These almond flour carrot muffins are super moist, lightly sweetened with honey and even a little fluffy! These grain-free and gluten-free healthier carrot cake muffins are the perfect Easter treat. The reviewers love them! With a dairy-free option.
First up, if you prefer a grain-containing healthier carrot cake recipe, I have you covered! This 100% whole grain carrot cake is the best carrot cake I’ve ever had. Hands down.
Or actually, it’s tied with this gluten-free carrot cake, which is the same exact recipe as the healthy carrot cake, but with gluten-free flour.
If grains aren’t your thing, these healthier carrot cake muffins are awesome. I feel like a broken record, just because I say this all the time, but I used a combination of almond flour and coconut flour to achieve the perfect texture. I want my grain-free baked goods to taste as close to grain-containing ones as possible and these are pretty darn close!
People often ask if there’s a substitute for coconut flour and there really isn’t. And the only substitute for the almond flour would be almond meal (which is a lot cheaper than almond flour!) or another nut flour.
So now that we’ve got the carrot cake muffins out of the way, we need some healthier cream cheese frosting! This is the same cream cheese frosting recipe that I used in my last post on carrot cake scones.
It uses just a little maple syrup as sweetener. I really thought cream cheese frosting without powdered sugar was impossible but this maple syrup version was just as good! It’s quite thick so if you want to thin it out, just add some milk.
I’m just guessing that if you’re interested in grain-free baking, you’re not into mounds of frosting on top of your muffins or cupcakes. The amount that this cream cheese frosting recipe yields is just enough for a thin slathering on each muffin. If you want to pipe it like I did, you can pipe about twice as much as you see in the pictures.
I recommend frosting the muffins right before serving because once you frost them, they need to be refrigerated. They can sit at room temperature for about 4 hours so if you want to frost them in preparation of a party – no problem!
They just taste better and fluffier if you keep them at room temperature and microwaving cream cheese frosting sounds like a bad idea.
Obviously cream cheese isn’t dairy-free but there are dairy-free cream cheeses out there. If you don’t like the thought of using that, just leave out the frosting or use my vegan cream cheese recipe.
It’s naturally sweetened, doesn’t have any unusual ingredients and is also paleo-friendly! Half the recipe should yield enough for a nice slathering on top of each muffin. You can also find my directions for making these carrot cake cupcakes into an 8″ cake on that post.
Want an Easter dessert that’s a little more unique than these paleo carrot cake muffins? Try these blueberry carrot cake bars with granola from Cotter Crunch! They’re gluten-free and dairy-free and look amazing.
And for something with more of a cake texture (like angel food cake!) be sure to give my paleo blueberry muffins a try!
Almond Flour Carrot Muffins
- Prep Time:
- Cook Time:
- Ready in:
- Yield: 8 muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups (125 grams) blanched almond flour
- 2 tablespoons (16 grams) coconut flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 large eggs (50 gram each, out of shell), room temperature
- 1/3 cup (75 grams) refined coconut oil, melted (if you use unrefined coconut oil there may be some coconut taste to the muffins)
- 1/3 cup (106 grams) honey
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (50 grams) grated carrots
- 2 ounces (56 grams) cream cheese
- 4 teaspoons maple syrup
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- a dash of salt
- additional milk for thinning, if desired
For the carrot muffins:
For the cream cheese frosting: (for paleo / dairy-free, use a half batch of this vegan "cream cheese" frosting)
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C). Line a muffin tin with 8 muffin liners.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (almond flour through nutmeg). Set this aside.
- In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, oil, honey, and vanilla.
- Add the dry mix to the wet mix just until combined and then gently fold in the grated carrots.
- Divide the batter evenly among the liners (about 62 grams per liner) and bake for 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Let the muffins cool for 5 minutes in the pan and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Do not frost until completely cool!
- For the cream cheese frosting, mix everything together until thoroughly combined. If it's too thick for your liking, add a teaspoon of milk at a time until it's your desired consistency.
- Spread a thin layer on top of each cupcake or pipe it on. Do note that if you pipe it, you'll have some leftover if you pipe it as lightly as I did in the pictures.
