Healthy Morning Glory Muffins packed with wholesome ingredients like carrots, apples, whole wheat flour, raisins and maple syrup. This healthy muffin recipe is the perfect grab and go breakfast or midday snack!

They’re a delicious morning muffin just like these healthy carrot muffins, healthy zucchini muffins or healthy blueberry muffins.

Healthy morning glory muffins on a towel with a plant nearby

If your worst nightmare is plain foods, then these healthy morning glory muffins are your multi-textured, flavorful, and healthy snack dream come true.

With a bit of everything including nuts, dried fruit, coconut flakes, whole grains, and applesauce, there’s so much to love!

Along with these healthy banana zucchini muffins and oat bran muffins, these are nutritious and delicious breakfast muffins for busy mornings!

These Morning Glory Muffins Are:

  • Hearty and satisfying
  • 100% whole wheat or gluten free, if needed
  • Moist and flavorful
  • With glorious texture
  • Perfect on the go snack

You don’t need a mixer, they are made only in one bowl, plus they are freezer friendly!

Sliced healthy morning glory muffin.

What Makes These Morning Glory Muffins Healthy?

As far as healthy muffin recipes go, this healthy morning glory muffins recipe contains very few empty calories, relying on nourishing, wholesome ingredients instead. They are perfectly balanced with fiber, heart-healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals.

Veggie loaded muffins are also lower in sugar opting to use maple syrup instead! Using applesauce helps reduce oil and results in a lower fat muffin that is lighter yet still extra moist with a ton of flavor.

Best of all these healthy morning glory muffins can fit into a variety of dietary lifestyles. Choose to use whole wheat for a whole grain muffin, or use gluten free all purpose flour. Either way, these healthier muffins are a morning win.

Ingredients and Substitutions

While the ingredients list for this healthy morning glory muffin recipe may seem long, don’t worry! It’s primarily pantry staples, making this muffin recipe easy to pull together whenever desired.

Whole wheat flour, apple, carrots, applesauce, walnuts, raisins, egg, maple syrup, cinnamon, oil and baking staples.
  • Flour: Use whole wheat flour or spelt flour.
  • Eggs: You’ll need one large egg.
  • Applesauce: Mashed banana or plain Greek yogurt may work in its place. Even pumpkin puree could work, but muffins will be less sweet.
  • Sweetener: Honey or maple syrup will work. I can’t guarantee results with a sugar free syrup.
  • Oil: I’ve reduced the oil in this recipe to just 1/4 cup (around 1 teaspoon per muffin) and prefer avocado oil, or coconut oil.
  • Fruit and veggies: Shredded carrots and shredded apples. Any type of apple will work, that’s what we do with apple cinnamon muffins as well.
  • Vanilla extract: Use pure vanilla extract.
  • Ground cinnamon: This warming spice really enhances the flavor in these breakfast muffins.
  • Leavening agents: These healthy morning glory muffins rely on baking powder and baking soda to achieve the correct consistency.
  • Salt: Just a pinch enhances the overall flavor.
  • Dried fruit: I used raisins. Other options include dried cranberries, chopped dates, apricots, prunes, figs, etc.
  • Coconut: I use unsweetened shredded coconut flakes for flavor, texture, and heartiness. Though omit them, if preferred.
  • Walnuts: You can gently crush nuts by hand rather than having to dirty a chopping board. Pecans, almonds, pine nuts, and sunflower seeds can be substituted.

How to Make Healthy Morning Glory Muffins

This healthy morning glory muffins recipe requires just a few simple steps. You could even get the kids involved!

  • Prep: First, preheat the oven to 425 F and spray a nonstick 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray. I like to use parchment paper liners but they are optional. Set aside.
  • Mix the muffin batter: Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, whisk all wet ingredients with leavening agents and flavorings.
  • Gently fold in flour: And stir until just combined.
  • Add veg, fruit and nuts: Stir until carrots, apple, dried fruit, coconut and nuts are all incorporated into the batter.
  • Fill the muffin tin: Divide the muffin batter evenly among your muffin tin. I like to use an ice-cream scoop. If you would like, you can stud them with oats before baking.
  • Bake: Bake healthy morning glory muffins for 7 minutes at 425 F (creates a nice dome top) and then reduce heat to 350 F (without removing the muffins from the oven) and bake for another 13 minutes. Or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs but not wet.

Optional Variations

These healthy morning glory muffins are truly versatile. Here are just a few ways you can adapt the recipe to your liking!

