Morning Glory Muffins
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Morning glory muffins are wholesome, delicious, and true to their name—a glorious way to start the day!
Morning glory muffins are brimming with wholesome goodness. Made with whole wheat flour, carrots, apples, raisins, walnuts, orange juice, coconut, and wheat germ, they were created decades ago by Chef Pam McKinstry for her Morning Glory Café on Nantucket Island. These muffins are a throwback to the 1970s “back-to-the-land” era, when wholesome hippie foods were all the rage. True to their name, they’re a glorious way to kick-start your day—a feel-good, homemade treat.
If you love the cozy flavors of carrots, raisins, and warm spices, you might also enjoy my classic carrot cake—it shares many of the same ingredients but in a more decadent dessert form. For more muffin inspiration, try my blueberry muffins or banana muffins—both are simple favorites that bake up beautifully.
“I’ve been making this recipe for a few years now and it never disappoints! The muffins are moist and delicious. I usually double the recipe and keep some in freezer so we always have them on hand!”
What You’ll Need To Make Morning Glory Muffins
- Raisins, carrots, apple, walnuts & coconut: This mix gives the muffins their signature balance of sweetness, moisture, and a subtle tropical note, with just the right amount of crunch from the nuts.
- White Whole Wheat Flour, brown sugar, wheat germ, and baking soda: This combination forms the dry base. The flour provides structure (I like King Arthur), the sugar adds depth with its hint of molasses, the wheat germ lends a subtle nuttiness and extra nutrition, and baking soda leavens the muffins.
- Eggs, oil, orange juice & vanilla extract: These wet ingredients bind the batter, add sweetness, and keep the muffins tender. The orange juice adds brightness, and the vanilla rounds out the flavor.
- Cinnamon & ginger: These spices add cozy warmth and just enough zing to balance the fruit and nuts.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1. Soak the raisins. Place them in hot water to soften and plump.
Pro Tip: If you’d like to experiment, try soaking the raisins in hot tea (like Earl Grey or chamomile) instead of plain water for a subtle flavor twist.
Step 2. Prep the produce. Grate the carrots and apple (a food processor makes quick work of this, but a box grater works just as well). If making your own orange juice, juice the orange now.
Pro Tip: If you’re using a box grater, grate the carrots first—it’ll keep the apple from sitting too long and getting watery.
Step 3. Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. Use your fingers to break up any brown sugar lumps.
Pro Tip: Like regular whole wheat, white whole wheat flour is 100% whole grain—the difference comes from the lighter-colored wheat it’s milled from. It has the same nutrition but a milder flavor and color. If you can’t find it, use regular whole wheat flour, or go half whole wheat and half all-purpose for lighter muffins.
Step 4. Mix the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, orange juice, and vanilla extract.
Step 5. Combine everything. Add the wet mixture to the flour mixture, then stir in the apple, carrots, wheat germ, walnuts, coconut, and drained raisins. Mix until evenly moistened; the batter will be very thick.
Step 6. Bake. Divide the batter into the wells of a greased 12-cup muffin pan. The wells will be very full. Bake in a 375°F oven for about 25 minutes, until nicely domed.
Pro Tip: If you have an ice cream scoop, that works well to fill the muffin pan.
Step 7. Cool and serve. Let muffins cool in the pan for a few minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. The muffins keep nicely for several days; freeze for longer storage.
Morning Glory Muffins Mix-and-Match Swaps
These muffins are super flexible—here are a few easy substitutions to make them your own. Just be mindful of maintaining the overall moisture and texture of the batter when making substitutions:
- Wheat germ: Swap with wheat bran, ground flaxseed, or even finely ground oats.
- Raisins: Use dried cranberries, chopped dried apricots, or just leave them out.
- Coconut: Skip it, or replace with extra shredded carrots or apples for moisture.
- Walnuts: Try chopped pecans, almonds, or hazelnuts—or omit altogether.
My starting point for this recipe was the Morning Glory Muffins on the King Arthur Flour. I found their version to be a bit bland, so I increased the spices, raisins, walnuts, and sugar.
More Healthy Breakfast Recipes to Try
Morning Glory Muffins
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup raisins
- 2 cups King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour, or Whole Wheat Flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons (packed) light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs
- ⅔ cup vegetable oil
- ¼ cup orange juice (if making your own, you'll need one orange)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups peeled and shredded carrots, from 4 to 5 large carrots
- 1 large tart apple, such as Granny Smith, peeled, cored and shredded
- ½ cup shredded coconut, sweetened or unsweetened
- ⅔ cup chopped walnuts
- ⅓ cup wheat germ
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Grease a 12-cup muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a small bowl, cover the raisins with hot water. Set them aside to soak.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt.
