These easy vegan carrot muffins are so much more than just regular old carrot muffins. Not only are they quick to prepare, taking just 35 minutes to whip up, but they are jam-packed full of scrumptious homemade baked goodness. Each muffin is bursting with sweet carrots, crunchy walnuts, chewy coconut, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Making these the BEST carrot muffins you will ever taste!
No really, I dare you to test them out for yourself.
Now of course if you don't like walnuts or coconut in your vegan carrot muffins, that's cool, you can skip them. But I highly recommend these additions.
If you're looking for some more vegan muffin options try my double chocolate muffins, berry crumb muffins, or banana nut muffins. All of which are super popular recipes... do you know the muffin (wo)man? It's me. I'm the one who's good at making muffins. Ah... ok, bad jokes Sam.
Back to easy vegan carrot muffins. The good news about these muffins is that they can be made ahead of time and either stored at room temperature for 3 - 4 days, or they can even be frozen. The bad news is that it's going to be very difficult to not eat them all on day one. You have been warned.
To make easy vegan carrot muffins:
In a large bowl whisk together all the dry ingredients.
In a medium bowl mix together the plant-based milk, oil, lemon juice, and vanilla extract. Then stir in the carrots, walnuts, and coconut.
Pour the wet carrot mixture into the dry ingredients bowl and stir until just combined. Don't overmix, lumps are totally cool. Overmixing can result in the muffins not rising properly.
Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin tin.
Bake 18 to 25 minutes until lightly golden on top and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan.
Then prepare to bite into the most gloriously delicious muffin ever!! Enjoy as is or with a smear of vegan butter.
Bon appetegan!
Sam Turnbull
Easy Vegan Carrot Muffins
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients:
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup white sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
Wet Ingredients:
- ¾ cup plant-based milk (such as soy or oat)
- ½ cup light oil (such as canola or vegetable)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups peeled and grated carrots (about 2 medium carrots)
- ½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)
- ½ cup shredded coconut, sweetened or unsweetened (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400F (200C). Line 12 wells of a muffin pan with paper liners or lightly grease the pan.
- In a large bowl whisk together all the dry ingredients.
- In a medium bowl mix together the plant-based milk, oil, lemon juice, and vanilla extract. Then stir in the carrots, walnuts, and coconut. Pour the wet carrot mixture into the dry ingredients bowl and stir until just combined. Don't overmix, lumps are totally cool. Overmixing can result in the muffins not rising properly.
- Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin tin. Bake 18 to 25 minutes until lightly golden on top and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan. Carrot muffins can be stored at room temperature for 3 - 4 days or frozen in an air-tight container.
Paola J says
These are incredible! I've been meaning to find a recipe that I could use to make muffins with my juice pulp and this one did just the trick!
One small substitute that I made was adding peanut butter to the batter and instead of using milk and oil, using some homemade vegan butter I had. I'll definitely be making this again!
Thank you so much for this incredible recipe!
Lori says
These were so good light and moist. I doubled the recipe and made 6 jumbo and 12 regular muffins. I also added flax, pumpkin seeds and raisins. Next time I may do half zucchini and half carrot.
Carolanne Fry says
I liked these. they came out a little wet for me but still good. I added about a tablespoon of ground ginger- that added a nice flavor to it 🙂
Sunny White says
I would like to know if I could substitute apple sauce for the oil, would that work with this recipe?
Patricia says
Hi Sunny, I made these yesterday and used applesauce instead of oil and they were delicious!
Beata says
Was fortunate to have a nothing-that-must-be-done-now Saturday afternoon, so I was, admittedly, mindlessly, scrolling through Sam's recipes because I wanted something sweet but had no idea what I was looking for, lol. One of the posts had a link to Sam's Facebook, and although I don't use any social media, I know that I still can read some content if clicking on a link. So I did, and kept scrolling through Sam's feed, still mindlessly... But it really caught my attention that there were sooo many comments about these carrot muffins! I said, I guess these are it to try to satisfy my sweet tooth!
In my home country, putting carrots in your sweet baked goods was unheard of when I was growing up... Never seen a carrot cake or muffin until moving to the US many years ago. Never been a real fan of carrot baked goods after trying them, either. Just not something I craved as I very strongly prefer dark chocolate flavors. But yesterday I just felt that I had to make these, especially that I had some sad looking carrots in the fridge and the carrots needed to be used. Better yet, I had all the other ingredients on hand, even walnuts and coconut!
