These Zucchini Carrot Muffins are a delicious way to sneak in extra veggies. Kids and adults alike love this sweet muffin recipe and you will too!
These Zucchini Carrot Muffins are chock full of healthy ingredients and taste scrumptious! Sweet apples, carrots and zucchini blend together in a moist, cinnamon muffin batter that tastes like carrot cake!
My son Gavin actually requests these for his birthday instead of cake. They’re inspired by these apple muffins that we make often. I combined that idea with my delicious zucchini muffins recipe to create a whole new muffin recipe. They’re so good, they’ve now become a permanent fixture in our family.
I would LOVE your ideas on how you get your kids to eat more fruits and veggies. Please leave a comment below and let’s swap stories!
“I have to say, this is probably the best and most perfect recipe I have ever tried. I’ve had it as muffins, but one time I had it made into a loaf. Both were perfect.”
TIPS FOR MAKING THE BEST MOIST MUFFINS
- The veggies in this muffin recipe help make them super moist! I like to shred my carrots, apples and zucchini with a food processor or you can use a hand held grater.
- Store muffins in a sealed container or Ziploc bag in a single layer. To keep them from getting to sticky, line the bottom of the container or bag with a paper towel, then cover the top of the muffins with another paper towel.
- Be gentle with the batter. If muffins are coming out crumbly and dry, you may be overmixing the batter. Try to just fold in the ingredients until everything is just barely combined.
- If the muffins seem too moist, they’re probably not cooked enough. Usually it’s because the oven isn’t hot enough or the cooking time was too short. I’ve never had an issue with the instructions in the recipe card below, so follow those directions and you should be good!
- I cut the sugar just a tiny bit from the original apple muffin recipe, and didn’t add the streusel topping. These zucchini carrot muffins turned out absolutely amazing.
- For added crunch, you can toss in a handful of walnuts, almonds or pecans to this muffin recipe. The beauty of this recipe is that it is so versatile you can switch things up a bunch of different ways.
- If a super sweet tooth strikes, these muffins would taste delicious with a dollop of my cream cheese frosting! So yummy!
MORE FAVORITE MUFFIN RECIPES
Muffins or sliced quick breads always make any breakfast or brunch seem a little more special. And they’re so easy to make from scratch so you don’t need to spend money on boxed muffin mixes. Try some of my favorite recipes:
- Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Healthy Blueberry Muffins
- One Bowl Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Eggnog Muffins with Cinnamon Rum Glaze
I actually think these zucchini muffins are a little bit better than the apple original, but maybe that’s just me telling myself that I’m having a slightly healthier breakfast with my coffee. I hope you enjoy these healthy, sweet treats! Let me know in the comments below what you think of this recipe. Enjoy!
Zucchini Carrot Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar 301 grams
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup oil 250 ml
- 3 cups flour 384 grams
- 1 teaspoon salt 5.69 grams
- 1 teaspoon baking soda 4.8 grams
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon 2.6 grams
- 1 cup shredded zucchini about half a medium zucchini (150 grams)
- 1 cup shredded carrot about two carrots (180 grams)
- 1 cup shredded apple about one apple (150 grams)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.
- In a large bowl, mix together the sugar, eggs, and oil.
- In another large bowl whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon. Slowly add the flour mixture to the sugar and egg mixture. The batter will be very thick.
- Mix in the zucchini, apple, and carrot.
- Fill the muffin tins 2/3 full.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the muffins are golden brown and a toothpick stuck in one of the middle ones comes out with a crumb or two.
did you make this
Zucchini Carrot Muffins
Recipe adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything
Gerald Feldman says
is there a replacement for the 1 1/2 cups of sugar. would love to try these but the sugar content medically , does not work for me??
You could try replacing it with 3/4 cup of honey, though this will change the texture of the muffin a little. You can also try just cutting the sugar back.
Leonardo McClarty says
To cut the sugar, use Coconut sugar. It is lower on the glycemic index.
eva says
My understanding is that sugar is glucose. Honey breaks down to glucose too.
Pris says
Wow, these just became a new favourite here at home! My extremely picky eater 4-year-old even said, “Mama, even though I don’t like vegetables, I LOVE these muffins!” Our little 1.5-year-old also strongly approves of them, haha.
I took the liberty of making two changes that worked out great:
1 – I used only 150g white sugar and added 50g brown sugar (200g total sugar) – these turned out *just* sweet enough, which I was thrilled with
2 – I used about 2/3 cup yogurt (extra protein!), then filled rest of the cup with oil
Next time I want to remember to add vanilla extract as I always do to pretty much every baked good recipe. These muffins would also taste great with raisins in them.
Thank you!
I’m so glad they are such a hit!
Sybil Diccion says
Should should the shredded zucchini be drained or better is fairly runny
I don’t ever drain it before adding it.
Linda says
Delicious! They turned out soft and tender. I admit I added in vanilla extract and nutmeg, as they seemed to lean toward that flavor. I also added in a scoop of protein powder with the flour. We will definitely make these again.
I’m glad you liked them!
Arlene says
Hi Lisa
This recipe looks amazing and I was thinking of using either crushed or chucked (cut down smaller) pineapple in place of apple. Would i need to adjust anything on your recipe. I will make the first time to your current recipe but I like pineapple in my carrot cake along with yellow raisins.
Thank you
Because pineapple contains quite a bit more moisture than apples, I would want to test it. It is likely you will need to make some adjustments.
Rose says
Just made these and the turned out so soft and amazing! I used a food processer to blend the carrots, zucchini, and apple together, and I was a bit worried the batter would be too wet because of it, but they turned out moist and delicious. I also did 2 cups whole wheat flour and 1 cup white flour + 1 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup white sugar and that seemed to work just fine. I added some ground clove and nutmeg too for a bit of extra spice and they are soo good. I can’t wait to make these again!
I’m glad these turned out well!
Claire says
Oh. My. Gawd. These were so good! I looked at a bunch of recipes before I decided to try this one and I’m so glad I did. I worried it wasnt going to be enough cinnamon for such a large bowl of ingredients but the flavor and sweetness were perfect. Reminds me of my mom’s carrot cake. I used whole wheat flour instead of white and threw in some flaxseed meal for fun (and extra nutrition) and got beautiful brown slightly nutty muffins. My kids said we should make these again and again!
I’m so glad the kids loved them!
Joanne says
Must we use the apple?
I haven’t tested this recipe without the apple. While I think it would work fine to leave out the apple, I would want to test it.