Healthy Carrot Apple Flax Muffins {GF, Low Cal}

Healthy Carrot Apple Flax Muffins are made low calorie, gluten free and dairy free with nutrient dense ingredients. These nutrient packed muffins are delicious and great for a portable snack! Low Calorie + Gluten Free

Muffins always make Monday better, right? I like to call Monday "muffin Monday" because the on Monday you get to feast on all the muffins from the weekend's baking extravaganza. 

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If you've been around here from the beginning of Skinny Fitalicious then you know I'm a lover of all things baking with carrots from raw carrot cake to Paleo carrot cake cookies and almond flour carrot cake. You could say I'm just a little obsessed with carrots! They're not only tasty, but just so easy to sneak into baked goods!

Healthy Carrot Apple Flax Muffins

For these healthy carrot muffins, I did a spin on the almond flour morning glory muffins that are in my cookbook.

This version is made with gluten free flour and are lightly sweetened with cinnamon, applesauce and a bit of coconut sugar. They're also incredibly dense from the flaxseed which I love putting in baked good for healthy fat.

Here's a few more reason why I love these muffins!

• Low Calorie - Calories matter for weight loss, but the numbers are not everything. You always want calories to be compromised of the nutrient dense ingredients which this recipe is. These muffins are 180 calories each!
• Gluten Free - The ingredients in this recipe are gluten free.
• Dairy Free - There is no dairy in this recipe.
• Higher Protein - Each muffin has 3 grams of protein from the egg whites and flax meal. We always want to include protein in baked goods to offset the blood sugar response from the sugar.
• High Fiber - Each muffin has 4 grams of fiber. Fiber is proven to aid in weight loss and hormone balance. I talk about the importance of fiber in this free weight loss class.

Ingredients For Muffins with Carrots and Apples

Here's what you need to make gluten free carrot apple muffins. You will also need a muffin pan this is the one I use, avocado oil spray and large mixing bowl.

• Carrots
• Apples
• Egg Whites
• Applesauce, unsweetened
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Gluten Free 1:1 Baking Flour
• Flax Meal
• Cinnamon
• Baking Powder
• Coconut Sugar

How To Bake Low Calorie Muffins with Carrots and Apples

These Healthy Carrot Apple Flax Muffins are super simple to make and kids will love helping you bake them too. Here's how you make them!

Step one is preheating the oven to 350 F and preparing a muffin tin. You can use muffin liners or spray the muffin cavities with avocado oil spray or olive oil spray.

Step two is mixing the blending the extra virgin olive oil, applesauce, egg whites and cinnamon using a standing mixer or hand mixer. You will blend until the egg whites become frothy and have bubbles.

Next add the coconut sugar, flax meal and baking powder while you continue to mix. Then fold in the flour to the mixture slowly while continuing to mix the ingredients on a low speed.

Last fold the apples and carrots into the batter and spoon the batter into the muffin cavities about 3/4 of the way full. Bake in the oven 25 to 30 minutes until a toothpick can be removed clean from the center. Cool in the pan 10 minutes before removing from the baking pan.

How To Store Your Healthy Muffins

These muffins should be stored in the refrigerator or in the freezer in a container, in a storage bag or individually wrapped in plastic wrap. You can store them in the refrigerator up to 7 days or in the freezer up to 60 days. If you freezer the muffins, thaw them by removing from the freezer and placing in the refrigerator the night before you plan to eat them.

Substitutions For This Carrot Apple Flax Muffin Recipe

Here are the substitutions I recommend for this recipe. As always, substitutions you make will change the nutrition data you see in the recipe card below.

• Apples - You can substitute shredded zucchini for the apples. If you do this, you will lose the sweetness that the apples add to the muffins. I recommend you 1 or 2 tablespoons of maple syrup to keep them tasting good!
• Carrots - You could omit these if they don't work for you.
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil - Olive oil can be baked with at temperatures 350 F and below. You can also use coconut oil or avocado oil as substitutes.
• Applesauce - I have not tried substituting the applesauce in this recipe, but the batter does need this liquid to keep the muffins moist. You could consider using bananas or avocado to replace the applesauce, however, I have not tested this.
• Egg Whites - You can substitute 1 whole egg for the 2 egg whites. If you do that, you will decrease the protein slightly as 2 egg whites have more protein than 1 whole egg.
• Gluten Free Flour - I have not tested this recipe with other flours and I never bake with white or whole wheat flours. The only flour that can generally be swapped one-for-one with gluten free baking flour is oat flour. Always make sure you measure flours properly for baking too!
• Flax Meal - The flax meal is critical to the recipe as it binds the batter and there is no replacement for this.
• Coconut Sugar - Any sugar could be substituted for the coconut sugar. I prefer coconut sugar as it is slightly lower on the glycemic index than other sugar. Monkfruit would also work and will reduce the sugar content more if that is a concern for you. As a note, maple syrup and honey would not work.

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About Megan

Megan is a certified nutrition practitioner, author, freelance food photographer and fitness instructor living in Phoenix, Arizona. On her blog, Skinny Fitalicious she shares EASY, gluten free recipes for weight loss. Follow Megan on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram for the latest updates.