Hiya Gorgeous!
Have you ever been so excited about tomorrow’s breakfast that you can’t wait to go to sleep? I just love that feeling of climbing into bed filled with yummy thoughts of tomorrow’s healthy, tasty start, then drifting off to sleep for some especially sweet dreams.
And the next morning when the sun rises and I slowly blink my eyes open (kidding—does anyone really wake up this gracefully?!), the promise of a satisfying meal that’ll help me start my day on a high note totally helps me get out of bed. Less snoozing, more gettin’ my tushy to the kitchen… STAT! Know what I mean?
I love a veggie-packed tofu scramble or some warming oatmeal with fresh berries for breakfast. But lately, I’ve been craving something a little different in the morning… muffins!
The thing is, not all muffins are created equal. Let’s be honest, some of them are really just cupcakes without icing! As delicious as they are, muffins are often packed with inflammatory animal products, sugar, refined carbs and other nasties.
But, thanks to our awesome Test Kitchen Tuesday crew, we CAN have our cake and eat it too!
Today’s vegan, gluten-free Morning Glory Muffins are the total package. They come together quickly and have the decadent, melt-in-your-mouth texture that breakfast dreams are made of. Plus, they make a great meal prep option—easy to make ahead on Sunday afternoon so they’re ready to grab and go on your busy weekday mornings. They’ll last up to 5 days on the counter or 2 months frozen if you want to save some time by making a big batch all at once!
Plus, these babies are packed with plant-powered nutrition to keep you full and energized all morning long. The flax and hemp seeds are a great source of healthy fats and plant-based protein. The apple and banana also give them a natural sweetness that’ll make you grin from ear to ear and won’t drop you on your butt an hour later like some traditional muffins do.
And can we talk about the carrots? Squeezing veggies into a morning treat is next-level awesome, sweetheart—it’s the kind of lovin’ your body deserves. That’s why these Morning Glory Muffins paired with a simple green juice (like my Classic Green Lemonade) make the ultimate breakfast of champions in my book.
Ready to get cookin’, good lookin’? Hit play for your easy how-to, then find the detailed recipe below!
Morning Glory Muffins (Vegan & Gluten-Free!)
Serves 16 (1 muffin per serving) | Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 22-25 min
Ingredients:
1 cup gluten-free all-purpose flour
1 cup almond flour*
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp ground flaxseed
6 Tbsp water
1 medium ripe banana, mashed
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup avocado oil
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut flakes
1/2 cup hemp seeds
1 medium apple, shredded (peeled and cored)
2 cups shredded carrot (about 3 medium carrots)
I put together this list on Amazon to help make stocking your pantry for this recipe easier!
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 16 muffin tin cups with paper liners or silicone baking cups.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the gluten-free all-purpose flour, almond flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
3. In a medium bowl, vigorously whisk together the ground flaxseed and water. Let sit for several minutes, or until slightly thickened. Add in mashed banana, vanilla extract, oil, maple syrup and coconut flakes, stirring to combine. Stir in hemp seeds, shredded apple and shredded carrot.
4. With a large rubber spatula, gently stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups—each cup should be mostly full.
5. Bake for 22-25 min (cooking times vary based on your oven) or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean.
Notes:
*For a nut-free alternative: Use coconut flour in place of almond flour OR omit the almond flour and use 2 cups of gluten-free all-purpose flour.
Before you run off to whip up these delicious Morning Glory Muffins…
Don’t forget to join my Crazy Sexy Recipe Club! Recipe club members get access to exclusive free content like bonus recipes, extra love notes from me, a starter pack that includes 9 gorgeous recipe cards and other awesome goodies.
Being a member is the only way to get this stuff—I don’t share it with anyone else. This month, I gifted my club members a free 1-day meal plan featuring the Morning Glory Muffins and 5 suggested recipes from my New York Times bestselling cookbook, Crazy Sexy Kitchen.
Kris Carr, you are simply the best! You are a blast of sunshine in my inbox! Upbeat and friendly, just like a personal friend. And of course your information and recipes are fab! Muffins here I come! Perhaps they should be called ‘Kruffins”! Thanks Kris!
Hi Kriss,
Thank you very much for your recipe.
I have a question I would be very grateful you could answer to me.
I personally can consume only very little fast sugars (as maple syrup and mashed bananas are for exemple) because I have a tendency to candida and to build masses in my body. Do you have any valuable information you can share about these kind of sugars that I may miss?
Thank you very much in advance.
