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These vegan morning glory muffins are loaded with carrots, coconut, raisins, and apples. This recipe was tested and tweaked to create the absolute perfect fluffy texture. Enjoy these plant-based muffins as a make-ahead breakfast, or snack that’s easy to grab while on the go!
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If you're looking for a quick and easy vegan muffin recipe to enjoy on busy mornings (or just a really good muffin recipe to enjoy at ANY time!) then these morning glory vegan muffins are exactly what you need!
When doing my vegan breakfast baking on the weekend, these are regularly on my list because not only are they delicious and so easy to make, but they're filled with lots of add-ins that can be customized if needed.
So, let's go through everything you need to know! I hope these become as much of a favourite in your home as they are in mine!
Ingredients You'll Need
Ingredient and Substitution Notes
Flour - You'll need to use all-purpose white flour AND whole wheat flour for this recipe. If you don't have whole wheat flour, you can replace it with all-purpose flour.
Make it gluten-free: Use Bob's Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten-Free Flour Blend in the RED bag for vegan gluten-free morning glory muffins. Any other gluten-free flour on its own, like almond, oat, or coconut flour, will NOT work, it must be this specific blend to get the same results I do. This version requires a shorter baking time, see the notes in the recipe below.
NOTE: To ensure your muffins turn out perfectly, it's important to measure the flour accurately (no matter what type you are using!). Check out my step-by-step "How to Measure Flour Correctly" before you start baking.
Shredded Carrots – We all love a good shortcut but using one for the carrots won’t work well in this recipe. Avoid using pre-grated or matchstick carrots from the store. These have lost most of their moisture and are too dry for this recipe. You'll need freshly grated carrots. Grate them finely with the smallest holes on your box grater or the finest shredding blade attachment on your food processor.
Sugar – You can use either brown sugar or coconut sugar, but take note that each requires a different amount. I haven't tried using liquid sweeteners like pure maple syrup, agave, or any other sugar alternatives.
Applesauce - Use unsweetened, unflavoured applesauce. It helps keep the muffins moist and replaces some of the oil, reducing the amount needed.
Oil - Use a neutral-flavoured vegetable oil like refined avocado, safflower, or sunflower. You can also use melted coconut oil. I haven't tried making this recipe without oil.
TIP: If you use coconut oil, make sure the other ingredients are at room temperature to prevent it from solidifying.
Flax Eggs – This recipe is egg-free, using ground flax seeds and water as a vegan egg replacement. You can also use chia eggs instead of flax.
Spices – The spices are essential for extra flavour, I don't recommend leaving any of them out.
Baking Powder and Baking Soda - Ensure both are fresh, they are important for the muffins to rise and have the proper texture.
Salt and Vanilla - You'll need a little of each to help enhance the flavour.
Add-Ins - Along with the shredded carrots, I use all the classic morning glory muffin add-ins: fresh apples (use a firm apple), shredded coconut, and raisins. Feel free to also use ½ cup of nuts if you'd like, I recommend chopped walnuts or pecans.
Want more muffins? Scroll through all of my vegan muffin recipes to find the one you want to make next!
How to Make Them
(Note: I’ve outlined the step-by-step on how to make this recipe here, but find the full recipe, ingredients, and directions in the recipe card at the end of this post.)
Make the muffin batter by mixing the dry ingredients in one bowl, and the wet ingredients in another. Combine the two mixtures, then stir in the add-ins. Don't over-mix.
Divide the muffin batter into a prepared muffin pan using a spoon or a trigger ice cream scoop. Using a scoop ensures all the muffins are evenly sized and finish baking at the same time.
Continue filling the muffin cups until all of them are filled, then bake.
Once baking is complete, take the muffin pan out of the oven and let it sit for a few minutes.
Carefully transfer the muffins from the pan to a cooling rack.
I highly recommend enjoying your muffins with a warm, homemade drink like a chai latte, oat milk hot chocolate or even an almond milk latte!
Storing and Freezing
Store your muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days. After three days, move them to the refrigerator.
Freezing
After they've cooled, wrap them individually, place them in an airtight container or freezer bag, and freeze them for up to two months.
Thaw them at room temperature, and if you'd like, you can warm them up a little before serving.
Tips for Success
- Measure and have all your ingredients ready to go before starting. This will make the process run smoothly, quickly, and easily.
- Measure your ingredients correctly. I highly recommend using a scale (this is the one I have) and my weight measurements. Please read my article about how to measure flour correctly.
- Avoid using store-bought shredded carrots. Pre-shredded carrots lack moisture and won't work well in this recipe, instead, use fresh carrots that you peel and shred yourself.
- Make sure your baking powder and baking soda are fresh. If they aren't, your muffins will not rise properly and will have a dense texture.
- Use a trigger ice cream scoop to distribute the batter into the muffin pan. This ensures that each muffin will be nearly identical in size and will finish baking at the same time.
- Take extra care not to over-bake or your muffins will dry out and be crumbly.
