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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My son is allergic to nuts and I do not like raisins. However this recipe still looks so good. Is it still worth making if I omit the raisins and walnuts?
Sure, Anisha, it should be fine – due to less volume, you may get one less muffin from the batter. Hope you enjoy!
When you say “lightly grease”, what is your preferred method – that which will impact the taste of the muffins the least, yet do the job? Shortening (Crisco), spray (Pam), melted butter?
Thanks!
Hi Patty, you can coat the muffin wells with butter and then a dusting of flour or use a baking spray with flour. Hope that helps!
Hi Jenn,
What would you recommend as a substitute for orange juice? Would I be better off using water, milk, almond milk, or applesauce?
Thank you!
I think any would work, but applesauce may be nice as it will add a bit of sweetness similar to the orange juice. Hope you enjoy!
Hello, I was interested in making this as a loaf (instead of as muffins). Would suggest any changes to baking temp or time? Thank you!
Stephanie, I’d reduce the oven temp to 350°F and bake for 65 – 75 minutes – just keep an eye on it. I’d love to hear how it turns out!
Can I refrigerate the batter overnight and cook the next morning?
Hi Marie, I wouldn’t recommend refrigerating the batter overnight; they won’t rise as well when you bake them. If you’d like you can bake them a day ahead and serve the next day.
If I am correct, the reason they won’t rise as well is that the active ingredients (baking soda and salt), once combined with the wet ingredients, begin to lose their effect. So if you want to save time in the morning, assemble all the wet ingredients the night before and refrigerate. Then assemble the dry ingredients and leave out overnight, covered. When you are ready to make the muffins in the morning, combine the wet with the dry and bake.
The Morning Muffins recipe got me hooked on your site! Easy to follow, I love the photos included for reference!
The many different flavors blend very well together. Moist, and not too sweet. These muffins are always a hit, and one of my favorite recipes to share.
These were so good! Trying to find things to feed my suddenly picky 12 year old granddaughter and she loved them 🙂
I did leave out the raisins, but otherwise followed the recipe. Hearty and healthy without being too heavy. Love the subtle bit of orange with the apple and carrots. Trying the pumpkin next. Thanks Jen!
After making this recipe the first time, my wife was Adamant that I make it again. She Loved it. So now after making it for the 3rd time, I can easily say it’s going to be a household favorite for a long time to come. My last endeavor into making this, I wanted to “test”? the recipe with a difference or two. Meaning I changed a specific ingredient to see how it affected the moistness and taste. This time around I used a full cup of raisens versus 3/4 cup. Still Perfect. Next I’ll try juicy red apples versus the granny smiths. For the most part I’m thinking that will be a dumb move on my part, but ehh, that’s what cooks do quite often to perfect a new dish don’t they? Then again, to “change” an ingredient to an already Perfect dish, is pretty stupid I know. But I gotta lol.
I am struggling to find wheat germ, what is a good substitute? )UK based!)
Hi Kat, You can use wheat bran or ground flax seed. Hope that helps!
I just made these and they are probably one of the best muffin I’ve ever had. Well done on the recipe! They are healthy yet not too dense, and mine were super moist. Absolutely delicious!