Vegan Carrot Muffins

Bakery-style vegan carrot muffins with high muffin tops and a delicious streusel topping. These muffins are easy to make and come together in one bowl.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, Vegan

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 20

Total Time 35

Servings large muffins

Calories 335

Author Anthea

Ingredients

Dry ingredients

3 cups (375g) all-purpose plain flour whole wheat flour or spelt flour, spoon and leveled (note 1, and for gluten-free option)
1 ¼ cup (240g) packed brown sugar or coconut sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground ginger
Pinch of salt optional

Wet ingredients

~2 ½ cups (250g) coarsely grated carrot (around 3-4 medium carrots)
1 cup (250g) dairy-free milk
½ cup (125g) neutral flavored oil
¾ cup (85g) chopped walnuts or 1/2 cup (75g) raisins (optional)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar regular vinegar or lemon juice, optional
1 teaspoon vanilla extract optional

Oat Crumb Topping (optional, note 3)

½ cup (65g) all-purpose plain flour
¼ cup (30g) rolled oats
3 tablespoons (45g) vegan butter, margarine or coconut oil melted and cooled
2 tablespoons (25g) packed brown sugar coconut sugar or granulated sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Line a 12-cup muffin pan with liners.

To make the muffins:

Add all the dry ingredients to a large bowl and mix until well combined and evenly distributed. Add all the wet ingredients (including the optional walnuts) and mix until just combined. Initially, your batter may look thick but don't worry. After a couple of minutes, it will loosen as the sugar and carrots will soften.
Use an ice cream scoop or a spoon to divide the batter into your muffin pan. The muffin batter should be close to the top of each cavity (check the reference images above, note 2).

To make the crumb topping (optional):

Add all ingredients for your crumb topping to a medium bowl (or use the same bowl as your batter). Mix with a spoon or your fingertips until the mixture is combined, flaky and crumbly.
Generously sprinkle the crumb topping onto your muffins.

Baking and storing the muffins:

Bake the muffins for 20-25 minutes or until you can insert a toothpick into one and it comes out clean. These muffins are very moist so a few crumbs on your toothpick are fine.
Allow the muffins to cool in the muffin pan for 15 minutes (or until they aren't too hot) then place them on a cooling rack.
Enjoy the muffins warm or at room temperature. They're perfect by themselves or with some vegan butter.
Store any leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month. If the crumb topping softens over time, you can reheat the muffins in an oven or airfryer for 10 minutes at 160°C (320°F) or until heated through.

Video

Notes

Measuring the flour: If you're using measuring cups, make sure you spoon and level your flour otherwise your muffins will be dry and dense. Fluff up the flour in the bag, use a spoon to add flour to a measuring cup, then level it off with a knife. If you scoop the flour out of the bag with a measuring cup, it'll add too much flour to the batter. Alternatively, use the grams measurements.
Gluten-free flour: These muffins work well with King Arthur's gluten-free measure for measure flour. The batter will be much thicker, but still scoopable. I recommend baking them for 25-28 minutes.
Using whole wheat and spelt flour: These flours are more absorbent so I recommend adding an extra dash of milk to your batter.
For the highest muffin tops, I recommend baking 6 muffins at a time in a 12-cup muffin tray. Spacing apart the muffins allows the hot oven air to bake them faster, resulting in higher tops. This means you'll need to bake the muffins in 2 lots.

Nutrition