Loaded with fresh orange flavor, a hint of cinnamon and ginger, and shredded carrots, these Orange Carrot Oat Muffins are an easy, healthy and fun way to start your day, for kids and adults – My kids absolutely LOVE these muffins!
As a parent, have you ever made something healthy for your kids and they LOVE it?
When that happens I get this weird, immediate sense of pride. I think I puff my chest out a bit and sit up a little straighter, like I conquered the world. Cause, ya’ll, if I can get my kids to eat something NEW and HEALTHY, then I HAVE in fact conquered the world!
It sounds dramatic and pitiful, but… it’s true if you have picky eaters.
These healthy Orange Carrot Oat Muffins are a fun and easy way to get that Momma Bear pride, with no sacrifice in flavor or having to make something crazy, like food that has animal faces on it. Sounds like fun when I see the cute pictures, but I don’t want to make the time to create pancakes that look like cute bears every morning. Sorry! Maybe for Holidays… that’s about it.
What I do instead for everyday breakfasts? Fun, healthy muffins that are packed with flavor and easy to make.
My usual go-to to make a muffin “fun” for kids (and myself!) is to add chocolate chips. That ALWAYS helps. BUT lately my son is on a chocolate chip restriction 😉
You see, he’ll pick his way around every breakfast I make to pick out the chocolate chips and that’s all he eats. Creative, resourceful, and smart. Also, ornery and wasteful! So let’s dodge the chocolate-chip-pickers all together and make a breakfast that’s a fun flavor that kids love and won’t have to pick around in to enjoy.
You know what my son said? “It’s like drinking orange juice!”
My kids don’t get juice, at least from us, that often (from grandparents? Now that’s another story…). To be able to eat something for breakfast that TASTES LIKE JUICE was the BOMB, as far as my son was concerned. My 1 year old daughter? She loved these muffins too, she just can’t quite voice it in the same way my son can… yet 🙂
This Momma Bear is happy to see her kids eating a homemade breakfast, without picking around in it, and even happier knowing these Orange Carrot Oat Muffins are:
- Gluten-free, whole grain and flourless thanks to oats (good fiber!)
- Filled with shredded carrots, for a little extra veggie bonus in their diet!
- Dairy-free, using only 1/4 cup of coconut oil
- Flavor PACKED with orange juice and zest!
TIP: For the sake of ease and to ensure your baked goods turn out and aren’t a crumbly mess, I recommend buying oat flour for muffins. Unless you have a high powered blender and can get your oats blended up as fine as the oat flour you can buy in a store. For example, my blender does a great job blending up oats, but my food processor does not blend my oats up fine enough.
You ready to put some zest into your mornings with these healthy Orange Carrot Oat Muffins?
I couldn’t resist that one! I love puns 🙂
Whip these Muffins up and give them a shot. Perfect for the Spring or Summer, these Orange Carrot Oat Muffins are a sure to be a crowd pleaser!
Looking for more fun and easy breakfast recipes? Check out my Chocolate Peppermint Breakfast Cookies or my classic Banana Bread.
- 1 3/4 cup oat flour (certified gluten-free, if necessary)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted (or butter)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup applesauce
- 1/4 cup orange juice (freshly squeezed or store bought)
- zest of 2 oranges
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup shredded carrots
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Preheat your oven to 350 and spray a muffin pan with non-stick spray, or line with cupcake liners.
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In a small mixing bowl, stir together your dry ingredients (oat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ginger).
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In a small bowl, combine your applesauce and orange juice and microwave till they are room temperature (maybe 15 seconds or so). This will help to stop the coconut oil from returning to a solid state.
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Next, In a large mixing bowl, whisk together your coconut oil and sugar. Pour in your applesauce, orange juice, orange zest, vanilla and eggs, and whisk together until all is well incorporated.
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Pour your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients and stir together till everything is well incorporated.
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Lastly, add your shredded carrots and fold them into your batter.
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Pour your batter into the muffin pan, filling each cavity about 3/4 way full.