- Unfrosted muffins can be stored in an airtight container at room temp for up to 2 days or refrigerated for 5 days. Frosted muffins should be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
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629 comments on “Almond Flour Carrot Muffins” — Add one!
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I just made these for our family celebrating our chocolate lab Badger’s 10th birthday today! He recently fractured his left limb and was diagnosed with bone cancer☹️ So we are glad to celebrate with him and share in his strict but yummy protein, paleo, gf, grain free diet! I used some garbanzo bean flour we all love the taste of and added a little org. Crushed pineapple for added antioxidant, flavor and moisture. Badger will get his topped with natural fresh crushed peanut butter I just ground at the co-op yesterday😍Thank you for the lovely recipe I was so glad to find!
I love that you made these for your dog’s birthday! I hope he isn’t in a lot of pain and that he enjoyed his peanut butter-topped cupcakes and that he had a nice birthday party. :) Thanks a bunch for your nice comment!
These. Are. Amazing!!! I subbed olive oil for coconut oil, and maple syrup for honey. They baked up beautifully – light and fluffy, and yet holding together well, unlike many grain/gluten-free recipes. The flavor is also perfection – the sweetness is light and yet just enough that they are lovely even without frosting. Thank you!!!
You’re welcome! I’m so happy that they came out well for you. And thanks so much for the tip on the olive oil! Someone else had just asked about a coconut oil sub. Thanks a bunch for your comment! :)
I’m excited to make these for my friend’s birthday tomorrow! Any suggestions/suitable alternatives for refined coconut oil? I only have unrefined coconut oil on me right now but don’t want there to be an overpowering coconut taste.
I hope they’ll enjoy them! Olive oil should work fine. The last commenter used it with success and I really doubt you’d be able to taste it with all the spices in there. :)
Another successful recipe from you. I won’t even bother making paleo/grain free recipes from anyone else because they never turn out. Thanks for providing weights as measurements. I substituted maple syrup for the honey and it worked great.
Sorry for just now seeing your comment! I’m happy that you appreciate the weights. It’s so much easier, isn’t it? :) Good to know that maple works well here! Thanks a bunch for your kind words. I’ll keep trying to come up with more paleo recipes so you don’t run out of stuff to make. ;)
how many carbs are in the cupcakes with frosting
I don’t have that info but you can copy and paste the recipe here for the nutritional profile, if you’d like. :)
Thank you SO much for sharing this truly delicious and wonderful recipe! I need to eat grain free and I haven’t had a grain free cake since I eliminated it nearly a year ago! I make a carrot cake every year for my husband’s birthday and this year I gave your recipe a try. I had 12 people over for a family party, so it seemed a little risky, but the reviews were so good I felt pretty confident. As it turns out, it was a huge HIT!!! And that says a lot because I have some family members who are not thrilled about gluten/grain free eating. I doubled the recipe and added extra grated carrots (nearly 2 cups) and it was really a thrill to be able to enjoy such a delicious grain free cake. It paired very nicely with vanilla bean ice cream and I used a traditional cream cheese frosting. We will be eating this again before our usual, annual time this year!! Thanks again! :)
Oh my! No cake for a year?! I’m happy that you put that to an end. ;) I’m thrilled that the cupcakes were a hit and that you have cake back in your life! And I need to try these with ice cream. I have no idea why I haven’t ever tried it with carrot cake! Thanks a bunch for your thoughtful comment. :)
I made these today, using all of the ingredients this time ;). I added 1/4 tsp of cardamom, more carrots and a little chipotle pepper, plus I used sugar free syrup. My first batch did not rise, these did, hubby things they need more sweetness but I am fine with less sweet, these are a great treat!
Haha. It’s always good to use all the ingredients. ;) And with chipotle pepper?! That’s an interesting addition! I’m happy that they came out well. :) Thanks for your comment!
I just made these…totally forgot the coconut oil, but they are not bad, a little dryer than I want them to be but with enough whipped cream, it won’t even matter!
I hope you’ll try them again with the coconut oil! They’ll be a whole lot better than not bad. ;)
Actually, they are very good and I will definitely make them again. I had one for breakfast with bacon (no whipped cream), it was a great meal.
