Carrot Cake Muffins (GF, Paleo, AIP)
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These carrot cake muffins are simply the best! They’re paleo, AIP, and made without grains, nuts or eggs.

I never really got to enjoy carrot cake as much as I would have liked to because it almost always had nuts in it! Though I haven’t been full paleo my whole life, I’ve spent my whole life with an allergy to all nuts (with the exception of almonds) so carrot cake was off the table. It’s always a bummer when something is off limits, so I decided to create a carrot cake muffin that was allergy friendly!
These carrot cake muffins are seriously perfect for sharing! They’re made without common allergens like dairy, gluten, and nuts, and they taste amazing. Make them for an Easter brunch, an after dinner treat, or just a simple snack.
Muffins that are made without things like grains and eggs can be pretty hard to pull off, and don’t necessarily have the best texture. Not these! The trick is to let them cool completely before trying them to allow them to set and keep them from getting too soft. Leave them on a cooling rack on the counter for about 30 minutes, or even better, throw them in the fridge for a bit as well, and you’ll have a great texture!

Seriously, a texture like this on a grain free baked good is a serious treat! You don’t come across that every day. This is the texture that I missed so much when I first went grain free, and I am stoked to have this option! You may be seeing more muffin recipes from me now…
The Ingredient’s You’ll Need For The Carrot Cake Muffins
Tigernut flour
Tigernut is not a nut, but a tuber, and it helps to make a great texture for these muffins. If you do tolerate nuts, almond flour may be a good swap, but cassava flour would not be a good substitute in this recipe.
Tapioca flour
You can likely get away with swapping this for arrowroot starch.
Coconut flour & coconut oil
The coconut flour helps to absorb some of the excess moisture from that the carrots may produce. I have not tried this recipe without coconut flour. The coconut oil is the source of fat in the muffins where they would usually be something like butter. I have not tried palm shortening in this recipe, but it may work.
Maple syrup
You can likely swap honey for maple syrup.
Shredded carrots
You can either use a grater or a food processor to have mostly finely shredded carrots.
Raisins (or dried cranberries)
Golden raisins are what you would usually add to carrot cake, but if you’re having trouble finding any raisins without weird oils or sugars, I like to use these cranberries.
Eggs (or gelatin)
I use grass-fed gelatin to make two gelatin eggs to make this recipe egg free. However, you can use regular eggs if you tolerate them.

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Carrot Cake Muffins (GF, Paleo, AIP)
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Ingredients
- 1 cup tigernut flour
- ¼ cup tapioca starch
- 2 tbsp coconut flour
- 1 cup finely shredded carrots
- 2 tbsp raisins, sub dried cranberries
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ⅓ cup +2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
- 2 eggs, substitute gelatin eggs, see notes
For gelatin egg substitute
- ½ cup water
- 2 tbsp gelatin
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 F and line a 12 cup muffin tin with 8-9 muffin liners.
- Combine the tigernut flour, tapioca starch, coconut flour, shredded carrots, raisins, baking soda, and cinnamon and mix well.
- Stir in the maple syrup and melted coconut oil.
- Mix in the eggs (or gelatin eggs) and stir well until a dough forms.
- Spoon the muffin dough into the muffin tins (you'll have about 8-9 muffins).
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until baked through and the tops are golden brown.
- Carefully transfer the muffins to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before enjoying. Cooling in the fridge also helps the muffins set further.
Notes

Is the maple syrup (or honey) necessary? I’m wondering if I can do it without since I’m doing no sugar right now.
These muffins are so yummy! I haven’t had carrot cake in years. Thank you for the recipe.
Thank you!!
I think the muffins are very dry… I did them for 20 mins. Tips of how to make it less dry?
I don’t find them dry, but I do find that different brands of coconut flour are more dry than others. I like the brand that’s linked
I haven’t tried this yet, but they sound delicious! My husband‘s birthday is coming up. His favorite cake is carrot cake. The AIP carrot cakes I see, just don’t look that good to me. This recipe looks far better. Do you think I could use these as a little cupcakes, and make an AIP cream cheese ( coconut cream ) Frosting for them?
Sure! That sounds amazing!! Enjoy!! 🙂
These muffins are so tasty. I do think they are a little on the sweet side. With tigernut flour already having a bit of “sweetness” to it and the carrots, I would probably just try 2 TBLs of maple the next time I make them, and would add some collagen powder to give them a protein kick.
These are unbelievably delicious. Best AIP thing I’ve baked so far. Thank you!!
The flavor was great-we’ve really been missing muffins!! Wondering if the 1 cup of tiger nut flour should be 112g? I used 120, thinking that’s what a cup was, but see in your cookbook tiger nut recipes go by 112g. My muffins were very dense so I was thinking I used too much tiger nut.
Thanks, Heather! My publisher actually helped do all of the gram conversions in my cookbook, but 112g does sound right. Hope that helps for next time 🙂
This recipe is really flavourful! and very versatile. I’ve made it with Avacado oil and Olive oil and it’s really nice with either. I’ve also mixed it up and used Almond flour for my paleo granddaughters and they turned out great! I’ve added grated apple and zuchinni and it just gets better. This recipe is amazing. Thank you!
Hi Teresa, just curious what quantities you used for zuchinni and apple? Those sound like great additions!!
Thanks for the recipe. I used cutted Dried abricots and let the syrup out.
They where great
YUM! So glad to hear that worked well 🙂 Thank you so much!
Can I sub almond flour for tiger nut?
If you do tolerate nuts, almond flour would be the best swap for tiger nut!
Just made these aip carrot cake muffins again and they turned out amazing! Wondering if I could modify the recipe to use grated zucchini?
Ok. I was just hoping to like this…I didn’t expect to LOVE THEM! Thank you for these. They’re every bit as yummy as the picture (and more!). I’m grateful for your blog…and these muffins 🙂
Thank you so much Heather! So glad you liked it!!
Love these muffins, my husband said “better than the ones with gluten”!
Thank you for an amazing recipe and for sharing with everyone!
Ah YAY! Thank you so much, Cindy! So happy you guys liked it!
These are really good muffins, with an actual muffin texture! These made me so happy! Next time I will have to add the raisins. (My toddler ate the last of them!)
Holy cow these taste AMAZING!
ok so far my daughter and I devoured the “left-over” batter. I cant have eggs so I find my “go-to egg” is a flax egg. So we put two of those in there. Will let you know how the result is. Currently in the oven. I am excited to eat them and perfect amount of sweetness as well! way to go Michelle!