I don't normally bake with white flour and white sugar as I really try not to eat all this white stuff... But from my experience I know that substituting flours and sweeteners can be a disaster if not researched in advance, and I didn't feel like I wanted to do the research. I however knew I wanted these muffins RIGHT THEN, lol. So off with the white flour and white sugar I went.
Made the recipe as written, except I decreased the sugar to about 2/3 cup and used only about 1/4 cup of walnuts, because my walnuts were the black walnuts and their taste is quite strong, different and definitely an acquired taste. I personally love black walnuts, but I wasn't sure how the taste would come through in this recipe. Used silicone muffin cups and since they are just a little smaller than muffin wells in a typical muffin pan, I ended up with 14 muffins overall. Baked for about 20 minutes.
The muffins seemed just a touch undercooked when warm, but they sort of finished cooking after being taken out of the oven and when I finally bit into one of them, it was an absolute heaven that totally crushed my cravings for something sweet. Who knew that carrots can be so good in your cakes or muffins? So cool. Loved the different textures from the coconut and walnuts and I was glad that I used less sugar, as the muffins were plenty sweet for me. My boyfriend loved the muffins too and I (reluctantly) split the batch with him, haha.
Long story short, I am so happy that I stumbled upon these muffins and decided to make them - thank you Sam!!!
Allan says
Do you add the apple cider Vinegar to the milk first, and allow to curdle?
Kate says
Love this recipe, it turned out great! I didn't have walnuts or coconut but I added raspberries and lemon zest; worked really nicely! These are by far the best vegan muffins I have tried yet, thank you so much Sam!
Tina LeBlanc says
These muffins are amazing - I made them as written including the walnuts, coconut AND added about a half cup of raisins - SO GOOD!!!
Sam Turnbull says
Yay!!!
Gloria says
I LOVE this recipe! I tried to make it again last night, but on a whim I tried it with Bob's Red Mill gluten free 1 to 1 baking flour and it was a flop. Came out like Mochi .... so I'll be sticking with the original recipe from now on!
Sam Turnbull says
Haha! Yeah, gluten-free baking is a whole other kind of chemistry I haven't mastered either!
mimi says
they where: SO good!
I used whole wheat and put half the oil (replace the liquid lost by more soy milk)
I cooked them 35 mins
thanks for the recipe!!!
Kitti says
Made this yesterday, this is the best muffin recipe ever! Tried some other vegan muffin before, but non of them came out so good. Thanks for the recipe
Natalia says
Just made this and they came out sooo good!!! I used almonds cause I didn’t have walnuts and it’s still really good. Super easy to make and easy to get ingredients. Thank you very much for sharing!
ITriedit says
I tried it and these were awesome! Next time I’ll increase the spices. Only change I did was swap out the oil for regular butter because I didn’t have any oil. Will make these regularly when I need to use up carrots!!
Sam Turnbull says
So happy you enjoyed!
Michelle A. says
Wow, wow, wow!!!!! These muffins were AMAZING! I am not vegan. However, I truly appreciate the benefits of the lifestyle as my almost two year old has an egg and dairy allergy. I’m always looking for different recipes that we can all enjoy. This recipe was One of them! My husband loved them too. I knew they were gonna be good when I smelled them cooking in the oven! Yummy! Thanks again!
Nelda says
Could this be made in a loaf pan? How long would it needto bake
Julia says
Really quick and easy to make, and absolutely delicious! I didn’t have nuts on hand, but did add some unsweetened desiccated coconut and they turned out great.
Sam Turnbull says
Wonderful!
Christine says
I made these a couple of weeks ago & they were delicious, but there was just a LITTLE something missing, so I made them again today but substituted brilliant yellow sugar for the white sugar, increased the nutmeg to 1/2 a teaspoon, & added 1/2 a teaspoon of ginger. I just finished sampling the results & they are absolutely amazing! Thank you Sam!
Tatiana says
These are SO GOOD!!
Good thing I doubled the recipe because my kids are currently gobbling them up!
(I added coconut, pistachios & raisins. And I subbed 1 cup of the flour with oats)
Sam Turnbull says
So happy you enjoyed!!
Lisa A. Voissard says
These were delicious, but the calorie information has to be a typo, right? Is each muffin about 251 calories?
thanks!