These cupcakes are AMAZING! They taste just like the real deal! I used ghee instead of coconut oil and added a handful of chopped pecans and OMG I’m in heaven! Having trouble with the icing, but hoping it will work out. It’s too thin right now. Have it in the fridge going it will thicken as it cools.
That’s great to know that ghee works well! Thanks for the tip. :) I hope the frosting firmed up in the fridge. Chilling it should have definitely helped. Thanks a bunch for your comment!
These are tasty! I sub’d maple syrup for the honey and wasn’t sure how much they would rise so made only 6 instead of 8. They turned out perfect!
Awesome! It’s great to know that maple works just as well. :) Thanks so much for your feedback!
Wow! Just made this for my son’s half birthday. We added a hint of cardamom in all, and a couple of dark chocolate chips in the cupcake for the kid who hates carrot cake. Everyone, even the kid who hates carrot cake, thought these were delicious!
Haha. I love that you added chocolate to distract them from the fact that it was carrot cake. :D Adding cardamom is a great idea. I’ll try that next time! Thanks for your comment. :)
Hi there.
I just tried these and mine didn’t work at all… I’m just double checking that I’m not missing anything… There is no water or milk, correct?
Thanks
Hello! The recipe’s definitely correct. If you look at the other reviews, they’re all positive so I’m pretty sure something must have gone wrong. Did you make any subs or any kinds of changes at all to the recipe? What kind of almond flour did you use? If you didn’t make any changes, then perhaps you added too much coconut flour. I mistakingly add too much or too little of ingredients sometimes without even noticing it until later. I hope your next attempt will go better! :)
Can this be made with regular all purpose flour rather than the almond and coconut flour?
It can’t but you can use it in the recipe that I link to in the second paragraph (although it says whole wheat, all-purpose flour works, too!). It’d yield 24 cupcakes. Bake at 350F for 14-18 minutes.
Thank you. For this recipe would I be able to use the maple syrup rather than honey?
No problem! Maple syrup works fine. :)
These were PERFECT! Thanks for the great recipe!
Woohoo! I’m so happy you liked them. Thanks for your comment! :)
Can this be made into a cake?
Yup! Check out the last two paragraphs of the post. :)
These were wonderful!! I can’t believe how good the vegan frosting tastes too!! Yum yum!! Thanks for the amazing recipe!
Oh, yay! I think you’re the first to comment on the vegan frosting. I’m so happy it worked well for you! Thanks a bunch for your feedback. :)
Do you have the Nutritional Facts on any of your recipes?
I don’t but if you’re interested in one in particular, you can copy and paste the recipe here for the nutritional profile, if you’d like. :)
For three years I think….maybe two, I’ve been dying to try these. I always was missing one ingredient.
I finally made them today!!!
I will up the spice level a bit, maybe add some pepper? But I was so happy with them. Took these tummies to a mom’s night and the dairy free (I went with the vegan icing) and grain free mamas were ecstatic! Thank you so much for your page. I love your baked goodies!
Wow! I’m glad you finally got to try them. :D I’ve been fiddling with this recipe, upping the spices to make a spice cake version. Cardamom’s a nice addition, but I’ll also try some pepper! I’m so happy to hear that the other moms enjoyed them. :) Thanks a ton for your comment and kind words!
Cardamom! Great idea! Guess I HAVE to make them again.
Most definitely! To not make them again would just be wrong. ;)
These are really wonderful! I made them for my sister’s baby shower so I had to triple the batch :). The only thing I noticed, the more the batter sat the more the flours soaked up the liquids which cause them to not raise as much as the first set that went in the oven. So for anyone that may try that, it might be best to make one batch at a time instead of all together :). However, they are still VERY good!! Thanks for the recipe!
That’s an interesting observation! I know that the longer coconut flour sits in a batter, the more liquid it sucks up, but I assumed that the liquid got sucked up, anyway, during baking. If that makes any sense. ;) Thanks for the tip and for your feedback! I’m so happy that you all enjoyed them.
I made these cupcakes last weekend for my Dad’s birthday. Everyone loved them! I love that I can trust your recipes to work out. Never fails!
The vegan cream cheese I had available for the frosting was missing that “zing” so I added a couple drops of lemon and that did the trick. I absolutely love the batter. Can’t wait to try the Paleo Apple Muffins you just posted. too!
