My best friend works in a bakery as her full-time job. Every day, she earns an income staying elbows-deep in flour and making muffins, scones, cookies, and cakes. How neat is that?? I must admit, I’m a tiny bit jealous… I’d love to open up my own bakery someday!
As much as she loves baking, there’s one major downside: the work hours. Her alarm rings just after 3 am, she arrives at the facility before 4:30 am, mixes and shapes and bakes until 2, and slides between the covers to go to sleep by 7 pm. With the days growing longer and the sun setting later, that early bedtime would really throw me off!
A few weeks ago, she visited me shortly after I posted these blueberry buttermilk bran muffins. She mentioned her morning driving routine—nibbling on a muffin and sipping her coffee as she cruised down the empty freeway to work—so I sent her home with the rest of my batch.
The very next day, she texted me, exclaiming that they were the best bran muffins she’s ever eaten. That’s high praise coming from a professional baker!
When she stopped by again last week, she explained that she tried switching to granola or protein bars when her muffin stash ran out, but those just weren’t the same. Nothing beats the texture and flavor of a soft, tender muffin! Since we both love our veggies as much as baked sweets, I immediately mixed up these Carrot Cake Bran Muffins for her to enjoy.
Many people think of bran muffins as bland or dry, but these are the exact opposite! They’re practically as tender as cupcakes and are bursting with warm, cozy flavors. So how do we do that?
Amy’s Nerdy Food Notes!
How we mix together the ingredients determines the texture of the muffins. Many recipes stir in the oat bran along with the dry ingredients, but this leads to dry muffins. Instead, soak the oat bran in milk, Greek yogurt, and vanilla before measuring anything else. Similar to soaking oatmeal to make overnight oats, soaking the oat bran softens it and creates that tender muffin texture we want.
Two ingredients create the characteristic cozy bran muffin flavor: molasses and cinnamon. Molasses has a warm, rich, earthy taste, and I always envision cool foggy mornings paired with a tall cup of coffee and fleecy blanket whenever I bake with it. In other words, it adds the ultimate cozy taste! You can find it on the baking aisle near the maple and corn syrups.
Cinnamon also provides a warmth and depth to bran muffins. Because I love adding it to my carrots cakes, I also sprinkled in a little nutmeg as well. When paired together, these two spices create a tantalizing aroma while the muffins bake and cool on the counter, which always tempts me to break into one while the steam still drifts off the top. The burnt fingers and tongue would be worth it!
The final important ingredient in these particular bran muffins is the shredded carrots. About 3 large carrots, peeled first, will yield the amount you need. To make quick work of shredding, use a food processor! Do not buy pre-shredded carrots; those are dry and would result in subpar muffins.
I handed these Carrot Cake Bran Muffins to my best friend as soon as she walked into my kitchen last week, and she sampled a small bite… Which lead to the entire muffin. She said that these were even better than the last ones—maybe even the best muffins she’s ever had!
That made my heart melt into a warm, cozy, cinnamony puddle. ♥
| Carrot Cake Bran Muffins | | Print |
- 1 ½ cups (180g) oat bran (measured like this and gluten-free if necessary)
- ⅓ cup (80g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- ⅓ cup (80mL) nonfat milk
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (120g) whole wheat or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp (14g) coconut oil or unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- ¼ cup (60mL) honey
- ¼ cup (60mL) molasses
- 1 ½ cups (160g) shredded carrots (about 3 large, peeled first)
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and lightly coat 12 muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the oat bran, yogurt, milk, and vanilla.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a separate bowl. In a third bowl, whisk together the coconut oil or butter and egg. Stir in the honey and molasses. Mix in the bran mixture. Add in the flour mixture, stirring until just incorporated. Fold in the shredded carrots.
- Divide the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Bake at 350°F for 20-23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before carefully turning out onto a wire rack.
Other readers have had success substituting wheat bran for the oat bran. I have not tried that myself and cannot personally vouch for that substitution.
Any milk may be substituted for the nonfat milk.
Pure maple syrup or agave may be substituted for the honey. Do not substitute pancake syrup because it will not produce the same taste or texture. I don’t recommend substituting anything for the molasses; it’s required to produce the iconic bran muffin flavor. (And you'll use it in all of these recipes of mine, too!)
Do not buy pre-shredded carrots. They are not as moist and will result in subpar muffins.
{clean eating, low fat, low calorie}
More bran muffin recipes from other food bloggers…
♥ Mixed Fruit and Nut Buttermilk Bran Muffins by The View From Great Island
♥ Blueberry Peach Bran Muffins by Healthy. Delicious.
♥ Glazed Pumpkin Bran Muffins by Lauren’s Latest
♥ Maple Pecan Bran Muffins by Foxes Love Lemons
I have to say these are very tasty muffins, not dry at all, very moist. Mine came out a bit bumpier than yours. Any suggestions on how to smooth them out? Perhaps more milk or yogurt. I was careful with the measuring but maybe I might try weighing next time just in case.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the muffins Candy! I’ve always found measuring by weight to be more accurate than with measuring cups. I almost never use my measuring cups for dry ingredients anymore! To make the batter not quite so thick, you’re right — just add a little more milk. It means a lot to me that you want to make them again! 🙂
I measured carefully and added some extra milk just like you said and the muffins came out perfect. These muffins have replaced the vegan muffins I used to buy at Trader Joes. I know exactly what is in these muffins. Thanks again Amy for the great recipe.
Wow, that means a lot to me Candy — thank you!! I’m so glad you loved the muffins! 🙂
Thanks so much for this great recipe! I can attest to the importance of measuring flours (including oat bran) properly! My first batch turned out to be quite dense and a little dry.
