These morning glory sourdough muffins make the most of shredded carrots, apple, and seeds, for a delicious breakfast muffin that uses up some of your sourdough discard.
This post first appeared May 2, 2020 and was last updated March 26, 2021.
We love adding discard to various bakes in our kitchens, and these morning glory sourdough muffins are no exception! The discard adds just a touch of tang that’s wonderfully balanced by the sweet carrot, apple, and dried fruit.
Here’s a comprehensive list of all of our sourdough discard recipes if you find you always have too much discard on hand. If you like these muffins, you’ll probably love our sourdough blueberry muffins, too!
Just sweet enough and with a great texture, these are sure to become a breakfast and midday snack favourite. Change up the add-ins based on what you like – it’s flexible!
Use the JUMP TO RECIPE button at the top of the post, or scroll to the bottom of the post, to see the full recipe card with ingredient measurements and instructions.
Ingredients
Method
Preheat the oven to 425ºF (220ºC). Lightly grease a standard 12-cup muffin tin with oil then line the cups with paper muffin wrappers. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Add the grated carrots and apple, coconut, raisins, and seeds to the flour mixture. Use a rubber spatula or wooden spoon to stir everything together, breaking up any larger clumps of grated carrot or apple as needed.
In a second bowl, whisk together the sourdough starter, oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla until smooth.
Make a well in the carrot-flour mixture and pour in the wet ingredients. Again, using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, fold everything together until just combined with a few streaks of flour remaining.
Divide the muffin batter evenly between the cups in the prepared muffin tin. Top the muffins with a little coarse sugar if you’d like.
Place the tin in the preheated oven and bake the muffins for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 375ºF (190ºC) and continue to bake the muffins for 10 minutes more.
Remove the muffins from the oven, placing the tin on a wire rack to cool for 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer the muffins from the tin to the wire rack and let them cool completely before storing them an airtight container or zip-top plastic bag.
Tips and Notes
This recipe uses discard from sourdough starter. If you use the levain method, don’t worry! You can use active starter, too, but be sure to weigh everything to be accurate.
Grate carrots and apples coarse with a standard box grater. To speed things up, you can use the grating attachment on a food processor.
Store the muffins in an airtight container on the counter or the fridge for 5-7 days, or freeze them for up to 3 months. Thaw on the counter for an hour or so, or gently defrost in the microwave before you eat.
This may seem like a lot of batter after mixing, but will make 12 muffins!
The muffins can be made in a standing mixer if you prefer, with the paddle attachment.
Adding the carrots, apple, and other add-ins to the flour and stirring together before adding the wet ingredients prevents over-mixing, which can lead to a less tender muffin. Feel free to stir dry into wet and then add carrots, etc. if you prefer.
Substitutions
We use golden raisins which have a nice plump sweetness, but any raisins will work! Try dried cranberries or another dried berry for a bit of a twist.
We made these muffins nut-free for school. Use any combination of seeds or nuts you like – we love hazelnuts, pecans, and walnuts.
If you like a sweeter muffin, double the sugar. You can also use raw, brown, or even coconut sugar here.
Spelt flour is a good substitution for the wheat flour. We haven’t tried making these gluten-free. Sub whole wheat for a more wholesome muffin.
More Great Muffin Recipes
Mixed Berry Muffins With Toasted Coconut (gluten-free)
Vegan Bran Muffins
Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
Almond Flour Banana Muffins
Mini Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins (dairy-free)
If you make this recipe, let us know by tagging @baked_theblog + #bakedtheblog on Instagram! We love to feel like we’re in the kitchen with you.
Recipe
Sourdough Morning Glory Muffins
These morning glory sourdough muffins make the most of shredded carrots, nuts, and seeds, for a delicious breakfast muffin that uses up some of your sourdough discard.
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1-½ cups (225 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
Add-Ins
- 2 cups (200 g) carrots, grated (approximately 2 medium carrots)
- 1 cup (100 g) grated apple (approximately 1 medium-small apple)
- ½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- ½ cup raisins
- ½ cup seeds and/or nuts (we used a mix of sunflower, pumpkin, and flax seeds)
Wet Ingredients
- 1 cup (200 g) sourdough starter
- ¼ cup (63 ml) vegetable or other neutral-flavoured oil, plus 1 tbsp for greasing the muffin tin
- ¼ cup (50 g) sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- Extra coarse sugar for topping (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425ºF (220ºC). Lightly grease a standard 12-cup muffin tin with oil then line the cups with paper muffin wrappers. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Add the grated carrots and apple, coconut, raisins, and seeds to the flour mixture. Use a rubber spatula or wooden spoon to stir everything together, breaking up any larger clumps of grated carrot or apple as needed.