Aww, yay! I’m so very happy to hear that your dad and the others enjoyed the cupcakes. :) I hope you’ll enjoy the apple muffins just as much! I’d love to hear how they come out. Thanks for your feedback and your kind words!
Hello from over the pond in Blighty! I just had to post to say how fantastic these little beauties are! I made them yesterday and they have been unceremoniously gobbled up by my husband, daughter and myself ;-) Being gluten and dairy intolerant I have hugely missed my carrot cake and cuppa moments, but no more!!! Thanks again from a very happy (and full!) fan :-)
And hello to you from Germany! :) I’m so happy to hear that you and your family enjoyed the cupcakes and that you don’t have to miss carrot cake anymore. Thanks a bunch for your comment!
These carrot cake cupcakes are quite possibly one of my most favorite sweet treats ever! I added 1/4t. salt because I like a little more salt in my baked goods and I did not make the icing. I also added raisins to some of them which tasted great! I warmed them up and ate them with grass fed butter, cinnamon and salt on them, soooooooooooo delicious!! They froze well too. Thank you for using honey as the sweetener as it’s the only one I’m supposed to use! Awesome recipe!
Aww, yay! I was so happy to read how much you liked the cupcakes. :) Added raisins sound great and it’s good to know that they freeze well! Thanks for the tips and for your feedback. :)
My 8-year-old daughter just made these (with some help from me) for her daddy’s bday. We all loved it. We like to try different things bc my daughter doesn’t like traditional carrot cake and sweets in general. These however, weren’t overly sweet and hit the spot. Thank you so much Erin!
That’s great that your daughter (and the rest of you!) enjoyed the cupcakes. :) And I’m jealous of your daughter not really liking sweets. I wish I were the same. ;) Thanks a bunch for your comment!
can i use butter instead of coconut oil?
I haven’t tried it but I think that’d work fine. :) Enjoy!
I think doubling the amount of carrots would make more like true carrot cake, although this is very good, I increased nutmeg and added one ripe banana. I used coconut flower and regular gluten free flour. Texture was perfect.
I’m happy that they came out well, especially with all your changes! Thanks for your comment. :)
Thanks for this recipe it is very easy to follow…quick to make and absolutely delicious! These are some of the best muffins I have ever made!
My son is intolerant to almonds, is there anything i can use to replace it? Thank you!
Nut flours are usually interchangeable with other types of nut flours so you could try that. And I haven’t tried this myself but supposedly you can make your own sunflower seed flour and it works as a sub for almond flour. I hope that helps!
We recently found out that our 4 year old has celiac disease and so all my family recipes are no longer easy to recreate. Thank goodness I found your recipe and it was approved by the whole family including my 4 year old picky eater :)
I used freshly grated nutmeg and maybe next time I will put a little less and more cinnamon. I love cinnamon! Overall it was perfect, very moist. I just had another one for breakfast! I also loved using the weights. Thank you again and have a great day!
I’m so happy that you found something that your 4 year old and the rest of the family could enjoy! And I agree that more cinnamon is never a bad thing. ;) I’ll have to try these with freshly grated nutmeg and see if that yields a stronger taste than the pre-ground stuff. Thanks a bunch for your nice comment!
I rarely leave reviews because I hardly ever follow a recipe closely enough to feel like I can really comment, but I did this time, and they were great! Okay, I maybe skimped a little on the nutmeg and cinnamon, but I weighed all the main ingredients. THANK YOU for giving weights, I love to cook with a scale–so easy. Plenty sweet for my taste, and texture was nice. Just little oily, but that seems to happen with coconut oil sometimes, didn’t detract cuz we’re not afraid of a little coconut oil. :)
I love weights, too! I wish everyone who made my recipes would use them so that the recipes would come out exactly as intended. ;) I’m so happy that you enjoyed the cupcakes! Thanks a bunch for your comment and taking the time to leave a review. :)
These were tasty, but didn’t quite taste like carrot cake. I thought I’d be able to taste all of the different spices, but all I could taste was the nutmeg. There was a bit too much and next time I’ll just use a little less. They were still tasty, though, and the cream cheese frosting was delicious!
