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.
Table of Contents
- These Morning Glory Muffins Are:
- What Makes These Morning Glory Muffins Healthy?
- Ingredients and Substitutions
- How to Make Healthy Morning Glory Muffins
- Optional Variations
- How Do I Grate Carrots and Apples for Muffins?
- Can I Make These Egg Free?
- How Should I Store These Muffins?
- FAQs
- More Healthy Muffin Recipes
- Healthy Morning Glory Muffins Recipe
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!
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.
- 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.
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
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!
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.
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.
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.
I recommend to only use whole wheat flour, spelt flour or gluten free flour in this recipe.
More Healthy Muffin Recipes
- Banana applesauce muffins
- Banana carrot muffins
- Healthy pumpkin muffins
- Healthy oatmeal muffins
- Healthy apple muffins
- Zucchini carrot muffins
- Healthy cranberry orange muffins
- Healthy strawberry muffins
- Healthy lemon poppy seed muffins
- Zucchini carrot muffins
- Lemon muffins
You might also enjoy browsing through my entire healthy muffins collection!
Healthy Morning Glory Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 large egg
- 2/3 cup applesauce unsweetened
- 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp maple syrup or honey
- 1/4 cup avocado or coconut oil melted
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp baking powder aluminum free
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat or gluten free flour
- 2 cups carrots shredded
- 1 cup apple shredded
- 1/2 cup raisins unsweetened
- 1/2 cup coconut flakes unsweetened
- 1/2 cup walnuts coarsely chopped
- Cooking spray I use Misto
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.
I thought these were wonderful muffins very tasty and filling
So glad you enjoyed them Ellen!
what can I use instead of applesauce.
These have not been tested and may have different taste/results but you could try: Mashed banana or plain Greek yogurt or pumpkin puree.
So easy. Vl try this week . Thanks
Just made these muffins, alot of grating but they smell amazing. One problem for me…they all fell in the middle. I followed the recipe exactly with one exception; I used almond flour. Your notes said it should be okay. What did I do wrong? They will still get eaten but not company brunch muffins. ๐
Hi Dee, Glad to hear they smell amazing! Almond flour does needs binding / lifting agents or it can tend to lead to a denser texture. Did you replace the egg in the recipe? If not, next time, you might try two eggs or stick with whole wheat or a gluten free 1:1 flour.
Made these today and really pleased with how they turned out! I used oats as not sure we can get oat bran in the UK but they worked great and will be ideal for using up odds and ends of dried fruit and nuts I have in my baking cupboard. I think I will return to this recipe time and time again, thank you Olena ๐
Hi Verity! I am so pleased to hear this. Thank you.
Hi Verity, have you used rolled oats, quick oats or oatmeal?
Help,
Can I substitute wheat bran with the same amount of wheat germ?
I have never tried but Google says you can. ๐
Thank you you for your quick reply. I actually went out and bought oat bran yesterday and made the muffins. They turned awesome! We had them this morning for breakfast and my 16 year old loved them!
Thanks a bunch
Love this recipe!
I didnโt have oat bran, so I used oats.
Iโll buy oat bran for next time.
I cut back a little on the coconut & grated 1 carrot.
I baked longer because I wanted 6 jumbo muffins.
Thank you for your delicious recipes!
I love your banana bread recipe & bake it often! ?
Awesome!!! Happy to hear, Bonnie.
Hi,I love your recipes. Where will I find the nutritional facts please, I’m diabetic and the carbs ,sugar and calories are important when choosing recipes .Can’t wait to try the almond flour muffins .
A nutritional info card is located at the bottom of every recipe. Sometimes you need to wait a minute for the page to load the card. Hope that helps.
The Morning Glory Muffins not only were healthy, but delicious.
Oh, yay!!! I love these morning glory muffins so much! Wish my kids were as excited about them as us haha.
These are the best morning glory muffins I ever tried. Thank you!
You are very welcome!