- Read this post from top to bottom before you start. I’ve shared many tips throughout so you get everything right. Also, read through the full recipe before getting started.
- Follow the recipe exactly as it’s written for the very best results.
If You Make This Recipe...
I'd love to hear how the muffins turned out for you and what you think of them. Please leave a comment and star rating below!
Feel free to also pin this recipe on Pinterest or share a photo on Instagram and tag me; I love seeing your remakes. (I’m @delightfuladventures on Instagram!)
If You Like This Recipe...
You may like these, too!
Moist Vegan Morning Glory Breakfast Muffins
Suggested Equipment:
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
- 6 tablespoons water
- 1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour **see note below for gluten-free option**
- ¾ cup (94g) whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ cup (123g) plain, unsweetened applesauce
- ½ cup (100g) brown sugar (or coconut sugar (⅔ cup / 100g)
- ¼ cup oil (plus extra for greasing muffin pan if not using liners)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup (90g) finely grated carrots (roughly 1.5 medium carrots)
- ½ cup (38g) unsweetened shredded coconut
- ½ cup (65g) apple, peeled and chopped into small cubes (roughly ¾ of a medium apple)
- ½ cup (65g) raisins
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350° F (177° C).
- Prepare your flax eggs by whisking together ground flax seeds and water. Set aside to thicken for 10 minutes.
- Add muffin liners to your muffin pan or generously grease the inside of each cup with oil.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ground cinnamon, and ground nutmeg. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix the applesauce, sugar, oil, vanilla extract, and flax mixture together.
- Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and stir until combined, don't over-mix.
- Fold in the shredded carrots, coconut, raisins and apples.
- Using a spoon or a large scoop, evenly divide the batter into the 12 muffin cups.
- Bake for 24 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the largest muffin comes out clean. If you are making the vegan gluten-free version, bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the oven, let the muffins cool in the muffin pan for a few minutes, then carefully remove and place them on a cooling rack.
Recipe Notes:
- Please read all of the info above and below before making this recipe.
- If you will be making the vegan gluten-free version, use 1 ¾ cups (245g) of Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour (Amazon link) (the one in the red bag NOT the blue bag) and bake the muffins for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the largest muffin comes out clean. It's important to know that different gluten-free flour blends use different ingredients and ratios, so results will always vary if you substitute. Please know that your results may not be the same as mine if you substitute with another gluten-free flour blend. This recipe will NOT work with coconut flour or any other single gluten-free flour.
- Both sugar options have different cup AND weight measurements. Measure/weigh accordingly based on the type you use.
- You can use any neutral-flavoured oil for this recipe. If you choose melted coconut oil, make sure that all your ingredients are at room temperature to prevent it from solidifying when added to the mixture.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days. After three days, place them in the refrigerator.
- To freeze, once they've cooled completely, tightly wrap them individually, store them in a container or freezer bag, and freeze for up to two months. Thaw them at room temperature.
- The nutrition info listed below is based on one muffin with the recipe made as written. The muffins made with gluten-free flour have a calorie count of 188 per muffin. Nutrition info is only to be used as a rough guide. Click here to learn how nutrition info is calculated on this website.
Christina says
Hello! Made these today after searching a while for an easy vegan and gluten free recipe. My mom has made these since I was a little girl, but I wanted a healthier option. They came out great- thank you for all the details you shared about the ingredients, very helpful!!!
Gwen Leron says
You're welcome, Christina! I'm so happy to know you enjoyed the recipe and the details. Enjoy what you have left!
Marieta says
Really great recipe! I’ve been baking vegan and GF for a while and was happy to find this recipe. They are moist and I know I’ll be making them again and sharing your page. I only had 1 and a 1/2 cup of Bob’s red bag and ended up using 1/4 cup of Bob’s blue bag to make the required amount called for, they turned out great! I’m curious if you have tried the blue Bob’s bag for entire measurement and if it worked... I sometimes find the flavour of chickpea strong but in this recipe it’s not a problem because of all the ingredients and flavours. Awesome, AWESOME recipe - can’t wait to try some of your other ones. Thanks!!
Gwen Leron says
Hi Marieta! I'm so glad you came across the recipe and decided to give it a try. Let me know if you have any questions about the other recipes you're interested in making. Good to know that this one worked well with your modification. I have not tried to make this particular recipe using just the Bob's gf blend in the blue bag. That flour wasn't available when I developed this recipe. Other readers have tried making my recipes that call for the flour in the red bag with the 1 to 1 and it has been hit or miss. Some say the recipe didn't work well and some others have had great success. One day I will give it a try and update 🙂 And yes, I agree about blend with the chickpea flour having a strong taste, the trick for me has been to only use it in recipes that will have strong flavours and spices. The 1 to 1 flour works best in recipes that have lighter flavours.
Marieta says
I also made mini muffins and adjusted cook time to 12-15 minutes... made exactly 36 mini muffins - actually gonna make again now cuz they went so fast!
