Healthy Zucchini Carrot Muffins (With Apple Sauce)

Muffins are one of the best ways to get your kids to eat some of those veggies they might not otherwise enthusiastically tuck into. Yep, muffins can be magical and these healthy zucchini carrot muffins are another recipe to add to the savoury muffins you make: Put them in lunchboxes, use them for after school snack or breakfast options.

Healthy Zucchini Carrot Muffins

I'm going to start by saying this: I know Zucchini is a fruit. Technically Zucchini is a fruit because botanically they're an overgrowth from the Zucchini flower and so it is therefore apparently a fruit. In cooking Zucchini is commonly known as a vegetable. This is what I have been told and who am I to know better? But...Zucchini is a vegetable to me, so you'll have to ignore my lack of botanical knowledge :)

Savoury muffins packed full of veg and made with no refined sugar and naturally sweetened with fresh carrots. As a Mom I know muffins are a hit. There's very little I've not been able to get any of my kids to eat if it's baked into a muffin.

I started with these spinach breakfast muffins and it went from there.

Once I'd got over the shock of the fact that my kids did in fact eat spinach you couldn't stop me. I started pushing all sorts of savoury muffins at the kids to see what they'd eat and where they'd draw the line. And as it turned out, there was quite a lot they'd eat.

One thing I realised early on is that there are two savoury muffin rules that would ensure the kids ate them.

The first rule is that although you don't have to add sugar you do need to add a sweet vegetable to sweeten things up. The second rule is that if you don't add a sweet vegetable, you need to add cheese.

Stick to these simple guidelines and you can't go wrong :)

This recipe is enough to make 6 deli size muffins. Making 6 muffins means they're quite huge so you can easily make 12 regular sized muffins in paper muffin cases or even 24 mini muffins. I like to bake these straight into a greased muffin tin as I think they look nicer, but feel free to use liners if it's easier.

Using Vegetables In Muffins

These healthy zucchini carrot muffins are everything you'd want in a savoury muffin. The veggies keep the muffins moist and soft while adding a hefty nutritional power punch.

While the grated carrot in these muffins does add sweetness, I also use apple sauce to make this recipe. As well as being another source of nutrition the apple sauce ups the sweet in these, whilst also replacing the butter that's normally used in muffins.

Apple sauce is actually a really good fat, or butter substitute in baking. I more often that not make my own apple sauce for baking as it's crazily easy and it can be hard to find Clean apple sauce in the shops.

Clean Eating Apple Sauce For Baking

If I'm baking with apple sauce, this is how I make it. It's super easy and you get to control exactly what goes into it. This makes ¼ cup of apple sauce, the amount needed for this recipe.

• One apple, peeled
• 2-3 tablespoons of water
• Core and dice the apple
• Put the diced apple in a small pan, and add the water
• Simmer for 5-6 minutes until the apple is soft. Most of the water will be absorbed
• Use as a 'chunky' apple sauce or use a processor to blend if you want the apple sauce undetectable!
• For this recipe I chopped the apple super small and left it unblended

Storing These Muffins

Once these muffins have cooled down, you can store them for up to 3 days in an airtight container. You can keep these on the worktop, you just need to make sure they're kept airtight.

We quite like to eat these muffins warm and usually with a little butter spread on them. If you'd like to reheat these muffins, pop them into a hot oven for a couple of minutes before serving them.

You can also freeze these muffins. Yay! Wait for them to have totally cooled down and you can freeze these for up to a month. When you want to defrost them, leave them overnight in the fridge and then by morning they'll be defrosted. These make a great easy breakfast option also, defrost them overnight and reheat them in the oven in the morning and you've got a 5 minute breakfast. Or pop them in lunchboxes for a wholesome lunch!

More Clean Savory Clean Eating Muffins

• Cheese and spinach muffins (your kids will actually eat)
• Savoury muffins for picky eaters
• Tuna and veggie muffins
• Cheese and bacon bites
• Kids breakfast muffins

How To Make Healthy Zucchini Carrot Muffins

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole grain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 1 zucchini grated
• 1 carrot peeled, grated
• ¼ cup apple sauce
• ½ cup milk dairy, oat, soy
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp salt

Instructions

• Heat your oven to 375° F (190° C) and line a muffin tin with paper muffin liners or grease the muffin pan to cook the muffins directly in the pan
• Make a batch of apple sauce if you're making it yourself and set it to one side
• In a large bowl combine the flour, salt and baking powder
• In another bowl whisk the eggs and then add to the flour bowl. Fold into the flour until well mixed
• Add the apple sauce and oil and combine
• Fold the grated carrot and zucchini into the mixture until just combined. If the mixture needs it add a little of the milk at this point, one tablespoon at a time. Don't over mix the muffin mix at this point
• Bake for 18 minutes until cooked all the way through and golden on top
• Leave to cool down before serving alone or with butter

Healthy Zucchini Carrot Muffins Recipe