Chocolate Chip Carrot Cottage Cheese Muffins
These cottage cheese muffins are doing the most—in the best way. Whole wheat flour, eggs, chocolate chips, 2 cups (!) grated carrot blended to the batter with some cottage cheese. They’re ridiculously easy, packed with feel-good ingredients, and ready to be your go-to for breakfast, as a snack with substance, a satisfying dessert, or for meal prep magic!
Are we still riding the cottage cheese wave? Absolutely. It’s a whole vibe. Normally, I’m all about enjoy my cottage cheese in a bowl with veggies or adding it to my eggs (hello, fluffiness and extra protein!), but these cottage cheese muffins have stolen the spotlight and quickly become a new house favorite.
Of course, these aren’t your run-of-the-mill muffins. As the reigning queen of veggie-loaded baking, I couldn’t resist adding in some veggies. These beauties pack in 2 cups of grated carrots and 1 cup of blended cottage cheese. Once blended up with eggs, oil, a little brown sugar, and cinnamon, we pour everything into a bowl (for easy mixing) and add in some whole wheat flour, ground flax, and a sprinkle of mini chocolate chips. Into the oven they go, and just like that, cottage cheese magic happens.
Even my cottage cheese-skeptical family is fully on board with these muffins. They’re flavor, moist, and perfectly fluffy. I enjoy them as a snack, as a feel-good dessert, or part of breakfast—especially paired with a yogurt bowl or alongside those fluffy eggs I mentioned before.
Let’s make these muffins together. Just you and me….
Chocolate Chip Carrot Cottage Cheese Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups (192 g) grated carrot, Do not squeeze moisture out.
- 2 large (2 large) eggs
- ¼ cup (59.15 ml) avocado oil
- 1 cup (210 g) cottage cheese, either low fat or full fat. Fat free has too much added water.
- ⅓ cup (73.33 g) packed light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons (8 g) vanilla
- 1 teaspoon (4 g) baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (2 g) baking soda
- 2 teaspoons (4 g) ground cinnamon
- ⅓ cup (45 g) ground flax
- 1¼ cups (150 g) whole wheat flour
- ⅓ cup (60 g) chocolate chips
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 375℉. Line 11 compartments of a standard muffin tin with paper liners or grease with oil spray.
- Add the grated carrot, eggs, cottage cheese, oil, brown sugar, and vanilla to a blender. Blend until all the ingredients are combined and very smooth. Carrots should be completely pureed.
- Pour the contents of the blender into a medium mixing bowl. Add the baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon to the bowl and whisk into the carrot mixture.
- Add the ground flax, whole wheat flour and chocolate chips to the bowl. Stir until the dry ingredients are just incorporated into the batter. Careful not to over mix!
- Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup or scoop to divide the batter into the 11 prepared muffin cups and top each one with a few more chocolate chips, if you’d like.
- Bake until the tops are lightly golden brown and the muffins have an internal temperature of 200℉, about 18-20 minutes.
- Allow muffins to cool completely then enjoy or store in an airtight container at room temperature for a day then refrigerate for 4 to 5 days. Muffins can be individually wrapped then frozen for up to 2 months.
This recipe sounds amazing. Do you think it might be possible to make it gluten free using oat or almond flour?
I haven’t tried it with either, but it might work with oat flour! I find that cup-for-cup GF flour works like a dream in this one, if that is an option!
Wow these are my absolute new favorite. The carrot makes them so moist! I swapped two scoops of unflavored whey protein concentrate for a little of the flour and date sugar for the brown sugar and they are the best!
Oh wow! I bet they are so hearty and filling with the bonus protein! So glad you loved them, Jess! Thanks for coming back and sharing!
Thank you for recommending this recipe to me on my comment for the chocolate version. I just tried it today and I love them! I did make a few of my own adjustments to make them with Einkorn flour and coconut sugar, added a bit of nutmeg and salt, and swapped the chocolate chips for raisins. This is a yummy way to use up extra carrots!
Oh I’m so glad this version ticked the boxes for you!!
Can’t wait to try these! Instead of using oil, can I sub applesauce for it instead?
Hi Mary! I haven’t tried these with applesauce instead of oil but it might work. Just be sure to spray your muffin liners so they don’t stick too much and let us know how it goes!
I keep coming back to these and they are an huge hit every time. Moist, flavorful, and just the right amount of sweetness. A delicious, guilt-free treat that has become a favorite!
Aw, this makes me smile. A repeat-baking favorite is the ultimate compliment!
I’ve made these so many times and they are amazing. Do you think pumpkin would work in place of carrot? And if so, how much pumpkin do you think?
Oh I like how you think, Kristin! I haven’t tried but now I am wondering. I think if I was to try it with pumpkin, I’d be sure to use a thicker pumpkin puree like Libby’s and pulled back the pumpkin to 1 cup vs the 2 cups of grated carrot
These are delightful! I didn’t have avocado oil so I used melted coconut oil instead. I added one scoop of unflavored protein powder and a little less flour. These will be on regular rotation!
Yay! So glad you loved them so much, Ellen! And awesome additions!
Can I use gluten free flour in this recipe?
Yes!
