Healthy Carrot Cake Bread
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 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.
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.
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!
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
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
- Healthy Morning Glory Muffins
- Carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal
- Healthy Cranberry Orange Carrot Muffins
- Apple Carrot Smoothie
- Carrot Apple Slow Cooker Steel Cut Oatmeal
- Healthy Apple Carrot Pancakes
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Healthy Carrot Cake Bread
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.
Equipment
- loaf pan
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉. Line an 8X4 loaf pan in parchment paper or grease with oil.
- In a large bowl, mix carrot, applesauce, eggs, oil, maple syrup, vanilla, and orange zest until well combined.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Dump the dry ingredients into the large bowl with the wet ingredients. Mix until just combined. Do not over mix.
- Add in the raisins and walnuts, setting aside about 2 tablespoons of the walnuts for the top. Fold them in.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle the top with the remaining walnuts, if using.
- Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 50 to 55 minutes. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Allowing it to cool completely for best results.
- Once cool completely, store in fridge for 4-5 days or in freezer for up to a month.
This bread was beyond amazing. It took me three medium carrots to make and the orange zest shouldn’t be optional IMO since it’s so pleasant. It’s not the easiest to tell when it’s done since the middle is still somewhat moist when the outside needs to come out but it cooled perfectly. I can’t wait to make it again. Perfect written IMO and I appreciate the exhortation not to overmix!
I am so glad you enjoyed this, Dottie! Thank you for taking the time to leave a review and for such thoughtful feedback!
Can you use almond flour in this?
I haven’t tried but it might work. If you give it a go, please let us know how it turned out!
The bread was sooo good. It will be a staple in our house.
I am so glad you enjoyed it as much as we do, Janice! And thank you for taking the time to leave a review!
I made this carrot cake bread on the weekend and it was super simple to make. Just for fun I added a cream cheese icing on to be more dessert like. The cake was super moist and had a lovely not too sweet flavour. I will definitely keep this carrot cake bread in my rotation.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Erin! I bet it was delicious with the icing!
I made this Saturday and it came out really good. I made it gluten free with 1 cup Montana mix gluten free flour blend and 1 cup Flax and ancient grains flour.. I used 2 Tablespoons less applesauce and 1/2 cup honey/maple syrup mix. I even cooked it in a bundt pan on my gas bbq, indirect heat at about 350*. Took about an hour to cook but is nice and moist and rose well. Thank you for this recipe!!!
I am so glad it was a success, TD!
This recipe sounds amazing! I just have one question: can I leave the pole sauce out or substitute it with something else?
I assume “pole sauce” was supposed to be applesauce 😉. You could use 1 cup mashed banana instead, but it would give the bread a noticeable banana flavor. Just an FYI!
Could I use white flour instead of white
Whole wheat flour?
I haven’t tested this recipe with All Purpose Flour but I think it should work fine!
Just enjoyed two tasty slices of this, still a little warm, perfectly springy and moist. I had to make do with what I had on hand: regular whole wheat flour, grated raw sweet potato in place of the carrots and one mashed banana plus ricotta to make 1 cup as a substitute for the apple sauce. Worked out great! Thank you for your fool proof recipes and always suggesting (and encouraging) substitutions – has definitely made me a more fearless baker! : ) : )
So glad you enjoyed it so much and were able to make it work with swaps! Dazzled to hear that our recipes and sharing baking wisdom has helped you feel more confident in the kitchen!
Delish!! Followed recipe exactly and turned out perfectly!  I’ve been searching for a healthier carrot cake bread and this is the one!
So happy to hear you enjoyed it as much as we do! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review, Brandi!
Loooooooooooved it! I have zero baking experience and was able to pull this off. I have a gas oven and 55 minutes almost wasn’t long enough. I also couldn’t wait 30 min cooling so maybe that is why it fell apart easily because it didn’t set enough. Anyways it was so good I ate half the loaf. If it weren’t for the honey that would be guilt free really. Next time I’ll probably do less honey. Also didn’t have raisins but I did have dates and it was amazing.Â
So happy you loved it so much, Sid!