Sam Turnbull says
Yes, each muffin is about 251 calories. That's pretty standard for a muffin. 🙂
Sue says
Excellent! Hubby doesn't like coconut so replaced with raisins and chocolate chips. So good.
Luz says
Hi Sam!
Could the sugar be substituted for date syrup?
Thank you
Kim says
Wow! These came out so moist, with a nice little crisp on top. So delicious! I can't wait to deliver these to friends and family as a sweet little Easter surprise tomorrow
These were a perfect way to use up those last couple of carrots wasting away in the fridge. Thanks for the great recipe!
Sam Turnbull says
You're most welcome, Kim! So happy you enjoyed 🙂
Kristine says
I don't have any canola or vegetable oil with coconut oil work?
Sam Turnbull says
Coconut won't work well because it is solid at room temperature which might make the muffins heavy. If you have any other light oil, that would be better. 🙂
Samantha Arsenault says
Wow! These are the first muffins that I've made that are very moist and tasty Today I didn't have carrots so I replaced the carrots with 1 cup of frozen raspberries + 1/2 chocolate chips and left the nutmeg out and they were as delicious! Thanks for all the amazing recipes, love your blog!!
Rachael Smith says
How do I sub whole wheat flour?
Cynthia says
I made these with about 1 1/4 cup WW flour and about 1/4 cup ground flax seed. Used applesauce instead of oil. Came out moist and flavorful. You could just use all WW flour without the flax if you'd prefer.
Georgia says
Honestly I have never left a review for a recipe but I had to for these Carrot muffins. They were so good that we ate them all in two days!!! My 3 year old even loved them. Thank you so much for sharing this delicious vegan recipe!
Sam Turnbull says
Aww you're most welcome, Georgia! Thank you for leaving a review 🙂
Terri says
I made this a few days ago and they did not rise up as I would have like them to a little dense, but that was most likely me as I do not bake often but they were delicious anyway and are now gone insert very sad face here. Will make them again. I am well on my way to being a Vegan convert
Chaya says
I love them
Are they 215 kcal for one muffin? Or for all the muffins together?
Sam Turnbull says
Per muffin 🙂
Reading Rabbit says
Hi Sam!
My Mom and I made your easy vegan carrot muffins and they were delicious, although we did make some small changes to the recipe like we used one cup of brown sugar and half of a cup of white sugar, two cups of all purpose flour and one cup whole wheat flour, and one cup of raisins. I think we will definitely be making them again! Thank you for all of your fun to make, tasty recipes! My sisters and I will be making your vegan soft frosted sugar cookies to surprise our Mom for her birthday which is today! Say Hi to Chickpea for me! She is so cute!
Shelley says
Your tofu crumbles have changed my life, so thank you very much for that!
This recipe is also delicious and just a heads up to anyone who cares, it works really well with half the sugar. I added 3 tablespoons of flax to try to balance out the dry ingredients and it worked well. They turned out crunchy on top, tender in the middle, sweet, and satisfying.
Thanks again, you folks rock!
Sam Turnbull says
Aww wonderful, Shelley!! 🙂
Dawn says
These muffins are amazing! I doubled the recipe (thank God! They’re so delicious!) And used a mixture of whole wheat and all-purpose flour. I also skipped the oil and replaced it with my homemade applesauce.
Thank you so much for this recipe! Considered making some vegan cream cheese frosting for them, but they’re perfect without it. That’s saying a lot considering frosting is one of my favorite food groups!
Love your website and cookbook, and I always look forward to receiving your emails. Keep up the great work!
Sam Turnbull says
Aww thanks so much, Dawn! Thrilled you enjoyed!
Suzanne says
Absolutely FANTASTIC Sam!! Thank you so much for sharing ❤
Sam Turnbull says
So happy you enjoyed, Suzanne 🙂
Mori says
Amazing!! Can’t wait to try this, but is there anything I can sub oil with? Trying to be oil free. Thanks!
Sam Turnbull says
HI Mori, I'm not an expert in oil-free baking so I would recommend following a guide such as this one.
