Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Muffins

Our fluffy gluten-free carrot cake muffins recipe has the classic carrot cake flavor you love, in breakfast form! They’re tender, moist, and full of delicious spices, perfect for Easter brunch or a spring celebration.

Gather Your Ingredients

These carrot cake muffins are a healthier take on the same flavors as our classic gluten-free carrot cake recipe, so you’ll see lots of familiar ingredients, just in different amounts. Let’s take a look:

How To Make Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Muffins, Step By Step

As always, you can find the full recipe, with ingredient amounts, detailed instructions, and tips in the recipe card below.

1. Prep The Mix-Ins. If you haven’t already, toast and cool the pecans before chopping. Grate carrots and set aside.
2. Combine Dry Ingredients. In a medium mixing bowl, combine gluten-free flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Whisk until evenly blended. Add the chopped pecans and stir to coat well. (This will help prevent them from sinking to the bottom!)
3. Combine Wet Ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, combine brown sugar, oil, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla. Whisk until smooth. Add carrots and stir to combine. (I find it’s easier to blend them in at this point than at the end.)
4. Add Dry Ingredients To Wet Ingredients and stir to combine.

5. Let Batter Rest 1 Hour. Then let the batter rest at room temperature 1 hour. This will give the flour time to hydrate and makes a HUGE difference in the rise of the muffins. (They’ll rise 1/2-3/4 of an inch taller if you let the batter rest!)
6. Preheat & Prep. While the batter rests, preheat the oven temperature to 425 degrees F. Line a 12-cup metal muffin pan with parchment paper liners.
7. Bake & Cool. Scoop batter into muffin cups, filling about 90% of the way full (keep in mind you’ll have better left for about 4 more muffins!) Sprinkle with coarse sugar and bake 5 minutes at 425 degrees. Leave the muffins in the oven and lower temperature to 350 degrees F and continue baking 12-15 minutes or until muffins are cooked through. Let muffins cool 1-2 minutes in the muffin pan before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling completely. Repeat with remaining muffin batter.
8. Serve & Store. Enjoy muffins when cooled. Store leftover muffins in an airtight container 2-3 days at room temperature, 3-4 days in the refrigerator, or up to 2 months in a freezer-safe bag in the freezer.

FAQ + Tricks For The Best Carrot Cake Muffins

Measure Carefully! Weigh ingredients with a digital kitchen scale when possible and use the scoop and level method where you can’t weigh. Especially with those dry ingredients, you don’t want to add any extra flour to the muffin batter! 

Let the Batter Rest! I know it’s annoying to wait, but it makes a HUGE difference in the rise of these delicious muffins. We’re talking 1/2-3/4 of an inch! It also creates more tender muffins, since the flour is better hydrated.

Use Fresh Carrots & Toasted Pecans. For best results, do NOT use store-bought grated carrots here. They’ll be too thick and tend to run dry. Grate fresh carrots on a box grater (or in a food processor), and you’ll get much better muffins! I also recommend toasting the pecans before adding them here, since toasting adds significant depth of flavor that raw pecans just won’t. 

The BEST Muffin Pan & Muffin Liners. For a gentle, even bake, I highly recommend a light-colored metal 12-cup muffin tin and these parchment paper muffin liners. They’re the ONLY muffin liners I use since they’re SUPER non-stick and easily peel away without ripping your muffins.

More Gluten-Free Muffin Recipes To Try

Gluten-Free Brown Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Gluten-Free Blueberry Muffins

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Gluten-Free Almond Poppy Seed Muffins

Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Muffins

5 from 1 vote

Author: Emily Dixon, Sweets & Thank You

Our easy gluten-free carrot cake muffins have the classic carrot cake flavor you love, in breakfast form! They're tender, moist, and full of delicious spices, perfect for breakfast or brunch!

Prep Time: 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes minutes

Resting Time: 1 hour hour

Total Time: 2 hours hours 5 minutes minutes

Print Pin Rate

Servings: 16 Muffins

Equipment

• 1 Light-Colored Metal Muffin Pan
• Parchment Paper Muffin Liners (We recommend Paper Chef Brand!)

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients:

• 2 ¼ cup Gluten-Free Measure-For-Measure Flour (270 grams)
• 1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
• ¼ teaspoon Baking Soda
• ½ teaspoon Kosher Salt
• 1 ¼ teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon Ground Cloves

Wet Ingredients & Mix-Ins

• 1 ¼ cups Light Brown Sugar
• 3 Large Eggs (Room Temperature)
• 1 cup Sour Cream (or Plain Greek Yogurt*)
• ½ cup Neutral-Tasting Oil (like vegetable oil, canola oil, avocado oil, etc.)
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 ½ cups Freshly Peeled, Grated Carrots (150 grams)
• ½ cup Toasted Pecans, Chopped (toast first, then chop!)
• 2 Tablespoons Coarse Sugar or Sparkling Sugar (for garnish)

Instructions

• Combine Dry Ingredients. In a medium mixing bowl, combine gluten-free flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Whisk until evenly blended. Add the chopped pecans and stir to coat well. (This will help prevent them from sinking to the bottom!)
• Combine Wet Ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, combine brown sugar, oil, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla. Whisk until smooth. Add carrots and stir to combine. (I find it's easier to blend them in at this point than at the end.)
• Add Dry Ingredients To Wet Ingredients and stir to combine.
• Let Batter Rest 1 Hour. Then let the batter rest at room temperature 1 hour. This will give the flour time to hydrate and makes a HUGE difference in the rise of the muffins. (They'll rise 1/2-3/4 of an inch taller if you let the batter rest!)
• Preheat & Prep. While the batter rests, preheat the oven temperature to 425 degrees F. Line a 12-cup metal muffin pan with parchment paper liners.
• Bake & Cool. Scoop batter into muffin cups, filling about 90% of the way full (keep in mind you'll have better left for about 4 more muffins!) Sprinkle with coarse sugar and bake 5 minutes at 425 degrees. Leave the muffins in the oven and lower temperature to 350 degrees F and continue baking 12-15 minutes or until muffins are cooked through. Let muffins cool 1-2 minutes in the muffin pan before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling completely. Repeat with remaining muffin batter.
• Serve & Store. Enjoy muffins when cooled. Store leftover muffins in an airtight container 2-3 days at room temperature, 3-4 days in the refrigerator, or up to 2 months in a freezer-safe bag in the freezer.

Notes

• Gluten-Free Flour. I love King Arthur Measure-For-Measure gluten-free flour for these muffins. If you use a different brand of 1:1 gluten-free flour blend, be sure it contains xanthan gum! I do not recommend oat flour, almond flour, or coconut flour for this recipe. Weigh the flour when possible, for best results, or use the scoop and level method to spoon flour into your measuring cup to avoid packing extra flour into the recipe. 
• LET THE BATTER REST! I know it’s annoying to wait, but it makes a HUGE difference in the rise of these muffins. They’ll rise 1/2-3/4 of an inch taller after resting! It also creates more tender muffins, since the flour is better hydrated.
• Sour Cream & Yogurt. Plain Greek yogurt can be used in place of the sour cream here, but keep in mind it will have a slightly less moist and tender result, since it’s lower in fat. The higher fat percentage of yogurt you use, the better the result. (Full-fat or 2% yogurt works better than fat-free!) 

Video

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Diet: Gluten Free

Keyword: carrot cake

Find the recipe:

sweetsandthankyou.com/gluten-free-carrot-cake-muffins/