Wholesome & Fluffy Banana Carrot Muffins
These Banana Carrot Muffins combine the beautiful flavors of banana bread and carrot into a light, fluffy, and moist muffin! Made with whole wheat flour, oats, and naturally sweetened, they are a healthy breakfast recipe or the perfect snack for a busy day.

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Healthier homemade muffin recipes are always on my weekly meal prep list. I love to quickly throw together a batch and bake them so they are ready to go when we need them. Plus, they are great for stocking my freezer.
My Cinnamon Zucchini Banana Muffins are frequent flyers in our house. However, sometimes I don’t have zucchini on hand, since it is more of a summery vegetable. But you know what I always have one hand? Carrots! Literally, there is always a bag of them in my crisper and they often make a great replacement of zucchini in many of my veggie-loaded muffins. So, it seemed high time to make an official Banana Carrot muffin recipe for the pages of TNN.
In case you don’t know, carrots and banana together are just pure magic! (my Carrot Banana Bread is just beyond amazing). These Banana Carrot muffins are fluffy, tender, perfectly moist, and will make your taste buds sing. They are made with whole grains, naturally sweetened, and can easily be made gluten free and dairy-free. And since they are mixed all in one bowl and are done baking in under 25 minutes, they won’t suck up a big chunk of your day if you opt to make them for meal prep.
Frequently Asked Questions
I only have quick oats. Can I use those instead of rolled?
Yep! You can swap the quick oats for rolled oats one-to-one in this banana carrot muffin recipe.
Can I make these egg-free?
Yes! I find that flax eggs work great in these banana carrot muffins 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 can I make these carrot muffins dairy-free?
Simply use your favorite non-dairy milk. I have made these with oat milk and unsweetened almond milk with great success.
I need these to be gluten free. How can I do that?
Use a cup-for-cup gluten free flour blend (I like this one) in place of the whole wheat flour and make sure that the oats you are using are certified gluten free.
How do you grate the carrots for these banana muffins?
I use the large holes of a box grater and it works perfectly. You do not need to squeeze out any of the excess moisture before adding the carrots to the muffin batter, either. The moisture from them adds to the lovely texture of these banana muffins.
Can I replace the flour in this muffin recipe with almond meal or coconut flour?
I haven’t tried these banana carrots muffins with almond flour, almond meal, or coconut flour, so I can’t speak to how successful they will turn out when swapping the flours.
In my experience, almond flour can often be used in place of whole wheat flour, however it creates for a much denser baked good. Coconut flour is a much thirstier flour and absorbs a lot more liquid than almond flour or wheat flour. I do not suggest using coconut flour in this recipe.
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!
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Suggested adaptations
Make them gluten free by using a cup-for-cup flour blend (I like this one) in place of the whole wheat flour and make sure that the oats you are using are certified gluten free.
Reduce the sweetener in these muffins to 1/4 cup. The bananas offer up a lot of sweetness on their own, so you might find you don’t need as much maple syrup or honey, depending on your taste preference.
Make them dairy-free by using your favorite plant based milk.
Replace the banana with applesauce. If you don’t have bananas on hand or just prefer applesauce, they can be swapped in this muffin recipe.
Make these banana carrot muffins egg free by using flax eggs.
Tips and tricks
- Let banana carrot muffins cool for at least 15 minutes. Muffins (and all baked goods) continue to bake even after they are removed from the oven and will firm up as they sit. Let the muffins sit in the muffin tin for 5 minutes before transferring them to the cooling rack. And then let them cool there for another 10 minutes before enjoying. TIP: If you are not using liners when baking your muffins, let them cool the full 15 minutes in the muffin tin….otherwise they might stick or fall apart.
- Use parchment paper muffin liners. I love this brand and find they are the best for easy peeling muffin liners. Another great (no waste) option is silicone muffin liners. Also a little oil in the muffin tin compartment works great for preventing these healthy carrot muffins from sticking.
- Make sure the bananas are ripe. For best results in baked goods, bananas should be brown and spotty. As bananas ripen they get sweeter and softer. Ripe muffins also add moisture to these carrot muffins. Using bananas that are green or just barely ripe in this recipe may lead to dry, less sweet muffins.
