Carrot Zucchini Muffins (Vegan)

These vegan and gluten free carrot zucchini muffins are the best quick on-the-go healthy breakfast for busy back-to-school mornings. Packed with nutritious ingredients, delicious they're kid and adult-friendly!

I'm usually a smoothie bowl or oatmeal kinda gal. However, when I'm on more of a morning time crunch, I like to have something in the freezer to heat up, slather with butter, and take on the road.

If you're also looking for an easy, healthy and delicious breakfast option to meal prep in this busy back-to-school season, look no further. These vegan gluten free zucchini muffins, packed with walnuts and carrots, are full of nutrients and low on sugar.

Instructions

Not only are these vegan muffins easy to grab on your way out the door, they're also super easy to make. Like most muffin recipes, you'll start by creaming the butter and sugar.

We use a bit of unsweetened applesauce as well. It provides natural sweetness and moisture without adding more processed sugar. For the rest of the sweetness in these healthy muffins, we use a combination of cane sugar and coconut sugar.

Coconut sugar has a lower glycemic index than regular sugar. Therefore, it won't cause a bump in your blood sugar. That's a major bonus when it comes to breakfast.

You've probably experienced a sugar rush (and crash) from a super sweet pastry or cereal in the morning. Thanks to the applesauce and coconut sugar in these zucchini muffins, you'll maintain a healthy and stable blood sugar all morning.

If you're looking for a wheat-free, celiac-friendly muffin recipe, this is for you. There are dozens of wonderful gluten free flours for baking. We often use a combination of two flours for our favorite gluten free recipes.

For these zucchini muffins, we use gluten free all purpose and almond flour. Almond flour adds a bit more moisture and prevents the gluten free flour from making these muffins dense and gummy.

You can easily make a batch of gluten free all purpose flour at home with this recipe. It stores well too, so we like to keep a big container on hand for when the baking craving strikes.

We also add flax meal to these muffins, which is a central ingredient in vegan baking. When you're making egg-free baked goods, you still need a binder to keep everything together.

The best binders have some fat and are also gel-like in consistency. Read our in-depth guide to flax eggs for more on that subject.

To keep these vegan zucchini muffins completely dairy-free, we use almond milk. Almond milk still offers the same moistness as regular milk. Yet it's lighter and won't weigh these healthy muffins down.

It also adds a wonderful almond flavor to the finished product. Along with the almond flour, these vegan muffins get a nice almondy background flavor that's not overwhelming.

When it comes to zucchini muffins and bread, we think some crunch is in order. Walnuts offer that satisfying crunch throughout each muffin. You could also sub with pecans.

Storage

Here's another bonus to cooking without eggs or dairy. These muffins, like other vegan baked goods, last quite a while. We always recommend storing anything you bake in an airtight container. This keeps them from drying out.

You can keep these muffins in the fridge for easy access every morning. Or, you can freeze them to last longer. They'll keep for several months frozen.

To enjoy, simply pop one (or as many as you'd like) in the microwave for a minute or so. Or if you have a little foresight, you can put a muffin in the fridge for yourself the night before. That kind of thing never occurs to me, even though I do admittedly often fall asleep thinking about breakfast.

More vegan muffin recipes to try:

• Blueberry Lemon Muffins. If you're like us, and have bags of blueberries in your freezer from picking this summer, these are the muffins for you.
• Chocolate Banana Muffins from Yummy Mummy Kitchen. Why not start your morning with chocolate??
• Raspberry Rhubarb Muffins with Oat Streusel. Most breakfasts are improved by some streusel. And these healthy raspberry muffins are the perfect base to our sweet, crumbly oat topping.

If you make these vegan carrot zucchini muffins, we’d love for you to leave a comment and rating below! We also love to see your creations on Instagram – tag us at @crowded_kitchen so we can see what you’ve been cooking.

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