To make them more “edible” (they were still quite delicious, just a little too “bran-y”), I heated up some cream cheese frosting (10 sec. in the microwave) and drizzled onto the muffins (making them not as healthy anymore, but even more delicious)!, This way, they feel more like carrot cake muffins.
Next time, I’ll do the drizzle (maybe I can make a less fatty version with low-fat cream cheese and powdered sugar) and also add raisins/walnuts!
Thank you again, Amy!
I’m glad you enjoyed the muffins Amanda, and that drizzle sounds like the perfect addition! I definitely need to remember that for the future. 🙂 If you’re interested in adding raisins and nuts, I’d recommend this bran muffin recipe of mine! It includes all of the above, plus a few more healthy mix-ins. I’d love to hear what you think if you try those!
I tried these muffins today and they didn’t turn out…they were way to dry and I wasn’t blown away by the taste either 🙁
The only substitution I made was taking 2% yoghurt instead of greek yoghurt.
I should have read the comments first…than I might have added some more milk
That sounds disappointing Marie! If the muffins were too dry and not very flavorful, there was most likely too much bran or flour in the batter. How did you measure the bran and flour? Did you scoop them directly from the containers with measuring cups? Also, did you make any other substitutions besides the 2% yogurt? We’ll work together to figure out what happened so your future muffins turn out perfectly tender and flavorful, just like they’re supposed to! 🙂
Thank you! I love this recipe!! I’ve substituted both zucchini and banana for the carrots and had really great results. I make a batch every week and freeze them so I can have a quick healthy breakfast throughout the week. I went to make a batch and realized I’m out of oat bran but I do have bran flakes. Could I substitute bran flakes? If so how much?
Thanks!
I’m so glad you’re enjoying these muffins Elissa! Are you referring to bran flakes cereal? The kind that you’d pour in a bowl with milk, like in Raisin Bran? If so, I’d warn against using those. Instead, you can use regular oats that have been finely ground to be the same size as traditional oat bran. 🙂 (And if you’re enjoying this recipe so much, I thought I’d mention that I have lots of other bran muffin recipes here. Just in case you’re interested!)
Wow! These are seriously delicious! Thank you!
I’m so glad you loved these muffins Gennie! 🙂
These were an absolute fail. I followed this recipe to a T, and was left with extremely dense, almost crunchy muffins. I double checked to make sure I added all the liquid ingredients correctly and made sure not to over mix anything. My batter was extremely thick, so much that I had to use my fingers to put it in the muffin tins. I’m so disappointed because the pictures looked amazing. The search for fluffy bran muffins continues 🙁
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Bri. That’s not how the muffins are supposed to turn out at all, so let’s work together to fix that. 🙂 How did you measure the flour and bran? Did you scoop them directly from the containers? When measured like that, you can end up with 1.5 times as much flour/bran as when you lightly spoon and level, and that extra flour/bran will definitely cause the issues that you’ve experienced! If you don’t own a kitchen scale, here’s what I recommend doing for measuring flour (and cocoa powder, oats, etc!): use a fork to “scoop” up flour from the container, and lightly shake the fork back and forth over the top of your measuring cup to transfer the flour into it. Once there’s a small mound of flour extending past the rim of the measuring cup, then place the flat back of a knife against the top of the measuring cup, and gently scrape it across the top to get rid of the excess flour. Never “pat” the flour down with the knife or fork. This fork method acts like a sifter (without dirtying another dish!) and guarantees you’ll add less flour to the batter, so you’ll end up with moist and tender bran muffins. Does that make sense? 🙂
Hi Amy, I am excited to make these.
I was wondering if perhaps the USA Greek yoghurt is different what we get in NZ. Whenever I make one of your recipes using Greek yoghurt it always comes out so incredibly dense and unpleasant to eat.
Is yours thick, or thin? Ours is really thick. What could I replace it with?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipes Rexine! In the US, our Greek yogurt is very thick as well. I’m not sure what brands of Greek yogurt exist in NZ… Have you tried using a variety of different brands? And does the same thing happen with each brand? What recipes of mine have turned out overly dense? We’ll get this sorted out! 🙂
NZ measuring cups are not the same as US. 1 cup NZ = 250ml while 1 cup US = 236.59ml. This could be a factor.
Thanks for sharing Justine! That’s why I include both metric and US measurements in my recipes — it’s best to go by the metric, if there’s any discrepancy! 🙂
Honestly, I felt like these muffins were dry. I shredded my own carrots per instructions. They need more than just 1 tbsp of an oil. Apple sauce would even work to make them more moist and keep them healthy. The flavor was good. Thanks for the recipe… I plan to try this one again with the addition of applesauce. Btw my picky 2 yr old loved them! 😉 Double thanks! Lol. 😀
I’m so glad your two-year-old enjoyed these muffins Rhonda! If they were dry, then it was probably because there was too much oat bran in the batter. How did you measure it? Did you use a kitchen scale, or did you use measuring cups?
I thought the recipe exactly to the tea I had enough for three batches because I doubled it so the first six muffins were so dry my daughter I knew would never eat them so for the rest I had to pour in a good 8 ounce jar of unsweetened applesauce and blend it more just to give some moisture and then they turned out really good so there you go that’s what I had to do they didn’t turn out but I did not like the way they were up in the beginning
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Sharon! How did you measure the oat bran? Did you scoop it directly from the container with your measuring cups?
Hi Amy! Oh my dear Lord in heaven!! These muffins are absolutely divine! So fragrant, so moist and super delicious. Thank you! So happy you are part of our family 🙂
Awwww I’m honored to be a part of your family Carmelina!! If only I could spend time with you all in person! 🙂 I’m thrilled you enjoyed these muffins too, and I can’t wait to hear what you try next!!