With warm spices like cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg, these Carrot Oatmeal Muffins smell especially good as they’re baking. And they’re tasty too – tender yet hearty, with oats and carrots and deliciousness all tucked up in there.
If you’re anything like me, you’re in the mood to bake lately. Carefully scooping dry ingredients into one bowl and measuring wet ingredients into another feels familiar; meditative. And then there’s the cozy scent of these Carrot Oatmeal Muffins wafting from the oven. The warm, satisfying end product. So rewarding!

The Story Behind the Recipe
I originally shared this recipe back in 2013, and it was really popular with readers for a couple of years. But for some reason, it slowly faded into the background, and you know what? These carrot muffins don’t deserve that! They’re one of my all-time favorite muffin recipes, and they deserve to be seen. And made. And devoured (sorry, muffins).
Back in 2013, I threw this recipe together on a whim. It became an instant favorite, and I’ve made these spiced carrot oatmeal muffins dozens of times since then. Maybe even hundreds.

(I also created a fully-loaded variation with coconut and pineapple – very carrot-cake-esque. What can I say? We’re huge carrot muffin fans around here!)
Why You’ll Love These Carrot Muffins
Well, we’ve covered that they’re melt-in-your-mouth delicious and are guaranteed to make your morning cozy. They also mix up fast, make exactly 12 muffins, and are ready in 25 minutes. Plus, you get the added nutrition of veggies for breakfast!
Here are what readers have said about them:
- “They are perfect! And oh man, do they smell amazing when they’re baking! We love them. Thank you for the recipe!”
- “Awesome muffins, packed full of flavour, reminds me of pumpkin pie. Muffins weren’t overly sweet which I liked. I made a double batch and subbed butter for the oil and added in raisins.”
- “Delicious! They are moist and wonderful. I make these all the time for my little guy who doesn’t like to eat his veggies.”
Carrot Oatmeal Muffin Ingredients
So what’ve we got for ingredients?
- Flour, first and foremost. All-purpose, please!
- Rolled oats
- Baking powder and baking soda for lift
- Salt
- Warm, familiar spices – cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves.
- Finely shredded carrots
- Milk (plant-based milk if you prefer)
- Applesauce for premium moistness.
- Oil
- Egg
After I scoop these Carrot Oatmeal Muffins into their muffin tins, I like to sprinkle the tops with some more rolled oats, then bake away.

I hope you find these muffins as satisfying to bake (and eat) as we do!

More Carrot Breakfast Recipes
- Good Morning Sunshine Muffins – fully loaded carrot muffins with pineapple and coconut
- Mini Carrot Muffins with Chocolate Chips – toddler-sized and toddler-taste-tested!
- Carrot Cake Oatmeal – “cake” for breakfast? Yes please!
- Carrot Mimosas – yep, I went there.
- These Carrot Cake Pancakes are so decadent!

