Wholesome Oatmeal Banana Carrot Bread
This banana bread is delicious, easy to make, and loaded with veggies! Banana Carrot bread is made with good-for-you oatmeal and naturally sweetened with ripe bananas and a little maple syrup or honey. Add in grated carrots, bake up, and it is the perfect breakfast or snack.

A few weeks ago, a dear friend texted me out of the blue.
“Hold on! You don’t have a banana bread recipe on your blog yet?? Get on that. And throw some veggies in there, too! I’ll be waiting”
Well then. No need to read between the lines there. I have many veggie muffin recipes (including Banana Carrot Muffins)on the blog, but clearly I had dropped the ball in veggie-loading banana bread! Luckily my friends and family take their jobs as being unofficial spokespeople for the TNN community quite seriously and let me know when I need to step it up. And now, I have you covered!
This Banana Carrot Bread is the perfect thing to make during meal prep for a veggie-loaded addition to breakfast or as a tasty little snack. It is delightfully moist from grated carrots, mashed ripe bananas and super filling thanks ground rolled oats. Mix it up in just 10 minutes, pop it into the oven for 45, and enjoy the amazing aromas that will fill your home. Eat it warm from the oven or let it cool and store it in your fridge or freezer for the future. It is naturally gluten free when you use GF oats and can easily be made egg-free and dairy-free. And since carrots and bananas are both something many people can find in their grocery store year round, so this bread can be loved on all. year. long….so be sure to save this recipe. It will be a frequent flyer in your kitchen!
Can I make this banana bread egg-free?
You sure can. I find that flax eggs work great in this banana carrot bread in place of chicken eggs.
To make a “flax egg”, I use the ratio of 1 tablespoon ground flax meal + 2.5 tablespoons water = 1 egg.
So, for this recipe, I use 2 tablespoons of ground flax meal + 5 tablespoons water to replace the eggs. Be sure to let the flax/water mixture sit for about 5 minutes to allow it to “gel” before adding it to the batter.
How do you grate the carrots for this banana bread?
I use the large holes of a box grater and it works perfectly. You can also use pre-grated carrots to make this carrot banana breads even easier! I often find them in the refrigeration portion of the produce section in a bag. The bagged grated tends to be a bit thicker than home grated, so consider pulsing them in a blender with the wet ingredients if you are serving this bread to carrot-iffy eaters.
Tips and tricks
- Let banana carrot bread cool for at least 15 minutes. Loaves (and all baked goods) continue to bake even after they are removed from the oven and will firm up as they sit. Let this sweet bread sit in the pan for 15 minutes before transferring them to the cooling rack. And then let it cool there for another 10 minutes before enjoying. TIP: If you are not using parchment paper when baking your bread, let it cool the full 25-20 minutes in the pan….otherwise it might stick or fall apart.
- Use parchment paper. It makes it super easy to lift this banana carrot bread out of the loaf pan without losing a crumb. Or you can use a little oil in the loaf pan to prevent sticking.
- Make sure your bananas are ripe. For best results in baked goods, bananas should be brown and spotty. As bananas ripen they get sweeter and softer. Ripe banana also add moisture to is carrot bread. Using bananas that are green or just barely ripe in this recipe may lead to dry, less sweet loaf.
- Don’t over mix your batter! Oat based baked goods can be dense and heavy when over mixed. So mix your batter until JUST combined. That is the key to fluffy banana bread!
Wondering how to store your carrots so they stay fresh as long as possible? Check out my post on How to Keep Cut Carrots Fresh and get the most out of your produce buck!
How to store this carrot banana bread
This sweet bread can be stored in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to to 2 days. After that, I suggest storing it in the fridge or freezer to prevent molding and keep it as fresh as possible for days to come.
To freeze, slice it and transfer to a freezer safe container. Store in your freezer for up to a month and let the slices thaw on your counter overnight to enjoy the next day.
Suggested adaptations
- Bake it as muffins. Portion the batter out between 12 lined muffin tins and bake at the same temperature for 20 minutes. Let cool before enjoying.
- Skip the sweetener! If you are looking for a little less sugar in your life, either reduce the amount of maple syrup/honey you use or let the banana do all the sweetening and leave the honey/syrup all together! I do this often!
- Sub the carrots with grated zucchini. Just like with the grated carrot, make sure to squeeze out as much of the moisture as you can before adding it to the batter.
- Mix it all in your blender! Really want to simplify baking? Throw everything into your blender and blend batter until smooth before pouring it into the prepared loaf pan. This works best if you have a high-speed blender like a Vitamix, otherwise your blender might find the batter too taxing and leave the oats chunky.
Other veggie-loaded banana baked goods you are going to love.
- Oatmeal Green Smoothie Muffins
- Banana-Spinach Pancake Pizza
- Healthy Lunch Box Muffins
- Cinnamon Zucchini Banana Muffins
- Sweet Potato Banana Bread
Did you try this banana carrot bread and now you’re hungry for more?
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Wholesome Oatmeal Banana Carrot Bread
Ingredients
- 1 cup grated carrots
- 2 medium bananas, very ripe, + extra for topping if desired
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup coconut oil, melted
- ⅓ cup honey or maple syrup
- ½ tbsp pure vanilla extract
- ¼ cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1 ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 cups rolled oats, uncooked, Gluten Free option, use gluten free oats
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 2 teaspoon cinnamon
Equipment
- loaf pan
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F and line a loaf pan with parchment paper. Set aside
- Take grated carrots and place it in the middle of a clean dish towel or large paper towel. Wrap the carrots in the towel and squeeze out as much of the moisture as you can. Set aside.
