Healthy Carrot Bran Morning Glory Muffin

This carrot and bran morning glory muffin is high in fiber, low in sugar, and stays moist for days. A one-bowl recipe that is extremely easy to make and perfect for meal prep, this carrot bran muffin hits all the macronutrients and the essential micronutrients for a wholesome and filling snack or breakfast on the go.

I love having these healthy carrot bran morning glory muffins for breakfast with a strong cup of coffee, or as an afternoon snack to fuel my evening training session. Unlike other snacks, this muffin is filling and substantial enough to keep me feeling full for hours.

If you don’t like bran, I don’t think you will like this muffin because it is so full of bran – more so than other recipes. Personally, I love a good bran muffin. See my Bran & Prune Muffins (Vegan). The carrots, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds in this muffin makes this bran muffin so colorful and texturally interesting.

This muffin is moist. In fact, I consider it to be too moist when fresh. After resting for a bit though (say, overnight), the texture of the bran evens out and you have a moist muffin that stays soft and moist for days.

You may have noticed that this muffin uses only molasses as its sweetener. I intentionally developed this recipe to not use any granulated white or brown sugar. Molasses, however, have more nutrients than white or brown sugar. More importantly, that deep caramelly molasses flavor is essential to a good bran muffin, I think!

Why you’ll love this carrot bran morning glory muffin

• This muffin contains so much bran. One jumbo muffin has 11 grams of dietary fiber. You can even consider this carrot bran muffin to be less of a muffin and more of a fiber bomb.
• Not too sweet. My healthy carrot bran morning glory muffin uses only molasses and raisins for sweetness. Because there is no granulated sugar, you will find that this muffin has a relatively low level of sweetness.
• Moist for days. This muffin is incredibly moist from the ample amount of shredded carrots. My healthy carrot bran muffin gets better the day after it is baked and stays moist for days after.
• Easy and simple recipe. This recipe could not be simpler to make. It’s basically a dump and mix recipe. You only need one bowl and one spoon to make the batter!
• Healthy and nutritious. Aside from the fiber content, this healthy carrot bran muffin also hits all the macronutrients and many micronutrients! The well-balanced nutritional profile makes it a healthy snack or breakfast that makes you feel full for longer!

Nutritional Value for Healthy Carrot Bran Morning Glory Muffin

Here are the nutrition facts for this recipe, based on 6 jumbo muffins. Cut in half for regular sized muffins.

Here are some nutrition highlights. One jumbo carrot bran morning glory muffin contains:

• 39% of the daily value for dietary fiber (and 41% DV for fiber)
• 13 g of protein, which is 26% of the daily value
• 38% of the daily value for Vitamin A
• 23% of the daily value for Vitamin B6
• Varying amounts for all the essential minerals for health (calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, potassium etc).
• Both sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds are good sources of vitamin E.
• Immune boosting. Vitamin B6, vitamin C, vitamin E, magnesium and zinc are five micronutrients essential for immune health. This muffin contains all 5 immune boosting micronutrients.

Substitutions and Adaptations

• Buttermilk, Milk – use any type of milk, use a combination of milk and yogurt
• Carrots: use a combination of shredded carrots and apples
• Flour: use whole wheat flour instead of spelt flour
• Seeds: substitute as you see fit – chopped walnuts may work well here.
• Oil: If you want to decrease the caloric content, I think this muffin is moist enough for you to safely decrease the oil by 10 or 15 grams. Note that I have yet to test this and a decrease in fat will likely speed up staling.

What is a morning glory muffin?

You can find so many variations for morning glory muffins out there. Carrots, zucchini, apples, pineapple, pecans, coconut, raisins, orange, seeds, wheat bran and germ – these are all regular characters that may appear in a morning glory muffin. I think my recipe here is kind of a hybrid between a bran muffin and a morning glory muffin.

The original recipe for morning glory muffins was first published in 1981 and contains coconut, raisins, apple, pineapple, carrots, and pecans. It’s full of fruit but not really the healthiest in terms of nutritional make-up, having 2 grams of fiber, 27 grams of sugar and only 4 grams of protein. (For comparison my carrot bran morning glory muffin recipe below has 11 grams fiber, 18 grams sugar, and 13 grams protein for almost the same amount of calories.)

Print Recipe

Healthy Carrot Bran Morning Glory Muffin

This carrot and bran morning glory muffin is high in fiber, low in sugar, and stays moist for days. A one-bowl recipe that is extremely easy to make and perfect for meal prep, this carrot bran muffin hits all the macronutrients and the essential micronutrients for a wholesome and filling snack or breakfast on the go.

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time40 minutes mins

Course: Breakfast, Snack

Cuisine: American, Canadian

Diet: Low Lactose, Vegetarian

Keyword: Baking, Bran, Breakfast, Carrots, Coconut, Easy, Fibre, Fika, Healthy, High Protein, Meal Prep, Molasses, Muffin, One Bowl, Seeds

Servings: 6 jumbo muffins

Calories: 379kcal

Equipment

• 1 muffin tin (jumbo or regular)

Ingredients

• 100 g wheat bran
• 235 g buttermilk or milk
• 200 g shredded carrots
• 2 large eggs
• 40 g neutral oil
• 60 g molasses
• 120 g whole spelt flour
• 4 g baking soda
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ¼ tsp nutmeg
• Pinch salt
• 50 g raisins
• 40 g sunflower seeds
• 40 g pepitas/pumpkin seeds
• 30 g desiccated coconut

Instructions

• Soak the bran with the milk for at least 10 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375 C and prepare your muffin tin by greasing or lining with parchment.
• Add the rest of the wet ingredients (eggs, carrots, oil, and molasses) and whisk to combine. Add the dry ingredients and whisk to combine. Lastly, add the raisins, sunflower seeds, pepitas and coconut and whisk/fold to combine.
• Divide muffin batter into prepared muffin tins.
• Bake at 375 C for 35-40 minutes for jumbo muffins (less time for regular muffins). The tops of the muffins should be firm, and a toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean.
• Let rest for 8 hours or overnight before eating for better texture.