Best Regards,
Giovanna Pratesi
Hi Giovanna, Kris explains sugars in this in depth blog post: https://go.kriscarr.com/blog/kris-carr-explains-sugars/ I hope this helps! ~Janine, Team Crazy Sexy
Hi Giovanna,
I have issues with candida too…sucks on many levels! I’m sorry you’re going through that. You could use dates instead of maple syrup, because of all the fiber it tends to slow down the fast sugar absorption, or maybe brown rice syrup. You could do half a banana or try it without. Also, adding good, organic rolled oats helps combat the sugar. Lastly, make sure you’re getting lots of garlic in your diet it helps ward off candida.
Hope that helps,
Anna
Aloha if I wanted to add oats in to help with sugar how much oats would I use and what would it replace? Wondering if anyone has tried this recipe with oats?
Mahalo
Hi Michelle, yes I’ve done it with oats before… I used 1 cup gf flour and 1.5 cups of gf rolled oats. I didn’t have hemp seeds used chia instead????????
Looks amazing —can’t wait to try it!
Thank you!!
Let me know what you think, Polly. Hope you enjoy! Mwah!
Looks delish! One question, I have been experimenting with almond & coconut flour instead of reg gluten free flour. Can I substitute coconut flour for g/f flour. Someone said I need to add a binder like arrowroot to make it work. Muffins are tricky, rarely worked for me in past. Can you please advise how much binder I wud need if I substituted them. Thx much ?
Hi Jan! I’m the nutrition director here with Kris and I also do quite a bit of gluten-free baking (my son’s best friend has celiac). You need something to recreate the elasticity of gluten (latin for “glue”) in baking. Most gluten-free flour blends have a gum of some kind for this purpose. But, like you mentioned, if you’re just using coconut flour and almond flour, you’ll need to add a gum on your own. My favorite is xanthum gum, and it’s easier to find that you would think 🙂 You typically need about 1 tsp xanthum gum for every 2 cups of gluten-free flour.
You may also want to check out our recipe substitution guide (https://go.kriscarr.com/blog/healthy-recipe-substitutions-vegan/) as it gives more guidance on using almond flour and coconut flour in baking. Almond flour is heavy and coconut flour is highly absorbent, so we have tips on how to revise recipes based on those qualities. Hope that helps and happy baking! – xo Jen
Jen, Grateful for the substitution link! Looking forward to making these & educating myself on finding the balance. Thanks a million❣️
My son is severely allergic to bananas. Yes, bananas! He is also sensitive to eggs and milk, so vegan recipes are the best for that, but often they also use banana, and he really cannot have that! Is there anything I can sub for the banana? Thx!
I am sorry, I am not Kris, but I think you can try to use apple sauce instead if banana
Yes, applesauce or tofu will work in place of the banana (about a half cup in each case). Hope that helps! – Jen, Crazy Sexy Nutrition Director
How can I make these muffins without using oil? I make all my food without using any oil and can you use ground chia seeds instead of flaxseed? Thanks!
Hi Delphine! I’d recommend substituting 1/2 cup applesauce for the oil in this recipe, and yes ground chia will work perfectly in place of the ground flax. Enjoy! xo – Jen, Crazy Sexy Nutrition Director
Sometimes I begin my mornings with warm lemon water and sometimes a cup of coffee. But then the juice comes later. Today it was Pucker Up from CrazySexyJuice! Sooooo good!
Oh YUM, Mary! Love that one. xo
Would it be possible to list the nutritional macros for the muffins or actually any recipe. Specifically protein fat carbohydrates and calories. Thanks. I’m tracking and this would be very helpful
Hi Bonna! Here is the nutrition info per muffin: 221 calories, 14.5 g total fat, 2.7 g saturated fat, 6.2 g polyunsaturated fat, 1.6 g monounsaturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 20.2 g total carbohydrates, 3.2 g fiber, 9.7 g sugar, 4.2 g protein. Hope that helps! – Jen, Crazy Sexy Nutrition Director
Can I substitute the maple syrup for something else or omit it completely?
Hi Jacqueline! You can use brown rice syrup or coconut sugar in place of the maple syrup, or try the recipe without it. Personally, I find that I need a little sweetness in the muffins, but you may enjoy them without. Hope that helps! xo – Jen, Crazy Sexy Nutrition Director
Thank you I’ll try with a little bit of coconut sugar and post about the outcome!
Fabulous Morning Glory muffins!! Moist, tender, hold together beautifully. I substituted walnuts for the coconut. Thank you. So nice to be re-inspired in the kitchen ?
