Name: Healthy Carrot Cake Bread
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 50 min
Ingredients: 2 cups grated carrots (from 2 medium-sized peeled carrots); 1 cup unsweetened applesauce; 2 large eggs; ¼ cup avocado oil (light olive oil or vegetable oil); 1/3 cup maple syrup or honey; 2 teaspoons vanilla extract; 2 teaspoons orange zest (optional); 2 cups white whole wheat flour; 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder; 1 teaspoon baking soda; ½ teaspoon salt; 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon; ½ teaspoons ground ginger; ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg; ½ cup raisins (if very dry, soak in hot water for 10 min); ½ cup chopped walnuts (divided.)

Servings slices

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time50 mins

Jump to Recipe

5 from 15 votes

This Carrot Cake Bread is easy to make, perfectly moist, and loaded with those warm classic carrot cake flavors. Made with whole grains, lower in sugar, naturally sweetened, and made extra special with optional addition of raisins and walnuts. Its the perfect healthier sweet treat.

Carrot cake bread on a white plate with two slices cut from it. There is a white napkin and walnuts scattered around the plate.

Carrot Cake is my husband’s favorite and I have adapted it into a few easy everyday recipes like overnight oats, baked oatmeal, and even muffins. But it seemed like a TNN twist on this classic cake was long overdue and this Healthy Carrot Cake Bread seemed like the perfect thing for all the fall and winter baking we all have ahead of us.

Loaded with 2 cups of carrots, made with whole grains, lower in sugar than most carrot cake recipes, and naturally sweetened with applesauce and maple syrup or honey, this easy peasy carrot bread is out-of-this-world good. Perfectly tender and moist, it can easily be made gluten-free or egg-free and is sure to be a hit with all.

Wet ingredients for carrot cake bread in a bowl with a wooden spoon.

Frequently asked questions

I don’t have white whole wheat flour. What else can I use?

First, you can easily make your own white whole wheat flour. Simply combine 1 cup all-purpose flour and 1 cup of whole wheat flour and you are good to go for this carrot cake bread. You can also just use all-purpose flour. Whole wheat flour is also okay to use, but I found it made the heavier loaf than I like.

Can I just mix everything in one bowl?

I love a good one bowl baking recipe, but it can be tricky to not over mix the dry and wet ingredients when you just dump everything into one bowl. And over mixing can lead to heavy, dense carrot cake bread. No thank you. That is why I prefer to mix the wet ingredients and dry separately and then combining. That way, you don’t over stir trying to get everything incorporated into the batter.

Can this carrot cake bread be made as muffins?

I haven’t tried (yet!) but I am confident it can be. I’d line a 12-hold muffin tin with liners an portion the batter out. Bake at the same temp for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean.

A loaf of carrot cake bread fresh from the oven.

Suggested adaptations

Don’t have white whole wheat flour? Use 1 cup of all-purpose flour and 1 cup of regular whole wheat flour. You can also use all all-purpose flour.

Make it gluten free. Use a cup-for-cup style gluten free flour blend to easilymake this carrot cake bread recipe gluten free.

No raisins? You can leave them out or use dried cranberries or any chopped dried fruit. Chocolate chips would also be a lovely addition to this healthy carrot cake bread.

Sub the walnuts with chopped pecans or omit the nuts to make this bread nut free.

Make this carrot cake bread egg-free by replacing the eggs with 2 flax eggs

A loaf of carrot cake bread on a white plate with two slices cut from it.

Top tips

Let it cool completely before cutting into. I know it is hard to wait, but baked goods are still cooking when they are removed from the oven. As they cool, they will firm up and finished setting. Cutting into this carrot cake bread before it is cool might result in a soggy middle.

Don’t over mix the batter. This carrot cake bread is so loaded with goodness that it is already pretty dense. Over mixing can lead to an extra dense loaf and that can be a kinda bummer.

Store it in the fridge. Since this carrot bread is so moist, the best way to keep it fresh is to store it in an air-tight container in the fridge. This will help prevent molding.

If you liked this carrot recipe, check out these other veggie-loaded recipes

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A slice of carrot cake bread on a plate with a bite taken out of it. There is another slice on a plate next to it as well as a measuring cup of walnuts.

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5 from 15 votes