Loved these! I made a double batch. I used chia instead of flax and put them in with the other blender items because I didn’t have any flax, otherwise followed the recipe exactly. My batter was initially way too dry and closer to cookie batter than muffin batter. All good, just added a full cup of fairlife skim. Turned out great! Will definitely make again. I froze these, and then quickly defrosted with the microwave + 1 min on high heat in the air fryer to get it crispy on the outside again. Would definitely recommend adding milk if the batter comes out too dry initially – I used regular carrots from Costco but I guess they weren’t as wet? Anyways, love the macros on these and they taste great, thank you!
I’m so glad these worked out for you! Carrots can definitely vary in moisture, so adding milk when needed is a great instinct. Love the chia swap!
these are SO good!! I will admit – I was not totally sure how they were going to fly with my picky 10yr old. But he loves them, “mom – these are def a make again!”. Sneaky veg & protein – yes please!!
A “make again” from a selective kiddo is HUGE—I wish I could give you a high five for that So glad these were a hit and felt like a good balance for you too. Thanks for coming back and sharing the love!
Yum! I love chocolate chips, but Im using them a lot lately🤪. So, I decided to leave them out and the muffins are still very yummy.
Ha! I know what you mean about the chocolate chips. I sometimes have to leave them off the shopping list because we go through them a bit too quickly. But yesssss! Love that these muffins were still awesome without them! Thanks for popping back and sharing, Dale! So appreciated!
Delicious! I made these twice in one week, the first time following the recipe, and the second time subbing grated sweet potato for the grated carrots because that is what I had. Both worked beautifully and our kids liked both so that’s a win! I love the use of cottage cheese for more protein and the fluffy texture of the muffins.
Yay! I love that the sweet potato swap worked so well (and such a good move). And the fact that they were so kid approved is is such a win! Thanks for coming back and sharing, Erin!
I loved this superfood recipe! I’m always looking for ways to get extra protein in my kids and this scores high in that department with both the cottage cheese, flax and eggs. I used my silicone muffin pans and got 18 muffins from this mix, so maybe slightly smaller but perfect for smaller kids.
I probably tried making too many modifications at once…. I combined 1C of baked sweet potato and 1C grated carrot. I also added only 1C einkorn flour and a scoop of protein powder as I saw from another comment. The end result was that the muffins slightly deflated after coming out of the oven and were a little too soft inside….not quite enough structure. But great flavor and I will definitely make again, more aligned to the actual recipe next time!
I love how much you played around with these! But, yes, baking is such a science that it can easily get weird when we do too many changes…but I’m so glad the flavor was still there. You’re going to love them even more when you try them closer to the original next time💚🧁
Can I use all purpose or bread flour instead of whole wheat flour? Thanks!
Hi Maria! I haven’t tried this with APF or bread flour, but if you used APF, I’d say add a tablespoon or so of extra flour to help balance out the moisture in the batter since APF doesn’t absorb as much liquid is whole wheat does.
My picky eater ate 6 muffins today! lol he loved them, and so did everyone else. I need to make more, but ran out of cottage cheese. Can I sub for Greek yogurt?
Oh yay! Thats so awesome, Megan! So, I haven’t tried this one with yogurt in place of the cottage cheese but I know readers have tried it and report that it works great
Such a great recipe in so many ways! Quickly comes together and so tasty. The whole family kills these!
Yay! Always my hope for recipes! Easy, tasty, devoured by the family without questions!
Hello
I wonder if you could substitute banana for carrots?
Hi Leanne! I haven’t tried but it might work! I’d probably weigh the banana (192g) vs using a measuring cup if making the swap
This looks yummy. How necessary is shredding the carrot first? Since it’s being blended anyway, couldn’t it be measured by weight and chopped up into smallish pieces then just blended in the high speed blender?
Delicious
So glad you enjoyed them, Bob! Thanks for coming back and sharing!
These are yummy. Since I’ve been using chocolate chips a lot lately, I swapped them for blueberries. It was a good combo. The texture was perfect even though I used pre-grated carrots. 👍
Oh I love that you swapped in blueberries! I need to try that!
I made these with greek yogurt and they turned out great! I omitted the chocolate chips and they’re a little plain without them, but still good, and they were very easy to make!
Oh I love that you made them with Greek yogurt! I need to try that for sure and I appreciate you coming back and sharing that modification, Elly. I am sure other readers who aren’t cottage cheese lovers will appriciate it too!
Good, would be a bit blend without the chocolate chips, and I’m not sure why mine defleated in the middle! I followed the exact recipe.
Hi Lucie! My muffins are lightly sweetened, so I definitely understand that the sweetness level is not going to be everyone’s jam. I also agree that these kind need the chocolate chips, which is why I added them to the written recipe. They help to balance everything out and kind make them fun! As for why they sank, thats a bummer and sounds like there was too much moisture in your muffins. Did you weigh the carrots? I add the weight measurements because I find that sometimes someone’s version of 2 cups grated carrots can look like a PACKED two cups and someone else’s can be 2 cups lightly packed and that can deeply change a baking recipe, since veggies hold a lot of water. The weighing helps everyone kind get on the same page. Also, did you use a low fat or full fat cottage cheese as suggested? Fat free has a lot of added water in it and I find it adds too much to these muffins.