The addition of vegetables to these wholesome courgette and carrot muffins not only adds colour, but keeps the texture light and moist. Served either as they are for breakfast or a snack, or topped with a cream cheese icing as a dessert, they make a delicious summer sweet treat. Another great way to use your homegrown courgettes, and sneak more vegetables into your diet – especially for the children (young or old)!
Will you have your courgette and carrot muffin for breakfast or dessert?
There’s something wonderfully satisfying about a bake that works just as well at breakfast as it does after dinner, and these wholesome courgette and carrot muffins are exactly that kind of recipe. They’re soft, golden and gently spiced, with enough grated veg to keep them moist without ever tasting “healthy” in an obvious way.
Gently warmed, they make the kind of breakfast you can grab on a busy morning – wholesome, not too sweet, and perfect with a cup of coffee.
But give them a swirl of cream cheese icing and suddenly they’re transformed into the easiest summer dessert. The crumb stays light and tender, the courgette and carrot add a lovely natural sweetness, and the frosting brings that cool, creamy finish that feels just right to end a warm day.
Why choose? Make 50:50
Whether you enjoy them plain or dressed up, these muffins are simple to make and a brilliant way to use up a couple of courgettes. And if you’re anything like me, you’ll find yourself making a double batch — half for breakfast, half coated in icing. And they freeze really well (un-iced), which makes them perfect to grab from the freezer and quickly warm in the oven for breakfast.
Other courgette recipes
For other ideas and inspiration to use courgettes in your meals, see the recipes below:
- Courgette Parmigiana
- Chocolate and courgette brownies
- Courgette and feta fritters
- Turkey and courgette meatballs
How to grow courgettes
Courgettes are remarkably easy to grow in the UK and are perfect for beginner gardeners. They thrive in the British climate when planted after the last frost (typically late May or early June) and can produce abundant harvests from just two plants throughout the summer months, making them one of the most easiest and rewarding vegetables to plant at home.
Courgettes like a rich, well composted soil, and above all else constant watering – especially in hot weather – as plants can produce 1-2 courgettes per day which requires a lot of water. Ensure you regularly harvest the courgettes to encourage further production.
Which variety of courgette to grow?
For maximum yields, several varieties stand out as particularly productive in UK conditions. ‘Defender’ is disease-resistant and produces plenty of straight, dark green courgettes. ‘Black Beauty’ is famous for its reliable production and high-yield potential with soft, tasty, glossy, dark green fruits. If you’re looking for something different then ‘Eight Ball’ produces round courgettes, whilst a good yellow variety is ‘Golden Delight’. A new variety I have tried this year was ‘Sure Thing’ and it’s certainly lived up to it’s reputation – producing at least a fruit a day!
Honestly? I prefer both! I like to make half of the cream cheese icing recipe and ice 6 muffins to have as a more decadent dessert, and the other 6 to eat righteously for breakfast 🙂
The muffins will keep for 3-4 days in the fridge. However, they are great to freeze without the icing. Simply take them out of the freezer the night before, and breakfast is served the next day!
Yes. They work really well by replacing the plain flour with gluten-free flour and adding a teaspoon of xanthan gum.
Courgette and Carrot Muffins
Equipment
- 12-hole muffin tin lined with paper cases
Ingredients
Muffins
- 100 ml sunflower oil
- 200 g soft light brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 260 g plain flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 80 ml Greek yoghurt
- ½ tsp vanilla paste
- 80 g walnuts chopped
- 200 g courgettes grated
- 160 g carrots grated
Cream Cheese Icing (optional)
- 60 g butter softened
- 115 g cream cheese
- ½ tsp vanilla paste
- Pinch of salt
- 250 g icing sugar sifted
Instructions
Muffins
- Preheat the oven to 170 °C
- Line a 12-hole muffin tray with paper cases.
- Put the sugar, oil and eggs in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment (or in a large bowl if using a hand whisk) and beat on a slow speed until everything is well mixed. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Add to the wet mix and beat slowly until there are no more lumps of flour. Scraping down the sides of the bowl at least once.
- Add the Greek yoghurt and vanilla paste and beat one last time.
- Add the chopped walnuts and the grated courgettes and carrots to the mix and fold in until everything is incorporated.
- Spoon the mixture evenly into the paper cases – each should be around 2/3 full – and bake in the pre-heated oven for 25-30 minutes. When cooked, the muffins should be a golden colour, and the sponge should bounce back when you press lightly.
- Leave the muffins to cool in the tray for 10 minutes before carefully lifting them out and cooling completely on a wire rack.
Cream Cheese Icing
- To make the icing, use a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, or a handheld whisk, and combine the softened butter and the cream cheese. Add the vanilla paste and a pinch of salt and mix briefly.
- Take the sifted icing sugar and add it gradually on a low speed – be careful not to whisk too fast, or the icing sugar will fly everywhere! Once the icing sugar is added and well combined, place it in your piping bag with a fluted nozzle, and pipe on top of your cooled muffins.
Notes
- Note that the nutrition values do no include the icing. With the cream cheese icing, they would be 429 calories per muffin.
- Cream cheese icing is optional – the nutritional values show the un-iced version
- I like to do half the icing recipe and do a 50:50 split. That way, I can have a plain one for breakfast or be more indulgent with an iced one for dessert!
- You can make these muffins gluten-free by using the same quantity of flour and adding a teaspoon of xanthan gum.