Sweet, moist, and absolutely delicious, this frosted homemade carrot cake banana bread recipe is perfect for a healthy breakfast or dessert!
If you’re looking for a wonderful springtime recipe to serve family or guests, this classic carrot cake banana bread is always a huge crowd pleaser.
The recipe can be low fat, low calorie, oil free, gluten free, dairy free, egg free, and vegan. And it’s super easy to make, using ingredients you already have on hand.
You may also like Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies
If only carrot cake were always in season.
I’d be so happy posting carrot themed recipes all year round.
But since possibly no one else besides me wants to eat carrot cake in December (or maybe you do too?), I try to pack as much carrot cake as I possibly can into the few weeks between St. Patrick’s Day and Easter.
Because I’ve already posted carrot cake oatmeal, waffles, and Healthy Carrot Cake, this year I decided to turn the flavor into banana bread, one of my other favorite flavors.
I knew the recipe would be good before even tasting it. After all, it’s carrot cake AND banana bread!
Above – watch the carrot cake banana bread recipe video
Carrot cake banana bread ingredients
To make the recipe, you will need flour, cinnamon, shredded carrot, pure vanilla extract, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sweetener and milk of choice, and mashed banana.
While the carrot cake banana bread is completely wonderful on its own, one of my favorite things about carrot cake is the frosting.
For vegan carrot cake banana bread, choose your favorite dairy free milk of choice. The carrot banana loaf is already naturally egg free.
Types of flour that work include spelt flour, oat flour, white all purpose flour, or some all purpose gluten free flours. Feel free to experiment with others, although I do not recommend using coconut flour or almond flour.
You can frost with softened Coconut Butter or about half a cup of the homemade vegan cream cheese frosting recipe from my Vegan Cinnamon Rolls.
I sprinkled crushed walnuts and shredded carrot over the top to decorate.
How to make carrot cake banana bread
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and grease a 9×5 loaf pan or line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients and stir well. You can add half a cup of crushed walnuts or shredded coconut if you wish.
Whisk all remaining ingredients, including the shredded carrot and banana, in a separate bowl. Or you can technically save time and whisk them straight into the dry ingredients to form a batter. Do not overmix.
Smooth the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Place on the oven’s center rack, and bake for forty five minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the carrot banana loaf comes out mostly clean.
Let the bread cool completely before going around the sides with a knife. Invert onto a large serving plate, and frost if desired.
Baking and storage tips
Loosely cover with cloth or paper towels, and store on the counter or in the refrigerator overnight.
The taste and texture of this bread are better the next day, because excess moisture will evaporate, resulting in a fluffier loaf.
After one day, it is best to refrigerate leftovers for three or four days in a covered container. Or slice and freeze for up to three months.
For low carb, try this Keto Carrot Cake
Carrot Cake Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups white, spelt, or oat flour (or try this Almond Flour Banana Bread)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- optional 1/8 tsp nutmeg
- 1 1/2 cup mashed overripe banana (for banana free, try this Vegan Carrot Cake)
- 1/2 cup finely shredded carrot
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup, honey, or agave
- 1/4 cup milk of choice or water
- 1/4 cup oil or additional water
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- optional crushed walnuts, coconut, etc.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 9×5 pan, or line with parchment. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. If desired, you can add 1/2 cup crushed walnuts and/or a handful of shredded coconut. Whisk liquid ingredients—including carrot and banana—in separate bowl. Pour wet into dry, and stir to form a batter. Smooth into prepared pan. Bake on the center rack 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean. Let cool. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Taste and texture are much better the second day (and even better the third day as it gets sweeter). Leftovers can be sliced and frozen for up to a month. If you want to frost the bread, I included a few links to some frosting recipes above in the post, or you can use about 1/2 cup softened coconut butter, sweetened if desired.View Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
Healthy Banana Recipes
I tried this with half whole wheat flour and half white. Subbed applesauce for oil. Added nuts and tiny bit of coconut. Used agave (next time will decrease amount and try honey). Ended up using about 4 bananas. Turned out fantastic! Love this recipe.
Hi.Can you please tell me how much grams of flour did you use for this recipe?We don’t use cups here and it’s hard to convert exactly.
Thank you so much for all your recipes!😊
The flavors are yummy but it came out pretty dense, especially along the bottom. I used organic oat flour and liquid coconut oil for the 1/4 cup oil. Cooked for 37 mins, 10 mins with oven off, tested it, toothpick still appeared pretty wet so put back in oven for another 7ish mins. Any ideas what I should change for next time? Thank you!
Have you ever worked with oat flour in baking before? It is naturally a more dense flour than white flour or even spelt flour. So you might try one of those.
Thank you! That is what I figured. I’ll have to try a different flour variety than those because I have to avoid gluten.
Fantastic fantastic recipe! I know it’s not Easter but I couldn’t resist making it when it popped up in my Pinterest feed. Thank you for this lovely recipe.
I’m NOT skilled in the kitchen, but I’ve made this several times – very easy and tasty! I use a mix of white (3/4 c), wheat (3/4 c), and oat (1/2 c) flour. I add 1/4 c of honey to make it more dessert-like and 1/2 c of raisins because raisins make everything better. Thanks for the great recipe!
Hi Dee- did you use 1/4 c honey in addition to the 1/2 cup agave or maple syrup?
Thanks
Donna
I’m about to make this recipe. Noticed there was no eggs in it is that correct.?
Have you tried making this in muffin tins? Trying it now since I don’t have a bread pan 😬🤞
Update! They turned out yummy 😋
I baked them for 20 minutes, could use maybe one more minute.
Thank you so much for making them!
Hi, Holly did you use cup cake papers?
Thanks
Donna
Made this recipe yesterday with these revisions – used 1/2 all purpose flour 1/2 whole wheat flour – substituted unsweetened applesauce for oil – used oat milk as my choice for milk – As sweeteners I used 1/4 cup honey and 1/4 cup pure maple syrup – I added a little bit of shredded unsweetened coconut to the chopped walnuts and also added 1/4 cup golden raisins – baked according to recipe – did not use any icing at all – it was awesome – thank you!!!
Has anyone tried using almond milk in place of oil?
That is listed as an option in the recipe, so yes fine to use
Does not taste like carrot cake at all. I made it with half all purpose flour and half oat flour and found the loaf too dense and chewy and heavy. Makes me wonder if the author of the recipe actually tried out different versions before putting the recipe up.
I made this because it has so many good reviews. I didn’t like it at all.
Hi Patricia, as you can see from all the other good reviews, yes the recipe does work, and yes we do thoroughly test our recipes. It’s totally fine if it’s not your thing, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a good recipe. Just that people have different tastes. Also, using oat flour in a recipe will yield a denser texture by default so if oat flour texture baked goods are not for you, feel free to use spelt flour or all purpose instead.