Let's make moist carrot pineapple muffins! A delicious batch of wholesome muffins made with applesauce. If you like carrot cake with pineapple you will love these muffins!
I'm not trying to brag, but healthy muffins are kinda my thing. Creating fluffy muffins that are low in sugar but full of nutritious ingredients has been one of my favorite things to bake in the last 15 years. After this recipe, you need to try my oatmeal muffins with pineapple pieces and these incredible chocolate carrot muffins!
Jump to:
- Why you will love this recipe
- Are these healthier than store-bought muffins?
- Ingredients needed
- Danika's quick nutrition tip
- Instructions for pineapple muffins with carrots
- Top tip for healthy carrot muffins
- Why are there green flecks in my carrot muffins?
- Substitution and variations
- How do you store homemade carrot muffins?
- Other muffin recipes to try
- Carrot Pineapple Muffins
- Danika Vanderpyl, C.H.N
Why you will love this recipe
- Low in sugar, these muffins are sweetened with ½ cup sugar. The pineapple and apple also make these carrot muffins sweet. For muffins sweetened just with honey, try these delicious orange muffins!
- High in fiber, these pineapple carrot applesauce muffins support the digestive system and microbiome.
- These are naturally dairy-free carrot muffins, using olive oil as a healthy fat.
- Think carrot cake, but healthy! If you are a fan of carrot cake with pineapple, these muffins are a spin on that flavor. Also, make my carrot cake energy balls!
Are these healthier than store-bought muffins?
Yes! Muffins from the grocery store are high in sugars, processed flours, and preservatives, making them low in nutrition. Homemade muffins are SO much healthier, providing energy, fiber, minerals and vitamins!! These muffins are a healthy version of carrot cake muffins.
Ingredients needed
- Flour: This recipe calls for half whole wheat flour and half white flour. Using fully white or brown flour is fine too. I choose to use organic flour and find the best price to buy it in bulk.
- Baking powder & soda: Using both baking powder and baking soda greatly increases the rise of these muffins.
- Salt: Adding salt balances the flavor! Use high-quality salt as a good source of minerals.
- Spices: Cinnamon and ginger give these muffins the carrot cake flavor.
- Oil (or butter): I like to use olive oil for these veggie fruit muffins however, coconut oil, or melted butter, works too!
- Cane sugar: This recipe uses ½ cup of organic cane sugar to sweeten the muffins!
- Eggs: The eggs add texture and rise to the muffins.
- Applesauce: Using applesauce in carrot muffins makes these moist.
- Vanilla: Adding vanilla creates a lovely flavour.
- Carrots: We need raw grated carrots to make these muffins delicious!!
- Canned pineapple: Use canned pineapple tidbits or canned crushed pineapple for this recipe. Fresh pineapple, chopped small, can be used as well. Carrot cake muffins with pineapple truly are a lovely combo!
See the recipe card below for exact ingredient quantities.
Danika's quick nutrition tip
In my recipe posts, I like to share nutrition insight for each recipe from my knowledge of Holistic Nutrition. Let's chat about carrot muffins with pineapple!!
Carrots: Eating carrots is a great way to get vitamin A which supports eye health. They are also a great source of fiber, iron, and calcium.
Pineapple: This fruit is a great source of vitamin C, B vitamins, and iron. Pineapple helps in cleansing the body and purifying blood. Look for unsweetened canned pineapple, or use fresh pineapple for the best benefits!
This information comes from Prescription for Dietary Wellness by Phyllis A. Balch and The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia by Rebecca Wood.
Instructions for pineapple muffins with carrots
Follow the photos from my kitchen to make these homemade carrot muffins with applesauce. Scroll down to see the recipe card for exact ingredient details.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Drain the pineapple by pouring it into a colander and pressing gently. Then measure 1 cup and set aside.
Grate fresh carrot until you have 1 cup. Set aside.
Mix the wet ingredients: Place the eggs, apple sauce, vanilla, and oil into a large mixing bowl and whisk together well.
Mix dry ingredients: In a large bowl, place the flour, sugar, sea salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and ginger. Use a whisk to mix everything well.
Fold: Use a spatula to stir the batter together, about 12-15 folds, just until everything is incorporated; there may be a few small flour streaks still, that's okay. Do not over-stir; the batter will be thick.
Scoop & bake: Add about ⅓ cup of batter to fill up each muffin cup. Place the muffin tin in the preheated oven to bake for 8 minutes, then turn the oven down to 375 degrees F and bake for another 5-7 minutes. Remove muffins from the oven when they spring back from the touch and when the center does not look gooey.
Top tip for healthy carrot muffins
Don't overmix the carrot cake pineapple muffin batter; only stir the batter about 12 times to get moist muffins.