- Don’t over mix your batter! Mixing activates the gluten in the flour and can make for a really heavy, dense muffin. So mix your muffin batter until JUST combined. That is the key to fluffy muffins!
How to store these carrot banana muffins
These muffins can be stored in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to to 2 days. After that, I suggest storing them in the fridge or freezer to prevent molding and keep them as fresh as possible for days to come. They freeze beautifully and make for a great breakfast or snack to stock up on!
Other veggie-loaded muffin recipes you will love
- Healthy Chocolate Muffins (with veggies!)
- Oatmeal Green Smoothie Muffins
- Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins
- Healthy Zucchini Lemon Muffins
- Mini Butternut Squash Blueberry Muffins
- Healthy Lunch Box Muffins
- Healthy Morning Glory Muffins
Did you try these banana carrot muffins and now you’re hungry for more?
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Wholesome & Fluffy Banana Carrot Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup mashed very ripe bananas
- 1 cup grated carrots
- ¼ cup avocado oil, or olive oil
- 2 large eggs, can sub with 2 flax eggs to make egg-free
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup honey or maple syrup
- ¼ cup milk of choice
- 1 ¼ cups whole wheat flour , or sub cup-for-cup gluten free flour blend
- ½ cup rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- chopped walnuts, chocolate chips, raisins, optional add-in
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉ and line a muffin tin with liners or grease with a little extra oil.
- Place very ripe bananas in a medium bowl and mash until smooth.
- Add carrots, oil, eggs, vanilla extract, honey/maple syrup, and milk to the bowl with the banana. Mix.
- Add flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon to the bowl with the wet ingredients. Mix until just combined. DO NOT over mix or your muffins might lose their lovely fluffiness.
- If adding nuts, raisins, or chocolate chips, fold in at this time. This is an optional step.
- Portion batter into prepared muffin tin. Top with add-in of choice (optional).
- Bake for 22-24 minutes, or until muffins are golden on top and a toothpick inserted into the middle of one muffin comes out clean. Allow them to cool in pan for 15 minutes before enjoying.
- Once cooled completely, store in fridge for 4-5 days or in freezer for up to a month.
Hi Taesha out of all the recipes I made this one for some reason didn’t work out in terms of cooking. After 30 mins cooking it’s still like moist inside. I measured everything as per your recipe. Also please have a YouTube channel, a lot of people need your recipes.
Hi Kevina! I am so glad you enjoy my recipes so much. I have definitely thought about a YouTube channel, but I am still a one woman show over here and there are only so many hours in the day! 😂 Maybe someday!
As for these muffins, I just pulled a batch out of the oven for my daughter’s lunches this week. They baked up as written, so let’s do a little trouble shooting because a failed recipe is a bummer!
It sounds like you have made my muffin recipes before, but just in case, did you let them cool? Muffins and other baked goods can still be baking once they are removed from the oven and firm up as they cool.
Also, did you happen to swap the flours? I have made these with GF flour blend and whole wheat flour and they are perfect. But I do have a sneaking suspicion that these would be too wet if APF was used. It just doesn’t soak up as much moisture as whole wheat or gluten free flours do.
Okay, last thought. Any chance your oven could be baking at a lower temperature? I’ve baked in a lot of older ovens and sometimes they SAY they are cooking at one temperature but really they are not. I had to buy an internal thermometer to keep in my oven so that I could be sure my oven was cooking at the proper temp.
These are so yummy. Very moist. I gave one to my co worker (he doesn’t like any thing banana . He loved them . I put chocolate chips in them. He said they we so good.
Yay! I am so glad, Karen! Thank you for sharing!
Hi, these look great! How would I substitute sugar in place of the maple syrup? Thanks
You can swap it out 1:1 and it should be fine! Enjoy!
Can these be made with chickpea, oat or almond flour? Thank you in advance!
I have not tried them with either of those flours. But this banana carrot bread is similar and is made with oats, so I bet you could bake it as muffins! https://thenaturalnurturer.com/banana-carrot-bread/
I love to bake and I LOVE muffins even more so.
So when I tell you these are AMAZING, I mean it with my whole heart. Lol
My kids and husband loved these as well.