Gwen Leron says
I have yet to make them as mini muffins, I will try that! So happy that you are enjoying the recipe so much, Marieta 🙂
Sarah says
What type of milk substitute do you use? I'm on the hunt for the perfect GF, vegan morning glory muffin and I'm excited to try these but I want to make them exactly like you did! I have oat milk and a hemp/coconut blend at home. I'm thinking of going with the oat.....
Gwen says
Hi Sarah! I use unsweetened almond milk in this recipe, but any type of milk will work just fine as long as it's not sweetened (or you will end up with muffins that are too sweet). Your oat milk or hemp/coconut blend will both work as long as they're not sweetened. Let me me know how it goes! 🙂
Jo says
Do these muffins freeze well? My daughter is vegan and coming for Thanksgiving. I will be making traditional and vegan options. It would be nice to have these made ahead and frozen.
Gwen says
Hi Jo! I haven't put them in the freezer myself, but I think they should be fine 🙂
Teri says
Would it be possible to make these substituting applesauce for the fat? I am eating whole food plant based which is basically vegan but no oils.
Gwen @ Delightful Adventures says
Hi Teri! I have not made these muffins using applesauce as a replacement for the oil. There is already a 1/2 cup of applesauce in the recipe, so I don't know how things well end up. I have used applesauce as an oil replacement in other recipes and they turned out fine, I just haven't' tried with this one. One thing to keep in mind, and you may already know this since you are WFPB, but if you do try making them without the oil, don't use paper liners, either use a good non-stick muffin pan or silicone liners. When there is no oil in a muffin recipe, your muffins will stick like crazy to the paper liners. If you try them with no oil, let me know how it goes! 🙂
Kelly says
This recipe is amazing!! Fluffy and light! I subbedcraisinscfor dried cranberries, added pumpkin seeds, but there’s so much versatility to it. I don’t typically eat gluten free but I’m definitely going to make this a staple recipe!
Gwen @ Delightful Adventures says
Hi Kelly! I'm happy that you like them so much! dried cranberries and pumpkin seeds are great additions! And yes, lots of versatility with the add-ins for this recipe. You can make them different every time 🙂
Ingrid says
Hi, those muffins sound great and I would like to make them. Since I do not follow a glutenfree diet, just plant based, and don' t want to buy any special mixes, could I bake them with spelt, kamut or wheat instead?
Gwen @ Delightful Adventures says
Hi Ingrid, I think the best choice to use as a substitute for the gluten free flour would be all purpose white flour. The gf flour I use in this recipe is a 1:1 replacement for wheat flour, so it should be fine. However, I have not tried the recipe with wheat flour, I am going by how some of my other gluten free recipes have ended up when testing with wheat flours. If you do end up trying it out, let me know how it goes! 🙂
Francis says
I follow a vegan and gluten free diet. I've always lusted for a great vegan and gluten free morning glory muffin recipe. I have now made this recipe more than ten times and I receive raves from everyone who has tried them. Thanks for the hard work and many hours of recipe testing. We appreciate it.
Gwen @ Delightful Adventures says
Oh, Francis, this note made me smile. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave it and for letting me know how much you love the recipe. It's a favourite of mine as well. This is definitely one of my recipes that I'm glad I persisted with! Enjoy your Sunday 🙂
Caroline says
I'm new to gluten free and vegan baking, and I have made many things that are "ok" or "just edible". These are my new favorite muffins. Tender, moist, perfect for breakfast and quite healthy. Perfect with a bowl of hot oatmeal.
Gwen says
Your comment made my day, Caroline! I'm so happy that you like them this much! Gluten free and vegan baking are tricky at first, but once you get it, it's amazing 🙂 Enjoy the muffins!
Darlene says
These muffins are awesome. Tender, tasty and a new staple in my kitchen.
Gwen says
This is amazing to hear, Darlene! So happy that you love them. I need to make them again soon!
Jody says
These were outstanding! I am fairly new to gluten free baking and continue to be frustrated with most of the recipes I find online that only "resemble" the foods I'm used to.
Thanks for persisting-you got a great product!
Gwen says
I'm glad I persisted with this one too, Jody! I'm so happy you like the muffins! This is actually one of my favourite recipes to make. Keep trying with the gluten-free baking. It's a bit tricky at first, but once you get the hang of it, it's not so bad 🙂
Diane says
Made these tonight. They are excellent! Thanks for your hard work and for sharing!
Gwen says
Glad you love them, Diane! Thanks for stopping by and letting me know 🙂
Erin says
Morning glory muffins make me so happy 🙂 I am glad you were able to perfect your recipe! These look super yummy!
Gwen says
Thanks, Erin! They make me happy too 🙂 Especially happy since I was able to finally get the recipe!
Mary @ Fit and Fed says
Baking can be that way, especially when you are creating a gluten-free recipe. These look great though, I'm glad you persisted!
Gwen says
Thanks, Mary! Me too 🙂