Let's make some incredible chocolate carrot muffins! Using cocoa powder and chocolate chips you will make a double chocolate muffin with grated raw carrots. This is a super simple recipe that comes together in 30 minutes.
I make muffins weekly at my house (ahem, toddler mom), they need to be delicious and they need to be nutrient-dense. After this recipe try these carrot pineapple muffins , these whole wheat banana apple sauce muffins, or these delicious chocolate chip whole wheat muffins!
Why you'll love this muffin recipe
- No mixer is needed to make these muffins.
- Less sugar makes these a great healthy snack.
- A veggie-packed muffin in chocolate form, great for toddlers and kiddos.
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Ingredients needed for healthy chocolate muffins
Here's a photo from my kitchen of what you need to make your homemade double chocolate muffins with carrots. Below I've shared some things to note about the ingredients and why we use them.
- Grated carrot: For this carrot muffin recipe you will need about 3 average-sized carrots. I find finely grated carrots are more subtle in these muffins.
- Eggs: Three eggs bind the muffin together and create a moist crumb.
- Oil (or melted butter): I use organic grapeseed oil, however, melted coconut oil, organic canola oil, cold-pressed olive oil, or melted butter can be used.
- Milk: Use whatever milk you like to use (cow milk, soy milk, oat milk, coconut milk, cashew milk). I like to use unsweetened almond milk, or water works too!
- Vanilla: For these muffins, vanilla makes them extra delicious. Did you know it's super easy to make your own vanilla?
- Cocoa powder: These chocolate muffins are made with lots of cocoa powder giving the muffins a dense chocolate flavor like brownies. Yum.
- Organic whole wheat flour: I like to use organic flour, however non-organic will work. I use whole wheat as it is more nutrient-dense than white flour.
- Organic cane sugar: Any white sugar, or granulated sugar will work for this recipe.
- Baking powder & baking soda: Baking powder and baking soda are both needed for this recipe to rise best.
- Salt: Adding a little salt pops the flavor in these muffins.
- Chocolate chips: This is optional however I think adding chocolate chips gives the best double chocolate healthy muffin vibes and it's delicious.
See the recipe card for quantities.
How to make carrot muffins with chocolate
1. Preheat the oven to 425 Fahrenheit. Grate the carrot. I use the food processor because it's so fast, however, I find the texture a bit bigger than I wish when using it. If you want the carrots to be more subtle in the muffins use a cheese grater or a finer blade on a food processor.
2. Mix the wet ingredients. This is the egg, oil, vanilla, and milk (or water which is what I used for these photos as I ran out of milk!). Use a whisk to mix everything together.
3. In another mixing bowl place the whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cocoa powder, and sugar. Use a whisk to combine the mixture well.
4. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients, with the chocolate chips and carrots. Use a spatula to fold the mixture together, only 12-15 times. Avoid any overmixing so the muffins rise well.
5. Line the muffin pans with liners (I use silicone liners) or grease your pan well. Then place about ⅓ cup of chocolate muffin batter into each muffin cup, or until they are all the way full. Place chocolate chips on top.
6. Bake for 8 minutes at 425 Fahrenheit, then turn the oven down to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for another 5-7 minutes. Remove the muffin pan from the oven when they are not gooey inside. Let them sit in the muffin pan 5 minutes before removing them.
Top tips for the best carrot chocolate muffins
This muffin batter is thick, this is so the muffin cups can be filled all the way up, and make a nice-sized muffin.
Don't overmix the batter. If it's mixed too much the muffins will become dense and the muffins will come out squat. Even if there are a few streaks of flour after 12-15 folds - that's alright!
Dome muffins: The key to domed beautiful muffins, is to start the oven at a high temperature (425 Fahrenheit). This lifts the muffins and makes them golden, then turning the oven down (375 Fahrenheit) to finish cooking the muffins without drying them out is essential!
Add extras to your healthy chocolate muffins
A few ingredient ideas to add to personalize your muffins! Have fun.
- Add spinach: Replace one cup of grated carrots with one cup of finely chopped spinach for a loaded chocolate veggie muffin! (Still add 1 cup of grated carrot as well).
- Add nuts: Sprinkle walnuts, pecans, or Brazil nuts into the muffin batter along with the chocolate chips (or instead of them).
- More protein: Add ¼ cup protein powder with the dry ingredients. For a higher-protein chocolate muffin.
- Use zucchini: Swap out the carrots for zucchini. Use a towel to squeeze the grated zucchini before adding to the muffin batter. Healthy chocolate zucchini muffins sound delicious!
Other healthy muffins you may like
Did you make these chocolate carrot muffins? Would you take 5 seconds to give a star rating and review just below the recipe? That means a lot to me and helps the growth of Beside the Mountain blog.
Carrot Chocolate Muffins
Equipment
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients:
Dry Ingredients:
- ¾ cup cocoa powder
- 1 ¼ cup whole wheat flour I recommend using organic flour
- ½ cup cane sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup chocolate chips (and some more for on top!)
Instructions
- Start by preheating the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Grate 2 cups of carrots and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl place the eggs, oil, milk, and vanilla. Whisk together until well combine.
- Place the cocoa powder, whole wheat flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, in a bowl. Whisk everything together until well combine.
- Pour the egg mixture, chocolate chips, and carrots into the flour mixture. Use a spatula to fold the batter together just until combine, about 12 -15 folds.
- In a greased muffin pan, fill each cup all the way up (about ⅓ cup each). Sprinkle each muffin with a few more chocolate chips. Bake for 8 minutes, then turn the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for another 5-7 minutes. Until they are not gooey inside. Let them sit in the muffin pan for 5 minutes before removing them.
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.
Mel says
Great recipe. Kids loved them, and so did I! I subbed in cacao for the cocoa as that’s what I had and worked beautifully. Thanks!
Danika Vanderpyl says
Thank for sharing that the cacoa worked! I appreciate you leaving a comment.
Tina says
These chocolatey muffins were a great breakfast. All four of my kids ate them. I've been trying different healty muffin recipes, and this is the first one that all my kids liked.
Danika Vanderpyl says
Tina! This made my day, so happy your kids all approve of these veggie muffins. Cheers to good mornings. Xx.
Alexandra says
These were really yummy, my kids loved them! I did these in a mini muffin tin and baked for 375 f for 13 minutes and they were perfect!
Danika Vanderpyl says
Thank you for letting us know how making these into mini chocolate carrot muffins went! SO glad you all liked them!
Jordi says
So gooey so so yummy!
Kallie says
I loved how much carrot was in these to sneak into my toddler! They were so nice and moist.
Danika Vanderpyl says
The hidden veggies are always a win for us moms! I'm glad you enjoyed these Kallie!
christine gauthier says
I was searching the web for a recipe for carrot and chocolate chip muffins.. I came across this one, i have not made these yet because in the list of ingredients it does not tell us how much cocoa powder to use. Also while reading the baking instructions it doesn't even mention cocoa powder.
Danika Vanderpyl says
Hello Christine! Thanks for letting me know! It's 3/4 cup of cocoa powder and you add it with the flour. I have added this to the instructions. Enjoy!