Anna says
Tried it, LOVED IT and had to fight the kids to not eat the last one so hubs could try it when he got home. Totally lost the fight (Little stinkers snuck it while I was in the bathroom!) so I guess we’re making another batch. Shucks! Oh! And. AND! My seven year old says “Mom, these are better than McDonalds muffins”. Tagged you in the video on Insta
Jillian says
Anna- Did you add the optional walnuts and coconuts into your muffins for the kiddos? I’m going to try them out for mine and was just curious! Thx!
Anna says
Hey! I didn’t end up using either; didn’t have any walnuts on hand and when I looked at the coconut I questioned how long it had been open So for the sake of fresh ingredients we went without, but our kids are normally coconut fans. The muffins themselves turned out just fine without though.
Sam Turnbull says
Haha!! THat's amazing!! Thrilled they loved them so much 🙂
Em says
Yum, this sounds great. I'm actually thinking I'll make these with a savory swing instead of sweet (I'm a salty breakfast person). I have a couple questions that are out of left field. Please let me know what you think.
Does the sugar serve another purpose besides just sweetener? As in, if I left it out (because I'd be swinging savory), would I need to add some sort of extra dry bulk?
ALSO, I've been digging coconut milk (from a can) as a way to add some fat to my food... it gives me Thai vibes that I dig. Do you think there is enough fat in coconut milk to sustain a muffin recipe? I've never tried it but I'm intrigued.
If you don't know, I'll charge on (and change one at a time) and let you know how it goes.
Thanks for the ideas 🙂
Sam Turnbull says
Hi Em, baking is a science so altering the recipe (even a small amount) will give you different results. As I haven't tested those options I can't know how they will turn out. You're welcome to experiment tho. ENjoy!
Em says
Updates!
1. I made your recipe and it was delicious. So light and fluffy (coconut was a good idea for texture).
2. I made your recipe, minus the sweet elements, plus nooch, black salt, garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, cayanne pepper. These came out denser but still delicious. I think I may add more nooch and maybe small seitan cubes. I've made corn bread with veggie dogs that I liked, so I'm thinking along those lines.
Thanks for sharing accessible recipes.
Sam Turnbull says
Glad you enjoyed your version!
Joanie says
Easy and delicious. They turned out perfect.
And for all of you who feel the need to be negative, just don’t make them and move one, sheesh.
Sam Turnbull says
Haha, thank you Joanie!! Thrilled you loved them so much! And so quick to make them too 🙂
dd says
yikes, ms Sam...
worldtruth.tv/canola-oil-a-chemical-carcinogen-that-doesnt-belong-anywhere-near-your-food/
Canola Oil: A Chemical Carcinogen That Doesn’t Belong Anywhere Near Your Food
We all have been trained by the government and food industry to believe that processed vegetable oils, such as canola oil, are healthy...
Though canola oil is marketed as a healthy oil, it is anythig but healthy. It is a cheap, highly unstable, inflammatory oil that was given a huge push by trusted advisory groups and the government’s dietary guidelines... Nonetheless, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer are still on the rise...The problem with canola oil
Canola oil comes from highly toxic genetically modified rapeseeds. In the past, rapeseed oil was used in candles, soaps, lipsticks,
lubricants, inks, biofuels, and even insecticides. Somehow this industrial oil found its way to our dinner table.
In 1956, however, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned the use of rapeseed oil for human consumption due to
the high levels of erucic acid. By the early seventies, rapeseed growers had found a way to genetically modify the seeds to
produce an oil with reduced erucic acid.
The oil was reintroduced on the market under the name “Rape Oil” or “LEAR Oil” (Low Erucic Acid Rape), which was later changed to canola oil for marketing purposes. It was touted a wonder oil,..
Sam Turnbull says
Actually no oils are healthy. I didn't promote this as a health-focused recipe. My recipes are delicious, vegan, easy to make, and use easy to find ingredients. Those are my only requirements. If you prefer health-focused recipes there are a ton of other blogs who offer those. 🙂
Byron says
When my mom died I kept her Tupperware flour container I wrote Mom’s white flour on the lid and since then I’ve been a lot more lenient as far 100% Whole grain. ... but 100% all purpose white flour ? You kids !❤️ ps. I’m going to try this with WW. I’ll let you know how it goes
Sam Turnbull says
Enjoy!
Laura says
Can almond flour be substituted and if so, is it the same amount? Thanks so much!
Sam Turnbull says
I'm not an expert in alternative flours so I would recommend following a guide such as this.
Laura says
Thanks so much!