Soft, moist Banana Carrot Muffins with wholesome oats, bananas, carrots, maple syrup, and warm spices combine the best of carrot cake and banana bread. Made with no processed sugar, these healthy muffins bake in about 20 minutes -- a great breakfast option and perfect way to sneak extra veggies into your diet (and kids).
Be sure to try Banana Chocolate Chunk Muffins and Carrot Cake Mix Cookie Bars next.
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These healthy banana carrot muffins are what we have when we really want cake, but know we should probably eat fruits and vegetables instead. They're soft and moist with plenty of natural sweetness from the carrots, bananas, and maple syrup, and taste like a carrot spice cake with subtle banana flavor.
Easy recipe to meal prep ahead for the week for a quick grab-and-go breakfast, work or school lunches, or after school snack.
If you still have some extra bananas to use up, be sure to check out these easy recipes for Banana Bread with Pancake Mix, Thick, Fluffy Banana Pancakes, and Peanut Butter Banana Oat Muffins.
🍌Ingredients
See recipe card at the bottom of the post for the full list of ingredients and exact amounts.
- Mashed banana. For the most sweetness and delicious banana flavor, use overripe bananas with dark brown or even black peels. Read my tips on this post to learn how you can use not-quite-ripe bananas and frozen bananas.
- Maple syrup. Pure maple syrup adds rich flavor and, of course, sweetness without processed sugar.
- Oil. I like to use oil in muffins because it makes them extra moist. Use any kind of vegetable oil, a neutral flavored olive oil, or even melted coconut oil. I use canola oil.
- Finely grated carrots. Avoid large chunks or pre-shredded carrots, which can be dry and too large. Shred fresh carrots on the fine side of a box grater or in a food processor.
- Optional toppings. If desired, sprinkle some chopped pecans, a few more oats, and raw sugar on top of the batter before baking.
🥜Variations or Substitutions
- Stir ins. Mix in up to a cup of chocolate chips, regular or golden raisins, walnuts or pecans, or toasted coconut.
🥣How to Make Moist Banana Carrot Muffins
Step 1: In a large mixing bowl, whisk the banana, maple syrup, eggs, oil, and vanilla extract. Whisk the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices until well combined.
Step 2: Stir in the grated carrots. Add the oats and sift in the flour and fold them in until just combined.
Step 3: Spoon the banana carrot muffin batter into a 12-cup muffin pan prepared with muffin liners. Fill each muffin cup all the way to the top. If desired, sprinkle the tops of the muffin batter with chopped pecans, oats, and/or turbinado sugar.
Step 4: Bake in preheated oven at 425 for 5 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 and bake 13-15 more minutes. Cool for 5 minutes in the muffin pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
👉Helpful Hint: Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Overmixing can cause the muffins to become tough and dense.
✅Top Tips
- For the best texture, grate carrots into fine shreds using the fine side of a box grater.
- Five minutes at a high temperature helps create nice, tall muffins. So go ahead and fill the muffin cups all the way to the top!
🎁Storage
- Store banana carrot muffins at room temperature in an airtight container for a few days or in the refrigerator for up to one week.
- Freeze muffins for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator.
❓FAQs
For the best flavor and texture, aim for very finely grated carrots. Shredded carrots won't dispurse into the batter quite as well -- and you'll end up with big chunks of carrots.
They should be pretty brown, to the point where the peels are almost entire black. The fruit flies shouldn't be there yet, but they should be thinking about it, lol. Overripe bananas have the most natural sweetness and will make your banana muffins nice and sweet and super moist.
The best way is with a digital thermometer. The internal temperature should reach 200 degrees. You can also do the toothpick test -- when inserted into the center, the toothpick should come out clean.
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📖 Recipe
Banana Carrot Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup mashed banana 2-3 medium bananas
- ½ cup pure maple syrup
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- ⅓ cup oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup finely grated carrots
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅔ cup old fashioned rolled oats
- 1 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour
- optional: chopped pecans or more rolled oats, for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk the mashed banana, maple syrup, eggs, oil, and vanilla extract until well combined. Add the baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg and stir well. Stir in the grated carrots. Add the oats and sift in the flour. Fold them in until just combined -- do not overmix.
- Fill the muffin cups all the way to the top with muffin batter. If desired, sprinkle the tops with chopped pecans, oats, or raw sugar.
- Bake at 425 for 5 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350 and bake for 13-15 more minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The internal temperature should read 200 on a digital thermometer. Start checking on them a few minutes early to prevent overbaking.
- Cool muffins in the pan for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Enjoy warm or room temperature.
Notes
- For the best texture, grate carrots into fine shreds using the fine side of a box grater.
- Be careful not to overmix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients or the muffins can become tough and dense.
- You can fill the muffin cups all the way to the top! The initial blast at a high temperatures ensures these muffins get nice and tall.
Chris says
This is my new “go to” muffin recipe. They’re healthy and delicious. I always add chopped pecans and raisins. I even grated up a bunch of carrots in my food processor and froze them in one cup bags so I have them handy for the next time I have a few ripe bananas!
Cara Lanz says
Oh, how wonderful, I'm so honored that this is your new go-to muffin recipe. So smart to pre-prep and freeze carrots, so they're ready when the bananas are! Thank you so much for the nice note :). Cara
Sherry says
Can this recipe work with gluten free flour? Thank you it looks like it would be delicious.
Sherry
Cara Lanz says
Hi, Sherry, I haven't tried it with this recipe, but I have made other muffin recipes (like these blueberry muffins) with Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten Free Baking Flour with excellent results. Let me know if you try it and how it goes! Cara