These Keto Carrot Cake Muffins are perfection in every bite! Made with shredded carrots and almond flour, you can rest easy knowing that every bite will be low carb delicious. Top with a bit of cream cheese frosting, or leave them plain as is. Not only are these keto muffins low carb and only 2.4 net carbs each, but they're also sugar free as well!
Carrot cake is one of those decadent desserts that I've always loved. The moist texture paired with the sweetness of the carrots is such a great flavor and taste. Thankfully, these keto carrot cake cupcakes are one of those desserts that you can eat for breakfast or as an after-dinner snack.
If you want to enjoy a low carb muffin, you simply don't add any frosting to the top and enjoy it with a little bit of butter and a cup of hot coffee. Bam - sounds like breakfast to me!
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But if you want a dessert, you can add a bit of homemade frosting to the keto carrot cake muffins and suddenly you've created quite the tasty sweet treat. Speaking of sweet treats, be sure to check out my Almond Flour Carrot Cake for another superb carrot cake recipe loaded with flavor.
Keto Carrot Muffins Ingredients:
Almond flour - Perfect for the texture of these muffins and great for a keto diet.
Joy Filled Eats Sweetener - My favorite sweetener to use while baking.
Half and half - Adds a bit of richness to the muffins.
Butter - Salted or unsalted butter works.
Eggs - Acts as the binding agent for the muffins.
Cinnamon - A great burst of flavor.
Baking powder - Gives the muffins a little bit of fluff.
Shredded carrots - Shred those carrots fresh!
Coconut flakes - Use unsweetened to keep the calories and sugar low.
How To Make Keto Carrot Cake Muffins
Step One: Preheat the oven to 350. Spray 16 muffin cups lined with paper liners with cooking spray.
Step Two: Combine the almond flour, sweetener, half and half, butter, eggs, cinnamon, and baking powder in a food processor. Process until smooth.
Expert Tip: Using a food processor is an easy way to mix up the batter in seconds. If you don't have a food processor you can use a large bowl and wooden spoon, a stand mixer, or mix with a hand mixer in a large mixing bowl.
Next, remove the blade and then stir in the carrots and coconut flakes.
Step Three: Scoop the batter into the prepared pan. I use an extra large cookie scoop.
Step Four: Finally, bake for 35 minutes or until firm to the touch and golden around the edges. Cool completely.
Variations
Add spices - Some ground ginger might be a nice flavor to add to the keto muffin batter. Nutmeg would be a good addition as well.
Coconut Flour - If you want a coconut flour carrot cake muffin try mixing some shredded carrot and cinnamon into my coconut flour muffins.
Add nuts - Adding some chopped pecans would be great for texture but just know that it will increase your protein, calories, and net carbs. But nuts do also add fiber.
Add frosting - If you want to add some sweetness, keto cream cheese frosting or even a bit of powdered sugar sweetener would work well. A nice drizzle of honey is always delicious if you are just low carb or gluten-free and not keto.
Extracts - Add some almond extract, vanilla extract, or even banana extract. My kids love these Banana Carrot Muffins so adding banana extract is one way I can enjoy them too.
Common Questions
Are carrots ok for keto?
I'm a firm believer that most fruits and vegetables can be eaten in moderation when properly paired with lower carb ingredients. Eating a bowl of baby carrots may have too many carbs for your body, but a teaspoon of shredded carrots in a low carb muffin that ends up having 2.4 net carbs? Go for it.
The keto police come out in full force every time I share my keto peach cobbler on social media. But they are uneducated. If it was a blueberry cobbler no one would say anything. Yet, peaches have FEWER net carbs than blueberries.
Can you eat muffins while in ketosis?
Yes, you can eat keto carrot cake muffins while in ketosis on a keto diet. They have only 2.4 net carbs each. The small amount of carrot should not have enough natural sugar to impact your blood sugar.
I eat these muffins in the morning hours mainly to give me fuel for the rest of the day.
I've made these muffins a lot since they're keto and I love that they fit in seamlessly with my low carb lifestyle. They can easily be a quick snack, a healthy option for breakfast, and a great family treat to have ready for everyone to enjoy.
Can you make these muffins dairy-free?
If you want to make dairy-free muffins, you can leave out the butter and use coconut oil in its place.
Also, if you have a specific diet that you follow, this recipe is versatile and can be adapted to fit your dietary needs. If you'd like help figuring out tweaks and substitutions just leave your question in the comment section.
What's the easiest way to keep the muffins from sticking to the muffin pan?
You need to have muffin liners to keep the batter from sticking. Once you combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients, you get a sticky muffin batter that needs muffin liners (or cupcake liners) to keep it from sticking. I even spray the liners with cooking spray since the muffins can even stick to the liners sometimes.
I've just made it part of my prep time that I line the muffin tins with the liners so that they're ready to go. If you don't have muffin liners, you need to be sure that you're spraying the muffin tin really really well with non stick cooking spray so that they won't stick and can be removed without issue.
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Ingredients
Cake Ingredients:
- 2 cups almond flour
- ¼ cup Joy Filled Eats Sweetener (or see alternatives in recipe notes)
- 2 oz half and half
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ cup shredded carrots
- ½ cup coconut flakes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Spray 16 cups of two muffin tins lined with paper liners with cooking spray.
- Combine the almond flour, sweetener, half and half, butter, eggs, cinnamon, and baking powder in a food processor. Process until smooth. Stir in the carrots and coconut flakes.
- Scoop the batter into the muffin tin cups. Bake for 25 minutes or until firm to the touch and golden around the edges. Cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
Angela says
I made these last week only I tweaked it a little by adding some nutmeg and ginger because my son is a pastry chef and always adds these to his carrot cake. I made mini sized with a little dollop of frosting and then to my dismay I forgot to save it to my faves lol. Thankfully I just found it again and so glad because I absolutely l love carrot cake and these are incredible. Nobody would know they were keto because they look, feel and taste just like a carrot cake but without all the nasty things in them. I have made my sons recipe countless times and when I gave him 1 of my mini muffins he was none the wiser and shocked when I told him they were keto. Thank you for a fabulous recipe that I will over and over again.
Sara says
I have tried many desert recipes but I always end up making this one over and over again. It truly is delicious with cream cheese icing. I now double the recipe and freeze them so that I always have some when I have a craving!
Sarah says
Wow! With the cream cheese frosting, it’s the best keto desert!! Even my boyfriend who doesn’t like deserts usually loved them! Will definitely do that recipe again and again, thank you!
Ronda Heerspink says
If these are muffins, why do the directions state to put into a greased 8x8? HOw long would they bake in muffin cups?
Taryn says
I just fixed that. These are based on my almond flour carrot cake which was why there was that typo. You can bake in an 8x8 if you prefer and just cut into squares.
Melissa says
I'm wondering if I can leave out the coconut? Do I need to add more almond flour? Thank you for all your wonderful recipes!
Taryn says
You can just omit the coconut but you will get about 12-14 muffins instead of 16.
Jo says
Am I miss reading this? You call them muffins but the instructions say to put in a 8x8 pan. If you make them as muffins, how much time do you bake them for? Also can you substitute heavy whipping cream for the half and half?
Taryn says
Sorry, that is a typo! Will edit now 🙂 And, yes, heavy cream is fine.
Cathrine Collins says
Good day, please what is "half on half" as I am not familiar with this expression?????Thanks Cathrine
Taryn says
Half whole milk, half heavy cream. It is common in the US.