Gluten Free Carrot Muffins

These gluten free carrot muffins look and taste like they just came out of your favorite bakery! And a pretty, light sprinkling of brown sugar on top adds lots of flavor.

Make them with or without raisins. You can even add chocolate chips!

Why I love this recipe

Muffins from a bakery always have a big, bold dome on top. There are usually tiny crumbs of something especially delicious, too.

These gf carrot muffins are perfectly browned all around, and have an extra sprinkling of brown sugar on top of a lovely dome. They look like they came out of your favorite bakery, but they came out of your own kitchen!

Once you see how easy the batter is to make in just one mixing bowl, you'll make this recipe again and again.

Do these gf carrot muffins taste like gf carrot cake?

These muffins taste similar to gluten free carrot cake, but there is less sugar in these muffins, and their crumb is a bit denser. Like gluten free banana muffins aren't as sweet and rich as gluten free banana cake, these muffins are not quite as sweet as cake or cupcakes.

Muffins are usually made to be heartier and more satisfying than cupcakes. They're usually eaten for breakfast or a snack, so you want them to fill you up.

I wouldn't serve these muffins with frosting on top. But I would happily serve cupcakes with frosting—since they're for celebrating!

Expert tips

I've done all the testing for you, so you can have all the glory! Here are some things to keep in mind as you set out to make these gf muffins:

• Baking is precise by nature. Measure everything that has a weight measurement provided on a simple digital kitchen scale.
• Avoid making substitutions whenever possible. If you have other dietary restrictions, use the suggestions below to accommodate your needs.
• Temperature matters! If an ingredient is meant to be at room temperature, bring it to room temperature or the batter won't combine properly, and the muffins won't turn out.
• Use one of my recommended all purpose gluten free flour blends to make this recipe. Other flour blends are gritty, or poorly balanced and won't make muffins that have the taste, texture, or even shaped you expect.

Can you freeze these muffins?

Yes, these muffins freeze perfectly! Just place the baked and cooled muffins in a single layer on a small, rimmed baking sheet or tray.

Place the baking tray in the freezer and freeze the muffins until they're solid, about 2 hours. Then, pile the frozen muffins into a freezer-safe bag, and remove as much air as possible.

Trapped air is what causes freezer burn, which is what makes your frozen baked goods taste stale.

Then, defrost the muffins as you need them, one by one. You can defrost them at room temperature, or pop one in the microwave for a few seconds to help it thaw.

Then, try refreshing the muffins in the toaster oven by sprinkling them lightly with water and toasting or warming them in a 300°F oven. They'll taste freshly baked!

Ingredient substitutions

Egg free

If you can't have eggs, you can try replacing the eggs in these carrot muffins with one “chia egg” each. For each chia egg, place 1 tablespoon ground white chia seeds with 1 tablespoon lukewarm water in a small bowl, mix, and let it sit until it gels.

There are 4 eggs in this recipe, which is a lot of eggs to try to replace. I would recommend reducing the size of the recipe by half, or even reducing it down to 1/4, to test whether the egg replacer will work here.

Dairy free

There isn't any butter in these muffins, since they're made with virgin coconut oil that softened (at warm room temperature). The only dairy in these muffins is the buttermilk.

If you can't have dairy, you can replace the buttermilk with half unsweetened nondairy milk and half nondairy plain yogurt, each by volume.

Buttermilk replacements

Even if you can have dairy, you may find that you don't have buttermilk on hand. Don't try replacing buttermilk by simply adding some lemon juice to milk!

Adding lemon juice to milk doesn't replace the thick, rich texture of buttermilk. It just adds some tang.

Instead, in place of buttermilk, combine half whole milk and half plain yogurt, each by volume. Mix and bring to room temperature, and you have the perfect buttermilk substitute.

Virgin coconut oil

Virgin coconut oil is an unrefined coconut oil that is solid at cool room temperature. This recipe calls for using it at

Virgin coconut oil has a very faint coconut aroma that is mostly undetectable. If you're very sensitive to the smell of coconut, try using triple-filtered virgin coconut oil, which has no aroma.

You can also use nonhydrogenated vegetable shortening in its place, which is odorless.

I don't recommend using butter in place of coconut oil. It causes the muffins to brown too much during baking, and changes the look and taste of the muffins pretty significantly.

You cannot use an oil that is liquid at room temperature in place of virgin coconut oil. The muffins will turn out feeling, tasting, and smelling oily.