Lunchbox Harvest Muffins

By Melissa Clark

Updated Sept. 2, 2022

Lunchbox Harvest Muffins
Evan Sung for The New York Times
Total Time
35 minutes
Rating
5(1,798)
Comments
Read comments

These diminutive muffins make the rotation at least twice a week in my daughter's lunchbox. Although they are filled with plenty of good-for-you ingredients (whole-wheat flour, olive oil, apple and grated vegetables), they are moist and just sweet enough to ensure that they don’t end up coming back home, which is the sad fate of many a salami sandwich.

Featured in: Healthful Muffins, Moist and Sweet, for Anytime

  • or to save this recipe.

  • Subscriber benefit: give recipes to anyone
    As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.
    Subscribe

  • Print Options

Advertisement

Ingredients

Yield:About 2½ dozen mini-muffins (or 1 dozen regular muffins)
  • 140grams (1⅛ cups) whole-wheat pastry flour
  • 5grams (1 teaspoon) baking soda
  • 1teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¼teaspoon salt
  • 2large eggs
  • ½cup olive oil
  • 1tablespoon honey
  • 70grams (⅓ cup) packed dark brown sugar
  • 1small apple, grated, and juices reserved (½ cup)
  • ½cup grated carrots or butternut squash or parsnips
  • ½cup grated zucchini or beets
  • 55grams (⅓ cup) raisins
  • 40grams (½ cup) unsweetened shredded coconut
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (30 servings)

79 calories; 5 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 9 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 4 grams sugars; 1 gram protein; 54 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Powered by
Cooking Newsletter illustration

Opt out or contact us anytime. See our Privacy Policy.

Opt out or contact us anytime. See our Privacy Policy.

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease mini-muffin tins.

  2. Step 2

    In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

  3. Step 3

    In a large bowl, combine the eggs, olive oil, honey, brown sugar, grated apple and juices and grated vegetables.

  4. Step 4

    Using a spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture until just combined. Gently fold in the raisins and coconut.

  5. Step 5

    Fill each muffin cup ¾ of the way up, and bake for about 15 to 18 minutes for mini-muffins and about 20 to 22 minutes for regular muffins. The muffins are finished baking when an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Ratings

5 out of 5
1,798 user ratings
Your rating

or to rate this recipe.

Have you cooked this?

or to mark this recipe as cooked.

Private Notes

Leave a Private Comment on this recipe and see it here.

Comments

Jen Braun

I make these about once a week now. Very forgiving recipe -- I've messed with it all kinds of ways: Used regular flour instead of whole wheat, all carrots for the veg (and all zucchini too), accidentally doubled the amount of veggies, on-purpose doubled the amount of raisins, and skipped the coconut. It's always come out fine. And my kids vacuum them up.

Pasture

I encourage the gentle writers citing calories and fat to relax just a wee li'l smidge. These are not sinful muffins. They are fine, upstanding, nutritious and ,may I say, outasite muffins.

Erika

I took the olive oil down to 1/3 cup and the brown sugar down to 1/4 cup and they were delicious and moist. Thank you!

Rhoda

Added 3 scoops of protein powder. Used more beets than apple. Subbed honey for sugar. Added a decorative chocolate chip on top. Quadrupled the recipe. Send help! These are just barely edible.

ML

Yum. Made them with my 6 yr old and he loved them, too. We followed the recipe exactly and added about a TBSP of orange zest. Highly recommend.

Justine S

This is a wonderful recipe. As other comments have mentioned, it's hard to mess up and very versatile. I made this with apple, zucchini, and raspberries to add a little sweetness. Definitely recommend the raspberries!

Private comments are only visible to you.

Recipe Tags

Advertisement

or to save this recipe.