A family recipe, this pineapple carrot muffin recipe is moist and not too sweet. It’s everything you want in a breakfast muffin or a snack on the go.
Just like last week’s old fashioned banana bread, this recipe is not from me but my mother.
As a child these pineapple carrot muffins are the only ones I ever remember eating.
This is a healthy muffins recipe from the 80s, before everyone decided they would just buy them.
This is a very easy muffin recipe and it takes 30 minutes to make so no excuses that you need to buy stale supermarket muffins.
It follows the typical baking instructions of dry ingredients in one bowl, wet ingredients in another and then mix both together and bake.
But what I love about this recipe is that it isn’t a dry, crumbly muffin.
The truth is you don’t even need to butter on the muffin. It’s moist enough on its own.
And that’s why I call it healthy…ish.
Carrot = Healthy…ish
While this isn’t a cupcake in disguise, it is an old school recipe. I’m sharing the family recipe which existed before we hated fat and gluten.
But have no fears I have included substitutions below if you need them.
In the 80s, and today, I think we can all agree that anything with carrot in it deserves to be considered healthy.
But it’s not SO healthy that carrot haters won’t eat it.
I know this because my mother HATES carrots. And yet this is her go-to carrot muffin recipe.
Yes, it’s that good.
In fact, since the carrot is grated you could probably get carrot haters to try it.
And once you’re sure they like pineapple carrot muffins you can break the news they are eating a vegetable in their muffin.
Pineapple Carrot Muffin Questions
Even though I highly urge you to try the original recipe below, I know everyone has their own idea of what is healthy.
If I haven’t addressed any of your baking questions just leave a comment below!
Low Fat Muffins
Substitute vegetable oil with an equal amount of unsweetened apple sauce.
Gluten Free or Paleo Pineapple Carrot Muffins
Substitute all purpose flour with an equal amount of almond flour.
Additional Ingredients
If you want to turn it into a delicious morning glory type muffin you can also add crushed walnuts, coconut and dried fruit such as cranberries.
Christmas Muffins
Make it a Healthy Carrot Cupcake?
Add some cream cheese frosting and it’s a dessert.
Canned vs Frozen vs Fresh Pineapple
Despite living in Canada we almost always have fresh pineapple in the house for after dinner and frozen pineapple in the freezer for smoothies.
However, we always use canned pineapple (tidbits but you can also use crushed) because you know it’s ripe, sweet and there’s lots of juice to have.
But if you only have fresh or frozen just go for it.
The pineapple muffins may not be as sweet but they’ll still be good.
Where Do I Buy Grated Carrot?
You don’t! Well technically you can buy grated carrot buy please don’t. Just use a the large holes on a box grater.
It’s much cheaper, there’s less waste, and it gives you better texture than buying the shredded carrot at a supermarket.
Otherwise the carrot won’t cook through and those carrot haters will know!
Carrot Muffins Baking Questions
While the pineapple carrot muffin recipe is pretty standard, what makes this one better is that it uses more crushed pineapple than most recipe and includes the pineapple juice.
I have NEVER had a dry muffin using this recipe.
Can I Double the Batch?
Yes it’s one of those baking recipes where you can double the ingredients without any issue. You’ll just need more muffin tins.
Can I Freeze Pineapple Carrot Muffins?
If you’re into meal prep, and especially breakfast meal prep this is the perfect recipe for you.
You must wait until the muffins are at room temperature – that means if they are steaming up your Ziploc bag they aren’t ready!
But yes, make a bunch and you can freeze them for up to 3 months.
Do I Need Paper Muffin Liners?
No, these are moist muffins. If you grease the muffin tin you’ll be fine.
I don’t recommend disposable foil tins, you get what you pay for. We’ve had these Wilton muffin pans for decades and never had a problem with sticking.
Save the environment and the chance the paper sticks to the muffin and you end up eating it.
Pineapple Carrot Muffins
A classic family recipe using healthy carrots and pineapple. Perfect for breakfast or a snack on the go.
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2/3 cup Canola oil
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 cup shredded carrot
- 3/4 cup canned unsweetened pineapple with juice
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Use oil or cooking spray on muffin tin.
- Mix together first six dry ingredients in a bowl.
- In a separate bowl add eggs and oil. Fold in carrot, pineapple and vanilla.
- Combined two bowls together and mix with a fork until blended.
- Pour into muffin tin, filling halfway.
- Bake for 25 minutes. Checking at 22 minute mark by inserting toothpick as some ovens are hotter than others.
They look tasty!
These muffins look amazing; any way to get the same results with less sugar? Just wondering how to lower that amount. Can’t wait to make these. Thanks!
Generally in baking 1 cup of sugar can be replaced with:
2/3 cup of agave
1 cup of coconut sugar
¾ cup of honey
¾ cup of maple syrup
1 1/3 cup molasses
Although in all of these cases you’ll need to experiment with both the heat of the oven as well as the remaining vegetable oil as it may be too much liquid.
Hi there! I might like to try making these but I do not have a muffin size pan. Can I make this as a loaf? Or in a cupcake size pan? If so what time or temperature would you suggest?
Also if I use frozen pineapple do I need to add more liquid since I don’t have juice from the can?
Thanks!!!
HI Kaylah I have never made it this way but…if I were going to try it I would let the pineapple thaw in a bowl and use the thawed juice that comes from it. It may be less sweet as the pineapple juice is quite sweet so you could add some apple sauce if you wanted, but if you don’t have it instead of buying apple sauce I’d just buy a can of pineapple.
If I were to bake it as a loaf I would use my banana bread heat and duration: https://www.baconismagic.ca/canada/old-fashioned-banana-bread/
Let me know how it goes, I’m curious to hear if it works for you.
This recipe is so versatile. It’s great as is, of course, and also with coconut, walnuts, almonds, cranberries, and more. My partner loves sweet treats, but I rarely do, and we both love these muffins. Thanks for the recipe!
It’s a family recipe that we’ve always made the same way… I guess that’s how family recipes go. But I think coconut sounds amazing. Like a piña colada… And carrot 😂
These are so good!!! My toddler and I make muffins all the time, and these are definitely a new favourite! The only change we made was adding a whole cup of pineapple because I didn’t read the recipe properly lol
Well I don’t see anything wrong with more pineapple 😊
Crushed or tidbits pineapple. You dont specify?
You can use either, although we tend to use the tidbits.
I have substituted the pineapple for grated zucchini for years and my kids loved them!
I just made these. So simple and I added a few chopped pecans for a bit of crunch. I’m looking forward to tasting them. I love simple recipes!!!
These are soooo good! I used half apple sauce and half canola oil. I also decreased the sugar to 3/4 of a cup. Wonderful! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Excellent I had not made pineapple muffins before. A real treat!
Oh I’m so thrilled they are a family favourite. If you haven’t tried the banana bread on my site I think you’d like them as they are also a family recipe.
These are SO great! My favorite muffin to date. My neighbour asked for the recipe. Almost like eating dessert. lol Make them every couple of weeks. I used the pineapple tidbits cause I love the size in the muffins.
Oh I’m thrilled to hear this! You may also like my banana bread recipe, people rave about it because it’s the old fashioned kind.
We’re moving soon and in that stage where you’re trying to eat the rest of the random things in the house. I couldn’t figure out what to do with canned pineapple, a bag of carrots, and a can of pumpkin. The pumpkin substituted perfectly for the oil and I didn’t have egg and used a flax seed egg which worked perfectly (just doubled the baking powder and baking soda). Coincidentally got AMAZING vegan version 🙂
Oh I love this story, I’m thrilled it worked out for you.