Healthy Veggie Muffins with Fruit and Vegetables

These healthy veggie muffins with fruit and vegetables are the perfect way to kick off your morning. These hearty, healthy, and slightly sweet muffins have everything you need and want in a great breakfast muffin recipe. 

Muffins have gotten a bad rap as a breakfast food. I understand why; store bought options are often huge with lots of calories and not much nutrition to back them up. As a muffin lover, I want to change this. 

If you've followed MHE over the years, you know that I have a pretty tasty archive of muffin recipes that quite frankly, I'm rather proud of. (Check out all my Healthy Muffin Recipes here.) 

This Morning Glory Veggie Muffin is inspired by the one that used to be at Starbucks. I discovered it on a business trip and was smitten by all the goodness that was going on inside. (BTW, pairing it with their delish Egg Whites & Roasted Red Pepper Egg Bites made for a great travel breakfast.) But they have since discontinued this magical muffin and that inspired me to make my own healthy muffin recipe version at home to share with you.

This one took a few tries to get it just the way I  wanted. I enlisted many taste testers (thank you friends and family) to make sure this wasn't a one-sided experience and that it would even appeal to the picky eater. When I won Coach over, I knew I had hit the nail on the head. 

Hidden in these Morning Glory Veggie Muffin bad boys are some deliciously, wholesome ingredients like walnuts, golden raisins, shredded carrots, and shredded apples. Uh! So, so yummy guys. 

Ingredients

• Unsalted butter, softened
• Brown sugar
• Honey
• Egg
• White whole wheat flour
• Cinnamon
• Ground flaxseed or flaxseed meal
• Baking soda
• Baking powder
• Lowfat buttermilk (Can substitute for ½ cup plain yogurt plus ½ cup milk)
• Shredded, fresh carrots (From about 1-2 carrots)
• Shredded, fresh sweet apple (From 1 large, or 2 small apples. Include the juice that comes out while grating.)
• Golden raisins
• Chopped pecans

View quantities in the recipe card below. 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare muffin tin by spraying with oil or use muffin liners. Set aside.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter for 1 minute in a large bowl. Add the brown sugar and honey and continue mixing for about 2 minutes.
3. Add the egg and mix to fully combine, about 1 minute.
4. Add 1 cup of flour, cinnamon, the flaxseed, baking soda and baking powder. Mix on low just until combined, about 30 seconds.
5. Add about half of the buttermilk and mix just until combined, about 30 seconds. Then, add the last 1 cup of flour and mix just until combined.
6. Add the last half of the buttermilk and mix until combined.
7. Dump in grated carrot, apples, raisins, and chopped pecans and fold into the batter until well distributed.
8. Use an ice cream scoop with a trigger to evenly scoop muffin batter into muffin tins or fill muffin cups about ¾ full. Bake for about 18 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center of muffin comes out almost completely clean.
9. Cool in pan for a few minutes then remove muffins and cool to room temperature on a wire rack. Or enjoy warm, whatever you like!

Great Option For Breakfast

To make this into a complete breakfast to sustain your energy, try one of these pairings:

• 1 muffin + 1-2 hard boiled eggs
• 1 muffin +  Greek yogurt
• 1 muffin + tofu scramble
• 1 muffin + protein shake of choice
• 1 muffin + piece of tempeh
• 1 muffin + 2 tablespoon peanut butter
• 1 muffin + small smoothie
• 1 muffin + chia pudding

Equipment

• Ice Cream Scoop- My favorite piece of equipment for better results when making muffins is a trigger ice cream scoop. It makes loading up the tin easy and mess-free. Plus, it makes all the muffins even in size. 
• Box Grater- This is one of my most-used tools that comes in handy for so many different recipes, including these healthy muffins.

Variations

Mini Muffins: This recipe has not yet been tested in a mini muffin tin, but if you do try it definitely adjust the baking time.

Storage

Once the Morning Glory Veggie Muffins have cooled to room temperature, you can store them in an airtight container. To eliminate too much moisture, it's a good idea to place a paper towel at the bottom of the container and on the tops of the muffins.  Read more here in my blog post on the Best Way to Store Homemade Muffins to Keep them Fresh.

Top Tip

• I used white whole wheat flour for this recipe. It's pretty easy to find at any grocery store and is not as heavy as all-purpose flour (meaning no hockey puck muffins here). 
• These freeze beautifully, making them a great meal prep item. You could even make a double batch. Simply store in an airtight container (or this amazing Stasher bag works great). To thaw, microwave from frozen for about 15 seconds. Then cut in half and microwave again just until not frozen, about 20 seconds or so. 

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Recipe

I  really hope you will try this recipe for Morning Glory Veggie Muffins with hidden veggies and fruits. They are a favorite around here and I hope they will be for you too, even for fussy eaters. For more make ahead breakfasts try:

• Healthy Breakfast Cookies
• Ground Beef Sausage Mini Breakfast Pies
• Strawberry Vanilla Overnight Oats