- Drain the raisins, squeezing out any excess water with your hands.
- In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, orange juice, and vanilla extract. Add to the flour mixture, along with the drained raisins, carrots, apple, coconut, walnuts, and wheat germ. Mix until the batter is evenly moistened and combined.
- Divide the batter among the wells of the prepared pan. They will be very full.
- Bake the muffins for about 25 minutes, until they're nicely domed and a cake tester inserted in the center of one of the inner muffins comes out clean.
- Remove the muffins from the oven and let cool in the pan on a rack for about 5 minutes. Turn the muffins out onto the rack to cool completely. Cover and store at room temperature for several days.
Notes
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Jenn these muffins are SO yummy! I made them for my husband who wanted a bran or carrot flavor, and not only did he like them, but my 10yr old boy took one in his lunch every day too. My parents loved them so much they offered to pay me to make them a batch! What?!
Best Morning Glory muffin recipe I’ve found..Great job!
Thank you for sharing this recipe. It is an excellent tasting muffin.
Hello!
Is it possible to leave out the raisins without modifying the muffins otherwise?
Sure – enjoy!
All I can say is….WOW!
Hi Jenn:
First of all, thank you for your advice and input regarding all of your recipes. I’m very thankful to have the ability to ask a question(s). Here is my dilemma, I’ve perused though the recipes comments and notes on adding ground flax seed to this recipe.
However, I’ve only noted the one comment about replacing wheat germ with ground flax seed. I have three questions for you – I want to add it in addition to the wheat germ. That said, how much would be best to use? And, do I need to add more liquid? And if so, what type?
Thank you in advance,
Susan
Hi Susan, always happy to help! I wouldn’t recommend adding ground flaxseed in addition to the wheat germ. If you really want to incorporate flaxseed, I’d use half wheat germ and half ground flaxseed. Hope that helps and that you enjoy the muffins!
If it’s helpful for others to know, I just did this (1/2 each wheat germ and flax meal) and they turned out great!! These muffins are amazing. Such a nice texture, not heavy or dense. My son and I loved making them together too! 😊
🙂 thx
I love these muffins, 5 stars! I was looking for a healthier alternative grab-and-go breakfast to replace sugary cliff bars and these were perfect. They keep me full til my lunch break and taste amazing! Out of personal preference I leave out the walnuts and raisins but I’m sure they’d be even more filling with them. Delicious!
This is our family’s favorite! It does take a little time to put together, so I usually make two batches of dry ingredients ahead of time and store in a labeled zip-lock bag until I have time to bake. This recipe is also very flexible – I’ve replaced 1/2 cup flour with almond meal, replaced orange juice for pomegranate or pineapple juice, increased volume of carrots and nuts – all these variations bake up great. I usually split the batter between a 12-cup and a mini muffin tins – mini muffins work great for kids’ lunch boxes and take about 18 minutes to bake.
Thank you, Jenn, for the great collection of recipes and simple yet thorough instructions!
My toddler and I love to make these (never had a bad Once Upon a Chef recipe). Saw your comment, so today we made a mix of 8 regular sized muffins and 24 mini muffins. Perfect! Thank you for the time suggestion. Our oven runs hot, so I baked the minis for 16. 👌🏼
These dense muffins are definitely breakfast worthy. The carrots, apple, walnuts and coconut really add punch to the texture and taste. I use unsweetened coconut to keep the sugar down. Excellent!
I’ve made this multiple times, and am finally getting around to reviewing it. My family and I love these muffins. They have enough healthy things (coconut, carrots, apple) that I love and they taste great, so they go down well with the kids.
I love these muffins, they have become my ‘go to’ muffin recipe. I don’t like walnuts, so I add in whatever else I might have – cranberries or dates, whatever. They are still delicious, so moist! Thanks for a great muffin recipe!
Good morning Jenn & everyone:
I’ll begin by saying “You have to make these muffins!!!!” They taste great and freeze really well. Also, this is a recipe anyone can make it “their own.” In fact I meant to review this recipe a couple months ago and completely forgot. Jenn, I sent you a question a while back asking if I could change out wheat germ for flax instead. You said no problem, and if course you’re correct!😊 And from there I changed a couple of other “things” to…
So the following are the small changes I’ve made: I use ground flax seed for the wheat germ. I use MANGO purée instead of OJ, and I do not use chopped walnuts, I use walnut pieces (we prefer the texture). This is a truly wonderful recipe to begin any day!
Thank you so much Jenn for the inspiration that come from your recipes!
I’m having a great time baking & cooking after a long absence from the kitchen, professionally & at home☺️