- In a second bowl, whisk together the sourdough starter, oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla until smooth.
- Make a well in the carrot-flour mixture and pour in the wet ingredients. Again, using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, fold everything together until just combined with a few streaks of flour remaining.
- Divide the muffin batter evenly between the cups in the prepared muffin tin. Top the muffins with a little coarse sugar if you'd like.
- Place the tin in the preheated oven and bake the muffins for 10 minutes.
- Reduce the heat to 375ºF (190ºC) and continue to bake the muffins for 10 minutes more.
- Remove the muffins from the oven, placing the tin on a wire rack to cool for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Transfer the muffins from the tin to the wire rack and let them cool completely before storing them an airtight container or zip-top plastic bag.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
12Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 169Total Fat: 11gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 31mgSodium: 372mgCarbohydrates: 16gFiber: 2gSugar: 7gProtein: 4g
This is an approximation of the nutrition offered in this recipe, and is created using a nutrition calculator.
This post was originally published in February 2020. It has been updated as of March 2021 with some simplifications to the recipe.
Lenora Kwok says
WOW! THIS RECIPE DID REQUIRE A BIT OF DOING BUT OOOOH SO WORTH IIT! NOT OVERLY SWEET (I USED HONEY) FLUFFY, MOIST, CRUNCHY AND KRISPY. BALANCED WITH SPICES THAT DO NOT OVERWHELM . NEED MORE THAN THAT?, BAKE A BIG BATCH AND FREEZE TOULL WANT THEM WHEN TBERE IS NO TIME TO MAKE THEM..
Diana says
I made these as 42 mini muffins for my little ones, and they turned out great! Not so sweet, some hidden veggies a plus and happy they freeze well. I used self raising flour and greek yoghurt, and left out molasses, nuts/seeds, raisins and zest as I didn’t have them.
Amanda Sharma says
I have been really enjoying every recipe that I’ve tried from your blog! Thank you so much.
We do not eat eggs in our house, I used a flax meal “egg” as a replacer for this recipe and it worked perfectly for anyone who is looking for an egg substitute.
Kelly Neil says
Awesome we are so happy to hear this! Thanks so much for letting us know Amanda. Happy Baking!
Priscilla says
The BEST morning glory muffins ever! Thank you!!!
Janet M Cotgrave says
How much is “a can” of pumpkin puree? I have homemade pumpkin puree and I don’t know what size of cans it comes in. Thanks!
Janet M Cotgrave says
Oops! I left this comment on the wrong recipe page. Sorry!
Sophie Mackenzie says
I will be (15 oz) or 2 1/2 tablespoons short of 2 cups
Daniela says
Thank you for the great recipe! I used sprouted spelt flour instead of whole wheat and the muffins are moist and so delicious! Next time I’ll make a double batch.
Alexandra Daum says
Sounds delicious, thanks Daniela!
Mandy says
Would it be ok to mix this up and leave in the refrigerator until morning for baking? I have done this in the past with sourdough muffin recipes but just wanted to make sure. Thanks!
Kelly Neil says
Yes it should totally be fine! I would consider stirring in the baking powder and baking soda in the morning though to make sure their activation is at full strength!
Martha says
When I read the ingredients list, I see nothing about molasses/yogurt. Yet when I read reviews, I see people commenting on molasses and yogurt! Has this recipe been modified? I’m so confused.
Kelly Neil says
Hi Martha, yes sorry, we usually add a note at the top when a post has been updated and we forgot! That’s fixed now so thank you for your comment or we wouldn’t have known. The post first appeared in May 2020 and was updated this month, April 2021. We updated the recipe to simplify it, and really bring out the flavours of a traditional morning glory muffin with more carrot and other add-ins.
Cate says
Hello,
Just made these tonight, and wonder if the 1 Tbsp of baking soda is correct? I thought that was a high amount and they turned out well and taste good, but perhaps a bit towards the salty side; too much baking soda? Will they work if I reduce it? I thought most recipes were t tsp generally.
Thank you
Alexandra Daum says
Hi Cate! The recipe calls for 1 tbsp of baking powder and 1 tsp of baking soda. A full tablespoon of baking soda would cause some saltiness in the muffins for sure.
Christine Pellegrini says
Good morning! Found this recipe today and decided to give it a try. I didn’t have apples but I did have a lone zucchini so I used a mix of 3 c carrots and zucchini. I also used 50/50 blend of all purpose and whole wheat flour. I baked mine in a large muffin tin so I extended the first bake time to 15 min and then lowered the temp and baked another 15 min. which was perfect. They smell heavenly we can’t wait to try them.