  • Citrus zest: Add a teaspoon of orange zest for a subtle layer of flavor. 
  • Zucchini: Instead of apple, use shredded zucchini, squeezing out the excess liquid.
  • Crushed pineapple: Another addition in place of shredded carrot and apple is crushed pineapple. Use 1 cup with excess juice squeezed out. These are often called sunrise muffins.
  • Orange juice: Use fresh, unsweetened orange juice or pineapple juice in place of some of applesauce for citrusy flavor.

How Do I Grate Carrots and Apples for Muffins?

I recommend using the large holes on a box grater and leaving the peel on for extra fiber. There is no need to squeeze out any excess liquid.

Can I Make These Egg Free?

You can experiment with a chia seed egg or learn how to make a flax egg to make these healthy morning glory muffins.

Healthy morning glory muffins studded with oats and on a white linen.

How Should I Store These Muffins?

Allow the morning glory muffins to cool entirely and then store them at room temperature for 2 days. You can also store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to one week.

I fully endorse baking a double or triple batch of these healthy morning muffins. Especially when you can store them for up to 3 months in a resealable freezer bag. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.

If you want to enjoy a warm muffin, you can reheat it for 30-40 seconds in the microwave.

Storage Tip

For more best storage practices, be sure to check out my posts how to store muffins and how to freeze muffins.

FAQs

Why are they called morning glory muffins?

Original morning glory muffins were created on Nantucket island back in the 70s by the Morning Glory cafe owner, chef Pam McKinstry. They’re said to be a nod to the ‘back-to-the-land’ movement, as a wholesome food packed with a little bit of everything including fruit and veggies. The result was and still is a glorious way to start the day!

Can I make jumbo or mini morning glory muffins?

If you want to make mini muffins or jumbo muffins, that shouldn’t be a problem. However, you’ll need to adjust the baking time accordingly.

Do an initial bake time at 425 F for 7 minutes, and afterwards: for mini, check after 6 minutes; for jumbo, check after about 17 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

How do I keep my muffins to be light and fluffy?

Remember to use the spoon and level method for measuring your flour, don’t overload your muffins with additional items, and remember to stir batter gently.

Why are my muffins dense?

This can happen if you’ve over mixed the batter or added too much flour/liquid. Follow the recipe the first time. That way, if you make any adjustments, you can see how they affect the texture and tweak them further to your liking.

Can I use other flour for these healthy morning glory muffins?

I recommend to only use whole wheat flour, spelt flour or gluten free flour in this recipe.

More Healthy Muffin Recipes

You might also enjoy browsing through my entire healthy muffins collection!

healthy morning glory muffins

Healthy Morning Glory Muffins

Healthy Morning Glory Muffins packed with wholesome ingredients like carrots, apples, whole wheat flour, raisins and maple syrup. These breakfast muffins are the perfect grab and go breakfast or snack!
5 from 19 votes
Servings 12 muffins
Calories 233
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 22 minutes
Total Time 37 minutes

Ingredients  

Instructions 

  • Preheat oven to 425 degrees F and spray non-stick 12 muffin tin with cooking spray. Set aside.
  • In a large mixing bowl, add egg, applesauce, maple syrup, oil, vanilla extract, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt; whisk well to combine.
  • Add flour and gently mix until combined. Do not over mix.
  • Add carrots, apple, raisins, coconut flakes and walnuts. Stir gently until incorporated.
  • Using large trigger scoop, distribute batter evenly between 12 openings of a tin. Bake at 425 degrees F for 7 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees F and bake for another 13 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
  • Remove muffins from the oven and let them cool off for 10 minutes on a cooling rack. Enjoy warm or cold!

Notes

  • Store: Store at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for 1 week in an airtight container.
  • Freeze: Muffins freeze well for up to 3 months in a resealable bag. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and warm up in the microwave before enjoying.
  • Zucchini: Instead of apple, use shredded zucchini, squeezing out excess liquid.
  • Egg free: You could experiment with a flax egg.

Nutrition

Serving: 1muffin | Calories: 233kcal | Carbohydrates: 34g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 14mg | Sodium: 235mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 15g
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: North American
Author: Olena Osipov
Did you make this recipe?Mention @ifoodreal or tag #ifoodreal!

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About Olena

Welcome! I grew up in Ukraine watching my grandma cook with simple ingredients. I have spent the last 11 years making it my mission to help you cook quick and easy meals for your family!

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Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Absolutely delicious! I didn’t have the exact same ingredients and had to make some substitutions, but these turned out wonderfully light, moist, and tasty.

    In case these help another reader, my substitutions were 1/2 cup granulated sugar instead of the 1/2 cup +2 tbsp maple syrup, dried cranberries instead of raisins, almonds instead of walnuts, and all-purpose flour. Because of the cranberries I omitted the cinnamon and put in 2 tbsp grated orange zest. They’re an orangey-coconut tropical treat. Thank you for the recipe!

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