Hmm. Did you use freshly grated nutmeg? I didn’t, so I wonder if that could be it. I’ve never noticed these being especially nutmeg-y. But I’m happy you still liked them! Thanks for your feedback. :)
These look Awesome! Thanks for the recipes.
Thanks, Ashley! And you’re welcome. :)
These are great! I made them for Easter for my niece who is GF/DF/SF, and also made a traditional carrot cake for the rest of us at the party. I was hoping there would be extras for me to take home but everyone really enjoyed these and ate them all before I could sneak any away. I’m so happy to have found a healthy alternative to traditional carrot cake!
Aww. I’m sorry there were no leftovers! But I’m quite happy that everyone liked them so much. ;) Thanks so much for your feedback!
Has anyone substitued the almond flour for something different? Or even did half almond half something else? One of my kids is sensitive to almonds and bothered by carrots during pollen season and I’m thinking those 2 ingredients together might be overload for her and induce her asthma? Any ideas????
Almond flour and other nut flours are only interchangeable with other nut flours so you could try a different nut flour / meal. But if she’s bothered by carrots, I’d suggest finding a different recipe because there’s no sub for it in these cupcakes. Sorry about that!
You can make a “One Minute Muffin” for your allergic daughter using coconut flour or ground flax. You can put fruit or nuts in them if you are just looking for a “cup cake” kind of dessert for this child. Look it up online, there are tons of variety out there.
I’d never heard of those! They look so easy. Thanks for sharing. :)
Cheryl, thank you for that info, I’ll definitely have a look for that recipe. :)
I am making these for the second time – they are that good! I have not made frosting -just eat them as is. Delicious! Thanks for creating a healthier alternative for my carrot cake obsession:)
And thank you for your nice comment and feedback! I’m so happy you enjoyed them. :)
Hi Erin, can these be made without an electric mixer? Just by hand? Also, what type of ginger do you mean? Minced ginger like you would use in asian cooking, or is it a powdery dry ground ginger? Thanks for your help! Emma
Hi Emma! No electric mixer is needed. :) Just mix everything together by hand. And you’ll want to use ground ginger. I hope you’ll enjoy them!
Thanks Erin!
can these be made without eggs? like with phylum husks?
I’m sorry but I haven’t tried an egg-free version! I know one person used flax eggs but since I haven’t tried it, I can’t guarantee it’d work. I hope they’ll come out well if you give it a try. :)
I added nuts and raisins and they came out kind of heavy. Do I need to change the recipe?
They’re light and kind of fluffy without the nuts and raisins so I’m guessing they did weigh them down (though I’ve never had that problem in other recipes!) I wouldn’t recommend changing that recipe because you’re not actually adding or changing anything to the make-up of the batter. Perhaps you could just use less? Sorry I don’t have a better answer for you!
Do you know if these freeze well? or how long they stay fresh? or… what the best way to store them is?
Thanks! :)
They stay fresh for 2-3 days at room temperature (without the frosting) and I haven’t tried freezing them but I imagine they’d be fine. And to answer your other question, I’m not sure about subbing maple syrup for honey. A lot of people do that but maple syrup is so much thinner and less sticky than honey so I never recommend it unless I’ve tried it myself. I hope your kid has a great birthday. :)
Hi! I’m thinking about making these for my 1 year old’s bday party. Do you think I can sub maple syrup for the honey?
Thanks!
Oh, no! I remember typing out a reply but I’m not seeing it here for whatever reason. I’m so, so sorry! I said that maple syrup is more runny and less sticky than honey so I’m not quite sure if it’d work out well. Did you try it out? Sorry again! :(
I used sugar free maple syrup…so not real syrup but it worked beautifully. I have to watch my carbs, so I try not to use anything that is an added carb!
That’s great to know! Thanks a bunch for your tip. I’m happy it worked well!
These look amazing! Could I use olive oil instead of coconut oil and almond flour instead of coconut flour, do you think? Thanks
Thanks! :) Olive oil should work but coconut flour can’t really be subbed. It absorbs a lot more liquid than every other flour and so there aren’t really any subs for it. Sorry about that!
