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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631 comments on “Almond Flour Carrot Muffins” — Add one!
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Loved the look of this recipe, so tried it but substituted the almond flour with chickpea flour! Not a good idea, cakes were tasty but dry :-( Next time I will stick to the Almond Flour – might add walnuts and dates as family members do not like sultanas… Lesson learned!
I’m happy they were tasty but I definitely don’t recommend subbing chickpea flour for almond flour! So I’m happy you’ll use almond flour next time. And you could also try them without any add-ins. That’s how I made them and they’re wonderful that way and nobody can complain. :)
Oh also, is almond meal the same as almond flour?
You can use either! Almond flour is blanched and almond flour unblanched. In some recipes, it can really make a difference but not here. Almond meal is much, much cheaper and easier to find so feel free to use that. :)
These look great! I am looking for a low sugar and preferably grain free cake for my 2yo’s bday on Saturday. This is a definite contender. I want a cake that is light and fluffy though, I know you have mentioned these are moist, what about light/fluffy/airy?
Thanks!
These aren’t as fluffy as a cake made with all-purpose flour but as far as grain-free goodies go, these definitely have a great texture! Not at all heavy or dense. I hope your son will enjoy them if you try them and that he’ll have a great birthday. :)
My grain free daughter would like carrot cake as a birthday cake. Will this recipe work if baked in a round 9″ cake pan?
Several people have made it in cake form (and a 9″ cake pan sounds to be the right size) but I have no idea how long you’d need to bake it. Maybe 12-16 minutes? It’s just a guess, though! I hope she’ll enjoy it and have a great birthday. :)
Tried the recipe twice (using the grams – I’m from the UK) and it did not work at at all. I think you have your gram values wrong. The batter was very firm, I even added an extra egg and oil (second time around) to try and get the batter more runny but it did not work. The mixture then burnt on top……
Some advice would be nice
Thanks
I’m sorry they’re not working out for you. :( I live in Germany and bake using grams as well and the values are correct (I doubled checked to make sure). If you hadn’t weighed the ingredients, I would have suggested that you added too much flour but since you didn’t use cups, I’m honestly not sure what would have caused that if you followed the recipe exactly and didn’t use any subs at all. You didn’t try leaving out the carrots (maybe in hopes of making spiced cupcakes), did you? Sorry I couldn’t be more of a help!
Just made 2 batches, one with walnuts and one with walnuts and mini choc. Chips. These are delicious, moist and not real dense and heavy like many gluten free items. Will be making more and freezing.
I’ve never tried carrot cake with chocolate chips. I think I’ll have to try that! I’m happy both batches came out well. :) Thanks so much for the feedback!
Thank you so much for the recipie! These are amazing!!!! My family and coworkers really enjoyed these when I made them :)
I’m so happy that you all enjoyed them! Thanks so much for the feedback. :)
I love this recipe and was wondering if I can add some raisins or cranberries to the mixture?
Yes, that shouldn’t be a problem! I’m happy it came out well for you and thanks so much for the feedback. :) And sorry for my slow reply. I just got back from a vacation where the hotel had internet issues.
Hi Erin,
I’ve made these cupcakes three times now and they are absolutely delicious! I find they keep well. I brought them to work and people went crazy over them. This is such a great and simple recipe. Thanks!
Wow. I love that people went crazy over a grain-free recipe. That’s awesome! Thanks so much for the feedback and so happy that you and your colleagues like the cupcakes. :)
I love carrot cake and was looking for a healthy alternative. I stumbled on your website and cannot wait to try these cupcakes this weekend. Great comments from everyone! I will let you know how I make out! Looks delicious!
Hi, Debi! I’m sorry for my slow reply. I was on vacation and wasn’t able to log into my blog for some reason. :( I’m happy you found the recipe and I hope that you enjoyed the cupcakes if you tried them! Sorry again for my slowness.
Hi Erin,
I did try the cupcakes and they were delicious. I am making them for another party this weekend. The icing was a little runny and I put in the frig for a few hours and it thickened right up. They were perfect! Thanks again
I’m happy to hear that! I hope the partygoers will enjoy them, too. :) Thanks for the feedback!
These look amazing! I love carrot cake. I like that the recipe is small. I defiantly don’t need 24 cupcakes sitting around.
Haha. Same here! 24 cupcakes around means about 8 cupcakes per day for three days. Definitely not good. ;) I hope you’ll enjoy the cupcakes if you get a chance to try them!
They were amazing! I love your site. This will be my go to site for my cheat days.
Thanks, Mary! I’m honored that I’m your go to site for your cheat days. :) Thanks for the feedback!