- Place very ripe bananas in a medium bowl and mash until smooth.
- Add the wet ingredients to the bowl with the mashed bananas and stir to combine. Set aside for just a moment.
- Combine all dry ingredients in your blender and pulse until oats are finely chopped and resemble flour.
- Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl with the well and stir until the batter has a smooth consistency and even color
- Fold in drained carrots.
- Pour into prepared loaf pan
- Bake for 40-45 minutes.
- Cool in a pan for 30 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack
- Enjoy warm or allow to cool completely before storing in the fridge for up to 5 days or in a freezer for up to a month.
Can I substitute 2 cups of oat flour instead of blending the rolled oats?
Yes!
Will this work with regular milk if we don’t need a dairy free option?
Yes!
I made this for a work potluck and it was the first thing to disappear! Everyone loved it
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Hi! Can I sub a “flax egg” for the real eggs? And can I add more veggies, like zucchini with the carrots? Thanks!
I haven’t tried it but I bet it would work!
Hi Taesha! Big fan of ALL your recipes 🙂 It feels like I’ve made at least half of your whole blog by now! I keep having trouble with the texture of this one when i make in the blender though. I thought my bananas were just too large last time, but then it happened again. Is it where I’m throwing the carrots in whole in the blender possibly, so i thought either it’s from where 1)I’m not going through the process of shredding and getting excess water out with a paper towel or 2) doing two cups of baby carrots is not = to two cups of shredded and it’s throwing off my consistency? Any tips you can give are appreciated because I LOVE using the blender!
Is the texture too wet? Because if you aren’t shredding and draining it could totally be that! And I am so glad you are enjoying the recipes!
Substituted chocolate chips for the honey/maple. So good, we just made it again!
I am so glad!
This bread was so delicious! Great banana flavor. Gonna try it in a muffin pan
I am so glad you enjoyed it!
Hello! Would two cups almond flour sub evenly in this recipe? Can’t wait to bake this with my littles. Thank you!!
Hi Meghan! I haven’t tried this recipe with almond flour instead of oat. However, I know many people report that they find those two flours to swap out well in baked goods. If you try it out, let me know!
Another amazing recipe! We upped the carrots just a bit, and they were amazing. Made them as muffins because around here we make everything into muffins!
Sounds like my house! Muffins are always on repeat. I love how fats they cook and how easy they are to store. But I also love a good loaf recipe and I am so glad this a success AND with EXTRA veggies! So much winning!
What a wonderful recipe! We made a loaf last week and we are making a muffin version (with chocolate chips on top!) right now!
Yes! I love adding chocolate chips or raisins to this!
Like!! Thank you for publishing this awesome article.
Hi! Could I substitute the banana for apple purée? Or perhaps add the Apple so it has all 3 like ana ABC loaf?
I usually find applesauce and banana to be a successful swap in most baking recipes, so I bet it would work!
This is delicious. My 2 year old and I ate the entire loaf in 3 days. Love that it is a healthier version of traditional banana bread with the oat flour and added carrots. I will add nuts next time though. Otherwise, amazing!
Mmmmmm I love nuts in banana bread. Chocolate chips are lovely on top (or mixed in) too. So glad you enjoyed this recipe, April!
Oh. My. Gosh. I made these into muffins and they are AMAZING! I love to make a batch of your muffins on Mondays to set myself up for the week. This was my first time trying these ones and they are perfect!
Oh yay! I am so glad, Brittney! I love to make this as muffins too!
So so so delish! I love that it uses everything I always keep on hand. I doubled the recipe & did half zucchini & half carrot. I made one loaf & one pan of muffins… Everything was gone within a day and a half. 😂🙈🤷🏽♀️ I will definitely make this again & double the recipe every time for sure! Do you know if the loaves freeze up well? Would love to have this as a snack when I go into labor.
Oh yay! I am so glad to hear all of this, Larissa! The loaves freeze great, btw. I like to pre-slice them before freezing so I can take out a piece at a time to enjoy.
Can I do this with frozen carrots? How would I make it work?
Hmmmm. I truthfully have never tried. Are we talking frozen grated carrots? Or bagged frozen carrots? Either way, thaw and drain any water that comes off before adding them to the batter. Frozen grated carrots should be fine to add as normal after that! If it is the bagged carrots, I might try blending them with the banana and other wet ingredients before mixing with the dry! If you give it a go, let us know how it turns out!
I made this using flax eggs and used pumpkin instead of the oil. Made as mini muffins and donuts and they turned out great!
Oh love all those swaps! So glad to hear it was a success!
I was a little skeptical to be honest, but this recipe was perfect. I sprinkled a few chocolate chips on top and used only 1/4 cup of maple syrup so I only needed one measuring cup. This will definitely be in our baking rotation.
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Adriane! And thank you for leaving a review!
So delicious and our whole family, including our 2-year-old loved it. Will definitely make again and again
I am so glad, Lauren! Thanks for taking the time to share!
YUM!
The carrot made the banana bread taste amazing! My kids (6 and 3) love to help me bake and they were so excited to to try something new. It is so moist and has a wonderful flavor. I am so thankful to find this on Instagram because this recipe will now be a staple in our home.
I’m so delighted to hear that, Andrea!
I used butter and normal milk instead of coconut oil and almond milk. Baked great and was so delish! Thank you!
So glad you enjoyed it as much as we do!
I followed the recipe but instead of the honey/maple syrup I substituted 4 teaspoons of Volupta (erythrol/monk fruit) sweetner ; I noticed it took 15 min longer for the knife to come out clean. It was amazing, this recipe is a keeper!
So glad you enjoyed it!