Carrot Oatmeal Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (can sub 1 cup for whole wheat flour or all for white whole wheat flour)
- 1 cup rolled oats (plus a couple extra tablespoons for topping)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 cup milk*
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce**
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 1 large egg
- 2-3 medium carrots (finely grated [about 2 cups])
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease or place cupcake wrappers in a standard-size, 12-cup muffin pan.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, 1 cup oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, applesauce, brown sugar, canola oil, egg, and carrots.
- Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and whisk just until all ingredients are incorporated.
- Divide the mixture between the muffin cups. I like to use an ice cream scoop for this – so easy! Cups should be filled just about to the top.
- Bake until muffin tops spring back when poked and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 20-22 minutes
- Allow to cool for about 10 minutes before removing from the muffin tin.
- Serve plain or with butter (or vegan butter) if desired.
These look delicious. I may have to try them.
These look delicious! I love that you replace some of the oil with apple sauce. These really are the perfect muffin! YUM!
And you’d never know there’s applesauce in there! I love that. 🙂
Guess who bought way too many carrots for a recipe last week?! ME! I think I’m going to make these this weekend. I could always use a good muffin in the morning.
I hope you love them! My friend’s four-year-old tried them Friday and hated them (but was very sweet and polite about it) – so I may have to revoke their stud muffin designation.
So I was crazy busy wrapping up a big project yesterday, but my wonderful husband made these. They are perfect! And oh man, do they smell amazing when they’re baking! We love them. Thank you for the recipe!
Yay! So glad you guys liked them. 🙂
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I made these yesterday, looking to find a healthy snack for my husband and I, with a few changes. I cut the brown sugar to 1/2 a cup and replaced the oil with 1/4 cup plain 0% Greek yogurt. They are delicious!! Definitely will spray the wrappers with nonstick spray next time (probably soon because they are going fast!!).
These look so perfect! I love how wholesome they are, but most of all I think I love their little muffin tops 🙂 They’re perfect! And those spices sound so good 🙂
You had me laughing at ‘our toddler devours hers all Tasmanian-devil style.’ That’s exactly like my little ones. Crumbs and wrappers everywhere. These look awesome by the way. So fluffy and moist! I’m excited to try them out 🙂
This are delicious. I made them this morning. I replaced the sugar with Truvia baking blend and replaced the applesauce with 2 apples that i pureed in my food processor and pureed the carrots as well. They turned out great. Thank you for the recipe!
Could you chop up some frozen carrots in the blender instead of buying fresh carrots? I don’t buy that many fresh veggies simply because I don’t use them up fast enough. It’s not fun finding slimy rotten veggies in the bottom of your refrigerator =/
Everything else I keep on hand =)
I’m afraid that if you used them frozen, they would melt and make your muffins very mushy. thawed carrots do NOT have the same consistency as fresh/raw. Although, it might be fine as long as you left them in for a little longer at a slightly lower temp- say 350 or even 325.
This is the second time I have made these muffins and they are fantastic! I use the remnant pulp from juicing carrots and it sure makes the muffins moist. I too subbed out the oil for Greek yogurt and used molasses. Just amazing muffins! 🙂
Also try replacing the sugar with raisins! Yum!
Awesome muffins, packed full of flavour, reminds me of pumpkin pie. Muffins weren’t overly sweet which I liked. I made a double batch and subbed butter for the oil and added in raisins.
Aren’t they great with raisins? My toddler loves them even more with raisins in them. My guy, on the other hand … not a raisin lover, but they’re easy to pick out. 😉 Thanks so much for coming back to comment!
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I just baked these and oh my they are awesome! The only changes I made were I only used half the vanilla and no ground cloves because I didn’t have any. Oh lord I’m going to eat them all before my boyfriend comes home
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I just made these for breakfast this morning, and they are fantastic!! I used all whole wheat instead of all-purp flour, subbed honey for the brown sugar, and added a cup of chopped pecans. They had just the right amount of sweetness and were wonderfully moist, but not too much so. I thought about adding the raisins, but I don’t really love raisins, so chose to not worry about it. (When I do add them I almost always put them in my little Handy Chopper so I don’t have to deal with the squishy raisin texture.)
If you’re thinking about trying these- do it!!!
Yum!! Added a little flax which gave them a nuttier finish. Even my toddler kept coming back for more!
What a great idea – I need to try that! Flax is so wonderful.
Those look great!
I made these yesterday. I only had cinnamon and white sugar and I added raisins. But they came out awesome! Next time I think I’ll add pecans or walnuts and more raisins they are soooo good! Like mini carrot cakes. My 2 year old loves them too. 🙂
Yay, so glad you liked them. 🙂 Nuts would be wonderful – and raisins too! Love the idea of making these a little heartier – great grab & go snacks for the toddler (funny how much they love them!)
Loved these! More importantly, my kid ate 5 the first day! Gave nice rounded tops. Did not have applesauce, so used babyfood apricots and a grated apple. Also ran out of brown sugar (time to go to the store!), so used 1/3 brown and 2/3 white sugar. Has anyone tried honey or molasses? Thanks for a new family favorite!
My daughter and I made these just now, though she didn’t know I snuck in carrots and zucchini when she wasn’t looking! I halved the recipe (though still used a whole egg) and the wee one insisted on chocolate chips, so I chopped a few up and tossed them in as well. I also added flax meal for extra nutrients. It made 36 mini muffins and she GOBBLED up 2 of them straight from the oven. Thanks for the great recipe!
I just made these but replaced the applesauce with mashed banana (as I didn’t have any applesauce). They’re delicious! Can’t wait to eat them for breakfast all week!
