Lunchbox Harvest Muffins
Updated August 12, 2025
Johnny Miller for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Vivian Lui.
- Total Time
- 35 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
140 grams (1 ⅛ cups) whole-wheat pastry flour
5 grams (1 teaspoon) baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
½ cup olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
70 grams (⅓ cup) packed dark brown sugar
1 small apple, grated, and juices reserved (½ cup)
½ cup grated carrots or butternut squash or parsnips
½ cup grated zucchini or beets
55 grams (⅓ cup) raisins
40 grams (½ cup) unsweetened shredded coconut
Nutritional analysis per serving
9 grams carbs; 12 milligrams cholesterol; 79 calories; 3 grams monosaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 5 grams fat; 1 gram fiber; 54 milligrams sodium; 1 gram protein; 4 grams sugar
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.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease mini-muffin tins.
- Step 2
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
- Step 3
In a large bowl, combine the eggs, olive oil, honey, brown sugar, grated apple and juices and grated vegetables.
- Step 4
Using a spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture until just combined. Gently fold in the raisins and coconut.
- 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.
Private Notes
Comments
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.
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!
Ditto. Once the dough was in the muffin tins, I realized I forgot to add the coconut and raisins. I ended up stirring them in to each little muffin cup that was already filled. I was sure they would never release once the muffins were baked, but they popped out no problem. This is a keeper!
I began making these a few months ago and I am hooked! Not only do they taste terrific, but they’re packed with veggies and fruits that are good for the body and soul. Yes, the brown sugar and honey give them a warm sweetness, to have with my morning coffee. The only change that I have made is using canola oil instead of olive oil. A cup of good olive oil(I double the recipe) is too expensive for a muffin with my coffee. Plus, i like to taste the veggies and fruits. I’ll leave my imported olive oils for finishing a steak or a salad dressing.
Great recipe! I use the basics of this recipe and improvise each time. I have used carrots, beets, or sweet potato for the vegetable. I add 1 overflowing cup of broken up walnuts, 1/3 overflowing cup currants, 1/2 overflowing cup coconut. 1 zest of lemon and squeeze in 1/2 of the lemon and about 3 TBS orange juice. To this wet mix part of the recipe I also add about 1/3 cup of corn meal before folding in the whole wheat flour/spice mix. For spice I use lots of cinnamon, cardamom, turmeric and Kashmiri chili powder. I've put lavender buds on top or some of the coconut. Each time this recipe works!
The baking soda ingredient is crossed out in the recipe. Has this been amended or is that an error?