Fill the muffin cups all the way up! This will give a better rise and dome muffin!
Bake at a high temperature to start (425°F) to create a higher muffin dome, then turn the oven down (375°F) to finish baking them completely. The recipe gives the exact details.
Let the muffins sit for 5 minutes before removing them from the pan. When muffins are still hot, they easily break; letting them cool slightly stops them from crumbling.
Bake without liners. When I tested these pineapple muffins in silicone muffin cups as well as straight into the greased pan, the muffins without the silicone cups created a better rise.
Why are there green flecks in my carrot muffins?
Carrots can turn green in muffins due to the PH from the baking soda. Specifically, the carrots touch the alkaline baking soda, turning the vegetable flecks green because there is either too much baking soda in a recipe or the baking soda is not well mixed.
To prevent your carrots from turning green in muffins or cake be sure to use the amount of baking soda the recipe calls for. Secondly, mix the dry ingredients together well (a whisk works best!) so there are no concentrated areas of baking soda.
Note that this green color change can also happen with sunflower seeds, blueberries and walnuts!!
Substitution and variations
Here are a few ways you can change this healthy recipe to make it super fun!!
- Make it a carrot cake loaf: Pour batter into a loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes.
- Add raisins: Toss ½ cup into the batter!
- Add shredded coconut: When folding everything together, add ½ cup of coconut.
- Add pecans or chopped walnuts: The addition of nuts increases healthy fats and protein.
- Add cream cheese frosting: To make these mini healthy carrot cakes, add some frosting made from cream cheese!
- Mini carrot applesauce muffins: Bake this batter in a mini muffin tray at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 12-14 minutes.
- Add protein: To increase the protein in these carrot and pineapple muffins, add 1-2 scoops of plain or vanilla protein powder.
How do you store homemade carrot muffins?
Storing: Let the pineapple and carrot muffins cool completely. Place a paper towel in the bottom of a container (to absorb any moisture) place the muffins on top, and secure the lid. Read all the tips and tricks for longer-lasting muffins here.
Freezing: These healthy carrot muffins are freezer-friendly. Place muffins in an airtight bag or container, and freeze. To dethaw, leave muffins on the counter at room temperature for a few hours or overnight. Read this article for the full scoop on freezing muffins!
Other muffin recipes to try
Loving carrots?? Try these incredible carrot cake energy balls and this delicious carrot spice smoothie!
How did you like these pineapple carrot cake muffins with applesauce?! Could you give this recipe a star rating and leave any comments below to help others find this recipe? K, you're the best!!!
Carrot Pineapple Muffins
Equipment
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients:
- 1 cup canned pineapple chunks or crushed
- 1 cup grated carrot
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup olive oil or melted butter
- ¾ cup applesauce
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
Dry Ingredients:
- 1 cup white flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- ½ cup organic cane sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ginger
Instructions
- Start by preheating the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit (215 C)
- Place canned pineapple into a colander to drain any excessive liquid. I always press it gently to remove excess juice. Set aside. Then grate 1 cup of carrots and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl place the eggs, olive oil, apple sauce, and vanilla. Whisk together until well combine.
- In another bowl place the flour, cane sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ginger. Whisk everything together until well combined.
- Add the flour mixture, the pineapple, and the carrots to the egg mixture. Use a spatula to fold the batter together until just combine, about 12 -15 folds.
- In a greased muffin pan fill each cup all the way up. Bake for 8 minutes at 425 F (215 C), then turn the oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit (190 C) and bake for another 5-7 minutes, until fully baked in the center.
Notes
Nutrition
Danika Vanderpyl, C.H.N
I create snack recipes with healthy ingredients that are mostly already in your kitchen. I'm certified in Holistic Nutrition and I care about giving my kids real food. Let me share my nutrient-dense easy snacks with you.
Christine says
This recipe was awesome! I wanted to try this recipe because it's something that I make that is close to it I took this recipe and I doubled the batch it was just a tiny bit dry so all I did was add a little bit more apple sauce and Olive oil. So I cooked it in a cast iron muffin PAN and I love how the outside is just a Slight crust on the outside but so moist on the inside I also topped it off with the pumpkin seeds I did not top it off with frosting was so good just the way it is but the second batch I will do some cream cheese frosting. I did add coconut, raisins, walnuts, and orgain vanilla protein powder 3 scoops for a double batch.
thanks so much I love it keep up the good work! Hello from Utah 🙂
Danika Vanderpyl says
Great to hear this Christine! I am glad you enjoyed these and love all the additions.
Celine Unrau says
Made a triple batch of these muffins with friends and the recipe was easy and all the muffins turned out fantastic! Will definitely be making more