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 bake ALOT and this recipe is awesome! It is so flavourful and moist. I’ve had many compliments on it.
Amazing recipe!! Very moist & flavorful. A hit amongst many. Thank you for sharing!!
I replaced the baking powder with 1/4 cup molasses & 1/8 tbsp of baking soda and it turned out great!
Hi, I love your blog! Can you tell me if it’s normal that it looks nice and high in the oven but when taking out of the oven it flattens a bit? Thank you
Just curious… why no eggs in this recipe? I thought the vegan was an option. Will no eggs change the bread drastically?
Sounds great. Has anyone tried to make this with Almond flour?
We haven’t tried this one, but a few people have done some of Katie’s banana bread recipes with almond flour, and they usually report back that it tastes delicious but doesn’t look pretty or rise at all. Katie does have a recipe for almond flour banana bread if you wanted to try adding carrot to that one instead: https://lett-trim.today/almond-flour-banana-bread/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
I made this recipe to a T, minus the oat flour. I used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free 1 to 1 baking flour. I think that’s where I went wrong. My bread came out mushy, refuses to harden, has no carrot cake flavor whatsoever. Super upset about this. But I followed the recipe with everything else minis the flour.. 🙁
Hi Demi, we are confused because the recipe doesn’t list that flour as an option at all. You are absolutely free to experiment with a recipe, but we can’t vouch for anything we haven’t tried and can only recommend using the listed ingredients for good results.
This looks amazing! I can’t wait to try it- probably give to my kids for their school snack. Do you know what the cook time would be if made as muffins?
Sorry we have never tried it so honestly can’t say. Usually for muffins of any sort, somewhere around 15-20 minutes are needed so you might experiment with something like that. Or if you want a recipe that’s already in muffin/cupcake form, Katie also has these: https://lett-trim.today/healthy-carrot-cake-cupcakes/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
I just made this. I didn’t have too much milk here so substituted the milk with extra good quality olive oil and used chopped up pecans as that’s what I had. I also cut back on the maple syrup a little as my bananas were super ripe. Didn’t bother icing it as I think it’s sweet enough but the icing would take it to awhole other level. Yum
Thank you for trying the recipe 🙂
Great recipe!! Used half wheat/half regular flour, coconut oil, 2%milk, and honey, and baked in a muffin tray – perfect for 12 muffins! In my oven, 16 min or so was enough. My kids are usually suspicious of anything “healthy” and they gobbled these up!
I tried a lot of different versions of vegan banana bread. Usually, they come too compact or do not rise enough. This one is the best. It rose perfectly, was super moist. I used white flour and made it oil-free. I just add a bit more milk as recommended. It was gone very quickly compared to other tries. I will make it again. Thank you.