Apple Carrot Muffin Recipe (2024)

Apples and carrots create the most hearty little muffin you could ever imagine. These perfectly sized finger foods are moist and yummy. This apple carrot muffin recipe will help your family enjoy fruits and veggies in a food that will not last long in your kitchen. Great as a snack, breakfast or dessert!

Why This Recipe Works

I thought that by now I would be feeling less sad about my baby boy starting school, but I’m not. He has been my sweet little sidekick and I know it will get easier. In the meantime, I’ve been, among other things, baking! My oven is tired and wishing Sammy would quit school and come back home already.

Are you ready for a recipe that keeps kiddos feel full longer and gives them more energy for school? These Apple Carrot Cake muffins fit the bill! These delicious little muffins came from Better Homes & Gardens Fall Baking magazine.

Combining carrots and apples doesn’t seem like an intuitive combination to put together to create a muffin, but they create amazing texture, they’re moist and super delicious! They don’t cost a lot to make but are gobbled up quickly by one and all.

Recipe Ingredients

Apples – Take 1 large or 2 small apples and peel them, using a food processor to shred them or a hand cheese grater also works well.

Carrots – Peel 4 large carrots and shred them using a food processor to shred them or a hand cheese grater also works well.

Flour – To make baked goods on the healthier side, substitute 2 cups whole wheat flour.

Milk – Measure the milk 30 minutes before preparing your recipe so it comes to room temperature. This will help the ingredients emulsify and then create some air in the batter. Once the muffins are baked, they will be beautifully light and fluffy.

Sugar – Reduce the amount of sugar used in the recipe and replace it with maple syrup for a different sweetener. Try substituting 2/3 cup of maple syrup as a replacement of 1 cup of sugar.

Spices – If you don’t have apple pie spice on hand, mix together 1/2 tsp. cinnamon + 1/2 tsp. nutmeg as a substitute.

Check out our web story for apple muffins with carrots!

This quick overview of these perfect snack or breakfast apple carrot muffins will get you excited to bake a batch or two!

How To Make A Batch of Apple Carrot Muffins

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a muffin pan with cupcake wrappers; set aside. Combine the wet ingredients together: butter, sugar, eggs, milk and vanilla in a large bowl. Mix well.

Step 2

In a medium bowl, combine dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, apple pie spice and salt and mix well. Gradually add to the butter-sugar bowl until combined. Fold in the shredded apples and carrots.

Pour into prepared muffin tins, filling each 3/4 of the way full.

Step 3

In a small bowl, combine the 2 tablespoons of butter, 1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of brown sugar. Mix with a fork until crumbly. Sprinkle over the tops of the muffins and bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Serve warm with butter!

Recipe Notes

• If you love nuts, it would be really delicious to add chopped pecans or chopped walnuts into your batter or sprinkle them into the crumble topping. Feel free to toast them in the oven for 8 minutes at 325 prior to baking with them.
• Adding a half cup of golden raisins into the batter would add an amazing complex flavor.
• I find that a little unsweetened (or sweetened!) coconut delivers on enhancing flavor in my baked goods! Just a 1/4 cup will do. It’ll give your muffins a tropical flavor!
• If you have a batch of zucchini on hand and not as many carrots, the zucchini would take the carrots place perfectly!
• Remember not to crowd your batter. Try and substitute the same amounts of items into the original recipe. If you add more to it, do so sparingly. Do not add more than 1/4 cup of extra ingredients.
• These awesome hand-held snacks will stay moist for up to 5 days when store in an air-tight container!

How To Freeze Muffins

I love staying on top of things, especially during the school year. Prepare these muffins ahead of time so several batches are waiting for you in your freezer. During the school year, use them in school lunches and as a great snack on the go!

You’ll feel good knowing they are better than a snack that has no nutritional value at all. Place the cooled muffins into an air-tight container and freeze for 3-6 months.

Best Apples For Baking

I recommend using a variety of apples and at the very least, use two kinds: one sweet and one tart. My favorite combo is Granny Smith and Honeycrisp apples.

Sweet/Softer Apple Brands

• Fuji
• Honeycrisp
• Red Delicious
• Golden Delicious
• Cortland
• Gala

Tart (or a little Sour) Apple Brands

• Granny Smith
• McIntosh
• Ida Red
• Braeburn
• Empire
• Jonathan

Keep Apples From Browning

When chopping and peeling the apples, fill a large bowl about half with cool water and squeeze the juice of 1/2 lemon into it. The lemon juice will keep your apples from getting brown while you get them prepped for the recipe.

Use an apple corer/peeler if you have one because they will make this process go super fast. If you don’t have one, use a potato peeler and a knife to get the job done. You’ll need to peel, core and chop the apples. Place them into the water-lemon juice mixture as you work.

Salted Butter vs. Unsalted Butter

Ahh, the great baking debate. Many bakers use unsalted butter in their baked goods in order to avoid over-salting. I, however, believe that there is no such thing as “over-salting.”

I always use salted butter in my baked goods (and for everything else under the sun) because it gives everything I make an extra touch of salty deliciousness. If you go the unsalted route, keep in mind that you may need to add a bit extra salt to the recipe!

Using Baking Soda

Baking soda is used to help leaven or raise a baked good. The baking soda is combined with a wet acidic ingredient, helping bubbles of carbon dioxide expand under oven temperatures so your baked good rises. This reaction happens when you mix the ingredients, so don’t delay!

You need to bake recipes immediately that have baking soda in them or they will be flat. Baking soda is basic and will yield a bitter taste unless countered by the acidity of another ingredient, such as buttermilk.

FAQ About Carrots

Healthy Foods For Picky Kids

• Healthy Breakfast Cookies – These cookies aren’t just for breakfast and they are deceptively delicious. Kids will never know how healthy they are!
• Healthy Breakfast Muffins – Enjoy breakfast the healthy way! Whip up a batch of these muffins as a perfect on-the-go meal or a snack to stay on track with healthy eating. These breakfast muffins are beyond delicious plus they’re packed with good stuff.
• Healthy Fruit Dip – This Fruit and Veggie Dip is creamy, healthy and ADDICTING. Kids LOVE this stuff! Great healthy after-school snack option.
• Healthy Snack Bites – These healthy snack bites take less than TEN minutes to make and you probably have all of the ingredients in your pantry. My boys adore them! Great after-school or anytime snack with no preservatives or added sugar

Fall Apple Recipes

• Appledoodles – Apple Snickerdoodles are a fun twist on the classic snickerdoodles! Great way to use up apples in the fall!
• Homemade Apple Cider – Make Homemade Apple Cider in your slow cooker! It’ll warm you from the inside out with amazing flavors and it’s so delicious. It’s a must have fall drink and tastes so much better when you make it yourself.
• Sprinkle sea salt over your Salted Chocolate Caramel Apples – with a bit of chocolate turns Caramel Apples into an extravagant dessert.
• Apple French Toast Bake – Transform classic French Toast into an appley indulgence! Prepare this easy Apple French Toast Bake recipe the night before so there’s no morning prep! It’s also wonderful as a make and bake option.

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