Low-Calorie Carrot Muffins

Dec 16, 2025 | Recipes

Low calorie carrot muffins

Low-Calorie Carrot Muffin Recipe

That's an excellent idea! Carrot cake flavors translate beautifully into muffins, and muffins are fantastic for portion control, which aligns perfectly with your low-calorie goal.
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Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 25 minutes
Servings: 12 Muffins
Course: Dessert, Snack
Cuisine: Lacto Ovo Vegetarian, Plant Based
Calories: 143
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Dry
  • 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
  • .5 cup Sweetener I used Splenda
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • .5 tsp salt
Wet
  • 2 large eggs
  • .5 cup unsweetened applesauce Low-Calorie / Fat Swap
  • .25 cup canola oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
Mix-Ins
  • 1.5 cups shredded carrots Crucial carrot cake ingredient!
  • .5 cup raisins
  • .5 cup crushed pineapple in juice well-drained
  • .25 cup chopped pecans (optional) adds additional calories of 161 to entire recipe

Equipment

  • 1 Muffin Pan Makes 12 muffins
  • 1 grater For grating the carrots
  • some paper muffin pan liners

Method
 

  1. Prep: Preheat oven to $375^circtext{F}$. Line a 12-cup muffin tin.
  2. Dry: Whisk together the flour, Splenda, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
  3. Wet: In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, applesauce, oil, and vanilla extract.
  4. Combine: Add wet to dry ingredients and stir gently just until combined.
  5. Fold In: Gently fold in the carrots, raisins, drained pineapple, and the optional nuts.
  6. Bake: Fill paper muffin cups fairly full. Bake for 20–25 minutes.

Notes and Comments

These muffins turned out really well. I'm trying to keep to 1 a day but its the holiday season so its challenging.
Here is the calorie breakdown:
(According to Gemini) Based on a detailed estimate of the ingredients used in the low-calorie carrot muffin recipe, here is the approximate calorie count per muffin:
The total estimated calorie count for the entire batch of 12 muffins is around 1,720 calories (without the optional nuts) to 1,930 calories (with the optional nuts).
Therefore, each muffin contains:
  • If you include the optional pecans (nuts): approximately 161 calories
  • If you omit the pecans: approximately 143 calories
These counts are kept low primarily by the use of unsweetened applesauce and canola oil to replace most of the butter and by using a zero-calorie sweetener (Splenda) in place of sugar.