I made these muffins this morning , to a T , the ingredients were expensive, they turned out very dense , raw on the indide snd crunchy on the outside, very dissspointed, not whst my breakfast dreams are made of .. dorry just being honest .. ?
Hi Helia! I’m sorry your muffins didn’t turn out like muffins! Since all ovens are different and since baking (especially gluten-free baking) can be finicky, you may want to lower your oven temp by about 25 degrees (350 F) and bake them for 10 extra minutes. Another idea is to make them as mini muffins rather than full size. You may also want to try using ALL gluten-free flour vs. gluten-free flour plus almond flour as the almond flour may be weighing the muffins down if your gluten-free flour blend isn’t light enough. Lots of us at Team Crazy Sexy tried this recipe and we all had success. In fact, my kids ate them so fast I had to make a second batch. Keep us posted and I hope your next round is better! xo – Jen, Crazy Sexy Nutrition Director
These morning glory muffins are awesome. Don’t eat many muffins because i’m gluten, egg and wheat free! What a treat! Thanks
Hi Kris and team,
Thanks fir the recipe! I love muffins. I’d like to ask, why do you use sunflower oil? Why not a more heat-resistant oil like…coconut oil? Is it because of the latest newspiece on research saying that coconut oil is bad? I understand sunflower oil is not good especially when heated up. And I learned from Dr William Sears that research shows coconut oil is healthy. The explanation went something like: the body treats it as unsaturated due to the type of fatty acid.
Thanks again for the recipe. I’ll be using other oil good for cooking. I continue using coconut oil when I need oil.
Hi Maria! I’m the nutrition director here so I’ll chime in on oils. We wanted a neutral oil in this recipe which is why our chef chose sunflower oil. It’s also rich in antioxidants, and since the temperature of the muffins doesn’t reach the smoke point of sunflower oil, that wasn’t a concern (smoke point is more of an issue when sautéing veggies). Sunflower oil is also more economical compared to many of the neutral oils on the market.
You can certainly use coconut oil or another neutral oil like avocado oil in the muffins. We use coconut oil in several of our recipes and you’re absolutely right that despite its saturated fats, it doesn’t have the negative health impact that saturated animal fats do. Thanks for your input and happy baking! – xo Jen
It’s Yummy…..nice recipe dear…
Hi there,
Made my first batch last week… Used sesame oil as that was all I had…. Muffins were heavy, a bit raw on the inside and crunchy on the outside … But man were they ever flavourful…
Making a batch tonight using coconut oil… Really do like this recipe….
Question… Would eggs make them lighter and fluffier… ? Would I swap the banana for the egg…?
Hi there! Oven temperatures can vary, so you may want to lower the temp by 25 degrees and cook the muffins 10 minutes longer so they’re not so raw on the inside. Egg is a binder and the ground flaxseed acts as a binder without the eggs in this recipe. To make the muffins lighter, I’d recommend using all gluten-free flour (2 cups total) instead of 1 cup gluten-free flour plus 1 cup almond flour. Almond flour is highly nutritious and rich in protein, but it can make muffins more dense. Happy baking! xo – Jen, Crazy Sexy Nutrition Director
nice post dear
Kris, I made these today and was absolutely blown away by how delicious they were! Had a warm one right out of the oven with green tea this morning, so yum! I cannot wait to share some of this batch with my son and fiancee. Wow, thank you for sharing!
I make these muffins at least once a month. I substitute a half of a cup of apple sauce for the oil. Thanks for this “go to” recipe!
I finally made them today! Yippeee! And they are delicious & nutritious! Now I have something to take to work with me and to eat after I am done with my Green Smoothie! I think next time I may add some crushed walnuts and some freshly grated ginger….dunno…..my taste buds were asking for that and I feel it would be a nice complement! But they are indeed GLORIOUS just as they are! Love the shredded apple! And of course the carrots! Thanks again Kris! YOU are GLORIOUS! :-)))) XOXOXOXO
These are not good…They are STUPENDOUSLY WONDER-FULL in EVERY way!!! THANK YOU Kris and Team for doing everything at level of 110+++% !!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! So happy you liked them.
Some in my family have allergies to coconut and nuts. What can I sub for the coconut flakes that isn’t a nut?
I have been adding in sultanas instead of coconut as my husband hates coconut. You can use all purpose flour in place of the almond flour.
Thank you so much. Off to look for sultanas. This is a new adventure in baking for me.