Have you tried these with just coconut flour? I made your vanilla cupcakes and they were perfect! Thanks much.
I’m so happy you liked the cupcakes! Do you mean the coconut flour based ones in the Samoa cupcake recipe? And I haven’t tried these with coconut flour, unfortunately. Coconut flour isn’t really interchangeable with any other flours so I’m afraid it wouldn’t work. Sorry about that!
Can I sub stevia for the honey? How much? Do I need to add something else for moisture then?
I unfortunately don’t have any experience with Stevia so I have no idea how much you’d need or how much liquid to add. Sorry about that!
These came out perfect! Thank you so much for this recipe! :)
I’m so happy that they came out well and so sorry for not seeing this comment until now! Thanks for the feedback. :)
Amazing! My mom and I are major food freaks, trying to lay off the junk food, and these were just perfect! Definitely making again!
I’m so happy that you both enjoyed them! Good lucking with the healthy eating and thanks so much for your feedback. :)
I made these up for my dad who is diabetic. He love carrot cake but hasn’t eaten it for years. He ate them as a dessert and for breakfast. He was so happy when his blood sugar levels were in normal range after having these. Thank you so much for this recipe, you have made an old man very happy! And his daughter.
How awesome that your dad could eat these without having any blood sugar issues. :) He must be so happy that he can have carrot cake again! Thanks a bunch for your nice comment and feedback and so sorry for my super slow reply.
I made this for a women’s meeting at church this morning. I swapped out the honey for xylitol. I made the “frosting” with swerve (to taste) and almond milk. They turned out really good. Thank you for sharing.
I’m so happy that they were enjoyed by all! And good to know that xylitol works. Thanks for the feedback and for the tip! :)
I tried these tonight and they were fabulous! I used 2/3 cup honey & added 3-4Tbsp of almond milk to it and it was perfect! I used my almond meal pulp from the almond milk I make. It tends to be a bit dryer than the blanched almond meal. I have to use it in SOMETHING since we make so much almond milk around here:) They were moist and cake like! I put on some vanilla frosting(coconut milk/powdered sugar/vanilla) and it was the best:) High fiber too! Thanks for such a great recipe!
I’m so happy that you enjoyed them! Your changes sound great and I love that you were able to use your leftover almond pulp. :) So much better than just throwing it away! Thanks so much for your feedback. :)
Any idea on nutrition info? Specifically carbs, sugar and fiber grams?? Looks amazing trying to find low carb naturally sweetened muffins/cupcakes.
You can copy and paste the ingredientshere for that info. I hope that helps! :)
What is the cooking time difference if I make a round cake instead of cupcakes?
Check out this post (first paragraph after the second picture) for more info but basically, double the recipe and bake it in 2 8″ pans for 17 minutes. Your cake will be super thin if you don’t double it (there are pictures in that post, too!) I hope that helps and that you’ll enjoy it. :)
For some reason mine didn’t turn out at all. The batter was not really like batter. I had to add about 1/4 cup water and it still just when into muffin cups like a lump. I followed the recipe exactly even weighed it. I used an almond flour I made myself from left over meal I had from almond milk I made. I ground it finer and sifted it and it looked fine. Maybe will try buying the flour next time to compare.
I’m pretty sure the problem was the homemade almond flour (although it still shouldn’t have been lumpy!) Did you dehydrate the almond pulp? If you didn’t, that could explain it. I made these again last week and don’t recall the batter being thick at all. I’m sorry that they didn’t work out! I hope your next version with store bought almond flour will come out better. :)
I will try Bob’s brand and see. Gauging moisture content is a guessing game for me but if it grinds fine I figure I must be in the ballpark. I thought about that factor as well. I’ll let you know how my next batch turns out. Can’t rate recipe yet but the comment response time is awesome. Thanks.
No problem! And I’ve used Bob’s Red Mill in these without issue so I’m confident your next batch will turn out better. :)
These are amazing, I made 24 mini muffins and baked for 10 minutes, worked out perfectly. The kids love them with a bit of cream cheese spread on top.
I’m so happy that they came out well and that you and your kinds enjoyed them! I bet they were cute as mini muffins. :) Thanks a bunch for your feedback!