I found the cake is rather oily on the outside. Is it normal? Can I freeze the cupcake?
Sorry for the slow reply, Iris! I didn’t consider the cupcakes to be oily… just really moist. Did you weigh your almond flour? I’m guessing if you were light on the almond flour, that would have caused oiliness. I hope you still enjoyed them! :) And yes, you can freeze them.
I love these cupcakes! I doubled the recipe and they turned out great! I don’t know if I misread the recipe for the icing or not, but it turned out very runny. I had to put in more cream cheese and even then it was still too thin. I put in 8 oz of cream cheese, 16 t of maple syrup, and 2 T of vanilla. I’m wondering if it might have been because the maple syrup was very thin.
I’m happy that you liked the cupcakes! And about the icing – do you by any chance live outside of North America? If you do, the cream cheese there isn’t like the brick kind we have in the US and would explain the runny icing. My maple syrup is also very thin (isn’t it all? ;)) so I don’t think that’d be it. My frosting came out pretty thick and was even a little difficult to get through the piping bag so I’m not sure what would cause it to be very runny. Sorry about that! I hope you could still enjoy them nevertheless. :) Next time, if I were you, I’d just try adding some powdered sugar to the cream cheese and when it’s a consistency and sweetness you like, add a little vanilla. Hope that helps!
Absolutely divine. I added a bit more spice and some citrus flavour (lemon and orange zest). Didn’t last very long ;)
Lemon and orange zest?! Sounds good! I would have never thought of adding that. So happy that you liked the cupcakes. :) Thanks for the feedback!
Have my daughter’s first birthday party in a few days. If I make these ahead of time do you need to store the unfrosted cupcakes in fridge? Or is a sealed container on counter ok for overnight storage? Planning on frosting them a few hours before party.
Thanks!
Alyson
A sealed container on the counter overnight or for 2 days is totally fine. :) I hope you all will enjoy the cupcakes and happy birthday to your daughter!
Thanks for your quick response Erin! Tried a unfrosted one and they are amazing! So soft and fluffy, was worried fridge storage might dry them out. Want them to stay just as they are! Thank for the birthday wishes :D
Yay! That’s great. :) So happy that you liked them! I hope that the party went well. :)
These look delicious!!
Definitely on my to do list to try.
I am new to clean eating but my list is growing fast.
Do you have the nutritional values for these beauties??
Sorry I missed your comment, Ellie! I don’t have the nutritional info. I intentionally don’t include the nutritional info (I focus on making healthier choices rather than low calorie / fat / etc.) but you can copy and paste the recipe here for that info, if you like. I hope you’ll enjoy the cupcakes! :)
I LOVE carrot cake. So I am very happy to see you have a healthier carrot cake recipe!!! I’ve been having a serious carrot cake craving and I knew you would have something awesome to satisfy it. Thanks for the great recipe Erin!!! :-)
Thanks, Heather! I hope you’ll like this version as much as the whole wheat one but it’s hard to beat that version. ;)
Just made these in mini cupcakes and they are perfect in every way! I did add grounded flaxseed and chia seed, they still were great. I did make double the topping though. I used greek creamcheese and its just as good. I will make these for the rest of my life. Thank uuuu so much! Xoxo
Picture of the cupcakes in instagram.username gojanett :)
For the rest of your life? That makes me so happy to hear! :D I love that you made these as mini cupcakes. I have a mini muffin pan but I’m not just patient enough to fill all the molds. ;) Thanks so much for the feedback. I’ll go check out your picture!
Made these for my husband for fathers day. Carrot cake is his fave. They were to die for!!!! I used vanilla bean greek yogurt for icing. Thank you and will make again!!
I’m so happy that you enjoyed them! I hope your husband did, too. :) And vanilla bean Greek yogurt as icing sounds awesome. Thanks a bunch for the feedback and the rating!
I was wondering before I make these around how many calories per cupcake? (not including frosting)
I intentionally don’t include the nutritional info (I focus on making healthier choices rather than low calorie / fat / etc.) but you can copy and paste the recipe here for that info, if you like. I hope you’ll enjoy them! :)
Hey there, today I juiced up some carrots, oranges, beetroot and kale for a drink. What to do with the left over pulp? I found your lovely moist looking recipe and decided to get busy making some muffins with the pulp……… Delicious!! Thank you…have more being cooked now and will pop them into the freezer for the kids lunch bags. Will be sharing this with my PT clients….Thank you.
Hi Vicki! So happy that you liked the muffins. :) And it’s good to know that you can make these with just leftover pulp. Thanks so much for your feedback and for sharing with your PT clients!