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Bake in the oven for 15-17 minutes, or till the muffins are set on top and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
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After cooling for about 10-15 minutes, remove them from your muffin pan to a cooling rack, till they are completely cool.
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Devour!
*These muffins are best stored in a fridge and will last about a week. *Please note: If you are using homemade oat flour (from grinding up oats) ensure that the flour is fine, or these muffins will turn out a bit crumbly. I prefer to use my Ninja Blender to blend oat flour.
These Orange Carrot Oat Muffins were inspired by these Orange Muffins.
Thank you! I was looking for an oat flour muffin recipe without chocolate chips for the very same “picks out the chips and won’t eat the rest” reason! Just wanted to share a few swaps and tips:
-I didn’t have carrots so I omitted completely
-I didn’t have applesauce or ripe bananas so I swapped for 1/4 cup kefir plus 1/4 cup coconut milk. I wanted coconut flavor but next time would just use 1/2 cup kefir bc the coconut milk didn’t add much.
-I didn’t have an orange to zest so I added 2 drops organic orange EO
-I made these entirely in the blender (Vitamix). Oat flour doesn’t risk getting over-mixed like wheat flour so there is no need to separate dry/wet ingredients! Save yourself some bowls and clean-up! First I ground the oats, then added all the other dry ingredients and mixed. Then I measured all the wet ingredients (minus the coconut oil) in a mason jar, dumped it all in and blended. I added the melted oil at the very end since the other wet/cold ingredients had a little time to warm up by being mixed in the blender.
The texture came out perfect. They need a drizzle of raw honey on top (I’m sure the applesauce or banana would have sweetened them more than my version).
I’m sure the recipe would be delicious as written and next time I plan better, I’ll try it that way! But for your readers who feel confident and adventurous baking with oat flour, know that you can really adapt this!
These muffins are wonderful. I followed the recipe and directions without any changes. Nice and moist and ever so tasty. These will be on my gluten free rotation.
I really like the fact that I can grind my own oats to make the oat flour and not have to buy the super expensive flour alternatives plus xanthan gum.
These are perfect. Thank you for posting.
I made these muffins yesterday when I had visitors for morning tea.I changed a few things . Only used about 2 tablespoons of oil ( olive oil) and used Greek yoghurt to make up until I had 1/4 cup. Also I did not add sugar at all . Made the applesauce from scratch , just 1 apple with a little bit of cinnamon , no sugar . I guess the apple and the fresh squeezed orange juice have natural sweetness.
We all loved them , they were dense and moist . Leftovers went into the freezer. Thank you for sharing . I love healthy recipes with less sugar and less oil .
Super recipe; subbed no-fat Greek yogurt for,the applesauce as that’s what was in the house; added 1/2 c. Chopped walnuts.
Terrific flavor.
Love the recipe!
PERFECTION!
These are absolutely delicious! I will definitely be making these again and want to try more of your recipes!!
Fantastic! I replaced sugar with 1/3 cup maple syrup. I added 1 cup of walnuts and 1/4 cup raisins. The muffins are cake like and everyone loves them. Thanks for the great recipe!
What can you use instead of sugar? Honey, or maple syrup? I don’t use white sugar.
Hi Tina. You can try using 1/3 cup of honey or maple syrup instead and that should work. Hope they turn out for you!
Can I use milled oats instead if oat flour? Would it be the same please? Thank you!
Hi Stefania. I haven’t tried that before, and I’m afraid the muffins wouldn’t hold together as well and would be crumbly. I would stick with oat flour.
Fantastic recipe! Made these exactly as written and they’re so good. Walnuts or pecans might make their way in next time 🙂
Its a great dish. However I am vegeterian so kindly tell how to replace eggs in this recipe
Hi Aashi. You can try using either flax or chia eggs in place, or an egg replacer. I would recommend a flax or chia egg with 1 tbsp of flax or chia seed, and 2 1/2 tbsp of water, letting them sit till they’ve turned gelatinous. Hope this helps!
