Your kids will love that these muffins are sweet, moist, chewy, and bite-sized. You’ll love that they are packed with vegetables and whole grains instead of tons of sugar. Whether you want a portable, poppable breakfast or tasty health snacks, with the spring and summer veggies starting to show up in gardens and farmers markets, it’s time to make a few batches of Healthy Carrot Zucchini Mini Muffins.
Healthy Carrot Zucchini Mini Muffins
I have to say, I’m a lucky mom. My kids are both awesome eaters. They love a variety of foods, and are pretty good about eating their fruits and vegetables. Actually, I don’t think either of them will ever turn down pretty much any fruit. Veggies, though, while I don’t typically have to resort to sneaking them into things, can occasionally be a battle, especially with a strong-willed 4-year old. Cauliflower he will happily eat, even when it isn’t in Cauli-Tot form. But when I made this Turkey Sausage & Mushroom Spaghetti Squash Casserole, just the sight of the squash on the counter made him declare that he would not be eating dinner that night. And he stuck to his guns. Broccoli or carrots, he is cool with those.
Zucchini, though, forget it. Unless I make tots… or muffins..
Shred it up and mix it into a sweet little muffin, and he is all over that dreaded zucchini. Sure he might prefer some Raspberry Chocolate Chip Muffins or Funky Monkey Cupcakes (though I did find ways to make both of those a bit healthier, too), but he will happily devour two or three of these. Heck, he would probably polish off a half dozen if I let him. But that’s why I’m a huge fan of making mini muffins. I’ll give him a couple, and he thinks I’m an awesome mom because I am letting him have two snacks, but they are also just the right size for his one-year-old brother to munch on.
And what I love about these muffins is that they are really packed with veggies. Some carrot or zucchini muffins (or breads) are really a whole lotta muffin and very little of the vegetable. Really just cupcakes masquerading as muffins. Which is fine if you want a cupcake as a treat. But these truly are a healthy snack filled with carrots and zucchini and just enough batter to hold it all together. That also makes them super moist and tender.
If you or your kids aren’t big fans of the flavor or texture of whole wheat baked goods, try white whole wheat flour. I was just looking it up on the Whole Grains Council website, and while I knew that it was more nutritious than standard white flour, but also lighter in both color and flavor than regular whole wheat flour, I didn’t know that it was considered nutritionally identical. It also provides a texture closer to white all-purpose flour, so it is easy to substitute into most recipes.
In order to keep these a bit healthier without ending up with a dry, bland muffin, I used pure maple syrup in place of any refined sugars, which I think always adds a nice flavor as well. Honey would likely work just as well, but since honey is not recommended for babies less than year old and I made these a little before my little guy turned one, I went with the maple syrup. Plus you have the natural sweetness from the raisins and carrots.
In a few months we will all be looking for things to do with the inevitable abundance of zucchini in our gardens, CSA shares, and farmers markets. So keep this recipe on hand, and in late summer you can make up a few batches to throw in the freezer. They freeze really well – I’ve kept them in the freezer for months when I once went on a muffin baking binge. Then pull out a few at night to pop into lunch boxes or to grab on the way out the door and off to school in the morning.
Healthy Carrot Zucchini Mini Muffins – Adapted from Fix Me a Snack
- 1 cup white whole wheat flour
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup (or honey)
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup grated zucchini
- 1/2 cup grated carrot
- 1/2 cup raisins
- Preheat oven to 350°F and place rack in the center of the oven, and coat a mini muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- Combine the flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda in a mixing bowl and whisk until thoroughly combined. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together the butter, maple syrup (or honey), egg, and vanilla extract.
- Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and stir together until just barely combined.
- Add the zucchini, carrot and raisins and stir gently until just distributed.
- Fill each cup in the mini muffin pan approximately 3/4 full (I use a small cookie scoop slightly overfilled).
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
Ruth Bitter
We made this today and loved it! I did adjust the recipe slightly. We altered the 2 T. butter and 1 T. applesauce, added approx. 1/2 c. more flour, and pureed the zucchini and carrot together with the liquid ingredients in our ninja blender. We did use the full 1/2 c. of honey and I sliced the raisins up a bit. It was really yummy. The honey wasn’t too sweet and it gave a nice aftertaste. Since they were mini muffins the tiny raisin pieces were just right.
I wanted to see what the muffin would be like with the syrup so we made another batch and did everything the same except we replaced the honey with the syrup and the raisins we replaced with mini chocolate chips. Although I like chocolate in muffins a LOT… I actually preferred the first batch with honey and raisins. Good recipe overall.
Jenny Melrose
yum- this sounds amazing I’ll have to try your adjustments and then update the recipe!
Brandi
You don’t have to use syrup. You can use honey. You could also add some banana or apple sauce replacing some of the butter and maybe add a little less honey. Anyway, made these AGAIN! I doubled the recipe and instead of 2 cups flour I used 1 1/4 c flour and 1 c rolled oats and I used 3T butter and 3T mashed avocado. I used a combo of 100% maple syrup and raw honey and used about 3/4c and they are delicious again! I also chopped up a few prunes and added them just bc I had them. I think I need to make these next week with pumpkin for our toddler Halloween party:)
sadie
to me these muffins don’t seem all that healthy because look at the ingredients i mean syrup really that’s packed full of sugar and these muffins might be mini but that doesn’t mean they are healthy
Brandi
These were so good I think my toddler and I consumed them all in a 24 hour period:o needless to say I am at least doubling the recipe this time. I am going to incorporate some rolled oats and possibly some banana, aaple sauce or pumpkin (haven’t decided). Thank you!
Amy
These look great, but I don’t have a mini-muffin pan. If I use my regular muffin pan, any ideas on how the temp/time might need to be adjusted?
Carmen
I have regular whole wheat flour not white. Will that work also?
Kim
Made these yesterday with my 4 year old. They are GREAT-very moist!! We did add the whole 1/2 cup of maple syrup and they didn’t come out too sweet.
Ashley
They sound great! My only concern is the amount of maple syrup/honey. 1/2 cup is quite a lot of sugar. Does anyone think it would work if I did 1/4 c of maple/honey and 1/4 c of water instead?
Sarah
I just made these with my 3 year old. They are scrumptious! Thanks
Valerie
Do you think if I used the pulp from carrots after juicing for this recipe it would work? Or would it be to dry?
Ana
Yes, it works I do this all the time, I always make muffins or bread out of my apple/carrot juicing leftovers : )
Kara
These look great!
Michelle @ A Dish of Daily Life
Two of my favorite veggies to make bread with! These look delicious!
Heather @ French Press
I bet I could even get my kids to eat these
jayashree
lovely glad to find these here. They really look tasty
Robyn @ simply fresh dinners
MMmmmm, these are right up my alley. Those look so scrumptious and you gotta love a muffin that’s healthy, too! I am trying to recall if I’ve ever combined carrot and zucchini in a muffin or loaf and I don’t think I have and I don’t know why because the flavours are perfect together. Thanks so much for sharing!