I love this idea! I’ll have to try mashed bananas soon. So many fabulous adaptation ideas popping up in the comments on this one – I love it!
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I just made these and they were great. I think I’ll play around with the recipe by adding sunflower seeds, walnuts or other nuts, but that’s personal preference. Enjoy!
I just made these and they are the best ever!!! i had to adjust a little because i eat all organic i exchanged the oil for coconut oil and cut it down a little and added slivered almonds grated apple and walnuts. exchanged the white flour with oat flour and half the sugar for molasses They were so delicious and look amazing too!
I think I’ll try the recipe from the blog first and if I get around to it maybe your recipe too.
The first five comments hadn’t even tried the recipe …. at least you “tried” the recipe. Anyway why not use coconut flour in your version?
Got these baking in the oven right now… excluded cloves because I didn’t have it…
Will return in 20 mins to let you know how they went!
thanks for the recipe!
Found this on pinterest. So happy to find a muffin that isn’t a dessert… you know what I am talking about, right? My toddler loves eating stuff with his hands and I love giving him stuff with veggies… this is a win win. So many yummy sounding varriations going on in the comments – very cool. Love your pictures….
Ha – yes, I know exactly what you’re talking about! Muffins are often basically an excuse to have cupcakes for breakfast. Though it’s an excuse I’ve used many a time. 😉
I know, I am loving everyone’s creativity! Thanks so much.
Delicious! They are moist and wonderful. I make these all the time for my little guy who doesn’t like to eat his veggies.
This recipe is amazing – so flavourful! Thanks so much for the share!
Hi Rebecca, thanks so much. 🙂
Yippie, my super picky 6 yr old just gobbled one up (100% whole grain, honey version). For vegetables, he was pretty much down to popcorn, hummus, and nuts, if you count those. He won’t even drink smoothies. I see many variations of this in our future. Happy dance!
My 19 month old won’t go near smoothies, either! I’ve even given them to her with a spoon and called them ice cream. No dice. But she still loves these, so, yay! I’m glad your little guy likes them too. Happy dance indeed. 🙂
Hi! Thank you so much for the recipe. I followed it exactly, except I added 1/3 cup sultana raisins (my 20 yr old daughter loves them). Unfortunately, the muffins came up with a gummy texture. Why would that be?
I used 2 cups white whole wheat flour which is very mild for a whole grain. I also substituted the 3/4 cup brown sugar with 1/2 cup raw honey. They were still very sweet and delicious. Been trying to cook healthy and convert my kids –they said this was the best tasting healthy thing I’ve made yet! They gobbled them up!
Made these twice already! The first time I stuck to the recipe, and loved it!!, the second time, I had a bunch of home grown zucchini from my sisters garden- so, i doubled up on the recipe, I substituted zucchini for the carrots, added 3/4 cups craisins, 3/4 cup flax meal, (since zucchini has so much more moisture content) and it was a HUGE success!!!! Thanks for sharing!!!
These were so good!! The perfect carrot muffin – making my second batch now!
So glad you liked them! Hope the second batch was as good as the first. 🙂
I have just made it, it is lovely, I add some cranberries, pecan and raising, less sugar, some honey, the best recipe for muffins ever, thanks xx
Yum! I used coconut oil instead of veg oil, and added about a half cup of raisins. Baked for 23min in my oven, and came out perfect! I will definitely make these again.
I want to make these but can anyone give me the nutritional vale of these muffins? Calories, carbs protein, fiber etc.
I want to make these but can anyone give me the nutritional vale of these muffins? Calories, carbs protein, fiber etc.
I want to make these but can anyone give me the nutritional vale of these muffins? Calories, carbs protein, fiber etc.
I want to make these but can anyone give me the nutritional vale of these muffins? Calories, carbs protein, fiber etc.
I want to make these muffins, but could someone give the nutritional value of the muffins? Calorie, carbs, fiber, protein etc?
Sounds like you are a Weight Watcher….like me….so far, I have altered the recipe by no brown sugar, but trivia; no oil, but added 4 mashed bananas; not milk, but low fat buttermilk; for the flours 1-1/2 cup wheat flour, 1/4 cup flax meal, and 1/4 cup almond flour
5 ww pts…..8 fat, 27 carbs, 3 fiber, and 5 protein.
These muffins are just wonderful.
I want to make these muffins, but could anyone give the nutritional value of these muffins? calories, carbs, fiber, sugar, protein etc.
Loved these muffins! Used organic coconut oil and replaced the milk with a cup of Greek yogurt…Delicious!
Loved these muffins! Used organic coconut oil and replaced the milk with a cup of Greek yogurt…Delicious!
Loved these muffins! Used organic coconut oil and replaced the milk with a cup of Greek yogurt…Delicious!
I made these this past weekend using 2 cups white whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup coconut oil instead of veg oil, 1/2 cup honey instead of brown sugar, and added chopped pecans and craisins. the craisins provide a nice sweet surprise since the muffins themselves aren’t sweet like a bakery muffin would be. Made 16 muffins for me (bonus!) and they came out wonderfully…fam of 4 and we’re down to 3 muffins in 36 hrs.
I made these this past weekend using 2 cups white whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup coconut oil instead of veg oil, 1/2 cup honey instead of brown sugar, and added chopped pecans and craisins. the craisins provide a nice sweet surprise since the muffins themselves aren’t sweet like a bakery muffin would be. Made 16 muffins for me (bonus!) and they came out wonderfully…fam of 4 and we’re down to 3 muffins in 36 hrs.
Exchanged in plain Greek yogurt for the milk. Turned out great and made 14 muffins!
I just made a double batch of these beauties with surplus carrots from my garden. The only change I made was to add raisins (1 cup for a double recipe). They are great, thank you for posting!
I just made a double batch of these beauties with surplus carrots from my garden. The only change I made was to add raisins (1 cup for a double recipe). They are great, thank you for posting!
Made these last night as a healthy compromise between my husband and I. I love muffins but generally make them “too healthy” for the hubs. These sound like a perfect balance with just enough sugar to be tasty but not so much I feel like I’m eating a cupcake. YUM!
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