Hi, love making the muffins. They are one of few that turn out for me. I am on a muffin misson, mostly they fail but these are a hit in my house thank goodness.
Hello! Do you think I could replace sugar for 3 tbsp of liquid stevia? My father has diabetes
Hi Matias. I’m sorry to say I don’t work with stevia ever, so I have no idea if that could be used instead.
One to one ratio with stevia. I just made mine with stevia and they were amazing! Love the orange flavour!
Hi Chelsea,
I had to leave you this message. I’m doing a baking project to share some of my dessert recipes with some friends, and wanted to include a recipe for my gluten- free friends. This is such a good recipe, I’ve never used coconut oil, or oat flour but wanted to challenge myself. I’m not myself gluten- free but I had to try them and they are AWESOME!!!
Thank you ❤️
So great to hear, Shearlean! I’m happy you enjoyed them so much!!
Adding orange juice and orange peel is the BEST idea , it makes the spices reach a higher level of flavor. OMG
I ran out of oats and I had only half a cup so I added almond flour and flax seed flour as well , I used a banana instead of the apple sauce and monk fruit same measure as regular sugar 1/2 cup.
Simply the best carrot cake I’ve had . As a frosting I mixed date paste And cashew butter. Thanks Chelsea!
This alternative sounds fantastic, I will be implementing it.
Is there anything I can use instead of eggs?
Yes, either an egg replacer or a flax or chia egg would work, they will just be a bit more dense.
1/2 banana = 1 egg
I’m new to all things gluten free and scouring the internet for recipes 🙂 If I am making my own oat flour is the measurement of oats the same as the flour measurement in the recipe?
Hi Rene! If you make your own oat flour (be sure to use certified gluten-free oats too!) you’ll usually need a little more oats than what you need for oat flour for the recipe. So I’d blend up about 2 cups of oats for this recipe and go from there! Hope this helps!
I was told in gluten free baking to weigh flour rather than measure. Good bakers weigh anyway. 1 3/4 cup of oat flour equals 157 grams. 90 grams per cup of oat flour. Sift, if you grind it, for lumps.
These muffins are yummy! I might add nuts next time. So good!
This is a wonderful recipe! Thank you! I made these for a co-worker, who doesn’t bake and wanted them for her daughter’s first birthday (as her cake). They are so flavorful and moist and yummy. I ground up the oats myself in my Ninja blender and it worked beautifully. I appreciated your note about grinding to a fine flour. I had to bake them about five minutes longer than suggested, possibly because I used a stoneware muffin pan. Thank you again! Really delicious!
I love hearing this story, Barb, thanks for sharing! I’m so happy the recipe worked so well for you and your co-worker. That’s great!!
Just made this wonderful recipe! Delicious! Thank you so much!
Thank you, Sharron! So happy to hear that!
WOW!!! These muffins are amazing!! Followed the recipe exactly and we’re in love! Thanks so much for sharing!!
Awesome!! So happy you all love them too Jamie! Thanks for the great review.
Sounds yummy but I”d like to sub-out the sugar for honey or maple syrup. Anyone tried this? I know the taste will be good from subbing in other recipes but I’m concerned about the texture – will muffins be too dense or heavy?
Hi Marilyne – I haven’t made these with honey or maple syrup, and I haven’t heard of anyone else doing that either, so I can’t recommend it. However, if you did try and make these with maple syrup instead of sugar you could try using 1/3 cup of maple syrup, instead of the 1/2 cup of sugar. I hope that helps!
I just made these muffins, I substituted some the out flour for almond flour and used a little extra zest and juice from some tangerines. I also subbed the applesauce for puréed banana. We love them, especially my picky 2yo.
Awesome!! I’m so glad that your family loves the muffins, and it’s great to know that those substitutions worked well. Thanks for sharing Tasha!
These at in the oven right now! The batter “accidentally “ ended up in my mouth. Yum!!!
Awesome! I hope you love them as much as we did Brandy! 🙂