muffins will be overly sweet.
- Carrots - You will need grated carrots for this recipe. It's best to grate fresh carrots yourself, as the pre-grated ones from the grocery store are a little dry. I have also tried chopping them with a food processor, but they come out more like little chunks in the muffins, which changes the texture from soft to grainy.
See the recipe card below for the full ingredient list with measurements.
Substitutions & Variations
- Not Dairy Free - use dairy milk in the same measure.
- Make it Vegan - Replace the single egg with an additional 3 Tablespoons of applesauce or a single flax egg.
- No coconut - If you don't like coconut, you can leave it out entirely or replace it with raisins, chopped nuts, or sunflower seeds in the same measure.
- Make mini muffins - Divide the batter into a mini muffin tin and bake for 15-18 minutes. The over temperature will be the same. It should make approximately 18 mini muffins.
- Sugar replacement - You can use coconut sugar in place of white sugar in these muffins.
- Make it into a loaf - Double recipe and bake it in a loaf pan at 350F for about 55-60 minutes.
How to Make Applesauce Carrot Muffins
As with all of my muffin and quickbread recipes, this easy recipe uses the muffin method for mixing. The muffin method gives you perfect muffins every time with nice tall domed tops, just like you find in a bakery and it doesn't require a mixer.
Before you begin, line a 6-cup muffin tin with paper liners and set it aside.
STEP 1: Combine the gluten free flour, oat flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice together in a large mixing bowl. Whisk until well mixed and set aside.
STEP 2: Crack the egg into a second smaller bowl. Whisk it until it is frothy, like soap bubbles.
STEP 3: Add the oil, vanilla, maple syrup, milk and applesauce to the beaten egg. Whisk until smooth.
STEP 4: Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold together with a spatula for about 10 strokes.
STEP 5: Add the shredded carrots and shredded coconut to the mixture and fold about 5 times more until it's evenly distributed in the batter.
STEP 6: Divide the muffin batter evenly among 6 lined muffin cups. Sprinkle the top with gluten free oats. Let the batter rest while the oven preheats, then bake.
Expert Tip
To check for done: gently poke the top center of one muffin with your finger. If it springs right back it is baked through. If it leaves an indentation, bake another 2 minutes and recheck.
Storage
Store leftover muffins in an airtight container and refrigerate up to 3 days. Reheat by microwaving a single muffin for about 15 seconds or until warm to the touch.
You can also freeze these muffins. Wrap the cooled muffins individually in plastic wrap and place them inside an airtight container or freezer bag. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving.
More carrot recipes to consider:
If you try this recipe, please leave a 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 star rating and let me know how you liked it in the comments below.
Recipe
Applesauce Carrot Muffins
Ingredients
- ¾ Cup Gluten Free 1-to-1 Flour Blend
- ½ Cup Gluten Free Oat Flour
- ½ Cup Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ¼ teaspoon Nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon Allspice
- 1 Egg
- ¼ Cup Olive Oil
- ¼ Cup Unsweetened Applesauce
- 2 Tablespoon Maple Syrup
- 1 Tablespoon Non-Dairy Milk
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
- ½ Cup Grated Carrots
- 3 Tablespoon Sweetened Shredded Coconut
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the oat flour, gluten free flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and sugar. Whisk together until well combined.½ Cup Gluten Free Oat Flour, ¾ Cup Gluten Free 1-to-1 Flour Blend, 1 teaspoon Baking Powder, ¼ teaspoon Salt, ½ teaspoon Cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon Nutmeg, ⅛ teaspoon Allspice, ½ Cup Sugar
- Crack the egg into a second smaller bowl. Whisk until frothy, like soap bubbles.1 Egg
- Add the oil, vanilla, maple syrup, milk and applesauce to the egg. Whisk until smooth.¼ Cup Olive Oil, 1 teaspoon Vanilla, 2 Tablespoon Maple Syrup, 1 Tablespoon Non-Dairy Milk, ¼ Cup Unsweetened Applesauce
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and fold together with a spatula about 10 strokes.
- Add the carrots and coconut to the mixture and fold together about 5 more times.½ Cup Grated Carrots, 3 Tablespoon Sweetened Shredded Coconut
- Divide the batter into 6 lined muffin cups. Sprinkle the tops with oats (for decoration) if you wish.
- Let batter rest in muffin pan while you preheat your oven to 400F.
- Bake the muffins in preheated oven for 27-29 minutes, until tops spring back when gently poked.
- Remove from cooked muffins from muffin tin within 10 minutes to avoid wet bottoms. Serve immediately or store for later.
Notes
Tiffany is the recipe developer, stylist and food photographer behind Well Fed Baker. As a lifelong baker who had to go gluten free and dairy free in 2016, Tiffany strives to share allergen friendly recipes that never feel like they are free from anything.
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