Healthy Protein Carrot Muffins

These Healthy Protein Carrot Muffins taste of cinnamon, spice, and everything nice! They are gluten-free, low sugar, and disguised with protein. Try making these quick and easy muffins for a speedy breakfast or snack!

I made these Healthy Protein Carrot Muffins for my grandpa’s 82nd birthday. Normally, I would buy him a big bag of sugary cinnamon bears or make him chocolate chip cookies, but not this year. With some recent news about his health, our family has been on a mission to keep him healthy, so this year, my sister and I each made him a healthy treat to support him on his path to eating better. My grandpa is a picky eater, so getting him to like what we make is no easy feat. Here’s a list of the vegetables my grandpa likes – corn, carrots, and radishes (Wait, radishes? Really??).

Here is what I know about my grandpa:

1. He loves dessert.
2. He likes three vegetables out of an estimated 20,000 edible plants that exist.
3. He needs to eat healthy food.
4. He does NOT like healthy food.

Though my son is only just starting to eat solid food, I am predicting that tricking my grandpa into eating something healthy is a tactic that I will need to adopt with my child. Mission accepted.

Since carrots are sweet and more dessert-worthy than radishes, I decided to go with a carrot dessert. Of course! I will just recreate carrot cake into easy peasy healthy carrot muffins so that they are easier to eat.  

My grandpa has to limit his sugar intake and whatever he eats needs to have a low-glycemic index, so I chose to use agave syrup and coconut sugar so that he wouldn’t have a huge spike in his blood sugar. I also used applesauce to serve as a natural sweetener as well as a binder for the muffins. In addition to the applesauce, greek yogurt can function as a binder (instead of oil), but has the added benefit of PROTEIN! I love this sneaky way to get in some protein. Protein has been difficult for my grandpa to process, however yogurt is on the approved protein list.

Farm fresh carrots are definitely the best choice for this recipe because they tend to be sweeter and just more delicious. However, if you are short on time, Trader Joes has pre-grated carrots which will work just as well. If you use pre-grated carrots, make sure you chop them some more because the pieces are usually too big and overwhelm the taste of the recipe….we don’t want the muffins to taste too healthy.

To make these Healthy Protein Carrot Muffins, simply mix all of the wet ingredients in a large bowl, followed by the dry ingredients. If you are not using muffin tins, spray your muffin tray with coconut oil before adding the batter. Pop these babies in the oven at 400 degrees for 12-14 minutes (until golden brown or a toothpick placed in the center of a muffin comes out clean) and enjoy!

The muffins are best served warm, with a little dollop of butter and a cup of hot coffee. The flavors of cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice really come out in these muffins. They are also just sweet enough, which makes eating them feel light and delightful, rather than like you “have to take a walk around the block,” as my grandma loves to say. They function as a wonderful snack or quick on-the-go breakfast. I like having one at about 9:00 a.m. each morning, while I am at work. They help my stomach make it to lunch. Most importantly (for me), these Healthy Protein Carrot Muffins are grandpa-approved!