I put my own spin on them. I used some bagged pre-shredded carrots rather than grated for a chunkier muffin. I also used 3/4cup of WWF and 1/2cup of APF and added a 1/2tsp of nutmeg. I folded chocolate chips into half the batch and topped the other half with walnuts before placing them in the oven. I adjusted my oven temp to 365° since mine is old and a bit off on temperature. These came out perfect at 23 minutes of baking.
Thank you for sharing this recipe!!
I’m sure they will be a huge hit at our next church luncheon!
This comment made my heart smile, Danielle! I am so glad that they were such a hit, loved your adaptions (and am sure others will find them helpful, too), just so appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment and review. Thank you 💚
So good!! Will make this again! Added some raisins to it 🙂
So good!!! Planning on making again. Added some raisins. Highly recommend making these!! 🙂
I’m so glad you enjoyed them, Morgan! Love the addition of raisins. I need to do that or chocolate chips in my next batch. Thanks for taking the time to leave a review!
This was the perfect fall take on banana muffins! I added golden raisins and they were so tasty. Just waiting for more bananas to ripen on my counter so I can make them again 🙂
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Sarah! Love the addition of golden raisins.
Definitely 5 stars. These Banana Carrot Muffins are delicious. I’ve made it twice now. Both times I altered the recipe slightly. Instead of 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour, I used 3/⁴ cup flour and 1/4 cup ground flaxseed and 1/4 cup oat bran. When I added the cinnamon I also added a heaping 1/4 tsp of nutmeg too. These are delicious and definitely transformed my husband’s breakfast snack for work.
I’m so glad, Tabitha! I love that you have been able to make them your own and they are such a success in your home. Thanks for taking the time to leave a review!
We made these last night and had them cold from the fridge this morning for breakfast. I don’t normally comment on recipes, but this one is definitely a keeper and I’ll be adding it to my recipe box! Not too sweet, just chewy enough to feel hearty, and so tasty. I used bagged preshredded carrots and they’re a bit chunky so next time I’ll definitely shred my own carrots with a grater. I didn’t have any maple syrup so I used brown sugar instead and it worked great. Thank you from Michigan!
What a lovely review, Mary! I’m so glad you enjoyed these muffins so much and were able to make them work with what you had on hand! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review. I always appreciate it so much.
Delicious! Husband and Kid approved! I did add a couple scoops of collagen protein and a tsp of ginger for a more carrot cake like flavor.
Love the additions you made, Stephanie! And so glad they were enjoyed! Thanks for sharing.
These are delicious! Added alittle allspice and nutmeg and walnuts. Very easy and moist.
Love the additions, Karolyn! So glad you enjoyed them!
Can I substitute beetroot for carrots?
Beetroot has a much earthier flavor than carrots, which are sweeter. I haven’t tried this recipe with grate beet and, while I functionally think it would work, am unsure how the flavor would be.
Delicious !! I put in raisins and mini chocolate chips and 1/4 applesauce .. complete breakfast
Love the additions!
My family and l loved these muffins! Thank you!
So happy to hear that, Silvia! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review!
These muffin were absolutely perfect, they didn’t have that grainy taste that GF muffins often have. They were moist and not “wet” inside which often happens with GF baking. They were devoured in a matter of minutes. They are now my go to muffins!!
Delighted to hear that, Michelle! thanks for taking the time to share!
Tried them. They are delicious and very soft.
So happy to hear you enjoyed them!
Hi Taesha! can I make this recipe on an air Fryer?
I dont have an oven, so I was wondering if it could work…
Thanks!! 🙂
Such an interesting idea, Brigitte. I’ve heard of people baking cookies in their air fryer but have never tried baking with one. So, unfortunately, I can’t really guide you or tell you how well it would (or would not) work.
This recipe is excellent! These came out super fluffy and moist. I added walnuts as an optional add-in. Will definitely make this again! I have been struggling to find a “go-to” easy muffin recipe, and I think I have finally found the one!
So happy that you loved these, Sara Lynn, AND that you found them to be the easy recipe you were looking for! Love the added walnuts. YUM! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review. Much appreciated.
Thank you so much for the recipe!! Turned out great and yummy just as described. Followed the recipe exactly except for a cut back of maple syrup to ¼. I also used a mini muffin pan 24 muffins) instead cooked for 21 minutes. Delicious!
Thanks for sharing your modifications! Especially how you successfully made them as mini muffins. I’m sure other readers will appreciate know they work that way!